Page 27 - Bristle Up Magzine

BOZ PEPPA
BY MICHAEL WRAIGHT
WORTH THE WAIT
It was just over a year I finally got permission from
the property owner to come out to his place and have
a look around for a few pigs as he said there a few
getting about after the rain. So my first thought was
to call my dad Garry and sister Kylie to see if they
were keen to get stuck into a few. They both said yes,
including my nephew Aidan who had been hounding
his mum to come also. Dad would meet us on the
property at 6.30 on Saturday morning as he was
coming from Charleville. We met up with the owners
and had a good chat. The owner wanted to get into
his cattle work, so I gave him a quick hand throwing
some lick bags on the ute. He said he’d give us a
brief outlay of the property as he was taking us to
our camp. So we followed him in our vehicles and
reached our camp and dad said: “Did you see that
ginger and black boar cross the track?” I said, “No,
you’ll have to show me where he was later.” After
setting up our camp, we drove off to the back of the
property to have a look at the country and get to know
our bearings better. Later that afternoon, Kylie and I
jumped on the quad to check out a different track that
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“I saw Boz go straight into a thick patch of long grass”
WOLFHOUND/PIT BULL
led to a couple of dams. We got to the last dam, and
the dogs were keen as, so I headed in the direction the
wind was blowing from, with no jump, we had a bit
of a look around and headed back to the dam. About
20 minutes later, the dogs flew off and hit the ground
running. We looked ahead and saw two good sized
pigs running from the dam. Peppa had hold of a good
Boar. I dispatched him and rode over to where another
dog Boz had a good Sow as well. Kylie took care of
her, and we took a couple of photos, and that was us
done for the day. The next afternoon we went in the
car for a look to see where Dad saw the boar earlier
the morning before. On the way there Kylie and Dad
shot a Sow each out of a small mob. After a bit of
discussion, the plan was to walk tomorrow late morning
to see if we could get that Boar. On Monday morning
Kylie and I went to check the furthermost dam on the
block where we saw some pig tracks on Saturday. We
got to the dam, the dogs were only half keen, and so
I decided we should have a quick walk up through the
gully. We were about 700 meters in, and Peppa,Leo
& Boz took off.
DANE/BULL ARAB BULL ARAB
They were treed quarry at 1.17km’s. I finally got
within sight and saw they had a good hold of a huge
Sow which I guessed her weight at about 110kg. I
got in and dispatched her, got a photo and we went
back to camp for a quick feed and ready for the next
walk. We got ourselves ready at our walking spot, I
nominated myself to go high in the thick scrub near
the top of the ridge with the dogs. Dad was going
to be a little lower in the ridge and Kylie, and Aidan
went out in the open with their rifles. I got around the
bend in the ridge close to where Dad saw the Boar
cross the track previously. The dogs were getting keen
by this stage. I saw Boz go straight into a thick patch
of long grass where a huge grunt and hit up took
place. I stood for a moment to see where the other
dogs were, and sure enough, they made their way
to him and lugged up. I got to where I could see the
dogs swinging off this massive Boar, what a sight. I
tried to tip him, but there was no way I was going to
be able to, so I just held onto him and finished him
off. After all the commotion I called dad over to have
a look, he said: “Holy crap, he’s huge!”
About 20 minutes later, after taking a heap of
photos and chatting to dad, I yelled out to Kylie to
come up. Dad and I just went for a quick walk while
Kylie and Aidan were making their way up, we got
100 meters and the dogs hit up again, then silence.
A couple of pigs run past us, but the tracker said
treed quarry 175 meters in the direction Kylie was.
I ran down the steep descent to where they had
this Boar held. This pig had some good fight in him
and was giving it to the dogs. Dad said that was
the ginger and black Boar he had seen previously.
We dragged the Boars to the closest bit of clearing
we could get the quad too. The Boar on the ridge
wasn’t so easy, and my arms were hurting like hell.
We hooked up the quad and took the Boars to a
good-looking tree to weigh them. The first Boar went
119.55kg, and the second went 108.15kg. I was
stoked and could not wipe the smile off my face.
Two awesome Boars, so close together. That was us
done for the trip, and we just chilled back at camp
with a few beverages and a nice meal to finish the
day. This trip was definitely worth the wait.