Boars in Oz

[Ned Makim 116]

Went for another run on Sunday morning. Didn't pick up anything significant, just this little sow. We kill the sows too because pigs are a pest animal over here and the landholders want them all eradicated. The danger in that is your dogs can learn that small pigs are just as good as big pigs. How we get around it is firstly to chase big pig selection as a genetic trait (some here argue is a learned trait but I firmly believe it is hereditary). The second is to get them off the little pig as quickly as possible and run on to get another. There's a bit more to it than that but that's the basic picture.

 

The three dogs are Roger, Mary and Barney. We only used Mary to catch the pig. (Ones this size you can grab yourself, they don't really need much of a dog.

All three are Makim dogs but Roger and Barney are where I am going with the dogs. Barney is about 14 months and Roger is about 11 months. All the dogs will find off the truck or on the ground and grab good boars one out.

 

 

And on other matters, I have been sticking my nose into other forum topics but seem to rub a few the wrong way. I might be a bit raw for the more civilised hunters I suppose. Anyway, I think it might be best if I just left everyone else to their own devices and concentrated on my own thread, if readers are interested.

Also several of you have said you would like to see all this for real. No worries. If you get to Oz and to my home town, I'll show you how we do what we do.

Cheers.

Edited January 21, 2010 by Ned Makim

[lost scouse 46]

nice dogs ned and good write up .Ned is the boar hunting a job or sport

[Ned Makim 116]

You can do it for a living but you have to be in prime country and the export market has to be sound. You get about $1 a kilo for dressed pigs (intestinal tract removed but skin on, head on and heart lungs and liver attached. Kidneys too. They go to Germany, Poland.

My son does in professionally but also works on a station (farm?). I am also an accredited harvester (that's what it's called) but get my real money from a contract gardening business and a few blokes working for me so the pig catching is just a passion for me now.

Cheers.

[Ned Makim 116]

Had another go at the pigs yesterday afternoon. Landholder had contacted us about a few pigs camped near his lucerne crop that he wanted gone. A young bloke here who has one of our strain came with me and we took one worker (Mary), one very advanced young dog (Barney)and one green young dog, Roger. After a bit of instruction from the cockie (landholder) on the lay of the land (we'd never been there before) we launched off in the truck along the river. There was some obvious sign here and there but we really didn't expect to see anything at that time. It was 5pm and stinking hot but that and the fact that the pigs had not been harassed worked in our favour...

as we turned away from the river to follow the bloke's boundary fence Mary flew off the tray of the truck heading south. The sound of her leaving the vehicle made me look around. As Mary crossed under the fence at a dam, three little pigs broke from the grass. Theyu had been watering early because of the heat and we caught them in the semi open country. She'd winded them and was among them. Mary took the biggest as my young mate and I got through a nearby gate in the fence. Mary had grabbed one and the other two were bolting across the lucerne. We floored the truck and got to them before they hit the cover and Roger had the second. The third pig wheeled and headed for the river. We had Barney caged and let him out. Third pig grabbed.

It was all over in less than two minutes.

None of the pigs were monsters as you can see but I was happy to get the three on offer. The cockie was thrilled and has invited us back and no one, hunters or dogs, got hurt so we rated it a ripper afternoon. Love to get the big boars, of course, but you can't get a killer every time...

 

That's me and Mary with the pigs. The blood on the shirt is not indicative of the hunt itself, just mess from lifting the pigs to be dressed on the vehicle...not sure why but I felt I should explain that. Sticking pigs is messy but not a wild flailing about. It's a precision poke with a sharp blade and that's that. Very quick dispatch.

 

 

Cheers.

Edited January 23, 2010 by Ned Makim

[riohog 5,727]

nice one ned ..good job!!

[Ned Makim 116]

Cheers rio. It was a bit of fun and solved a pest problem so all good. Great training for the dogs too. We are into managing the dogs... that means we don't just let everyone go and see what happens. If you get the drop on pigs like this it's about getting everyone of them so it's good for the dogs to have to wait for their go. It's part of teaching dogs to go for their own pig so your yields are better. And it is also completely unnecessary to have more than one dog on pigs of this size. Indeed we expect the dogs to grab the monsters one-out so these things were well within the dogs' capabilities.

Edited January 23, 2010 by Ned Makim

[jdkreps 0]

really good thread ned!! will definately be keeping an eye on it in the future ,

happy hunting

james

[ArchieHood 3,692]

Very enjoyable read Ned thanks , as for upsetting other folk on here I wouldn't worry to much your far enough away

[ratkilla 35]

Glad i found this post, i've found it intresting hearing about your hunts so far Ned. Do you use the pig meat as dog food as well ? Is lamping them very productive ?

[Ned Makim 116]

This another pix of Barney, he's a Makim dog, as you'd imagine. About 14 months old and one we will breed from in the future.

Good finder and hard.

 

 

The second pix is of Barney at five months and the third is of Barney and his owner Mitch (two weeks after the pup photo) and Barney's first boar. Mitch (who is a bit inexperienced) did not have him plated up when he went to look over some new country.

Barney winded a pig off the truck, jumped and ran 400 metres to crash into two boars fighting. One boar escaped and Barney swung on the other accumulating a bit of 'experience' as can be seen from the pix.

His brother Stan is very good too but Barney is more the early starting style.

 

 

 

The boar only went 55kgs dressed so he wasn't anything huge but he could blue (fight) and it was a mighty effort for the pup on his own. Very arrogant dog but you can manage that with a bit of long lead training. And the arrogant ones don't powder (give up) at the sight of their own blood.

 

Cheers.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Ned Makim

[Ned Makim 116]

And thanks very much for the comments.

 

The meat ends up as either dog food in the big freezer (I have a few dogs...) or on the plates of the Germans and Poles. There is an export market for boar but it has been very shaky of late so we are now ignoring the trade to just enjoy to battle.

 

And re upsetting people, it's the being too far away that bugs me. Like lots of Australians, I prefer to deal with things face to face so I get frustrated by petty sniping. Anyway, as I said, I'll try to mind my own business and stick to this thread as long as you blokes are interested.

 

Thanks again for the courtesy.

 

Cheers.

[Ned Makim 116]

Oh and on lamping, (spotlighting?) yes very productive although good nose dogs don't need the light. They just jump when they smell a pig and grab it. Ours will go up to 2 kms on a scent and hit what's at the end of it. But there are thousnads of dogs out here that do that, not just Makim dogs.

Cheers.

[riohog 5,727]

always a pleasure to see you dogs ,ned keep it coming !

[Ned Makim 116]

Thanks again Rio. I've started a thread on the dogs on the ozziedoggers forum which details the breeding and plans etc. With the line before mine, Butters dogs we can go back nine generations to the 1980s. I know that might not be long to you blokes but these are effectively crossbreds and everyone of them was hard tested working stock.

The thread is in the VIP section so unless you're a paid member ($10 a year) you can't see it.

I'll just keep posting bit and pieces here either way, but just wanted to point that out if any readers were keen.

Cheers.

[Ned Makim 116]

Heading for a run tonight onto another bloke's country. I'm meeting him at a point out in the bush and we're doing a run with a couple of his dogs and a couple of mine into some harvested cropping (stubble) that borders scrub running up into rough little hills. It's a recipe for trouble and that's why we're going there. I have high hopes (as always) for a decent boar or two but they often get into the rocky hills and back up into little caves and things and make their stand. The dogs and us have top go in head on and it can get messy. A big boar backed into a little one pig sized rock cave is no bloody joke, I'll tell you. All very wild in the dark with head lamps on and a knife in your hand. We don't carry any sort of firearm, you have no choice but to put your hands on the fighting pig.

I'll let you know what happens. It's 10 am here so it will be about 24 hours until I report in, if nothing goes wrong.

Cheers.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Ned Makim