After a succesfull hunt with my mate Andy we decided that the best way to celebrate a good hunt is to go out again!
Saturday finally rolls around with the sound of my alarm going off! with a leap and a bound I'm out of bed, during the week when ever my alarm goes off I generaly hit the snooze button not the case on the weekend
, and its 3am! I wont be travelling alone this morning as my wife Tracey is coming along as well. 4 am the dogs in the box and we're on the road a quick stop in Taupo for a coffee and before you know it we're at the gate, soon to be met by Andy and Garreth along with Garreths partner Hayley. We drive in half a k or so and let the dogs out for a chance to stretch their legs,we check the wind and its coming from a sou-west direction so we make our approach from the nor-east. We decide to drive with a couple of dogs on the box (Spook & Lass) till we come across some sign. Half an hour latter both dogs jump of and head into the scrub I park the ute up and we wait quietly for a bark or squeal. 15 minutes or so latter Andy hears a dog barking way back down the road then I hear a pig squeal out! with this I let the other dogs out (Whiskey & Brin) we sprint down the road 3 or 4 hundred metres and we're confronted by a blackberry choked gully where the dogs are holding their pig! Another 50 or so metres away there is a side road heading over towards where the dogs and pig are! We run down there and cut a track through the blackberry choked young pines to where the dogs have there pig. In with the knife and we have some pork! Tracey had just witnessed her first pig kill and she was buzzing! We gut the pig and carry it back to the ute. Once we're back at the ute we have a break, a quick coffee and a sandwitch before heading up another road. We drive for another 15-20 minutes and the dogs fly of the box and into the pines I quickly let Whiskey and Brin out of the box and bang they grab another pig we all rush in and I stick pig #2 Tracey then tells us she saw another pig bolt across the road as we were heading in. In the mean time the dogs have gone again and before we know it they've caught another pig up the road! With pig #3 stuck and on the ute we can't believe our luck! and its only 11am! We decide to carry on up the road to see what else is around 20 mins latter I notice a reasonable pig print on the road side. I along wth all 4 dogs head up on to a rise just of the road to give the dogs a better chance to wind scent. No sooner had I got up onto the rise and the dogs are gone Spook and Lass head right & Brin and Whiskey go left 5 minutes later Lass & Spook are bailing a couple of hundred metres up the road, Whiskey & Brin race past and up the road to join in and no sooner had they hit the scrub and they come racing out chasing another pig! they soon have this 1 bailed just of the side of the road and I sneak in with my 45/70. On seeing the pig I realise the pig is small enough for the dogs to hold so I sool the dogs in and they grab it! in with the knife and pig #4 gets to ride home on the ute! In the mean time the pig that Spook & Lass have bailed gets away not before giving spook a couple of pokes with its tusk! I check Spooks injuries and find they're not life threatening. 11.45 am and we call it a day.3 pigs head back with Andy, Gareth & Hayley and 1 with Tracey and I.
