Here are two pict's I snipped from the digital video taken of my hunt in Zim this past April. These were filmed from a boat coming back up the Zambezi:





They are rare in this part of the Zambezi Valley. Unfortunately, they were on the Zambian side of the river

So...where does one go to hunt good bushpig?

Moz is an option in certain areas in the Zambezi delta I am told. What about Zim - are there any concessions in the south still huntable holding good bushpig? How about SA, they can be hunted in Natal with dogs, anybody do this?

I'm after bushpig in Kwa-Zulu Natal in about two weeks. The animals are predominately noctournal so they are mostly hunted by baiting with lights or by full moon. Mmmm, spareribs on the braai!

The area I am headed for in Moz. this fall has plenty of bush pig. They are not on my agenda, but you never know what can happen in Africa.

Mmmmmm. I'm really keen to hunt bushpig. Perhaps next year.

Thanks for the photos.

Bill C,

Great pictures. Rare in my expereince to see bushpig like that. I don't think they are particularly scarce anywhere in southern Africa but they are basically nocturnal and like heavy cover so they are not often seen in the daylight. I personally want one badly so perhaps a little night hunt in RSA might be on the agenda this year.

BTW did you take the pics in the Gorge? That is a magic place.

Regards,

Mark

I shot a dandy in the middle of the day in northwest part of Mo'bique. Area where Mo'bique, Zim, and Zambia all corner with one another. We were just hiking along in the mid afternoon and found them sunning about 75 yards away in the open.

Wendell Reich can help you out on this area. Lots of buffs, crocs, and hippos in the area as well.

Bill,

Bushpigs are common thru out the coastal and other sub tropical regions of South Africa. They cause a lot of damage to cultivated crops, and are not stopped by fences of any kind. If you hunt them in South Africa, your chances of getting a really big one, is best when you hunt an area that is far from other farmland.

We mainly hunt them at night over bait, from a stand. Down our way, you do see them during the day from time to time, but a sighting like yours are pretty unique.

I believe they are also hunted with dogs during the day, sounds like a real rush!

Bill,
I hunted this four bushpigs stalking in an swampy area Hunyani near Lions Den, Zimbabwe:

A very big trophy male:

Roger Whittal of Humani can get you good bushpig.I took mine there hunting over bait at night.The property is part of the Save River Valley Conservancy , well over a million acres in southern Zimbabwe with all the big Five present.I highly reccomend this destination for bushpig.It is a very exciting hunt when you can hear the hippos down at the river and a leopard sawing away as you sit in the dark waiting for the pigs to come...eyedoc

Thanks guys for the posts/info. The bushpig didn't react to us or the boat, even when we turned off the motor (most game I was trying to photo took off as soon as the rpm's dropped!).

I "hunted" bushpig a few times on my 1st trip to SA (Natal), but frankly I didn't know what it was all about at the time. We just walked for hours following low trails through the vegetation. The amount of destruction they can do is amazing, they were feeding on the pineapple/palm-looking plants (I forget their name). I can only imagine what they do to crops. But we never saw site of one. Some other guys in camp were hunting them over bait at night, but did not connect. I think dogs are the ticket when hunting them in the thick stuff.

Matt/Fred - I heard too that Moz offers good hunting in the areas that you mention. I have a video from Zambezi Delta Safaris that shows a number of good ones being taken.

OldSarg - good luck, let us know how you make out!

Mark - your knowledge of Africa is impressive, the film was indeed taken in the Gorge, a humbling and impressive place indeed.

Norbert - great picts, but how did you get them to stand so still?

Eyedoc - thanks for the referral, their day rate of $350/day for plainsgame certainly does make this attractive, perhaps as an add-on to a tuskless ele hunt.

As I've only seen picture of bushpigs, I have trouble getting a sense for their size. How large do they get? Anyone know?

Whitworth

I've got to ask this, cause I've wondered for years--and I don't mean to start anything--but why do guys hunt these pigs? What is the trophy aspect? I mean, they have no horns, they don't have tusks like a Warthog, in fact they look a lot like any ordinary old pig to me. Am I missing something? Is it just the challenge? I can assure you that had I seen one on any of my safaris, I would have just said "Hmmm. Neat". And watched him wander off. I realize that they are hard to get, but that doesn't make a trophy out of 'em for me.

I had never ben excited about them until 1997 when I visited a farm in Zimbabwe and the landowner had one mounted in his home.The combination of red on white and black was very striking.The eyes were green and very nicely accented.I could not take my eyes off the thing and that was when I determined to get me one of them.Next trip back to Zimbabwe and the bushpig was high on my list and is now one of my favorite trophies....eyedoc

They are difficult to hunt and are not a run of the mill package trophy. The mount/picture is always distinctive too...
This is a bit like the giraffe/ostrich debate, one man's trash is another's treasure.
For me, a big ole warthog is far more impressive.

Actually, they are quite a fun hunt! They get around 150 to 200lbs. Not exceptionally big compared to say Russian boar, but on the average a whole lot nastier. I hunt feral hog with dogs and not much else in Florida, and we generally live catch them to relocate them to our trophy hunting grounds, but I would hesitate to do that with bushpig! We had a few Staffordshire Terriers in RSA we tried using as catch dogs, using Jack Russels as bay dogs (don't laugh, they bay better than most black mouth curs, with a whole bunch more heart), but I could never get any of the guys in camp to help me leg a bushpig with a few pits hanging off the ears. I had one crazy old PH working with us when we started a few years back that wouldn't hesitate to jump in front of a buff or taunt lions, but when it came to live catching bushpig, it was "no thanks, I'm not stupid!" They make a great trophy, not quite as ugly as a warthog, but high on the "what the hell is THAT" meter. A nice, fun hunt as well. We get excited when a client hunts one, as the hunt can go well into the evening and when it's done, there is a great excuse to stay up drinking all night!
Any of you PH's that hunt them around eastern Mpumalanga, we found they can't resist No-Name rusks dipped in egg and powdered with millies.

Thanks, guys. They still just don't appeal to me, kind of like a pig's a pig's a pig. Some folks hunt 'em in the USA too, which to me makes sense perhaps for meat or just something to hunt and shoot, but I see no trophy value and sure wouldn't pay for one. Each to his own. Enjoy!!!

Arts - I don't know why exactly I find myself drawn to them, but I guess if I had to put my finger on it, it would be that they seem like a worthy adversary and a challenge to hunt. I do not think an animal needs horns or antlers to be a trophy, and the mounts I have seen are dramatic...bushpig just look nasty. They are pretty cheap to hunt, without the pressure associated with the glory trophies. Of course, I have not shot one yet.

I took a bushpig in 2002 behind dogs in the Eastern Cape. This is a pretty exciting hunt. Because you actually close with the pig when it goes to bay, although you may have to shoot it to slow it down, it would be an opportunity to use a spear to take a African game animal. I wish I had made arrangements to do this.

The hunt I took this on was Chappie Scott's (Scott of Africa) Eastern Cape Hunt which is really nice. Bushbuck, bushpig, cape grysbok, blue duiker, and white blesbok and bontebok are available. Accommodations are really terrific and the scenery is breath taking. Like hunting Pebble Beach!

I had an interesting mount done of the bushpig, and will post it in a bit along with some shots of my trophy room. Ku-dude

hhmag
Here's a pic of my mates Jack Russel called Rip. The little bloke is dead now but he used to grab the pigs and hang on. Gary (his owner) hunts with another two JR and a Bull ArabX bitch, they are quite a team and have accounted for some nice boars.

I took these two Bushpigs while hunting Buff in Zambia.