Well winter's arrived, and with it the pigs. Usually at the start its Sow's and mob pigs with the Boars showing themselves around September onwards as the Sow's come in season.
I was asked to take a guy for a night hunt Friday, so about 10pm we headed for a hot spot.
I didn't particularly wish to shoot anything myself, so gave him a .270 and just carried the light. It soon became apparent that a large boar was walking the same route as us and we quickly made our way to a ridgeline that would give us a better veiw of the area. Nothing was in sight so I turned off the light while I tried to work out where the best place to check next would be. Decision made, I turned the light back on and there, 60 yards away was the Boar. He walked straight at us untill I decided he was getting too close,27 paces. I whistled and true to form he stopped, trying to get our wind and turned side on. My mate shot, the boar dropped and slid down the hill, then got back up and bolted. I told him to shoot again, but he'd never used a scope before and was too slow. The boar made it over the hill out of sight. I was still confident of a good shot, but though we searched untill the light went out there was no sign. Yesterday morning I spent another 2 hrs searching and have come to the conclusion that it made it to the river then died and sunk. Both of us are feeling pretty rotten as you could tell this pig had a good bit of age on him and with a liveweight of around 200-230lb there was a good chance of some good tusk's.

I understand your feelings...I wounded and lost two pigs so far this year

It's bitter but we must swallow it...these things happen.

Best luck next time

Post some pictures from your area now that winter arrived, not neccesary hunting pictures, just the grounds where you hunt on.

L

And I lost one last year........it happens, unfortunately. Don't sweat it. If you hunt enough, sooner or later it will happen and that's just a fact of life.

Hi Lorenzo, I've just taken a few pic's as I went around the farm today.
It does not look all that different summer to winter here, unless you get a bad day. The big differance is the temperature will be 10 degrees celcius cooler, and we get 60% of our annual rainfall over this period. Temp today was about 6 degrees and annual rainfal is 3 meters (130 inch's).

This is one of the steeper valley's on the farm. The pigs use it to get around as there is good cover right down the vally floor.

My airstrip, the naughty little piggies have been leaving their calling card. Would only be polite to reply.
Another veiw showing the back of my neighbors farm.

A clearing on the back of my place where I bait the pigs. The tree behind the dogs is where I hide when bowhunting, usual shots are around ten pace's.

This bush edge is a great spot for big boars as its straight down the other side for 150 meters and they use that to outpace the dogs. The land in the background is the other half of the farm. As you can see there is a lot of forest for game to hide in.



The other half of the farm is a lot flatter and has a large number of limestone outcrops and caves. Back in the bush these outcrops and caves are used for cover and protection by the pigs and its a different feeling to be crawling into one when you can hear dogs and a big boar fighting but can't see much.

One of the big limestone arch's on the farm. This one is 24 meters or 80 feet high. You can also get a hole in the ground that will drop and equal distance into an underground stream.Ask my father, he spent 5 hrs sitting at the bottom of one.
As well as pigs we have goats, the occaisonal deer, ducks,pheasants and 3 rivers with trout in them. Not to mention small game like Hare's, Rabbit and possum.
Hope this gives you some insight into the hunting around here.
Cheers
SP

Very nice, SP! Some beautiful country! Thanks for posting the photos.

Beautiful country! Thanks for sharing!

That's not a farm, it's a PARADISE !!!

Thanks for the pics, some day I must visit NZ.

A friend of mine studied there at Christchurch and he said is was one of the best countries he has ever been.

L

Thanks for sharing a small part of your life. Small being used as a relative term, that is one awesome place.

The only downside is that your way to far away for a hunt swap.

Thanks again for sharing.

Shankspony,

If I'm not mistaken the country in those pictures looks just a little bit like heaven! Thank you indeed.

Matt

quote:

Originally posted by Lorenzo:


That's not a farm, it's a PARADISE !!!

Thanks for the pics, some day I must visit NZ.

A friend of mine studied there at Christchurch and he said is was one of the best countries he has ever been.

L

If you do visit NZ, please put aside a week so I can take you hunting.
Cheers
SP

New Zealand and Argentina are my ideas of paradise, thanks for posting the pictures. I bet getting the hogs off the runway is high on your agenda. Makes for a rough landing otherwise.

wondeful pics!!! Thanks for sharing them