Got back last night after 10 days away - Goodooga area. Dry as toast up there. The trick was to hunt any cover near water. We ran 3 bikes that would ride thru the scrub parallel to the vehicles (with dogs on board). Any pigs that were flushed ran into the jaws of the dogs and any that didn't were ridden down and shot. It was a great trip with a grand total of 95 pigs biting the dry dust.

My staghound did a great job, as being so dry there was little cover and he could use his beady eyes and fast speed to best effect. He would chase and lug or chase and bail a pig until the heavy hitters got there - game over.

Here is one he caught that had been hit with an 85 grain .303/25 and that ran on like it had been hit with a peashooter.




Here is another black and white boar that was flushed and that he ran down. We all agreed we had never seen pigs so fast and with such stamina - the heavier dogs just couldn't get close.



Having a cool down after a long chase - pig legs for dog meat!




Here is a morning's load.



And a few hanging off my mate's Hilux another morning.



A bit of lugging action



A fat little boar who I ran down - he's penned and being fattened up now.



The country was just a BIT dry........




A fox who ran in front of a 120 grain 6.5mm Sierra SP.....



And one tired and hot girl - dinked back to the truck.





My Ruger 96/44 shooting 240 grain Sierra JHC handloads accounted for about a dozen pigs, with none going anywhere but down when hit properly.

Good hunt report. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Great stuff, I`m headed out to a place north of there, I hope the ones you missed are headed to where I am going

Nice report and I really like the looks of that dog of yours.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny_Revolver:
Great stuff, I`m headed out to a place north of there, I hope the ones you missed are headed to where I am going

Water, feed and cover - if you have all three and there are pigs there, that's where they will be. Most of ours were within 500 metres of a water source, under what was left of the dead lignum or under shady trees.

Where I go, has always had bore drains. The bores were being capped, I`m not entirely sure when, I was told it was to be by last xmas. This has to change things, although I wonder how long the drains will have water for after capping? I dunno.
But, like most ppl, I just go out there to be there, if I get pigs, or any bloody thing at all really, it`s a bonus.

Well done mate. Some healthy looking pigs there. Good pics to.

Had to put in my bit. Bloody brilliant pics, mate. Love the one of the dog in the trough, and you three blokes on the bikes. Damn dry.

Its a hell of a lot dryer (sic) that I thought it would be.

I wonder just how dry Fords Bridge would be?

Too damn dry, I think.

Our school holidays this year coincide with the deer season. And the Grampians are 80 kilometres away.

Real heresy but I would rather shoot a pig or two. Than chase a Red.

One (actually more than one) of those pigs is very big. What weight I wonder?

nice work. looks like everyone had a ball.

Very cool. I enjoyed hearing about how you Aussies go about hunting pigs. It is something I would very much like to do.

Your buddies on the three bikes, rifles slung across their backs, look like desperados, or extras for a Mad Max Movie. What fun!

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny_Revolver:
Where I go, has always had bore drains. The bores were being capped, I`m not entirely sure when, I was told it was to be by last xmas. This has to change things, although I wonder how long the drains will have water for after capping? I dunno.
But, like most ppl, I just go out there to be there, if I get pigs, or any bloody thing at all really, it`s a bonus.

This place is now mostly capped. Believe me, the wter won't sit in the bore drain for long, given the dryness of the country and natural porosity of that black or red soil. However, you can be sure if there's cover near water tanks and troughs the hogs will be there. We were getting them out of stands of trees within a couple of hundred metres. My spot also has a river through it, and you could get them coming off the river first thing in the morning.

Fenring, you've been running that 96/44 for some time now. I'm about ready to buy one. Would you recommend it? Any downsides that you know of? Is yours scoped? Anyway, thanks for a reponse.

quote:

Originally posted by Ugger:
Fenring, you've been running that 96/44 for some time now. I'm about ready to buy one. Would you recommend it? Any downsides that you know of? Is yours scoped? Anyway, thanks for a reponse.

Yeah, I've had it away a few times now, and found it to be a good killer, very reliable and relly light and handy to carry. Mine is scoped with a Bushnell 1.5 to 4.5. It suits the rifle just fine and makes it more versatile than the open sights, and makes shots at 100 metres etc. fairly easy. It's also easier to shoot running targets with a scope IMO.

The only issue I've had with mine is a small crack in the stock just behind the receiver - but my mate's 96/44 has given no problems in this area.

I don't normally like lever actions, but was attracted to the short and very smooth throw of the 96, and the conventional stock with decent height comb and hand filling fore end, compared to "cowboy" style ones.

The only thing is - I'd like a bigger mag, but sadly none are made! When you get amongst a mob of pigs you need all the firepower you can get.

Thanks for the heads-up Fenring. I'm going to order one today. I've got a bunch of other leverguns, but want the 96/44 to both knock around and shoot javalina with. I'll have to practice quick magazine swaps to make-up for the short shot capacity. Have fun.

I think you will like it!

Cool pics and it sounds like a damn good hunt. I bet your bitch can flat out fly in the open country.

Today I watch a video by the Bloom Brothers and it was quite entertaining. Those guys have fun and have a good sense of humor too.

I went out last night and killed 9 hogs but nothing of any size. Here's a couple of pictures.

Im glad to see that in another parts of the world there are fans of hunting with dogs too ,what kind of dogs do you use a saw greyhounds and what are the catch dogs are dogos banned in Australia ,i would like to send you some Argentine publicatios of hog hunting ,thak you for the photos.Juan

Do you guys ever use knives when you are chasing the pigs with hounds?

I used to do that a lot in South Texas.

7 1/2" blade is perfect. Long enough to reach the great vessels above the heart, but not too big as to be unwieldy. I settled on my old M-16 bayonet.

Interestingly enough we used Dingo/Pit Bull crosses for the hold dogs.

Wild pork tastes great.

LD

looks like a good trip

those stag hounds are great looking dogs

quote:

Originally posted by juanpozzi:
Im glad to see that in another parts of the world there are fans of hunting with dogs too ,what kind of dogs do you use a saw greyhounds and what are the catch dogs are dogos banned in Australia ,i would like to send you some Argentine publicatios of hog hunting ,thak you for the photos.Juan

Staghounds (greyhound X deerhound) are popular, as are wolfhound X mastiff, and great dane X bullmastiff. We have a couple of our own Australian breeds that are popular, the Bandog and Bull Arab.

quote:

Originally posted by lawndart:
Do you guys ever use knives when you are chasing the pigs with hounds?

I used to do that a lot in South Texas.

7 1/2" blade is perfect. Long enough to reach the great vessels above the heart, but not too big as to be unwieldy. I settled on my old M-16 bayonet.

Interestingly enough we used Dingo/Pit Bull crosses for the hold dogs.

Wild pork tastes great.

LD

We do a lot of knife work generally, especially in thick cover. We've had a drought the last few years, so a lot of the thick undergrowth has died off, however. I generally use a 7 inch Tanto style knife, and I also have a larger 9 inch bladed bowie I made myself.

The rifle in our of the photos is a ruger 223 ,inst a bit small for hogs,i see the photos again and the terrain is similar to la pampa where i hunt wild boars too ,i would like to see dogos there ,but they are banned in Australia .On respect to knives i used tantos too mostly cold steels .Juan