09 December 2013, 13:06
Colin CastelliBushpigs in the Rain
Outfitter and PH: Ian Blakeway, AR Name: Hunting the Box HThe Box H
www.huntingtheboxh.co.za
I was in RSA last week for some sightseeing and decided to extend the trip for 5 days to hunt Bushpig with AR member Ian Blakeway near Kokstad in KZN. I knew it was off season for Bushpigs and Ian forewarned me that we might get rained out. However the other business I had in RSA was on a fixed schedule and I was making the hunting fit with it and not the other way around. I had a great time hunting with Ian, his son, his houndsman, and hounds. I was specifically targeting Bushpigs with the possibility of a Reedbuck if things worked out time wise, to there wasn't a diversity of game expected to be spotted or taken.
Before I start there were two people besides Ian that were always with us to make sure things were arranged and the dogs were working properly. First was Ian's 12 year old son Josh, who at every break politely offered everyone drinks and snakes from the cool box, wrangled dogs for us, and generally ensured that the little things were taken care of so we didn't have to worry about it. The other person was Tbane (sp?), Ian's houndsman, this guy knew all the dogs by sight, voice, and spoor; handling them like a true professional. He even accompanied us into the field on crutches after buggering his knee.
Saturday, 30 November 29013
On Saturday morning we set off with a pack of blue and red tick hounds in search of Bushpigs. We met up with two local hunters to help us work the terrain and the hounds. We soon found a spot with old Pig sign and were ready to leave, but the strike dogs became excited so the decision was made to put in two dogs and see if anything developed. The dogs hit spoor and were off. We made our way around the block we were on and let the other seven dogs out of the bakkie. Soon we were making our way through the gum trees and scrub in pursuit. After about 30 minutes on of the hounds came back to us and we took a knee to figure out where the pack was. Soon the rest of the pack passed about ten meters to our left at a trot. At this point we figured they had lost scent, suddenly a Bushpig appeared trotting three meters behind the dogs. We were so surprised that neither Ian or I was prepared to shoot. This wold be the last time that day we had a visual on the pig. The dogs worked him for another couple of hours and were on him, but we couldn't get a visual on him for the rest of the morning. We did pinpoint the pig at one point, but he eluded us and the dogs. This is obviously and old smart pig, he went into a grown over stream and slipped the dogs and we never saw him leave the water. He either had a SCUBA set hidden nearby or burrowed up into the thick mats of dead reeds and just waited for us to get tired of looking for him. We really needed some Jack Russels today to get in underneath the dead reeds and flush him out for us. The dogs seemed to be following a combination of new/old spoor and we didn't want to wear them out, so we pulled the pack for the day and made plans to sit on a bait to the north this evening.
At this point I have to question the sanity of a person who pays good money to take a holiday that includes sitting for hours on a cold, wet, windy night for 4~5 hours without accomplishing anything... That's why they call it hunting and not killing.
Sunday, 01 December 2013
This morning at breakfast, Ian received a call from one of the neighboring farms stating that the local village had spotted a gang of taxi-poachers. I agreed to accompany him and we were soon in the company of three other neighboring farmers and the local community as we awaited the return of the poachers tom their cars. After some time and heated discussion between the farmers, community, farm security officer, the local Induna, and the poachers, the representatives of KZN Parks and the Police arrived. Luckily for the community we caught the poachers red-handed with a dead Oribi. After another hour or so at the village, we all headed off to the Police Station. One of the trucks with the poachers in it tried to make a run for it, but were cut off by the local farm security officer and then placed in the back of the police van for the remainder of the ride. We spent about an hour or so at the Police Station while reports were filled out and statements given.
After returning to the Farm, we both had a lay down, in preparation for sitting on a bush pig bait that evening. When we arrived at the bait site, just before dark, we potted a nice Reedbuck Ewe for the pot. Ian's wife Felicity will be pleased with us. We sat on the blind for about 4 hours without any luck, just getting cold and miserable in the wind and rain. Again, I question the sanity of paying to spend your holiday in in some of the hunting conditions I've put up with over my life. But, any day in the bush is better than a great day in the office.
Monday, 02 December 2013
We gave the dogs, and us, a day of rest after being out in the blink until after midnight the night before. In the morning we ran into town to do some errands and were pleased to see our friends the poachers were sitting outside the courthouse waiting to appear before the judge. So at least they spent one night in the cells! This afternoon we went in search of a nice Reedbuck Ram and were fortunate enough to find one in the first 30 minutes of glassing the valleys from the farm's perimeter roads. If you've never hunted in the southern KZN, there is no cover in the area the Reedbuck like. We moved the truck further down the road, bailed out an snuck back along the road until we could get a shot. A single shot from the suppressed .308 and he as just waiting to expire. We put a finishing shot into him for insurance but it wasn't necessary. The shot was facing towards us and the bullet went from the check all the way into the back leg, where it stopped on the far side just under the skin. His innards were like jelly when we lifted him into the Bakkie.
This evening, we went to check a staff compound near Harding that had been bothered with a big pig in the past to see if there way anything to sort out. When we arrived, the local staff told us that a bush pig came every night and ate out of the trash bins for leftovers and spoiled fruit and veg. We couldn't see any fresh spoor, so we called it a night and returned to the farm to get some sleep. I considered suggesting that we go and sit on the bait we'd been sitting on, bet decided against it as we have an early morning tomorrow with the dogs.
Tuesday, 03 December 2013
There was some rain last night, but hopefully we can find some fresh spoor somewhere and put the dogs onto it. We met uP with Niel and Pete to help us with finding the pigs. First we decided to check the staff compound that Ian and I visited last night to see if there was any action overnight. The pigs had visited, but they were mostly small and the terrain was very thick. We did get a good laugh when we found some marijuana growing in the garden that the pigs were eating out of. We decided that was the reason that the pigs were visiting, the reason the staff were mad at them, and that if we did find the pigs they would be happily napping I the sunshine. In the end we decided not to try for these pigs bases on size and terrain and went in search of fresh spoor. Shortly after leaving the staff compound the rainless started again and totally ruined the chances of the dogs to follow a spoor. We had some coffee and sandwiches with Niel and Pete and the headed back to the farm to rest up for blind sitting this evening. Wayne called to let us know that the pigs fed on the bait sometime during the previous night.
The blind was a total bust this evening, we sat until about 0200 and didn't even hear a single pig. All we heard was a couple of Reedbuck whistling off to our left front.
Wednesday, 04 December 2013
We are down to the wire today and are hoping for good results with the dogs. It rained until about 0200 last night and that will make fresh spoor easy to spot and the scent trails very defined for the dogs. We found a really promising spot where the pigs crossed the road within the last several hors and let the Strike Dogs off the Bakkie to see what developed. They were off like a shot and began running fast. We've goat as all party showing up today with just Pete to help out. This has us worried about keeping up with the dogs because they are obviously running hard on good spoor and sound like they are pushing a pig ahead of the. Ian and I end up using the radio direction finder to track the dogs this morning because they are almost constantly out of earshot. We finally caught up with the hounds and chased them in the wattle groves for awhile before they ended up back at the same stream we lost the pig in earlier. The poor hounds didn't want to give up, but every time the tried to walk on the dead reeds their legs went through and they were foundering on their bellies and had to be pulled out. Again, a Jack Russell would have been invaluable here. We kept after pigs on different spoors until about 1000 when the rain started again and washed away any scent trails that were available. We've still got this evening in the blind and we are very hopeful. The weather is supposed to be good and we hope the pigs come in like clockwork.
We got to the blind at about 1900 and a very slight mist was falling, nothing to dissuade a pig from coming to dinner. Immediately after we got in the blind, it started to really rain, but stopped after about 10 minutes and both Ian and I thought this would be our window of opportunity and we'd take a nice 12th hour pig to end the trip on a high note.....Oh, the optimism of the hopeful. After stopping for a
Bout 15 minutes we'd discovered the rain earlier was simply priming the pumps! We gave this current monsoon/typhoon/hurricane downpour about 20 minutes to slacken and it just kept coming down. I made the call at about 2145 that we. We're just wasting time and called the hunt.
In the end I hunted for five days, experienced a new way of hunting (with hounds) met some nice people (PH, PH's family, neighbors, and other local hunters), and took a nice Reedbuck Ram. I'll get the Bushpig next time, that's why they call it 'Hunting' and not 'Shooting.' I sure I'll return to revisit these Bushpigs….
I had to laugh.