Pig numbers are up big time

[ruger 375]

So many pics around at the moment......and heaps of piglets as well on the ground.....for you blokes who hunt north west nsw try and get out now as you will do well.

[Wapiti]

Must've been the good seasons the last few years, eh?

Wasn't too many north of the border there in '19/20.

[ruger 375]

I have been in texas USA since the end of covid, so not really sure about the last couple of years to be honest sorry.

[Wapiti]

That drought, which in that area that stretched right the way along the Qld/NSW border to the Great Divide, caused most of the young of any animals that weren't hand-fed to not survive. Even the feral animals that did get through by some miracle were emaciated beyond being of use to most meat hunters.
Of course, "shooters" bombed up nearly all that were left, as they desperately tried to reach what water there was that wasn't cracked mud.
I had blokes out hunting who just stopped shooting anything and stayed home, as they couldn't use any animal for decent meat. Maybe to mix into sausages I suppose, or dogs.
We spent everything keeping our chosen breeding animals alive.
I remember fighting breaking out between people when hay from interstate was delivered to re-sellers, desperate to get it. At 4X the prices, people raping their fellow country folk. I saw worse too, way worse.

But the drought broke in early 2020, and what was left started to breed. If that drought would've gone one year more, I guarantee there would be no feral pigs and deer left in most of that country. Some might say, bullsh*t, ferals will never disappear from Australia, but from the falseness of suburbia, where people turned their backs on the suffering, they probably didn't ever realise the extent of it. Coming out for a few pointless weekends on a shooting trip where everything had already perished didn't give them any idea how bad it was. You had to live it to know.

So hunters are indeed lucky that they have animals now to justify their licenses and get into the bush again. Great news.

[ruger 375]

Thanks for that reply.

[Bugman]

Got a mate who lives in Tamworth. Says the pig population in the area and surrounds has apparently exploded.

[ruger 375]

Got a mate who lives in Tamworth. Says the pig population in the area and surrounds has apparently exploded.

I haven't been that way for 35 years I reckon

[Billo]

I hunt just 2 hrs west of Sydney and most of the old Cockies do all bugger all for the Feral pigs, lucky for me I guess as I get to shoot pigs weekly now

[Tomotron]

Might be more in northern Vic too.

[ruger 375]

I hunt just 2 hrs west of Sydney and most of the old Cockies do all bugger all for the Feral pigs, lucky for me I guess as I get to shoot pigs weekly now

[Wapiti]

They're hard to catch too at the moment.
Grass is super high and even the ones that have been fenced in with the exclusion fencing are living it up and breeding.
Been feeding them in pig traps to get them familiar, and will set them soon.
A distasteful way to fix the problem in my way of thinking but how else?
People I know who used to come out now just are absorbed by cost of living, work and family needs.

[Oldbloke]

I hunt just 2 hrs west of Sydney and most of the old Cockies do all bugger all for the Feral pigs, lucky for me I guess as I get to shoot pigs weekly now

How would someone from Vic go getting on a property?

Marry the farmers daughter?

I haven't been pigging for years, would be great fun.

[Blr243]

To hell with the cost of living and family. In two weeks I’m goin piggin for ten days

[Wapiti]

I hunt just 2 hrs west of Sydney and most of the old Cockies do all bugger all for the Feral pigs, lucky for me I guess as I get to shoot pigs weekly now

How would someone from Vic go getting on a property?

Marry the farmers daughter?

I haven't been pigging for years, would be great fun.

You haven't a place to hunt pigs?
Forgive my ignorance, but all that public land in Vic, and pigs aren't running around in there?

Nowadays I can imagine how difficult it would be to get onto somewhere in the traditional pig hunting areas, there's quite a few issues there making it hard, without the time and travel expenses of the urban based person to get away.

Personally I'd love to see more understanding and participation on both sides, without resorting to marriage!

[Oldbloke]

I hunt just 2 hrs west of Sydney and most of the old Cockies do all bugger all for the Feral pigs, lucky for me I guess as I get to shoot pigs weekly now

How would someone from Vic go getting on a property?

Marry the farmers daughter?

I haven't been pigging for years, would be great fun.

You haven't a place to hunt pigs?
Forgive my ignorance, but all that public land in Vic, and pigs aren't running around in there?

Nowadays I can imagine how difficult it would be to get onto somewhere in the traditional pig hunting areas, there's quite a few issues there making it hard, without the time and travel expenses of the urban based person to get away.

Personally I'd love to see more understanding and participation on both sides, without resorting to marriage!

Vic has never had large numbers of pigs.
There are a few small populations but nothing like QLD & NSW

And along the Murry River where traditionaly there have been a few most crown land has been converted to NPs.

Having said that I haven't really enquired for a long time.

A few deer only abit over an hr away.

[Tomotron]

As above, we have them.
https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecur ... al-or-wild

[Flyonline]

I don't know what it's like elsewhere, but here they seem to move around a lot. A short time in one spot then bugger off to somewhere else completely different. Makes it hard to pattern them and get the jump, even in dry conditions like we've had they seem to really only steer clear of the super dry/rocky areas that I have seen them in before. There's only one small spot that I have repeatedly seen fresh sign over a period of time.

I doubt there's a lot of hunting pressure either, though no doubt any there is does push them around.

[Wapiti]

Yes, hunting pressure. If conditions are good over a wide area, meaning feed and water, they will certainly vacate the first time they get a traumatic event like being survivors of a mob that's been bombed up by some shooter. They are not dumb and usually will bugger off.
In hard times, because they need water a few times a day, if there's only one waterhole then despite the dangers they simply must visit.

I've had a few I've caught and brought up, and they are smarter than a lot of humans that steal our air. All wild animals are ****** of humans because we are evil, but pigs can open doors, turn on taps and actually sense our moods. I had a pet boar that would attack unknown visitors who looked threatening or raised their voice to me. Incredibly loyal.

[bigrich]

Yes, hunting pressure. If conditions are good over a wide area, meaning feed and water, they will certainly vacate the first time they get a traumatic event like being survivors of a mob that's been bombed up by some shooter. They are not dumb and usually will bugger off.
In hard times, because they need water a few times a day, if there's only one waterhole then despite the dangers they simply must visit.

I've had a few I've caught and brought up, and they are smarter than a lot of humans that steal our air. All wild animals are ****** of humans because we are evil, but pigs can open doors, turn on taps and actually sense our moods. I had a pet boar that would attack unknown visitors who looked threatening or raised their voice to me. Incredibly loyal.

mate , they are bloody smart . i hunt the high ridge/grazing areas south west of stanthorpe and had them play all sorts of devious tricks , hiding, back tracking . they're the black pigs (no big tusks in 'em ) , tend to be more solitary and are very challenging to hunt . western QLD mobs can be like shooting fish in a barrel compared to these suckers . high hunting pressure makes them more nocturnal too

[Wapiti]

Well that's the same place I reside, you know the country then, and funny you should mention black pigs only.
I never saw anything but black pigs around here, even on mates farms right down to below Glen Lyon and Mingoola and along the Dumaresq to Texas on the crops along the river flats. Small Hairy Man country. Including Sundown, and properties west of Glen Lyon dam.
On my cameras over baits I keep out, there's been a mature black and white spotted boar giving me the slip, I've been giving him fair chase chance and the bugger has fathered two litters now of spotted piglets, including all-white slips.
And a few weeks ago I saw a black and white spotted boar on the side of the Texas road, 20k's out of Stanthorpe. He gave me the finger because he knew I couldn't shoot him there.
I was at the pig trap changing the camera, and had blood all up my arms so went to the creek 50m away to wash them. There, standing there was this barrel sized black and white boar, clicking his ample tusks and wildly shaking his head at me. He had poked out of the reeds when I went down there. The b@stard knew I had spent 10 minutes at the trap too, I was making plenty of noise. And the .44 Blackhawk was in the buggy because it kept catching on the trap door as I went in and out, what an idiot! So I backed out and he just ambled off up the creek.
Great stuff, wouldn't change it for anything.
So things are changing.

On the tusks... from here I've got a few double tusk sets I've set on rounds cut from pre-war ringbarked ironbark, that measure 190 - 210mm long. Some of these boars had been chased for years and had killed a few dogs. Two had their back molars rotting out, no wonder they gave me a hard time and were p*ssed off. But despite others trying I got them by just sitting still over oats near water, and taking one shot from one of my 300's.
There are some BIG tusks out there, some old boars. But very few since the drought. It changed things big time, and it will take a long time to change back.

[bigrich]

Well that's the same place I reside, you know the country then, and funny you should mention black pigs only.
I never saw anything but black pigs around here, even on mates farms right down to below Glen Lyon and Mingoola and along the Dumaresq to Texas on the crops along the river flats. Small Hairy Man country. Including Sundown, and properties west of Glen Lyon dam.
On my cameras over baits I keep out, there's been a mature black and white spotted boar giving me the slip, I've been giving him fair chase chance and the bugger has fathered two litters now of spotted piglets, including all-white slips.
And a few weeks ago I saw a black and white spotted boar on the side of the Texas road, 20k's out of Stanthorpe. He gave me the finger because he knew I couldn't shoot him there.
I was at the pig trap changing the camera, and had blood all up my arms so went to the creek 50m away to wash them. There, standing there was this barrel sized black and white boar, clicking his ample tusks and wildly shaking his head at me. He had poked out of the reeds when I went down there. The b@stard knew I had spent 10 minutes at the trap too, I was making plenty of noise. And the .44 Blackhawk was in the buggy because it kept catching on the trap door as I went in and out, what an idiot! So I backed out and he just ambled off up the creek.
Great stuff, wouldn't change it for anything.
So things are changing.

On the tusks... from here I've got a few double tusk sets I've set on rounds cut from pre-war ringbarked ironbark, that measure 190 - 210mm long. Some of these boars had been chased for years and had killed a few dogs. Two had their back molars rotting out, no wonder they gave me a hard time and were p*ssed off. But despite others trying I got them by just sitting still over oats near water, and taking one shot from one of my 300's.
There are some BIG tusks out there, some old boars. But very few since the drought. It changed things big time, and it will take a long time to change back.

i love that country . used to hunt on mt mckenzie out back of tenterfeild years ago too , on private property off gunya road . these days i get out to verona , on the right heading south down stanthorpe/inglewood road . i've seen one or two massive "pied" pigs on this property , but mostly just the little black pigs with tiny little squared off tusks . 60-80kg is big for these guys .never seen any with tusks like you describe in this region . doesn't mean their not there but . seen some big tuskers out at bollon .
deer numbers are well up in this region, been hearing of lots of deer around glenn innes and inverell too . when i encounter deer on this property, their 600 meters away on a open ridge , laughing at me , or standing stock still until i'm 20 meters away as i drive past in the toyota , bolting up into thick timbered ridges before i can get out off the car . done lots of super quiet/patient stalks in likely spots, but like the pigs they pop up when you least expect it

[Wapiti]

Ah yes, Verona. We have a local community group and have regular get together, talk the junk about what's going on, keep abreast of issues others are having. Was very active during the drought, helped people enormously.

Yeah I'm not sure if there's any big tuskers generally in tge open country anymore other than by sheer bad luck on their part, depends on the country. Our joint backs onto Sundown NP, and there's supposed to be the secure Qld Dingo fence maintained there, but it's hard to keep up because the pigs breed in the feral animal factory (that is most NP's) so there are some big boars in there that smash through. We have a few dams up high there, so they love that area and all the alluvial gravel off the granite tors suits their habits. Because it's a 40 minute hard slog to get up there, they hang about because nobody bothers them. It's either very quiet sit and wait, or slow stalking only.
One of my mates down the road has a property where there are plenty of 75kg+ boars, we can't figure out why it does because the country is the same as everyone else's, it's just weird. When winter comes we'll do some slow bowhunting there again. Sometimes it's frustrating picking out the pig you want to arrow there.

[Wapiti]

There's an enormous amount of fallow deer again here too, but only really good for meat. Some people consider there to be some good heads but I don't. Hunters haven't really cottoned on to what quality deer management is, and the results are obvious. Fallow aren't my thing, but they are great healthy eating and should be considered more of a resource in these hard times for the general population and valued.
I've been introducing Hungarian fallow blood into a herd here, and I've got some awesome bucks now. But my main passion is Reds and Wapiti. Gotta do something other people don't.

[Coxy383]

I hunt just 2 hrs west of Sydney and most of the old Cockies do all bugger all for the Feral pigs, lucky for me I guess as I get to shoot pigs weekly now

How would someone from Vic go getting on a property?

Marry the farmers daughter?

I haven't been pigging for years, would be great fun.

You haven't a place to hunt pigs?
Forgive my ignorance, but all that public land in Vic, and pigs aren't running around in there?

Nowadays I can imagine how difficult it would be to get onto somewhere in the traditional pig hunting areas, there's quite a few issues there making it hard, without the time and travel expenses of the urban based person to get away.

Personally I'd love to see more understanding and participation on both sides, without resorting to marriage!

I'm north East Vic near Corryong and no there is no pigs. Haven't seen one in 4 years. And the farmers have never had any on this place in 70 years and it backs onto alpine national park

[Coxy383]

I hunt just 2 hrs west of Sydney and most of the old Cockies do all bugger all for the Feral pigs, lucky for me I guess as I get to shoot pigs weekly now

How would someone from Vic go getting on a property?

Marry the farmers daughter?

I haven't been pigging for years, would be great fun.

You haven't a place to hunt pigs?
Forgive my ignorance, but all that public land in Vic, and pigs aren't running around in there?

Nowadays I can imagine how difficult it would be to get onto somewhere in the traditional pig hunting areas, there's quite a few issues there making it hard, without the time and travel expenses of the urban based person to get away.

Personally I'd love to see more understanding and participation on both sides, without resorting to marriage!

Vic has never had large numbers of pigs.
There are a few small populations but nothing like QLD & NSW

And along the Murry River where traditionaly there have been a few most crown land has been converted to NPs.

Having said that I haven't really enquired for a long time.

A few deer only abit over an hr away.

1000s of deer North East along the Murry

[Jorlcrin]

Had a bit of a look around this arvo; first time doing so for a few weeks.

First time I've had the chance to get around since we had some decent rain here(CW QLD) about 3 weeks back.

2 months back(pre-rain), I'd say we were the same as others have mentioend; pigs in high numbers, though many looking pretty poor.
Also a LOT of piglets on the ground, and and heavily pregnant sows.

And then, about 6 weeks back, the numbers dropped off considerably.
Instead of the overseer shooting 5-10 pigs on his morning run on the bike, he's lucky to even see one or two.

Another interesting indicator; havent seen any of the native lillies that the pigs love digging up, have been disturbed since the rain.
There are huge numbers of those lillies grown to full height, and yet no pigs to dig them up.
LOOKS like the pig population has crashed in this area, for the time being.

BUT, as others have said here, they are known to be a very itinerant animal(often/always on the move), so the next wave of them isnt likely too far away.

On an aside, the diggings I do keep finding post-rain, are from little prickly bulldozers(echidnas), who seem to be good with destroying many, MANY ant colonies in a night!
At the moment, they are out-digging the rabbits...

Funny little critters.

[Wapiti]

Interesting mate, they are probably as you say on a trip elsewhere for awhile.
Sounds like there's another joint with some feed or cover more desirable?

I just brought back in a trail camera that showed a large mob completely destroy a deer in just a few hours, it was one that got caught in a fence thrashing its velvet in preparation for the rut. I wondered if it would make an irresistible treat. Literally destroyed hours after I set the bait up.

A neighbour dropped in a few days ago, he and his boys were out the other night trying a new rifle (a Chimera), and they hit a fallow deer spiker that jumped a lucerne paddock fence and ran under their ute. They were out a few hours and when they returned, they found it's skin and chewed out rib cage against the fence, completely destroyed almost immediately.

I expect many people, especially city political types that know very little, wouldn't realise how very dangerous it is to be out overnight out here, in a gully with a broken leg , immobile with the scent of blood and fear in the air, with nobody knowing where you are. "we'll have a look tomorrow at first light". I know first-hand what can happen when the animals realise that you are hurt badly and no longer a threat to them, in fact the tables completely turn. It's not much fun, having been there myself when the scavengers come calling, and what you have with you can mean all the difference.

It definitely pays to know what's around after dark where you are and be geared up for it. And it isn't a survival pouch with fish hooks, a compass and a signaling mirror.

[Wapiti]

So be aware, we just got an alert to our medical clinic about Japanese Encephalitis being present in feral pigs in the Qld/NSW Border area, and to be aware of and prevent, exposure to mosquitos potentially carrying the virus from infected animals to humans.
Long pants and sleeves, DEET repellant, and mozzie net hats and swags.
You cannot contract (as yet no cases of) transmission from contact with body fluids, only mosquito bites. But add this to the (now quite prevalent) Brucellosis and leptospirosis from blood and any other body fluids when dressing carcasses. Wear disposable gloves and avoid any splashes.

[Valdash]

Time to dust off the rifle and get out there

[Rugbymick]

You can get a vaccine for Japanese Encephalitis. I had to get it to work in PNG. So that would be 1 less thing 5o worry about