Hunt report/ my trip away

[Blr243]

I had high hopes that the pigs would return but when I got back on the scene I think it might have been 2 am all was dead quiet and not a pig to be seen. So I camped on the bare hard ground for a bit but could not sleep and i ended up driving back to the house in the extreme cold Then slept in till 830 am. I’ll try not to venture into the bush at all today. Just rest up and prepare for another go tonight

[xDom]

O my god u lot are impatient. My late night hunt was just a big piece of physical excercise. Slack start this morning. Forced myself out of the swag. Wandering along one of my favourite trails ( just breaking daylight ). Not much going on but diesel started looking to the left with his nose in the air. I felt like I should trust his judgement so I peeled of to the left and started working my way throug the bush. Less than 100 m from our track his body language was getting real serious so I knew I should stop , get down on one knee to see better under the trees and scan withe the thermal binos. I was immediately rewarded with a white blob camped at the base of a tree. I worked my way fwd a few paces to get a tree rest. Crouched and shot the boar at approximately 30 metres Thank you diesel for finding me an ok boar

So do you find the White Hot mode the best on your Thermal?

[Die Judicii]

So do you find the White Hot mode the best on your Thermal?

That's a good question, I can't speak for BLR, but I have mixed preferences.
I prefer White hot when actually taking a shot,,,,, but if I'm watching something beforehand I quite often switch to Black hot for a differing view.
I don't know what it is in particular, but sometimes the animal in question and its outline seems clearer in Black hot.

But if scanning, and looking for animals initially I always use White hot.

Each to his own I guess.

[Blr243]

Yes I use white hot I just had a different evening on the pigs. I must have scared them off last night Tonight they just ran all over the neighbors paddock s and I don’t have permission to shoot there. There were a few that got jumpy and headed for the safety of the bush and I did try to intercept them But I did not succeed. I tried starting my vehicle to In the hope that the noise would make them panic an run off the open paddocks. In the end I realised they just weren’t going to come ove. I counted nearly 100 pigs all grazing away in the safety of the neibours paddocks. I sat there with my equipment and my pockets full of bullets and I just looked at the pigs ...in the end I just jumped in my Ute and headed back to my shack ......time to talk to the neighbors I think

[Blr243]

Update .....live from the paddock. Stars are out. It’s dark. Still. The crickets are going off ....moths are running all over the keypad of my iPad .not cold yet. My property owner had no success in getting hold of his neighbour regarding shooting in his paddocks so I thought I would just tough it out in the reeds hoping to get a clear shot as the pigs crossed the vehicle tracks. They normally travel from one lot of thick reeds to another and then out into the open fields. As I walked along the track I could glimpses of pigs moving across the tracks but often so quick I had no time to shoot or they were too far away. I could here squeals and carrying on all over the place in every direction and I thought if only the reeds were a foot high instead of 10 feet high. But I spose then it would b too easy .. eventually I positioned myself well in relation to the sounds of pigs moving through the reeds towards me. I shot a young b and w boar and then moved another 50 metres west to get to the sounds of more rustling reeds. Swinging the thermal binos around I got onto a boar coming my way so I quickly changed to the rifle and shot him at 20 m. Then the entire section of reeds around me started shaking violently and a big mob of pigs were confused about the shot direction so they all just ran flat out towards me. Anything 30 m away is no problem but when they are right on top of you a thermal scope set on the lowest power is still tricky to get onto fast moving targets .. I did the best I could got another three pigs. I’m sure if not for the muzzle blast deflecting them to the left and right I might have had the whole mob knock me over in the dark in their attempts to get back to their original reed patch. I felt comfortable with the results for a while so I headed back towards my vehicle Passing the open paddocks as I did so I think the shooting must have scared them off the open cultivation for a while. I’ll have a snooze for 30 mins before my next attempt....will post photo of largest black and white boar tomorrow...

[duncan61]

Great report.I feel I am there

[xDom]

Great report.I feel I am there

Feel like I’m there, but stepped up a bit...
My last trip I nailed a rabbit and thought I was Davy Crocket..

[Die Judicii]

Well done BLR,,,,,,,,,,,,, patience and cunning Mate

[Blr243]

It’s now nearly 11 pm He breeze has dropped of to just about nothing There is three mobs of pigs totally about 60 out in the cultivation. But all in the neighbors. So I continue to wait. Just in case they come over into ours. My dog diesel is close up against me sharing the warmth contained by our blankets. Several times during the night I feel him stirring I look up to see him alert with his nose in the air He knows they are there. Good boy diesel. And then he lays his head back down ......after being in the scrub for a while I start to miss a few things. Ice cream. Chocolate cake and coffee from Maccas ..when I get back to the nearest town I might indulge ......actually my new kings camping fridge is fantastic and goes as low as 25 degrees. Does anybody else have one? I should bring ice cream on my next trip

[Blr243]

Xdom. I hope you can never stop feeling like Davey Crockett. That’s the feeling of euphoria and contentment we get on a hunt. And if you can get it from taking a rabbit. That’s what it’s all about. Never loose sight of that

[Blr243]

Just had another scan across the paddocks. The closest mob is perhaps moving our way and it looks like there is a nice big ol boar on the left I better not fall asleep just yet

[TassieTiger]

Steve Rinella said it best = “there is an inextricable alignment between how much time is spent in the Bush, vs our successes”....sounds like your having a ball! If there are a couple tough times - these are the times you will look back on with fondness and relish the most, as we humans (in hindsight) seem to get “more” from suffering than immediate successes...

[Stix]

Hey BLR...Dont worry about the chocolate cake mate...
Just worry about them little piggies & some good pics...!!

I made a fresh choc cake...when i cook it i crank the oven temp up full boar for the last 5-10 mins so the outside of the cake crisps up like a choc biscuit while the inside is still soft n moist...

i had it warm with heaps of thick cream over the top...

By the time it gets to the end, the icing mixes with the cream to a delightful thick sweet chocolate creamy syrup--just dynamite with the semi-cruchy crust & soft inner cake...!!!!!

It was a good feed while catching up on the latest of your hunting trip...

Sorry mate...but sharing is caring...!!

[TassieTiger]

Geezus Stix - with talk like that...he’ll be fuelling up and heading to yours in the next few minutes...Fark it, I’m thinking about it !!!

[Blr243]

All the pigs got wind of me and took off before they got close to my paddock so I crashed in the paddock with the intent of getting up early to see if any more returned. But no alarm was set and I awoke to daylight but no sun above the horizon. Usually if I camp in the paddock I like to wake to the sound s of birds and a mob of squabbling pigs but this morning a woke to stix and his description of chocolate cake ... so I rummaged around in the Ute but all I could find was a cheap tin of sardines and a couple of museli bars. Oh welll. So I made a plan grabbed my dog and rifle and headed of to the reeds. Saw a couple of pigs on the way but they were out of range I was mostly doing a bit of a circle back to my Ute with the intention of checking out a water hole in the reeds if I could find it. I had noted in on google earth many tines. Fortunately there was a good clear track enabling a quiet walk to the waterhole. I passed two mud rubbed saplings on the pig pad I was fowwowing One was 900 mm high and the other about 850. I have never seen marks that high before. Perhaps it was a big boar arching his back while rubbing. I could hear pigs carrying on in some reeds just the other side of the hole But the wind started to go crazy on me and I could hear pigs running away from me in the reeds. I kept on towards my Ute and found a spot where they were now not too far into the reeds from me. .. time to try my pig sounds phone app. I got my ph ready and I knew it was a long shot trying to convince them I was a pig when they had already smelt me but I had nothing to loose In less than thirty secs I could here them fast pushing through the reeds so I had to drop my new iPhone in the dirt and ready my rifle Two come close to the edges of the reeds but we’re easily identifiable in my scope... the smaller saw me and bolted but the big one stayed long enough for a shot only 6 metres from me He went straight down ... I have tried the app before but without success. I was pretty bloody stoked with myself calling a boar out of the thick to within range. Photo for you all when I get home. I tried to get onto the same mob again 5o metres away they were going off as if they were having a massive argument amongst themselves .... but this time when I tried the calling they all went quiet and I walked home for breakfast and coffee. Diesel has the sad face on because I won’t let him chase pigs anymore
Pp

[Blr243]

Tonight after dark I walked one of my tracks with reeds either side. I had one mob ,singles doubles and randoms cutting back and forth along the track but they are just so swallowed up by the reeds so quickly. I don’t know how many more crossed without me knowing as I’m not scanning all the time. Tried hard but they just did not stay on the tracks long enough for a shot. Tried calling them out without success I eventually shot a young boar. ....then I returned to my vehicle to drool over the mobs on the neighbors paddocks. After a long while I sighted a mob that looked like it would cross over into my place so I Scooted up there and got a boar about ten metres after he pushed under the fence .his twenty mates and all the other mobs took off. One shot from the rifle and the whole paddock was clear of pigs. If I ever get access to the neibours place I think I will need a pta for a lever shotgun. I will have a bludge for a bit and then try another walk on the reedy track.

[Stix]

Hope you get some...

Whats happened to the pics BLR...?

[Blr243]

Hi again Pics wen I get home I think. A saw a couple more last night and one good mob returned to the open paddock after a while of absence due to me shooting at them. I slept in the paddocks with my dog again last night. Woke up a fraction late. Went for a walk. Did not see any pigs this morning I just heard them rustling in the reeds and squabbling. I m having another lash at them tonight then it’s the big drive home and back to the grind

[Blr243]

My purchase of grain and the fermentation of it and the work involved and the smell and the abuse of bringing grain home that might attract rats was a total waste of time What I thought would be irresistible to the pigs was completely ignored. I might has well have offered them house bricks dipped in hydrochloric acid. I going to try a new technique tonight. In the reeds I try to intercept on tracks or clearings and I call them out if I can but next time they won’t come to the call I’m going to wander in to the noise they are making calling as I go then as I approach to within ten metres it’s easier for the curios ones to check me out if they don’t have to walk too far

[marksman]

I have found it can take a week or two before you will attract pigs to a food site but once they know its there they will be there every night till they cant find any more and move on, I also like to glass with binos from a good distance keeping the area undisturbed till they are on the food
cameras are the go but sometimes you just dont have the time to be there all the time

[Blr243]

I have put the grain on the tracks that I know they are useing every night. I can hear a fox calling right now. Back to the grain. I have presented it to them as best I can Any closer and I will be spooning it down their throats

[Blr243]

Had some time to kill this arv prior to my night hunt so I took the dog and rifle for a wander down along the creek. Doing it in the daylight was a nice change It was good to do just a good old Aussie pig hunt like I used to. Then as the sun was setting I made my way to my stake out position After I while I could see pigs in the thermal crossing the track from the reeds. So I high tailed down there and of course they had moved on but I was hopefull more would turn up and a few did here and there. One of them rooted around in the black soil track for longer than he should have. Wind was not to bad so I moved in to 40 m and made a nice quick job of it. Then I had more pigs Criss crossing and too fast for me so I made my way back to the Ute where I knew my dog would be keen to c me again. So just a matter of time now before I start to see some good mobs getting out on the cultivation. But then they have to cross over into mine so not counting my chickens yet

[Die Judicii]

Your doing it the hard way Mate,,,,,,,
Tonite the woman and I went to one of our local pubs for Tea.
After a good feed we headed for home,,,, and guess what ???

Not far up the road from home,, there was a big black boar standing on the side of the road feasting on a road kill.

[Blr243]

Called boar. I used the sow grunt app in my ph Immediately two boars run out of the thick reeds to greet me

[Blr243]

I found this boar on the track in the dark. As soon as I fired the whole mob ran at me confused so I shot a few more

[Blr243]

Track boar