Sunday arv session local watering hole all welcome

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Shot cat

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Peak shaped earth mound

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Yesterday when the cat left the long trench shaped dam I saw him go up over the bank but was unsure of whether he stayed on top of the bank or continue into the bushes. So I took the rifle for a slow walk along the bank hoping he might still be crouched there. That’s when I ran into the piglets and snapped pics of them. If u zoom in u can see a peak shaped mind of earth between the two pigs. The left side has the sun on it ( thermal pic) the right side is shaded and darker. U can see a half round of the cats head and his right ear he is faceing away from me. That’s when he freaked at the noise of piglets trotting up behind him. I was stoked and quickly moved into position near the very same mound he was behind . He ran down into the dried mud of the trench and paused at the other side because of the steep bank . That’s how I got him

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Mob having drink and bath after dark

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I was a bit excited and couldn’t get my act together on this mob. They winded me and took off before I could take a shot

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I saw a video posted on YouTube via AHN forum. It showed quite a few pigs shot in a short space of time ... in the comments or in the replies I saw “ those pigs need water no matter what “. It seemed to be so hot that they were returning to the scene of the shooting very soon after shots fired. It got me thinking about modifying my plan. In the heat I will usually wait until the mob is drinking bathing and relaxed .. then I shoot. But after watching the vid I thought I should shoot the first decent pig at first opportunity and then wait for the scattering pigs to return. If there’s no water for miles and it’s 2pm they will return like it or not. So that’s my new thing.

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I found a new website when u type in GOONDIWINDI TEMPERATURE. And it displays the temperature forecast for every hour through the day. And typically the temps lately here constant and highest between 3 and 7 pm. My visits to the hole and my trail cam footage reveals surprisingly there’s bugger all or only a little pig visits between 11 am and 230 pm when we would expect that’s when they will b there ......even though I have been doing this a long time I reckon Last night I have learnt more about night time visits to holes in summer .... previously I had thought that pigs will drink in the arv as they have left their bed prior to feeding all night and then drink again roughly dawn on their way back to their bed. ( also midday drinks in summer of course but Im mainly talking bout their night time drinking habits at the moment ). But now I’m learning that the water hole is a great place to stake out all night during summer ..... I found good regular activity there 12 midnight and 2 pm roughly. In areas where all of the local pigs are bedding in roughly the same area , feeding on one crop and drinking at one hole I think there’s a chance of most drinking being dusk and dawn ....but if pigs are more geographically dispersed, and they have more than one hole to drink at , and they are feeding in different areas all over the shop then I think it becomes harder to predict when to wait at a hole in the dark because they could get thirsty at any random time during their feeding. Also during the last 30 years and more hunters have been staking out holes morning and night and getting pigs drinking then ,so we have all come to the conclusion that it works But nowadays with rifle mounted torches , portable lighting, thermal and NV, we are equipped to hunt holes any time of the night ......I have three more nights so tonight I’m going to try to spend 70 per cent of my time on the hole and 30 per cent in my fav cultivation paddocks.... it’s hard for me to abstain from my cult paddock because I have had a ton of fun There this year. I also think it’s good not to hammer the waterhole all night. It might force them to another hole I don’t know about ...... I should also mention that I have seen pigs feeding on my dead pigs near the hole so the drought must be forcing them to do what they perhaps might not otherwise .... there’s at least three more foxes on the main waterhole and they are young so not wary and they are definitely on my radar.