Pigs vs dingoes

Varminting and vertebrate pest control. Small game, hunting feral goats, foxes, dogs, cats, rabbits etc.

Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Ferrisweil » 02 Feb 2020, 2:24 pm

Just a question for those who chase the two ferals mentioned in the topic.
What experiences have you had with dogs (mostly dingoes in my case) chasing pigs?
A lot of the big blocks I head to out west don’t have a lot of dogs, so the pigs aren’t harassed that much.
There’s this one spot I go to though where there’s a LOT of dingoes and every time there’s a lot of them, the pigs are in short supply. We shot 3 dogs the other night and prolly could have shot another 2-3 if we weren’t stalking pigs.
Has anyone has much experience with the dingoes hunting pigs? I’m thinking now that we’ve bopped a few canines, the pigs might be back...?? They’re skinny bloody things and I can’t imagine they can take a big pig but I’ve got feeling they’re tracking the mobs of pigs and picking off the piglets at the back.

And I realise there’s the “dog/dingo” language debate amongst some, but I just call a dingo a dog and vice versa.
Ferrisweil
Lance Corporal
Lance Corporal
 
Posts: 207
Queensland

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Member-Deleted » 02 Feb 2020, 3:13 pm

G'day Ferrisweil, mate I doubt that the dogs would be the reason for the pigs being scarce in one area due to many dogs . My opinion would be the terrane would have a lot to do with it ,pigs stick to certain areas where they can get stuff to eat some areas are void of this stuff . Dogs do eat the young pigs they will even eat their own young same as pigs it is common for a boar to eat a whole litter over time in dry areas . I've had my eyes on a litter of dog pups awhile back in a small den and I went to check on them ( about 3 weeks old) and the pigs had chewed them to pieces and ate the lot I found bits of legs ,tails ,ear and skin you could see where the pigs had dug the pups out and killed them so my point the pigs would have as much to do with eradication of a species as a dog would Dogs follow their best food ,while they'll eat suckers when hungry, pig isn't their best food where a pig will eat anything and tend to stick to areas where it is easy to find. A point is you get areas with heaps of pigs with few dogs then you get areas with heaps of dogs with few pigs the main reason for that is that their best food is in different locations and their paths don't meet ,you will probably find that the area you have all the dogs in would have a healthy abundance of roo's and small ground dwelling birds and animals the best food for dogs and where the dogs aren't and the pigs are then you will find those small animals aren't in abundance so the dog population is small to maybe they only pass through this area to get to better hunting areas . I've proved many times that dogs only eat pig when they have to like starving , I've shot suckers split them and hung them beside a roo leg then watched over a few days , and the dog will eat the roo leg and leave the sucker where as I've done the same in a pig trap and the pigs have eaten both so this to me shows me the dogs only eat pig when they have to.
Hope this can give you some insight in to your question Cheers.
Member-Deleted
 

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Blr243 » 02 Feb 2020, 3:18 pm

Dingo , dog , tomatoes , tomatoes , whatever ....I have a pearler story re dogs and pigs , but first the dingoes will definitively be preventing the piglets from getting to adulthood ... the poor eyesight and limited flexibility of a fighting pig combined with the fact that the suckers will try to but not necessarily be able to stay real close to mum in A crisis , makes me think that a piglet will b one of the easiest things to take from her mum ....now back to cape York I have woken from a sleep in the creek after walking the creek all day the day before bowhunting boars all along its length ... it’s about 9 am and I an hear a small pack dingoes howling up ahead maybe 300 m away ... I switch on like never before because of my extreme desire to take another dingo with my bow ...all my senses are on full alert. After a while of not making contact my eyes notice something glinting in the sun . A look thru my binos reveal a boar laying in the creek with the centre of his snout on the waterline blowing bubbles to pass the time because he had already read the paper and was out of tobacco .... the bubbles is what the sun caught .. I approached up the r h side of the bank As I got closer I was so intently focused on getting to the boar that I failed to notice another boar half concealed in the sandy hole edge of the bank. His vitals were in the bank and back end hanging out so bow wood not work in this situation. He was less than 6 feet in front of me ,,, I got into rough position and drew my bow ,, then I lifted my left leg and under immense physical strain managed to stretch and place it down two feet to my left and down the bank ... once reasonably stable but still very uncomfortable I got an arrow quartering into his chest Then about three seconds of anxiety in case he bolted my way and sought his revenge but fortunately he scurried down the bank near the other boar in the water and started to do 360 degree turns .. this commotion attracted a dingo that was unbeknown to me sitting on the top of the other bank in the long grass. Normally skinny little cape York mostly pure dogs won’t take on a solo solid cape York boar but this one was bleeding both sides and going down ..... as the dingo temporarily stopped to wait for the right moment to rush in to grab the boar I slipped a perfect arrow behind his shoulder and he lay down 15 m away If a rich American hunter asked his guide to put him in the position to take a dingo and boar within ten seconds I’m sure the guide would have to admit that he could not make it happen. I did not necessarily achieve this by any amount of amazing skill I just happened to be right place right time. It’s a moment I will never forget. Unfortunately I do forget what happed to the other dingoes and bathing pig because it was so very exciting that I can not possibly retain it all it was too much for me I had too much going on. I’ll fatty to find the photo
Blr243
Brigadier
Brigadier
 
Posts: 4479
Queensland

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Blr243 » 02 Feb 2020, 3:23 pm

I’ll try to find the photo
Blr243
Brigadier
Brigadier
 
Posts: 4479
Queensland

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Ferrisweil » 02 Feb 2020, 3:32 pm

Thanks guys. There’s no roos whatsoever where these pigs/dingoes are. There might be some small marsupials etc (and the odd rat) but I just asked the OP as I’m now wondering what the dingoes are eating?
My parents have a farm next door to where I hunt and I’ve not seen a single wallaby or roo in the area ever..
I’ve got my own theory but just keen to hear others ideas
Ferrisweil
Lance Corporal
Lance Corporal
 
Posts: 207
Queensland

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Blr243 » 02 Feb 2020, 3:54 pm

Once while researching dingoes I walked away from hunting type websites and sought out scientific/ conservation, agricultural information and I learned a lot from approaching it from a different angle. Some of it involved research into stomach contents of dogs in areas where livestock and native fauna were both available... if I Rem correctly it seemed to indicate that even though sheep are easier to catch the dogs still preferred roo I tend to think of their diet as firstly native fauna and just use sheep for sport because we do sport so why should they not because they don’t have tv or internet. And then just eat stock when the native stuff is scarce .. I could not find my dingo / boar photo. Hope it turns up one day
Blr243
Brigadier
Brigadier
 
Posts: 4479
Queensland

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by 8x57 » 02 Feb 2020, 4:25 pm

Ferrisweil wrote:Thanks guys. There’s no roos whatsoever where these pigs/dingoes are. There might be some small marsupials etc (and the odd rat) but I just asked the OP as I’m now wondering what the dingoes are eating?
My parents have a farm next door to where I hunt and I’ve not seen a single wallaby or roo in the area ever..
I’ve got my own theory but just keen to hear others ideas



What’s your theory mate ?
8x57
Lance Corporal
Lance Corporal
 
Posts: 107
Queensland

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Blr243 » 02 Feb 2020, 4:39 pm

Ferris, if you are seeing few Roos perhaps it’s because the Dingoes are keeping them down in numbers...... Out at Cunnamulla where I go there is no dogs on this particular place and I would see up to a thousand Roos a day after rains when they all turn up in droves ...... but in injune on the other side of the dog fence where dingos are super common I’m lucky to see twenty Roos in seven days hunting. Injune have cattle not sheep. They are actually super glad they have so many dingoes because they know it keeps the Roos down. They can do something about the dingoes they can poison and trap when they have too many. But there’s nothing a grazier can do about oodles of Roos turning up after the rain ."...I rememver once at Cunnamulla shooting 75 per night for two weeks and the grazier was buying my ammo , eventually we stopped because we realised that shooting them was having no result because next night the shot Roos we’re replaced by new arrivals


P....
Blr243
Brigadier
Brigadier
 
Posts: 4479
Queensland

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Ferrisweil » 02 Feb 2020, 6:51 pm

Well, I dunno. I’ve observed several times now pigs coming out of the forest and not 5mins later, a single/pack of dogs come out the same spot and hot track it after pigs. It’s like they are playing cat and mouse some nights.
I’ve shoot a lot way out west wheres there’s thousands of bloody roos but this is different. There’s really not many “macropods” in the area. Family has lived there and I’ve hunted this region for 20years and you just don’t see roos. You might see a little wallaby once in a blue moon but it’s rainforest the pigs are coming out of.
Every time we hear dogs howling and see them, we see very few pigs and whenever the dogs are absent, we see a lot more pigs. Whenever the dogs are around the pigs hurry and run to wherever they’re going, no dogs and they just amble around.
I just feel like the dogs are onto the pigs in this region, trying to pick off smaller ones and i was keen to hear other people’s experiences.
This is all thermal remember, so we are watching this behavior pretty regularly and the animals don’t really know we’re there. This is not your typical “out west” block..... It’s small, not far from the city really and a perfect one nighter.
Ferrisweil
Lance Corporal
Lance Corporal
 
Posts: 207
Queensland

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Member-Deleted » 02 Feb 2020, 7:41 pm

There you go Ferrisweil sounds like there is little for the dogs to eat but just enough for them to need to chase pigs as I said before dogs will eat pig but will eat other stuff before eating pig it sounds, as you say there are very few macropods around that area so the dogs are hunting the pigs which they will do if need be, they are survivors and the pigs do need to be on their game ,another reason a dog or a pack of dogs will follow a mob of pigs is the pigs spook smaller animals and create fright and the dogs use this to ambush the smaller animals and birds. Dogs will also use the scent of an animal to fool their prey ie dogs will roll in cow sh#t to smell like a cow to get closer to the herd to look for calves also pig scent to get closer to roos or any smaller animals. It is a known fact that dogs keep ferals down but the exact percentage is unknown because many things come into play like drought, wet, hunting, poisoning heaps, all account for thousands of animals especially when we don't know how many we had in the first place . A question , Has this area been shot or poisoned for dogs ? if not then there could be an accumulation of dogs or pigs due to food and safety for them in that area :thumbsup:
Member-Deleted
 

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Ferrisweil » 02 Feb 2020, 8:47 pm

Good points Bushy. This area has had little to no shooting on it. I’m very lucky to have access to this one spot. There was some poisoning a while back for dogs but I think it’s non existent now.
There is very little “shooting” pressure on any of the animals in the area.
Ferrisweil
Lance Corporal
Lance Corporal
 
Posts: 207
Queensland

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Member-Deleted » 03 Feb 2020, 12:16 am

Are you going to tidy a few numbers up Ferrisweil or just curious . Sounds like a good place to sit and watch and learn a few traits of the dog ,especially if there's a few,good luck mate and have fun Cheers
Member-Deleted
 

Re: Pigs vs dingoes

Post by Ferrisweil » 03 Feb 2020, 7:04 am

We generally don’t shoot the dogs as the property owner prefers the pigs/deer shot and being a small-ish block, any sound, especially a shot, can send anything around skidaddling into the forest.
Having said that, seems once every few mo the you’ve got thin the numbers
Ferrisweil
Lance Corporal
Lance Corporal
 
Posts: 207
Queensland


Back to top
 
Return to Hunting - Varminting and vertebrate pest control