Finally caught up with my nemesis today, namely those pesky pigs
I'm lucky enough to have an awesome boss who is very understanding and doesn't ask questions and when I checked the weather and saw it was going to be perfect hunting weather today - cold and sunny with light winds after a freezing night and rain: Mental Health Day here we come
My original plan had been to get up early pre-dawn and hit the bottom of the slopes and hike up quickly looking for goats sunning themselves in the sunny spots, but a really sh!tty sleep left me tired and stuffed before I took off so I reset the alarm and got up a couple of hours later. After seeing the good half and the daughter off for the day, I packed the car and headed for plan B - hit the top of the same ridgeline above the goats, re-checking the fresh pig sign I'd seen last week. The thought was to do a big loop around contouring/dropping down as necessary to cover some good ground and into some new areas and areas I'd not been into for a while.
Driving in I spotted a very wet, cold and bedraggled fox sunning itself on the side of the road. It was so intent on warming up/drying that it didn't even move when I passed 5m away on the road.
The first area of attack was a nice grassy open gully which was receiving the warming early morning sun which required a bit of a walk along the road. Almost immediately I crossed some very fresh pig tracks in the road, they'd been using it as a road and had walked a ways along it. Dropping into the top of my intended gully I spied a small mob of kangaroos ruminating in the warmth, I hoped I was into the right areas as it was cold enough still for any animal to be out feeding or getting warm in the sun. Slowly dropping down the shaded side with glasses in hand, I glassed often and everywhere looking for dark shapes of sambar or pigs.
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Neither showed up as I meandered my way down to the end of the point I was on. Reaching the end of the finger ridge I stopped and considered. I knew there was a nice open area along the creek well below me, but I didn't think I was up to it - dropping 200 vertical meters over 500m sounds easy on paper, less so on foot..... So I turned and paralleled the main ridge and road, crossing through some thick dark wattle with many beds and some deer sign. A couple more areas to target in the summer, but right now still too cold. Reaching the next gully dropping from the main ridge, I turned and made my way slowly up on the sunny side. It was too thick to move super quietly and I couldn't glass more than my nose in front of me, so rather than wasting time I picked up the pace and sure enough, bumped a pair of deer. I didn't get to see them, but heard them crash off down the steep face below. Bugger but still not unexpected. Reaching the road, I crossed over and made my way back to the car looking for both more pig sign and listening/smelling/looking for goats below me in the gentle updraft. Nada, nothing, zilcho.
Reaching the car I looked at the clock and considered my options.
1. Hit the bottom and hike up trying to find goats
2. Move along the ridge and drop in somewhere else
3. Hit a small creek line that I knew held sambar wallows in the past with the thought of putting up a trailcam
4. Go home, drop the rifle off and go fishing
5. Some combination of 1-4
Not really sure what I was going to do, I slowly started making my way back in the car to try either 2 or 3 when I saw a pair of dark shapes bolt off the edge of the road and into the brush - Pigs!
Pulling of into a side road, I quickly grabbed the rifle and my bag and hit a side-side road that dropped off the ridge and ran parallel to the likely direction of travel for the pigs. There was a heap of fresh digging on the side of the road as I parked, obviously more than the work of the two pigs I'd seen.
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I was pushing along working out which way the wind was going and trying to come up with a game plan when below me on the road itself a pair of pigs materialised. Dropping down behind a convenient dogwood bush, I had a clear shot but unfortunately across the road. Watching them slowly push on up towards me, I waited to see what they'd do and then would react accordingly. When they got into about 25m, the lead pig wandered off the road into the scrub on my side with a large brittle gum behind it. With a safe backdrop and a line of fire away from the track I rose slowly, centered the cross hairs and squeezed the trigger. At the shot, they both bolted but I didn't get a clear line of fire for a follow up shot, though the pig I'd shot looked very unhealthy.
After only a few seconds the crashing stopped and I slowly eased off following the blood trail, chambering a round just in case. I could occasionally hear some scuffling in the brush below me, but it took me a minute or two to find them again through the thick saplings. One pig was down on the ground, legs kicking occasionally and the other was standing there nearby. Unfortunately I didn't have a clear shot on the downed pig for a follow up shot, and after 30sec or so, the wind must have swirled as the standing pig took off downhill into the really thick scrub. Taking a couple of quick steps, I found a clear shooting lane and threw the rifle up but just as I flicked the safety off, a random kick must have connected and the pig started to roll down the hill like a barrel coming to a stop against a couple of fallen logs. Although on it's last breaths, I drew a bead and took another shot when it twitched once and lay still.
Finally!
I made my way down to it and pulled it up the right way for a few photos, dodging the dozens of lice on it's belly and inside of the legs. I contemplated taking some of the meat, but I wasn't completely sure that it wasn't covered in ticks rather than lice, though it did look nice and fat and healthy.
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Howa 1500 in 30-06 and 150gr Core-lokt
Returning to the original hunt (I'm not convinced these pigs were the two I'd seen - it looked too far for them to move that quickly) I headed down the gully but the winds were fickle and shortly after I came across evidence that a a pair of sambar had seen, heard or smelt me. Bugger again
The gully bottom had the most sambar sign I'd seen for a while including some large stag prints and droppings. Slowly I made my way and looped around back towards the car without seeing anything exciting. Crossing into the cleared edge of the road, I nearly stepped on what looked like a dead snake. Flicking a little stick towards it, the agro tiger reared up and flared out like a cobra - sure as hell weren't expecting that on a cold albeit sunny day in may!
Returning to the car stuffed but happy I made my way home to go pick up my daughter. Glad I've finally got that monkey off my back, though looking at todays sign etc. I'm sure I've been closer than I think before.