Saturday, October 30, 2010

Bushpig hunt!

 I went with my husband on a bush pig hunt today! I dislike hunting,I believe in live and let live. I always thought hunting with dogs to be cruel, today my eyes were opened. I never knew that you had a pack of dogs specifically trained for hunting bush pigs,one for big cats or one for humans as in anti poaching and such. Today Cules took me to the property of a PH who has a pig pack and a cat pack who does problem cats in certain areas all over Southern Africa. I understand men have different attitudes towards certain things in life, but could never understand the hunting thing...So we woke up at 3:30 this morning and drove to the farm were they were going to hunt bush pigs. On arrival there the dogs were fitted with training and/or tracking collars and followed the men out into the bush. I have never had the opportunity of meeting Gavin's fiance Julie but today we were both there and were given the task of driving the observation vehicle and were handed the radios, I have never before operated a radio so it was quite cool after I learned how to use the darned thing and was soon chatting away to the hunters until told to shut up so they could speak to one another...Julie and I drove around a corner and there...30m in front of us were a pack of bush pigs standing quietly listening towards the dogs and hunters.. After the initial shock Julie tells me to get out and observe which direction they go so she could drive to south road and observe from there..I gave her the look and said,.. "s$%t ...WHAT?"  She says, "what, are you scared?"  I go , "did you see the size of the male pig,it was huge!" you go, I will drive to South road where ever that is! She says..."it was huge and agitated" I go "DUHHH!" So we both sat in the Landrover and radioed the men! We dashed madly all over the place as instructed over the radio to stay close to the (very expensive,imported) dogs and at one stage I caught sight of them working the spoor(sitting on top of the landrover's roof, hanging on for dear life! What a sight it is to see well - trained dogs working away! I got so caught up in the excitement and felt the adrenalin rushing through my body...Wow, Wow, wow... Well, after 4 hours the pigs got safely away and men and hounds had a decent workout and I was happy that no-one got killed! As I am writing this hubby is sleeping on the couch and the hounds are sleeping away in their pen,I sure like to think that the bush pigs are doing the same...
Happy weekend everyone!

Getting their training and /or tracking collars fitted.




Eager to start the day




Gavin has got "The Look" mastered down to a T whenever Julie drives to fast over a hobble in the road!




The beautiful Julie.  Sorry I cut her head in half,I was sitting on top of the landrover' roof at that stage!





Foxhound Liza cooling off afterwards





Phoenix,the Dogos.(not sure about the spelling) Imported from Slovakia



These are Gascon Saintongeois, the female in the middle is imported from France!




Phoenix


Shaking off..




The Cat Pack



The dog with the leopard paw ice branded on his ear is Jet, an American Plot hound X Blue Tick. Gavin's best cat dog.

                                                                              xoxo

13 comments:

  1. WOW! This is interesting to me. I love to see the capability of working dogs and believe that they enjoy their jobs. I am not so into hunting, but my son is a huge nature/hunting enthusiast. He hunts deer, turkey, and hopefully elk in the near future. Thanks for sharing this and I think those French dogs are gorgeous.

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  2. What an interesting and exciting day for all of you! I bet the dogs loved being on the hunt, and I was laughing at the visions of you and Julie chasing from the truck and trying your darnedest to see things and keep up.

    I'm not a big hunting fan myself (my brothers shot squirrels and rabbits for food when I was a kid and as they got older deer too. But I hate the gamey taste of wild meet so it was always veggie night for me!) Anyway, I understand it is sometimes necessary for food or for animal control and if it is done as humanely as possible, it's a necessary part of life.

    In your case, since no animals were actually shot, it was a fun and relatively unmessy day all around!

    Hope you get some rest too!

    P.S. How are Minki and the other dogs doing after their spay/neuter surgeries? :)

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  3. Hi Texwasgirl
    Minki and the other dogs are all doing fine,already running around etc! I also cannot eat game meat. We had tons of fun and excitement today and I am poofed now,going off to bed!
    Have a good one!
    xoxo

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  4. Glad the pups are all doing wonderfully! :)

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  5. I'd be curious to see how big wild pigs are. We raise domestic pigs for pork and I know they can get quite big (Upwards of 250 pounds.) I always wondered about hunting with dogs and thought it was cruel, but if you're talking about BIG cats who could hurt people or livestock, I guess that makes a lot of sense. I know in other states, they use dogs to chase deer out where the hunters can shoot them. That practice is illegal where I live. Hubby hunts. The white-tail deer here could demolish our entire vegetable business in short time.It certainly looks like you had an exciting day!

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  6. What an incredible Hunting story! And fun too.
    I have to say I might rather enjoy such an outing:)))
    As long as I could watch from the side:))))

    Your dogs are beautiful!!!!

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  7. That was exciting! Watching a good pack of dogs work is a thrill. And, for me, too, it's even more of a thrill when they don't actually catch anything. The variety of dogs that you have is fascinating. Thanks for all of the close up pictures of them

    One of the things on my bucket list is to hilltop with a fox hunt some day, in a truck, though, not on a horse. My riding days are long gone.

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  8. Beautiful dogs! Must be quite the hunt! The deer hunt is going on here, my hub got one on a full speed dash at 300 yard! ;D

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  9. GREAT story!!! Glad to hear you had a good time. Love the picture of the hounds lined up along the fence.

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  10. Great pics of what looks like a great day for all! This was a 'learning' moment for me. I am so urban minded, it's good to see something like this which is so far removed from my lifestyle here. Thanks for this Liesl!
    Jim

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  11. When you guys coming out again? regards, Gav.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Gav,the man definitely needs some hound action again! Will tell him to call you! xoxo

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