EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

G'day everyone,
My name is Ned Makim (obviously enough...) and I'm a pig catcher from Australia. I'm 50 this year and have been catching pigs with my own dogs since I was 17. We breed our own dogs (hard finders). That is, dogs that will find the boar and grab him...
Anyway, that's it in a nutshell....and here's a pix so you can see who you are talking too...
Cheers.

This is a local boar, caught one out by Donna (pictured and one of our breed).
(http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/1954/sdowndonnasboarjul509.jpg) (http://img164.imageshack.us/i/sdowndonnasboarjul509.jpg/)

Welcome.

Glad to have you here we just like to talk dogs and hunting!! I bet Krystal AKA Uglydog is going to like your dog!!!! Welcome!!

welcome Ned...

what's the cross on that dog?? 

Welcome Ned, will be good to hear some about hunting the Australian way. Most people here are hound and curr hunters using lead-in catchdogs. Some of us try to run finder/catcher dogs but have a lot to learn.     John

Yes welcome! Donna is an interesting looking girl. Nice boar too. Looking forward to some aussie hunting pics.
Cheers
M

Glad to have you here. Im also new this board, you should have a good time reading the post on this board, I know I have.

Ned, welcome to ETHD. I enjoy seeing pics and stories from hunters around the globe.

welcome  Ned,  glad to have you,  looking foward to some of your stories and pictures.

Thanks very much everyone for the welcome. I really appreciate it.
I always happy to talk dogs and pigs too. Always keen to learn new things or try new techniques. I'm a great believer in a few tried and true things as well but like to keep up to date in case it will help me get more boars...
On Donna, she's RIP now but she was one of our family of dogs. The go back to dane, EBT, wolfhound and Eng mastiff. They've been bred as a family for some time and the emphasis at our place is on proven ability rather than looks. So some are bigger, some smaller, some hairy and some not so hairy but they will all find pigs and stop them. So that's Donna.

Anyway, thanks again for the replies. Here's another decent boar I got with Bob the dog. Bob got him on his own despite the steepness of the terrain ( you can seen in the background). The pig dressed 73kgs (160lbs) and that's what I then had to carry back up that hill. Got him last year on my 49th birthday so I was very glad the boar didn't make it any further down the hill.

(http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/897/sundown73bobnedmay3009.jpg) (http://img196.imageshack.us/i/sundown73bobnedmay3009.jpg/)

Cheers.

good teeth on that hog :o

Welcome aboard, nice pics!!

Welcome

Great to have you!  Looking forward to your insights!

You all ever try any good bay dogs over there?

Another dog and boar.
This is Betty and a boar taken in the winter time this year in northern Australia.
Cheers.

(http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2527/385f.jpg) (http://img268.imageshack.us/i/385f.jpg/)

Good on ya Ned!

Some American translations for you just in case you need them as you peruse this site:

Yankie Dogger <-->	Ozzie Dogger
Bay Dog	Finder/Bailer
Buyer	Box Owner
Cat	Catahoula
Cur Dog	Pure bred cow dog (not a mongrel)
Gyp	unbred female (but often used incorrectly for any female dog)
Help Dog	can't be run one out
Jam Up	Top Shelf
RCD	Lugger
SR5/Tacoma	Hilux
Strike Dog	Finder
Yellow Dog	(see Cur Dog)

There are more, but that covers some of the basics.

Thanks for that Waarheid.
And Noah, we have one dog that bails (bays). It's from our line buit she threw soft and won't lug up. She will however find them and go for her own pig out of a mob, she goes for big pigs by choice and she will run on when one of the other dogs gets there. And very fast.
Not normally our style of dog and only got used because my son's girl Kate owns Molly, the dog in question. But she effectively doubles our catch on small mobs.

That's Molly lying down on the tray of the truck watching Simon investigate the boar's eating habits. We always open up the guts to see what the boars have been eating, just in case it shows us a pattern over time...The other dog on the truck is Hannah. The black pup is Buster, a son of Hannah's.
(http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1668/simontripdec13.jpg) (http://img8.imageshack.us/i/simontripdec13.jpg/)

This is Molly.
(http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/7493/p6150372.jpg) (http://img34.imageshack.us/i/p6150372.jpg/)

Cheers.

Good looking dogs!  Always have wondered what the buyers do with all those pigs you guys sell?  Dog food?

You mainly sight hunting, or do the dogs actually have to hunt to find the pigs?

Ned
  do you ever hunt from horseback , or is the country to vast to be practical.

It's 90 per cent nose work for our dogs. Sharp nose is the first thing we breed for.

And did a bit on horses when I was a kid but it's trucks, quads and walking for us. Horse is just another bit of gear that has to be attended to.
Cheers.

welcome ,i have always had a dream to go down under ,maybe  one day it will happen .. liked the looks or your dogs . seen pics of some monster hogs there .
  have you caught any of those ???
    again welcome
      robert

Sorry Noah, missed the question about the pig buyers.
Various companies operate chillers or boxes (refrigerated truck bodies or shipping containers) and pay for dressed wild pigs. Dressed means head on, skin on and heart, lungs, liver and kidneys in. Testicles are in too.
They pay on the kg weight (2.2lbs) usually around the $1 a kg. The pigs are taken to a central processing plant, cut up and then exported to Germany, Poland and Japan for the restaurant trade. The market has collapsed at the moment but some guys can make a living catching, but not many. Mostly it's for fuel money and vet bills. There are size limits on the pigs (usually none under 20kgs dressed and none over 160kg) based on the needs of the processing plant.
I can't make a living out of it so I have a contract gardening business with a couple of blokes working for me and we do a lot of work on game rich properties and stations (ranches). I also catch for the box when it's open, and we take a handful of paying visitors along for the ride. It's all designed to keep me in touch with pigs and my dogs as a lifestyle as well as a means of staying afloat.

So this is a pix of son Paul with a boar being weighed in at the chiller. The pig went 78kgs dressed  (about 170 lbs) although it might not look it in the photo. There's a fair bit of Paul (he's 6ft 3 or 4 tall and 120kgs...between 260lbs and 270lbs) so he makes the pigs look very average.
(http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/6522/paulchillerfom78oct1708.jpg) (http://img684.imageshack.us/i/paulchillerfom78oct1708.jpg/)
Cheers.

Ned, what's the reason for leaving the liver, heart and lungs in? I always see them hanging out in all the Australian pictures and was wondering.

Ned, I remember seeing you on another site somewhere. Share with these guys how you hunt over the scrub bulls, im sure everyone would really enjoy that.

G'day Mike, heart lungs etc are left in for the meat inspectors to check for signs of disease at the processing plant. They are hanging out because they are required by the terms of the game harvesting licensing system to be free of the chest cavity. This is to allow the chest cavity to air cool. These pigs are for human consumption so the rules are fairly strict.
Cheers.

Yes...the bull baits. Very exciting way to catch boars. Below is a piece I lifted from my blog http://makimdogs.blogspot.com/search/label/Welcome
(mods if addresses aren't OK feel free to remove, thanks)...

I'll add some pix after I go and give the dogs a run. It's 5pm here (today your time) now and I've got to get a few jobs done.
Cheers...


MY recent trip north after boars introduced me to an entirely new way of hunting, using bulls to catch boars.
I'd caught pigs off carcases before but it was a hit and miss type of thing. Always worth checking a body in the bush because it might hold pigs...But this was different. It was a specific tactic to attract big toothy boars out of their hiding spots into a GPSed area.
Brett had developed the method on this particular block because dead cattle had proven his best producer of good boars. So after years of leg work he had started specifically hunting scrub bulls (to help reduce the feral cattle population for the landholder and...) to draw out the best boars.

 
My son Paul and I were lucky enough to see the system in practice, first hand.
It all starts immediately after the basic camp is set up. Straight out on the track to look for likely bull areas. The idea is to get the bulls on the ground as quickly as possible to give them time to 'ripen'. That took about five days in the climate we were in.
After the bulls are shot, near water, near a track somewhere reasonably accessible on foot, it is checked every day for tracks and it's state of decomposition. In this spot the pigs seems to have had little to do with people and scent does not seem an issue. Each day the bull changes and so do the tracks. After they've blown up and started to deflate, a dingo would usually open them up properly. The hide seems too thick for boars to open on their own.
Once the bull is open, the boars drag out pieces of meat and toss them up before appearing to swallow them like an oyster. (We know this because we also had a trail cam set up on different baits every few days.)
Just before the big gorge begins, you could expect one boar and sometimes two, to move in to claim the feast.

 
We'd arrive at night and check the baits, fresh tracks might tells us one was close by. Sometimes there was no sign at all but often they dogs would drop their nose to the ground or stick it up in the air and run straight onto a tusky pig.
The drill was always the same; load up the selected dogs and plate them up (put on their protective breastplates). Check our tracking gear had plenty of battery strength, same with torches and cameras. Throw plenty of food, water, go fast drinks such as V or Mother and first aid gear on board.
Drive to within a km of the bait (sometimes a lot closer if the bait had been well placed), unload the dogs and walk in. We'd have two definite luggers and two trainees. We also had one veteran finder out of the two luggers as well. The objective was to leave enough opening for a younger dog to step up in performance but not so much of a gap that we risked losing a good boar.
If we made it to the bull without the dogs hitting a boar we'd look at the body, check for signs of boar activity and wait while the dogs continued to scout about. While the bull was approaching the prime rotting time the boars seemed to be closer in but after the feeding had begun the average distance from the body increased.
Mostly, if it was on, it was on from the word go. The dogs would head to the bait more agitated than normal. They'd either pounce immediately on a boar within metres of the bait or start zig zagging through the grass or running in big circles. The zig zags would turn into a big arcing run straight to the pig. And the circles either sent a dog off at a straight line tangent to land on the pig or the circles got tighter and tighter and ended up with a boar in the bullseye. It was wild, knowing it was all about to happen but not sure just where, maybe right at your feet...
It was always at night time and it was always quiet, just the dogs getting through the scrub. Really straining your ears to hear the first sound of the dogs hitting a camped boar, full of anticipation. Then the sound and you're full of adrenalin, running through long grass and scrub to get to the fight. You can see the tusks on these pigs from a good way out in the light of the headlamps. You can see them banging into the dogs' breastplates and, sometimes, the dogs.
You know they will whack them into you if you give the pig the chance too.
It is a high risk, high yield way to hunt and it gets results.
I say high risk for a few reasons, one is the country we were in, scrub bulls and crocs for a start, the second is loading the dog's up on boar after boar especially if those boars are meat eaters. The risk of dogs getting cut up and the potential for significant infection was high.
And the risk of treading on some of these boars was just as real. We didn't know where they'd be and they weren't the type of pigs to yield ground. Some were caught within metres of us in the long grass, just standing there...
However, the inherent dangers for dogs and hunters with this type of hunting also creates a testing ground for the younger dogs. You can't make a dog want to grab a nasty boar. They either want to do it or they don't. You find out very quickly with this type of hunting whether or not your young dogs have the heart for the trade.
The green dogs in this hunting team did the job. That was expected of course. It wasn't a random collection of dogs but a team of younger or inexperienced dogs bred for the job. It was a matter of putting the work in front of them to see how they would react. And this was an A grade way to do that.
The whole thing was well planned and well executed and a credit to Brett's research on the pigs that live along Secret Creek.
Pig stats for the trip: 28 pigs in total, only five sows, of the 23 remaining boars 16 were crackers.)

Sounds like fun Ned! Whats a cracker ???

A cracker is a top quality anything, in this case...boar. Means big, toothy and a fighter, not a runner. I'll get the pix up soon. I know it's late over there so I'll hurry up but I've still got two dogs to run...
Cheers.

OK. Dogs are loose so here's some pix of the boars caught off bulls (all except the daytime shot...he was at the beach). Other blokes are my son Paul and our mate Brett. I'll post some pix of the bulls we used for bait soon. Also not all the dogs in these pix are our family. Brett has a few from other breeders too.
Cheers.

(http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/2646/norjul29527am.jpg) (http://img196.imageshack.us/i/norjul29527am.jpg/)

(http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/8122/dsc0049rym.jpg) (http://img16.imageshack.us/i/dsc0049rym.jpg/)

(http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3/northaug3553am.jpg) (http://img29.imageshack.us/i/northaug3553am.jpg/)

(http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3140/north09aug4535pm.jpg) (http://img29.imageshack.us/i/north09aug4535pm.jpg/)

(http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/6571/northjuly27335am.jpg) (http://img8.imageshack.us/i/northjuly27335am.jpg/)

(http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1517/northaug4208pm.jpg) (http://img8.imageshack.us/i/northaug4208pm.jpg/)

Those are definately some nice boars and dogs Ned! Do you guys practice barring a hog down there?? Thanks for the explanation of a cracker

By barring do you mean cutting (ie castration)? If so, blokes still do it just to grow out big pigs in the bush for the sport of catching them without adding to the breeding population. It used to be about food. In our family's past, the system was to mark or cut little boars, ear mark them and let them go. The ear mark was so they could be indentified in the field as a good one to eat (better than rank boars...)
Cheers.

Yes that is exactly what I meant Ned! Here in Hawaii we call it Laho a'ole (nuts removed) and do it to cause the pigs to become fat and lazy. We mark the ear so when the hunter catches him again he is aware he is dealing with an experienced hog. I have also heard of a few guys doing to the sows but I have never figured how to go about that procedure just yet.

what can you tell me about the dog in the third pic that's sitting with you Ned?  good lookin dog. 

Third pix from the start of the thread or third in the recent sequence?

I'll go for both. The third pix from the start of the thread is Betty, one of son Paul's crew. I bred her so she's the same family as all the other Makim dogs but threw less hairy and thicker than usual for us. She is getting on and is semi retired. Found and caught her first boar at 7months. Real good finder but Paul has a yardful of them so he used her as what he calls 'a smashing dog', a hard dog that will hit any pig full pace, almost gleeful about it. Betty is very masculine and not even AI has drawn pups from her. She's by Russell out of Cathy, two dogs from the old Butters line in Oz.

The third pix in the "bull boars'' sequence is Wolfy. He is owned by our mate Brett. He bred her from a full sister to Betty (different litter). He put a wolfhound cross he knew in his area over her and Wolfy is the result. I'd own him in a second and I will breed from him if we get the chance (Brett lives 1600kms...1000 miles from us and we meet up once a year  at a spot another 4000 or 5000kms from all of us for three weeks to a month in camp where the big crocs live...) Wolfy is calm, no fight or interest much in other dogs. Quiet on the truck but on the whiff of a pig (especially a rank boar) he becomes this robot dog, all business. Can find well and is genuinely tough. Lovely dog to have lying around the camp.

That's the both.
I might just say that we are all serious about our pig catching and our dogs so no one wants to muck around with dud dogs.  I'm saying that because I don't want to come across as though I am talking these dogs up. Betty and Wolfy are what we expect every dog we breed to be like. And we are not unique by any means in Australia. Heaps of good hard working dogs over here. I'm just talking about ours because that's what I know.
Cheers.

As promised  this is one of the bull photos. That's Paul and one of the scrub (wild, feral) bulls we shot to act as pig bait on our annual trip into the north. The bulls are genuinely wild and will beat up stud bulls, stockmen on horses and quads (cowboys) and pig hunters.
We only had a 308 so it got a bit hairy at times but all went well.

(http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/2918/330ln.jpg) (http://img35.imageshack.us/i/330ln.jpg/)

Here's another one with Brett and Paul. He was a big bull this one.

We also got to go with the bull catchers catching these bulls alive. That is the most dangerous thing I have ever seen. Lots of laughing and loud talk but deadly serious all the same. They chase them out of the scrub with helicopters, then chase them in modified 4WD until they get them at the right angle and bump them off balance. As the bull starts to fall one or two blokes from the cut down vehicle jump on the bull to hit him as he hits the deck on his side. Tailman will grab the bulls tail and pulls it between his legs and up over his flank and back around toward the back end. This keeps his top back leg from getting to the ground. Without that one movement he can't get up. Second bloke has a strap like a long belt and wraps it around the back legs a few times above the hock before buckling it tight. Same thing on the front legs. Then one bloke will go to the head from the back and tip the horns with a saw, just the tip, no blood but the bulls don't like it anyway. When theres a couple on the ground out of the mob gathered by the chopper, a little truck appears out of the bush with a lay down ramp leading up to a thick rubber flap that leads into the stock crate. They get one of the 4wds on one side of the truck and run a wire rope from the front of the 4wd through the truck, down the ramp and onto the bulls horns. The 4wd reverses and pulls the bull up the ramp. When the head is about to go in through the rubber flap, the men whip off the leg straps so the bull is loose. At that moment the 4wd reverse further and the bull slides into the stock crate on its side. The horns are tipped because when you get a couple of bulls on the truck they cab try to kill one another. I saw nine bulls on the truck when I was there. They caught 24 for the day.
The fight in a scrub bull and its willingness to engage is unreal. So is the absolute sense of power you get when you are close to a live one. It just looks like hatred in their eyes...  The bloke who ran the show (it was his 640,000 acres and catching bulls was most of their cattle income for the year) seemed relaxed about the whole process. I said this all looked like a serious business. He looked me in the eye and said  "it's deadly serious mate..."
Among bush people the fewer the words the bigger the message. I took him at his word and stayed on my toes.

(http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/253/336b.jpg) (http://img695.imageshack.us/i/336b.jpg/)

Now that sounds pretty wild! i love to be in on that! We do some stuff similar to that but its off horses... That bailing off the trucks and hittin the bulls on foot and tyin em sounds pretty wild!  ;D You have any pics of that stuff? and by the way welcome to the board!

first of , welcome!
 
   man id love to get down there and catch some hogs and cattle one day in that bush country , its always been my dream to see australia. iread about catching cattle like that in the western horseman years ago . ned does nobody use bay dogs on cattle ? ive heard ya'll dont do any roping down under , is that true ?

No roping, only in the rodeo ring. You would have to have a good man working with you because these things will gut a horse at the slightest provocation.
I have video of everything but I've had no luck with you tube etc...anyone got any suggestions??
Cheers.

i would love to come see some of that first hand..

If you can email the video I will do my best to get it up loaded goodson72@hotmail.com

Glad to have you here enjoyed reading your stories and seeing your pics, welcome to ETHD

gotcha ned , some of these cattle here are pretty rank too . i got a horse hooked last year buy a bull with tipped horns , cut everything but the last membrane holding the guts in .

   just wondering , what are them wild cattle worth there ? also what are they descended from ? english stock i would guess , but do ya'll have any bramer type cattle there ?

The true scrub cattle (wild bred and unhandled for 150 years) look like red English Shorthorn gone bad. But there are heaps of bos indicus type cattle among them too. The brahman type carry the northern cattle industry. They and crosses from them form the majority of the cattle herd in the tropical or genuine savannah type country of Oz. Different cattle for different climatic conditions...

Those scrub bulls though, whatever they look like they are all the same. They are capable of charging you on sight and will definitely go on with it. There is no bluff whatsoever in these things. They are unbelievably athletic too and even once unloaded into the yards for later collection will still try to get a horn tip onto you through the rails if they see half a chance. I was hugely impressed by the mad daddy didn't marry mommys. I saw four kill themselves fighting the 4wds (wouldn't run, just hooked in until they brained themselves. And I saw a huge black one kill itself in the yards rather than be pushed. Smashed and smashed into steel yards until he checked out.

If i can get the video organised (I'll send that email tonight...my time) I'll tell you a bit about the Aboriginal boys who worked these bulls. Not big men but gamer than me...

Cheers.

I've heard of some cowboyin', but daaayuuuum Ned! Sounds like a leaner meaner cape buffalo. Saw you mention the 308 was under-gunned on them? What types of calibers are they typically using on them?

They act like a Cape Buffalo...Blokes that shoot them a lot say 300 Win Magnum or 338 are the safe minimum.
Cheers.

ALRIGHT NED , what do them things bring a pound . i nead to know because i'm thinking about floating a gooseneck load of horses  and at least pound for pound that many dogs down there, i need to know how many to plan on catchin to pay for the round trip . ;D

  i hope i can finance it and it takes YEARS to pay the loan off .  O0 ;

  on a serious note, i thought guns were outlawed in australia . ;) ;)

i'm wanting to make a trip to Australia, BAD.  i'd love to take a Cape Buffalo and a Camel or 2. 

JDT, i'm pretty sure you can own rifles in australia if you have a legitimate need for them, and it depends on which territory you are in.

Yeah there's camels. I actually know of about a dozen in one isolated pocket about two hours from me. They live in mountains and gorge country, can you believe it.... Brought to the property some time ago to eat weeds. Blew my mind the first time we spotlighted one at night when we we looking for pigs. He was close to us watching what we were doing and good Lord they are bigs things.

On the buffalo, I have misled some...when I mentioned Cape Buffalo in relation to scrub bulls having an attitude like cape buffs. I was Where we go there are only a few and rarely seen but in other areas they are prolific. Incidentally, the buffalo bulls take no crap and if they get yarded with scrub bulls, well, the first bull that shakes his head at the buff gets put on his back. All the other bulls mind their manners after that.

I've tried sending that email with the vid attached too but the vid is raw and must be too big? How do I save it so it will email? Assume I'm an idiot...

On prices...I think they were getting $1 a kilo by hamburger buyers. A kg is 2.2 lbs. Hard way to make a living...

Cheers.

And about the rifles...

You can certainly own firearms in Oz, you just have to meet the licensing requirements. For instance, in general pistols are banned as are all semi-autos (rifles and guns). The average person can own a bolt action rifle of any calibre if they join a shooting club, or if they are a recreational hunter. To prove you are a recreational hunter you have to have a letter from a landholder saying you have permission to shoot on his land and what he wants you to shoot. The animals that get listed determine the calibre limit you can own.
Then there are storage requirements involving locking up rifles seperate to bolts and ammo...

There are exceptions to all the rules though. If you join a pistol range shooting club you can own all the pistol you want provided you are clean and have the security. The cops will know all about you too and inspect things... Same for certain level security people and even some people working with or near wild saltwater crocs.
And you can have semi auto rifles and/or shotguns if it's work related. If you are a farmer controlling pest animals, no worries, likewise government contractors involved in pest control (chopper shooting of pigs etc).

It's controlled but they are really just hoops to slow down the impulsive purchase and use of a gun and keep tabs on which houses are armed in the event of domestic disturbances... Some people are very vocal about it but the reality is if your nose is clean you have no problems getting hunting firearms.

And one more unrelated thing about the water buffalos. A good shot can kill one with a smaller calibre but if you want to stop one the guides say a 375 H and H magnum or better.

Cheers.

yeah, .375 is the minimum in Zimbabwe and South Africa as well.  a lot of PH's there use .460 double guns.   i know 2 bowhunters that have gone to Australia, with traditional gear (long bows).  they both shot asiatic buffalo, a couple donkeys, pigs, and one guy shot a camel. lmao

Australia is a lot like Texas, you can shoot just about anything here as well if you have the money to pay for it.

welcome and great pics

Here's another action shot for the board. The dog is Bob a son of Charlie and Cathy. Long legged, skinny, rawboned sort of dog. Great nose, no fear but doesn't 'fight' the pig, and he's quick in the open. I love him because he is the most relaxed dog I've ever had. He is famous here for his attitude. Once when I was patting him I felt something hard in the top of his neck. Upon further examination it turned out to be an industrial staple. I put him on his side and went all over him. I found two more staples in his ribs and pulled them out with pliers. My mate's four year old son had been in the yard the day before and we'd caught him with the big stapler in pieces. We later estasblished that he had done the stapling on the dog and we would never have know but for the physical evidence. Bob lay on his side and allowed this little boy to punch staples into him three times. I know the kid shouldn't have been able to access a dog unattended but he did and the dog was bombproof. And then the same dog can front up on rough boars like it's the most natural thing in the world.
Again, not wishing to say these dogs are better than anyone's. I always say there could be thousands as good or better in Oz...but I do like to underline that hard dogs can be relaxed and manageable around the home. The two things are not mutually exclusive.
Cheers.

(http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/7664/bobandcraigemuhillnov90.jpg) (http://img191.imageshack.us/i/bobandcraigemuhillnov90.jpg/)(http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/bobandcraigemuhillnov90.jpg/1/w640.png) (http://g.imageshack.us/img191/bobandcraigemuhillnov90.jpg/1/)

that's a great picture.  you have any of just the dog so we can see his build?

This is more or less what he looks like.
At the taller end of what we produce.
Cheers.

(http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6954/bobtu.jpg) (http://img194.imageshack.us/i/bobtu.jpg/)(http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/bobtu.jpg/1/w549.png) (http://g.imageshack.us/img194/bobtu.jpg/1/)

nice and leggy, i bet he's got some pretty good jets (fast).

Bob is better over longer distances or steep rough country. He's not springy fast, he's got a huge stride...

And this is the best from Saturday night. Mate Simon in the pix. Son Paul's dogs Molly and Hannah found the boar but they needed Tess to stop him.
Photo was taken on a phone...
Cheers.

(http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9518/photo0041g.jpg) (http://img18.imageshack.us/i/photo0041g.jpg/)(http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/photo0041g.jpg/1/w216.png) (http://g.imageshack.us/img18/photo0041g.jpg/1/)

G'day everyone,
Here's a little nature shot, taken a few minutes ago in our garden. We live on an acre that backs onto a 5000 acre national park so you get a fair few natives in the garden. This is a goanna, a monitor lizard and he's about six feet long. They eat carrion, birds eggs etc. They aren't dangerous unless you poke around with them. Under pressure, they want to climb so if your mate is the nearest upright looking thing, the goanna will run to him and climb him. Being climbed by a goanna is a very unnerving experience.
If you grab one they will definitely bite you and the wound is one of those animal bites that won't heal. Suggestions are that the bacteria from carrion in their mouth is the problem. Folklore says the wound reopens every 12 months but that's not correct. It just seems like that because the wound won't go away.
Quite good eating though.

So, here he is up one of the garden trees looking for a bird nest...

(http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/6412/goannajan110.jpg) (http://img687.imageshack.us/i/goannajan110.jpg/)

(http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/2894/goanna2jan1610.jpg) (http://img682.imageshack.us/i/goanna2jan1610.jpg/)

Good eating huh?
What parts of em' do ya eat?

Cook them in coals whole and pick the meat off is the traditional way but back legs and tail skinned and cooked is good too. White meat, consistency more like fish than anything.
Cheers.

Just an update. Very hot here at the moment. So we've been boxing clever with the dogs, just hunting them on shorter runs and working back to water all the time. So far only picked up a few little ones doing pest control for a few blokes. Yesterday we got onto three little fellas and got all three after they broke from the grass when Mary jumped near a dam in a lucerne paddock bordered by long grass. Mary got her's, Roger grabbed one and Barney took the third. Very happy with the dogs for that.

Here's yesterday's pigs and Mary and I.
(http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/9496/p1230647.jpg) (http://img718.imageshack.us/i/p1230647.jpg/)

And here's a little sow from the other day. That's Roger, Mary and Barney from left to right. Mary is little for us but is a grade A working dog that can find like a machine and will smash the big blokes. Not ab out looks for me. All about field performance. And I love it when the younger dogs do their thing too.

(http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/4136/littlesowehjanuary17.jpg) (http://img16.imageshack.us/i/littlesowehjanuary17.jpg/)

Cheers.

Good pics Ned.

How well do those long haired dogs hold up to the heat?

G'day Mike,
Very well. If you keep their coats in reasonable condition (a bit of brushing) there is a loft about the hair that provides insulation from direct sunlight. However, I'm not sure if that's the case with all hairy dogs because we know this family and select for endurance and heat tolerance etc.
I like the long haired dogs because the ones I've had have been very tough (die on the boar if required) and very biddable. So the hair is more of an indicator of potential nature of the dog rather than something in its own right, if that makes sense.
The long hair is also very good protection in scratchy, stick ridden scrub and blackbery bushes etc. Harder for the boar to open them up too. Note the difference in pig skin, cutting from the inside is easy, trying to run  a blade along the bristles and hoping to make a clean cut is hard...

I don't state all this stuff as fact just the facts of my own experience. Others might disagree but we could both be right...
Cheers.

G'day everyone,
I'm not long back from a night out with mate Dave and I thouht I'd get the pix up before I fall asleep.

Dave invited me for a run more than 12 months ago and it has taken me this long to get my act together and go. And I'm bloody glad I did.
We hunted some crop, some stubble, tree lines and some daddy didn't marry mommy scrub from sunset yesterday until early in the AM before sun up for five pigs.
Three of them were sellers and two of the them were bloody rippers.

Dave told me of two boars that had beaten him before in two specific spots. He tried a slight change of tactics last night and bingo, he got both of the daddy didn't marry mommys.
It was a real good night and Wildy's dogs Soda and Max did a spot on job. I had Mary and the pup Roger with me and they looked stupid next to Dave's on the night. He was generous saying, 'different truck, strange dogs, strange country' but mine looked like rubbish compared to his. Soda and Max did everything right when it counted.
These dogs can find and will back themselves. They are quick, can clear ridiculous heights and have more than enough ticker to pull up good running, fighting boars. They were once described as 'marshmallows' by a bloke who hadn't seen them work. Well the marshmallows came through in every respect IMO. Good dogs, thinking hunter and he did most of the heavy work allowing me to keep my manicure intact.
Very grateful for the invite and a pleasure to see the big leggy dogs work. Very happy with the night.

So here are the pix.

Dave and the black boar. Same length as the second boar but much fatter. He dress 79 kgs (multiply by 2.2 to get pounds. I'm too tired...)

(http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/2064/p1300658.jpg) (http://img251.imageshack.us/i/p1300658.jpg/)

Dave, Soda and Max with the wheat stealing boar. Real good hooks. He dressed 798.8kgs.

(http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/2880/p1310671.jpg) (http://img690.imageshack.us/i/p1310671.jpg/)

Dave carrying out the 79.8kgs and this pix was taken when the pig had it's guts in so your guess is as good as mine as to what  Wildy had on his back...

(http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/320/p1310668.jpg) (http://img690.imageshack.us/i/p1310668.jpg/)

Proud man.

(http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/4807/p1310677.jpg) (http://img63.imageshack.us/i/p1310677.jpg/)[/list]

Soda.

(http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/7283/p1310680.jpg) (http://img341.imageshack.us/i/p1310680.jpg/)

Max.

(http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/1658/p1310681.jpg) (http://img522.imageshack.us/i/p1310681.jpg/)

Nice boars Ned! From what I've seen in your breedings and what your dogs can produce it says alot about Soda & max to have you speak highly of them.

To me the concept of disrespecting anyone's working pig dog is like disrespecting an Australian frontline infantryman. Unacceptable for any reason. I give the respect for any dog finding and grabbing pigs and it's just a fact that these dogs were better than mine last night, no question. Not to acknowledge that would be what we all describe in Oz as being a weak c..t. So personally I am only doing the minimum by telling the truth. And they were better than mine on the night. They deserve the accolades.
Cheers.

That's the difference in Ozzies and Americans, Ned.  Here it's a "mine is better than yours" type piss'n match.  A lot of guys will down someone's dog or bad mouth a hunting style (even if they've never hunted that way or with that particular dog) just because they don't think it's possible or a dog will do it because theirs couldn't do it themselves.  I've really started enjoying hunting in the same style that you guys use over their.  I was really amazed at it's effectiveness here and the lack of injuries sustained by the dogs even after tangling with some BIG toothy boars.  We actually use ozzie style breastplates which supposedly offer less protection than the american style cutvest, but i've witnessed less injuries with "less protection" and only one dog handling the pig instead of 4 or however many some of these guys use. 

I was in the US for a short time when I was 19 in 1979 and the Yanks I met could not have been  more generous. My father fought alongside some of you blokes in the New Guinea jungle in World War II and he said they were decent men. I know there are differences in culture for sure and some Aussies don't understand that. But there are plenty of clowns out here too.
Respectful competition is all good but it really is a sign of weakness to me if a man can't take a loss. The truth is the truth.
Cheers.

that's not to say their aren't good guys here.  it's just the terds stand out more than the good ones is all. 

Yeah, all over the world I've found the blokes who are the loudest have the least to say of any consequence. All the loudness putting down anyone's dogs comes from fear. It is defensive. They are afraid of being wrong and try to cover that by noise. No respect for that little boy stuff.
Idiots all over the world and top men too. Just a matter of picking through the crap, I reckon.
Cheers.

 Good lookin dogs Mr Ned

Here's a link to a video of tying up a live scrub bull. I'd rather have the little TV screen thingo on this site. Any help?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9nx26a7hUM

The bull has been chased by the bull catcher, the 4wd you can hear ticking over and see parked where it hit the bull. The bloke tying the back legs and doing the talking is Jason, an Aboriginal man who in this vid is catching for the money but also training some young blokes to keep them off the grog and the hooter (dope). The bigger bloke is Brett a mate of ours who wanted to have a go.

The bull is knocked over. In this case one Aboriginal boy has the tail but he is pretty casual about it because Brett is pulling the back legs back far enough to keep the bull off balance. Jason ties the back legs and then moves to the head, jams his foot on the bottom horn to limit head movement and then tells another yopung bloke where to stand and how to tie etc. Some of what Jason is saying is in the local Aboriginal language and some is in English. See if you can guess the English words...
Once the legs are strapped, that's it.

Some of the noise at the beginning is the chopper moving off to get more bulls and you can see the tying straps hanging off the roll bar of the bull catcher...

The Aboriginal guys are all guts when dealing with animals. They amused themselves by walking across the holding pens full of these things to provoke charges. They were showing one another how much ticker they had and how well they could move. The bulls are like lightning and they are definitely trying to kill you. One hooked my shirt through the rails and ripped it like a razor.

It's no bloody joke putting your hands on a live scrub bull.
Cheers.

that's crazy..... :o

Ned,

First of all welcome to the site, I truly enjoy your every post. It is very clear that you are an educated man with a true passion for hunting the wild boar. I had the pleasure of talking with a young man "Josh" that shares the same style of hunting as you. It was very clear after two minutes into our conversation that he loved his dogs and he knew more about catching hogs than I may ever know. I caught my first hog over thirty years ago, and I have a style that will not likely change. With that being said, it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks but I truly admire your style of hunting.

Just for fun I will tell on myself, "daddy's did not marry momma". Well I just caught on, they do not call me slow for no reason... Please keep the post coming. I really like the bull stories, I have caught plenty of wild bulls like JDT we use horses and not Jeeps, lol.

Brother you are welcome at my fire anytime. If you ever make it back to the states please look me up for some boar hunting, oh yes bring Dave I am too old to carry the hogs out like him. Take care Brother....

Bennie

Thanks very much Bennie.
I laughed when I saw the 'daddy marrying momma' stuff too. It must be programmed into the forum rules because I just wrote the actual word...and it was changed automatically. Laughed like a drain when I saw it. Bast... is not a swear word out here, just sort of used for emphasis but I appreciate there are cultural differences. Certainly don't want to offend, just talk to people about pigs and stuff. I'm lucky now because I'm seen as a bit of an old man in this game in Oz so the young blokes tend to step in and take things from me so I don't hurt myself.
I'm still reasonably fit but too stiff and sore in some places to be considered strong any more. The young men tend to be very respectful of old blokes who are still in the field and will take the weight from you. I make a fuss but don't put up too much of a fight ha ha.
Can't remember if it was in the post about Dave but that boar was more than 105kgs live and that's what's on his back. That's about 230lbs. Dave's not a big bloke but he is strong and I'm grateful for that. I only had to carry it about 20 or 30 metres after he knocked up (got tired). And I am aware that means something else over there.
Thanks for the invite. You might regret it though because SuperJen and I are contemplating a trip in the next 18 months...
Cheers.

Ned, I can see right now that I was born in the wrong place. I wish I could do that stuff! Great pictures, videos, and marvalous stories. WELCOME and Keep em cuming!

I'm just back from a night time run with local bloke Luke. Young family man, late twenties, with a couple of very handy dogs. And it's a case of one good boar in the chiller and a lesson from a better one.
We were hunting some of Luke's country in the hills on which the landholder has set up grain feeders for his cattle and sheep to put on a bit of extra weight for sale. The livestock love the feeders and so do the pigs. They have been travelling about 3kms to and from the their spot  in the steep, thick scrub to the feeders on some of the cleared hills. Nothing on first pass but as we moved a bit further into the the property we thought we spotted a boar on another ridge. We had the spotlight on him a long way away but it moved like a boar so we started to negotiate the slopes in the Landcruiser to get ourselves closer. Luke's dogs Saus (as in sausage...I don't know why, that's just his name), and Animal jumped and ran straight at some calves in the dark. Straight to the calves, straight past the calves and up into the steep stuff. Now a tool like the Garmin Astro GPS dog tracking system is not authorised for use in Australia so we wouldn't have gear like that...but if we did it would have told us the dogs were 356 metres aaway to the NNE and stopped on a pig. We drove as close as possible to where the dogs had the boar and it was a top fight. Fat from the stolen grain and full of enthusiasm, the boar open Animal up in a couple of places. Luke climbed to him and grabbed the boar's backleg just as the boar put on a big downhill surge. Luke was pulled off balance and ended up under the boar. He didn't muck about and pushed himself out to the side with the dogs stepping on him to keep control of the pig. Back on his feet he called to me to help him roll the boar in the rough terrain. I came in from the side and grabbed a front leg and tipped the boar while Luke held the back legs. I had never worked with Luke's dogs before but Luke is no idiot so I knew the dogs were hard. They held well while I was within a couple of inches of the pig's teeth. Rolled, the boar looked a lot bigger than I'd first thought. Luke stuck him and it was done.
My dog Bob arrived late on the scene and we took all the dogs to a dam for a drink where we dressed the boar for export and watered the dogs.
While Luke's dogs drank, Bob drifted off up the slope. Again if we had the technology you aren't allowed to have, it would have shown Bob reaching out to about 200 metres out and still going. I started to climb. My dog, my job. The right equipment would have shown Bob hit a pig at 952 metres from the dam, up in some steep thick stuff. It was a horrible climb for an old bloke. Very thick in places (I just pulled two splinters out of my eyebrow). Bob was on the pig and was still (an estimated) 419 metres away. I pressed on climbing with Bob still on the boar, closing the gap and counting down the metres until I got within 73 metres. The boar broke and was stopped again a little further on. And again out 1.2kms now from the dam all uphill and most of it thick and ugly going. I got the gap down to 16 metres and saw the boar's back end. Bob was attached to the front end and this was a proper big boar. I mean a genuinely big pig. The weather was hot too and Bob was suffering. The boar broke from Bob again and it was over, the black dog was exhausted, had taken a belting and couldn't foot the big fella. I felt I'd failed the dog because he'd done everything he had to and I was too old and slow to get there fast enough. Very hard to take. Bob was very hot so I sat with him for about five minutes before turning back to climb down to the truck and Luke who was unclear on where I was...
About 40 minutes later I walked out to meet him with the news that I'd failed. He was philosophical and we got Bob down to water and a cool down. At the dam there was a super fresh wallow and some cracking big footprints. The boar had been on the dam when we hit his smaller mate.
That was the scent Bob picked up.

Sometimes that's the way it goes. Boars fight back and sometimes they escape, sometimes they kill a dog and sometimes they rip up a hunter so things could have been a lot worse.

We picked up two more pigs for the night after that, one was too small for export and the other dressed 33kgs. The first boar dressed 73kgs.
The big one I miss made him look like a pup.

Luke and the 73 caught by Saus and Animal.

(http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6977/p2060694.jpg) (http://img237.imageshack.us/i/p2060694.jpg/)

Luke dressing the boar.

(http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8632/p2060697.jpg) (http://img195.imageshack.us/i/p2060697.jpg/)

The boar at the chiller. Dressed 73 kgs...the heart lungs, liver and kidneys are left attached for vet inspection in the processing plant.

(http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/6712/p2070700.jpg) (http://img513.imageshack.us/i/p2070700.jpg/)

Saus and Animal. Good working pig dogs.

(http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/7961/p2070705.jpg) (http://img709.imageshack.us/i/p2070705.jpg/)

Another great hunt Ned!

nice dogs.  what cross is that Sausage dog?? 

good boar too by the way.  hopefully, the big one will be there again for another day.

Good hogs and great lookin dogs!

There was some action all right but it didn't fill the night. There can be a lot of time and dirt mixed with our pigs.

And on Saus and his breeding. Luke laughed and said 'he's got no breeding". That means he doesn't come from anyone known, just him and a mate and a couple of working dogs they had. The father looked like a dane mastiff and (maybe pit). Top nose though. Mum was a cattle dog (blue heeler) x Eng bully and is a very busy finder. Both parents lug up one out.

Cheers.

Just back from work in the bush. Finished the gardening and was told by the station manager to go and see if I could harass some pigs so I was happy to oblige.
Went and scouted the edge of some sorghum to see if anything was coming into the unripe crop yet and jagged this little sow just after disturbing a decent fallow buck camped in the crop.
Barney found this one. Bobby found a couple of slips but spat them out so I don't count them.
Anyway, another little work pig. And Barney's first for me since he's been back home. Barney was very arrogant with me a week ago but we discussed his issues a couple of times and he's getting nice and focussed. He had another good jump but came up with nothing. Good to watch him on the technology working the rows...

(http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/3116/p2110721.jpg) (http://img713.imageshack.us/i/p2110721.jpg/)

Cheers.

When you describe the dogs as "hard find", how much hunt do they have, what kind of range(distance) do they work?

A hard finder is two things...the hard part means they will stop a boar and are prepared to die on it rather than let it go once you arrive. Some swing for the duration but others will stop the boar, then bail it (bay) and then grab on instruction or on sight or sound of you approaching. The hard bit is about the damage they will take rather than give in once it all gets going.

The finder part means they will wind and ground scent pigs. Often from the back of the vehicle (rigging?) they will jump on floating scent and follow it up. That can be 2kms on a cold night when the scent sticks lower down. Two ks is about 1.25 miles. Most finds are closer but are often 1km. If on foot, the dog might circle you are about 200 metres out and then strike out on a scent or just hit the pig if it's that close.  They are not allowed to just range about hoping to bump into a scent.
If they strike out, it's a pig, just a matter of whether or not they can stop him. Some of the dogs won't grab little ones and some will specifically pick out the boar from the others available.


Again, that's not just our dogs, that's just the standard for handy working dogs here.

Cheers.

Thanks for the info!  I was wonderin how you kept them from catchin out before you got there ...I know catchy dogs in these parts can get others hurt often if they are catching before we get there...but if you've got that kind of handle on them to hold em at bay until you get there that's pretty cool.. 

It's not really me that has the handle. They start by swinging on the pigs for the whole time but after a few beltings many learn to let go and bail until I am within range. The closer you are in contact with your dogs the more they trust you but you have to be prepared to go forward yourself in difficult situations because if they feel you hesitate it could be a different story. Of course many never learn to bail and just hang on and on and with those dogs its running, climbing, belly crawling through blackberries and african boxthorn, swimming and whatever it takes to get there for them.
Cheers.

G'day everyone,
Sorry about this but this is a courtesy post to let those interested know I'm dropping internet forums. I have a lot on with my business, my family and my dogs. Thanks for the interest. I will reactivate my blog to limit my communication responsibilities to allow time to deal with things here.
So thanks for the interest and responses.
All the best to you and your dogs.
Cheers.

sorry to see you go ned. How do we find your blog?

Take care.

here ya go.  I'm sorry to see ya go, Ned.  I always like seeing your dogs and reading your stories.  Are you still going to be on OzzieDoggers or are you giving that up as well??

http://makimdogs.blogspot.com/