PIG HUNTING IN OTAGO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 27 (Supplement)

PIG HUNTING IN OTAGO.

By 11. Blcklvnd,

Visiting 6j ortsmen should not lea\e our -hores under the impression they ha.\o exhausted all we ha\ c to offer in the waj of healthful excitement after they ha\e had their fill of deer stalking, trout fish ing, and ground and feathered game This is \ery far from being the case. To my mind the best «port to be had in the colony is the hunting and shooting of wdd cattle. 1 ha\ c no wish to quarrel with those who think <leei stalking the king of 6ports. I ha\c -hot my deer — the remembrance of the fact does not afford mo the keenest sati-fac tion. However, each one to his taste; noi do I forgot that for the good of the heid a certain number of stags must be shot c\ery year, and that there is good reason to believe sufficient have not been killed in the past.

it is a score of years since I have done any cattle hunting. If any prospect could shake off the stiffness of oncoming age it would be that of a turn at cattle on a good horse. One needs to be a fair rider to enjoy tho thing at its best. I'o camp at night at the head of some wooded spur above the river flats ; to crawl vvarilj down to tho point in early dawn; to wait till the light grows strong enough to see the mobs feeding: to watch impatiently till those at least are fairly in tho middle of tho flats; to arrange which lot each man shall take: to tot iail at best pace after some old bull ; to overtake him before he reach the fiiendlv bush on tho far side (no mean feat tin*-) : to drop the reins as the wise old horse ranges up to close quarters ; to put bullet in him from a handy carbine ;_ to avoid his uglj- thrust as you pass on - the«e are the things to make the king of sports for me.

For tho-o who are not riders plenty of excitement and fun is to be had amongst tho bush clad hills, where many a lordly old bull carries his war worn head. He has no length of horn, your old father of the h'-rd often but shortened stumps, blunt and broken, jutting from a ma~sof hair and dirt and bits of t-crub and thatch of iawver-\ inc. No hall but might ly» proud to give a place to euch an

emblem of wild life. — the \ery sa\ageiy of the awful front telling of stealth and courage necessary to capture such a prize.

However, I set out to write something about pigs, and must not be led away by nobler game.

Pig hunting in Otago i-> rapidly becom ing :i thing of the past. Pigs there are in plenty, but youth is older now than once it was. Closer settlement is dri\ mtr pis r«-vr «-v further afield, and all are hu-y making money at cow- or cropping that none ha\e time to follow him. The sprearl of the rabbit was the cause of the pj.inost complete <li*-appeara.nce of tho pig. tor a tune. 111 parts of Otago. Ptggv always hungry. fea-t(d greedily on poisoned butinj and then crawled anaj to rlie. Ilun Ired- and thousands haw perished th i-. 'I he 1 atural enemy i.s clearing out the ldbbit and pigs, owing to 1-e-i and li<-s poi-oning. aie again on th • incroa«<\

There is no orthodox method of killing wild pigs. Sticks and stouts, bullets, tomahawks, km es, anything to rob him of his life quickh and with co nparathe safety.

lii da.\ s when [ii^- wcic \ci\ tituticioti-. flood «poit \\n^ to ho had in open countr\ 1)\ -peurinjr them fioni lioip( v l>«itk. 'Ihi'ie ii no <lotil)t that pitr^ <lid a lot of dama.L(o. '1 iii'_\ di ¥ stro\ eel fences, looted up ktouihl. and followed lainhin^ i'ws to eat the newly dropped lamh of a weak old shtH'p, and it is prett\ <<-r t<iin, settled the rjue-ition of life or death for t h e sheep itself.

Men were put on to kill pigs at so much per tail. The o v t f i t of such a man consisted of a good team of reliable dogs, a doublebarrelled gun, a razorsharp knife, and a tomahawk in his belt. The breed of dog was nothing. The main thing was his courage and holding power. Dogs with a dash o f lurcher were general f a v o v rites. Two such dogs, the best of their kind, 6 t a nding well back for safety's sake, and hanging o n to hie ears, will hold

I any pig 111 the world. Dogs with mastiff blood ha\o boon known to pull down a 1 yearling wild bull. When his dogs had j hold, or even ono of them, the pig-killer 1 would slip up. catch the pig by his hind leg, hoist an<l jerk him on to his back. In another minute hie throat was cut.

To realise the apparent amount of bravery required to do this it is necessary to ha\ o seen a wild boar at bay. Eyes fdirlj- burning with red rage, bristles on end, foam flying from his mouth, fierce rushes as ho drags the dogs this way and that, and through it all the constant flash of tho tusks over his sharpeners — these things go to make a very terrifying- spectacle. Yet ho is quite safe with good holding dogs, and after tho knack of turning up piggy has been mastered, tho thing may bo done with impunity. I ha\e seen ' men <Io it again and again who would not have ridden a horse over a fence for £50.

When not quite confident about his dogs, a man would run 111 and hamstring his pig and then finish him with the '" Tommy axe." The profession;*! rarely wa-t<<d his

<* r/n;ii '.'lit lon. \\ In n !»• /lied it w.i- a.t U (lunging pig oi to s,i\e a dog's life.

It !-• ,i | omt of honoui to —tick to jour dogs when the\ ,iic on .t pig. I find lii % -.elf wilting in the pieviit tonw. It -com- oiil\ the other d.i\ thaf e\ery mueterer's tram li.ul one or two good pig dogs- dogs who-e -ide-. had been sewn airiin ,iii<l again before they learned the fu:i wa.i not all for them. Dogs, taught not to hunt unless they got the word, but if their ma-tor should .sa\ "Pigs!" back would go their heads to sniff up long breath- of aii ; let them but catch the scent, ami oil' they would -ct with a joyful yelp, nor leave the trail till the quany was brought to ba\. It is hard to bring home by words the stirring incident <• of a hunt. I will set down as nearlj as I can remember just what happened at tho last in which I took part, some dozen yoar*» since. There is one remarkable thing alwut this story. The boar of which I propose to tell left the mob and attacked the hunter when there was not the lea-t occasion for him to do so. It is the onK time I have known this happen ; othei-> whose experience is a thousand-fold more than mine may count it a ci mmon thing. I had seen homo fr<*>h rooting about tho place, and agreed with a neighbour that when we had time we would try for a pig. The time came on a. dull winter's day. A na/jty grey day with a keen wind. Wo had even, so long sinco as that time, only one dog worth a. lap — a good, useful collie. Age had robbed him of his 6pring and dash, though the poor fellow's pluck and knowledge of tho jrame were all that could be desired. We started after lunch. In about an hour we came out on the top of a. ridge directly overlooking some hundred acres of bush, which fell away very steeply Ix-neath our feet. Between us and the bush proper was a tangle of lawyer, flax, and light-wood scrub a hundred yards or so in width. Our first move was to take a careful look around. Right below where the fringe ended and before the bu.sh began was an open space of a fewacres. In this clear ground we saw a mob of pigs. No time was lost in dragging our horses back over tho crown of the ridge. Once safely out of eight we

compared notes, and agreed there was at least one decent boar in the mob.

Our plan of action was quickly settled. I was to try and crawl through the fringe of undergrowth. If I succeeded in doing 6o without disturbing the pigs I would be rewarded with an easy snot. My friend ■was to tie up the horses and keep a careful watch in order to get the line the mob took should the pigs hear me coming -and break away. After a short hunt I found a pig-track through the tangle. It was a dome-shaped -covered way, as smooth on the top and sides as the lining of a bird' 6 nest — this smoothness, of course, due to the constant rubbing of the animals' bodies in passing to and fro.

I at once started to crawl down this track. For 30 yards mj way lay dead ahead, then there was an angle, and another straight run to open giound, as one could tell by the faint light in front. I gradually wormed my way to this bend. Here the top growth was a little less rigid. By forcing up against it with my •shoulders I raised the roof so that I could kneel comfortably upright. After resting so a short space, I craned my aching neck forward for a peep. The pigs were in full view. Lying flat on my face down the steep track, I had got my gun to my shoulder, when in one second there was a 6tampede. All save the boar made for the bush bekny. He went out of sight, with his head pointed in my direction. The steepness of the hill hid him for what seemed ages at the time. Then all of a rush he darkened the entrance. I just crouched there helnless, forcing up the vines with my bent shoulders. On he oame as hard as he could race._ I had made no plans for this sort of thing. Up to the moment my gun touched his face I believe I was quite undecided what to

do. What I did was to pull both triggers, give one awful howl, and dive forward along his horrid back. For a second or so I was conscious of nothing but lawyer scratches, prickles, and smoke. Then I heard my mate calling to know if I were badly hurt, and almost immediately after two shots from his gun. It was plain tho pig had escaped once again, as I could hear the yelps of the dogs and some shouted message die away in the distance.

A very shaky but thankful creature was I when once more astride my good pony. A freshly-lit tussock half a mile off showed the line' of flight, and a brisk ride of a mile brought me to where the dogs had him bailed up. The boar had his stern against a cabbage-tree in a dense growth of vine, flax, and lawyer. By this time I wa6 feeling my own man again, but was -quite determined I had clone all my hand and knee work for one day. As my mate could not be made to understand it was his turn, we could do nothing but wait outside. Though we could see no animals, there was plenty to Kear. The rending of the vines by the boar in his fierce rushes, the snarling and yapping of "the dogs, and always in moments of comparative rest, the horrible chump, chump, chop, chop, as the tusks flashed over the sharpeners. As shooting was out of the question, one climbed a near-by cabbage-tree; the other handed up stones for pelting the pig. if good luck should guide the missiles away from the dogs. Suddenly quite a different note made itself heard in the din. A quick little -cry — our poor, faithful old collie came whimpering out. with a rod, wet seam -along his flank. The rest of the pack followed ; nor could we induce them to go back to the attack. There was nothing for it but to light the 6crub and chance to raising fire sufficient to drive out the boar. This we managed to do at last. Time had slipped on, and it was now about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Winter's -evening was beginning to close in. I would have been thankful had the pig -taken himself off out of sight. llowe\er,

he merely ran to a patch of manuka about 50 yards away. We both had shots at him as he went, and his stopping so soon made us think he had been too severely wounded to travel farther. A little later we were to learn how far out in our reckoning we were on this point. The patch of manuka, scrub in which piggy had taken, refuge was of the worst possible nature so far as we wore concerned. The trees grew about 18 inches to 2ft. apart. This was, so far, in our favour. The trouble was that they were nowhere thicker in the stem than a piece of inch and a-quarter piping. That is, they were large enough to prevent one running away a-nd too small to act as shelter behind which to dodge. Well, in we went, hoping to find piggy in extremis, and keeping up our spirits by constant assurances that such must be the case. On one thing wo were thoroughh agreed. Happen what might, we would stick together. So much for plans. In the next 10 seconds my mate was out of sight in one direction and I in another. For about a quarter of an hour that pig hunted us through that patch of scrub. The dusk was growing thicker and thicker. Half the time we did not know which of us was being chased. More than once an hysteric fit of laughter at what we thought our mate's troubles was turned into a terrified yell as we realised that the boot was on 'the other foot. Then followed the hurried shot and flight. There was one glade of more than average width. This you may be sure was a favourite resting spot. Here, then, we lay, about 50 yard 6 apart, panting and peering through the stems for a sight of our enemy, always hoping that some lucky shot had killed him. All of a sudden— e\erything seems to happen suddenly where wild pigs are

concerned- -he burst down a. track which led at an angle into the main glade where we lay. lie bore straight down on mj mate. It was no joke this time. For a moment as he entered our lane he was side on to me. and I fired. There was no mistake about hitting. I heard the sickening, squelching thud of the bullet. What had I hit . I give \ou my word I let my head fall forward and felt as one does just before one is ill at sea, for I was fairly sick -with fear. Then, most blessed sound — the voice of my comrade : " Got him at last." Only those who have had this sort of experience may fully understand my feelings. A little before it might have seemed too late to hunt pigs. It was not too late now to spend ever so long in cutting off the head of the poor brute and carrying it home. We managed this by slingmi it on a pole, the ends of which rested on the front of tho saddles.

It was dark when we reached the station. Tho old dog was sewn up by candle-light. He lned to die of honoured old-age. So ondttl hi~ la^t hunt but not, I trust, mine.