This competition was well organised as a fundraiser for the local playground. The publican Richie and his daughter Sam had put a lot of time and effort getting good sponsorship and the right people around them to help out. One of the main prizes was a 2011 Honda 420- 4 wheeler. So for a $40 entry fee you were in the chance to win this motorbike and on top of that every entered person who turned up on the day also received a free Ridgeline shirt worth $35 which made the ticket for the 4 wheeler only $5.
So it was not surprising that there was 200 entries for this comp. There was also a section for Blue cob as there are a few local fisherman who regularly frequent the tavern.
Two of our Ridgeline judges live locally so they had a bit to do with helping out with Phil Simonson organising the 4 wheeler as a prize and Richard Hand jacking up a full on weekend for myself, starting with a fishing trip on the Friday with Ian Gunion and Amber Shaw.
I discovered that my body is more designed for land than sea but I would like to think the burly trail that I left behind helped some of those fish to come in to be caught. Saturday morning saw Richard and I riding his side by side around one of the local forestry’s.
We managed to get a nice three dog bail up in the gorse which I got to sneak in and shoot the 122 pound boar. In the afternoon we went around and caught up with Ant’s who had 15 year old Bowan Willets and his father with him. They had yet to catch a pig so they decided to follow us around for a bit. First track we went down the dogs caught a young boar that Bowan got to stick, this was only his second pig so he was stoked to have a boar to weigh in for the comp. we were also lucky enough to pick up a third boar on the way out.
With the technology now days news travels fast so before the weigh in even started we knew that Jed Vercoe had a two tonner coming in and Ian, Amber and Jarred Shaw had shot two large stags.
The day of the weigh in had some showers coming through so our Ridgeline gazebo came in handy at times. There was a free BBQ going so every person was well feed. Sam who had done a lot of the work organising this comp also helped us out with the judging.
This would have to be the first competition that I have been to where the animals came in early.
Normally there is a big rush in the last half hour but 20 minutes from cut off we did not have another animal come in. This made our judging a lot easier. Just before prize giving the skies opened up with a good down pour so we held off prize giving until the shower blew through.
1st prize in the Kids section was a 24 hour dog training trip for one adult and one child at Mainland Boar Hunting Ltd with Bill Westwood which went to Jasmin George and her father Ben who have two young dogs that they will be bringing up for some training.
The main prize of the four wheeler motorbike was drawn by the local policeman Fred and the number that he drew out was 111, (what’s the odds). Braydon Young was there on the day and had a smile a mile wide as he received the keys to the bike.
There were 26 boars and 8 deer weighed in.
Results
Heaviest boar
1st Jed Vercoe 216 pounds
2nd Kyle mileaeve 156 pounds
3rd Jackson Veitch 146 pounds
4th Alister Harper 140.8 pounds
5th Tim Stewart 140 pounds
Average weight boar Jason Gunion 111 pounds
best tusks Terry Gough
Heaviest deer
1st Ian Gunion 259 pounds
2nd Jarad Shaw 247 pounds
3rd Phil Simonson
4th Dave Ogilvie 206 pound
5th Casey Patterson 187 pounds
Average weight Dave Ogilvie 206 pounds
Heaviest Blue Cod
1st Toni Walter 3.08 kg
2nd Jacob Patterson 3.00 kg
3rd Toni Walter 2.96 kg
4th Megan McCarthy 2.64 kg
5th Terry Gough 2,56 kg
Average weight Blue Cod Jacob Patterson 1.48 kg
Heaviest kids mixed bag
1st Jasmin George 9.76 kg
2nd Joseph McLeod 9.28 kg
3rd Nixion Turner 9.22 kg