We all make mistakes from time to time, some mistakes go unnoticed while other mistakes can have fatal consequences.
This mornings mistake was not noticed at first.
I had planed to meet my son Sloan up at his block where we would both go off for a hunt. 90 minutes after leaving home I spotted Sloans dog Mack coming down the hill towards me.
Mack can be a growly old dog so my first thought was at least Bro and Tig have got their muzzles on. Then the penny dropped, I had forgotten to put their muzzles on. Last time I forgot to put their muzzles on they killed a pig on me, something I do not like.
As we carried on with our hunt the dogs all seemed ok even when Tig was doing his job of catching possums the other dogs did not join in. When we got back to Sloans hut we had a BBQ before I departed on my way home. Halfway home the dogs tracked off and it was Gus that put a nice bail up 600 meters away. When Bruce, Bro and Tig arrived only Bruce carried on bailing as the other dogs grabbed the pig. Tig is under very good command because he does not wear a muzzle as soon as I gave his collar a vibrate he came off and returned to me. This left Bruce bailing while Bro and Gus were giving this pig a hard time.
If these two dogs had been wearing their muzzles they would have broken that pig down hill towards me, saving me having to climb 170 meters up in altitude and 600 meters out just to find the dogs had killed what would have been a nice 70 lb sow.
As it turned out this could be the same pig the dogs bailed two days earlier when she received minimal injuries due to Bro and Gus wearing their muzzles.
I have been using muzzles on my dogs for over 10 years now and today reminded me of the last time I forgot to put the muzzles on. I have witnessed so many times when a pig tries to break the bail on the dogs they normally head down hill and this is why I can catch so many pigs on or near the 4wd tracks. Tig my possum dog will happily follow me into a bail and watch, knowing that I don’t want him grabbing pigs. If I’m in a situation where I do have a stroppy boar I can get him to go in and hold but he knows I don’t want him 2 gullies away trying to grab a pig.
This video shows Fog and Lightning wearing muzzles 10 years ago.