Not another sow

Bailed sow before being released
Bailed sow before being released

Just a quick hunt from home, I had riding the bike as far as I wanted to go and turned around to start the trip back on the same track. Part way back I stopped the bike and sent Fog up the face opposite me where I could see a bit of old pig rooting. There was obviously no scent around it as Fog did not show any interest. Every time he stopped and looked back at me I waved my finger indicating for him to keep going. Once he was out at about 300 meters I new that he would be at a pig track that I normally take the dogs up too. Me being a bit older a bit wiser and maybe a bit slower it is good to have a dog like Fog that will go that bit extra to save me the hard yards. While Lightning and Thunder did go out to about 100 meters they believed that there was nothing there and were not about to go any further. Once Fog got onto the pig track he wasted no time in tracking off as there must have been some scent on the track. As I could see that he was heading up the gully I turned the bike around and headed back up to the top of the hill as the pigs in this gully tend to head out over the top. With the help of the four wheeler I bet Fog to the top of the hill by a couple of hundred meters. I think with the noise of the bike heading up the hill it put the pig off so it had to change its escape route. This was enough of a distraction for Fog to bail the pig up. Lightning was quick to cover the 250 meters down to the pig and Fog while Thunder stuffed up and came back to me. When I heard Lightning join in on the bail I was walking back to the bike. The two dogs were bailing for only a short time before I heard a pig squeal. Both dogs got a quick reminder with the electric collars why not to grab a pig. I managed to get the bike a bit closer to the pig before having to walk in. As I watched from above any time that the pig tried to do a false charge at the dogs and a dog went in for a grab I would give that dog a zap with the collars. What I am watching is no different than what I have seen in my training block thousands of times before and something that a lot of hunter still don’t understand. Most hunters think that when a pig chargers their dogs they should grab the pig. In this situation I had three dogs on a ninety pound sow. So if those dogs were allowed to grab this pig she would be lucky to survive ten minutes. Most hunters might take longer than this to get to their dogs and the pig which would mean that the dogs would kill the pig and the hunter would still go home empty handed. Added to this scenario is that this sow was heavily pregnant so that would also wipe out more pigs that I and every other pig hunter would like to be catching next year. It was a nice feeling to be able to give the dogs one whistle and watch them come of this pig and leave her to be able to have her piglets and hopefully raise them before another dog comes along to ruin her day.