On the 1st of July the Ridgeling team turned up at the Rotherham hotel to help with their annual pig hunting competition. Our team for this comp consisted of Richard Hand, Matt Simmons, Bryce Westwood and Bill Westwood. On arrival we where greeted by the owner of the hotel, Keith Fenwick. After our introductions Keith asked us if we had breakfast as it was still morning and we had been driving for the past three hours. It was an offer we could not turn down. So with a good feed of Bacon and eggs under our belts we where ready to go. We are now well rehearsed in setting up our Ridgeline gazebo and hanging our banners about the place. The weigh in was to be between 1pm -3pm. This was one of those comps where the hunters seemed to be shy as it was nearer to 2 pm before the utes started pulling in. I think they must have been lined up around the corner because once the first one arrived they just kept coming. The next hour went by so fast as we where kept busy. There was a couple of surprised hunters to find out that they had only half gutted their pigs on the hill but did not mind getting their hands dirty one more time for the weekend to remove the hearts and lungs. By 3pm we had weighed in 33 pigs and one deer.
At prize giving time their was one stand out feature for me and that was a special trophy for the
biggest pig. This trophy had been donated by the Mason family. The Rotherham competition has been running for a few years now and right from the first competition Robert Mason had been entered as very keen pig hunter however this year Robert had not been able to enter the competition as he had sadly passed away. This is where the rest of his family stepped forward and donated this trophy in honour of Robert Mason. Roberts son Phillip got to present the trophy to Troy Beckhouse for the biggest pig.
The results for the competition are
1st place Troy Beckhouse 162 pound boar
2nd place Pete Chick 147 pound boar
3rd place Tom Baker 146 pound boar
4th place Russel walker 132 pound boar
5th place Dave Lang 131 pound boar
6th place Ben Diver 127 pound boar
Average weight Neil Forbes 101 pound boar
Best tusks Richard Taylor 18 3/8
Heaviest deer Andrew Carr 116 pounds
Most pigs on a truck Phillip Mason