Woof is gaining confidence around the pigs now with so much work.
I managed to get some footage of Woof on a 60 lb boar in some tight scrub where he is still standing off the pig a little bit which is showing that he has some respect for the animal and understands that things could get dangerous at any time.
Two days later I took Bro and Woof for a hunt through my training block. This is helping him to gain his confidence around pigs. I like the way that he is learning without trying to go in for a bite and breaking the pig.
Next day I took all four dogs out for a hunt. The plan was to give myself a decent walk. I had covered about 3 km and was 850 meters up the side of a gully when I watched Bro and Gus track across from me and up into the Douglas firs. Eventually the GPS came up twenty barks per minute at 650 meters up above me and aroud in the next gut. I could not hear any barking so I carried on up towards the dogs. At 550 meters Bruce must have heard them so he tracked off towards the Bro and Gus. At 450 meters I could just make out the barking in the distance and this is when Woof tracked off towards the bail. This was a reasonable steep hill so it was going to take me a bit of time to get up to the dogs. They were all bailing 100 meters above a 4wd track which I knew I could get the bike to. I think this pig knew how far away I was as it broke down across the track and into the real shit country before I arrived. I caught up with the action about 200 meters below the track and got to see the pig for the 1st time. It was in tight ferns and native and I could not get a clear shot as I could not see where all of the dogs we’re. While I was taking my time, this pig broke again and every time I got close it kept breaking. Because the terrain was steep and tight I was getting left behind until lower down the gully where I new of some open ground. As soon as I gained the open ground I ran 400 meters to get in front of this pig. This time I had the advantage of being able to see what was going on. Bro and Gus we’re around the face of the pig trying to stop it while Bruce and Woof were trying to bail. As the pig approached me I called Bro and Gus out and shot this 121 lb sow behind the ear. This pig had run 1.2km down hill to get shot 20 meters off the side of the track. I was pleased with Woof as he stuck with the pig the whole way.
Leave a Reply