Sunday, October 31, 2010

Bushpig hunting is one of our favourites

Visiting hunters often ask what do we hunt as PH's around here.We certainly enjoy all forms of chase and feel that all the species are special and all have their own special appeal.Springbok and impala hunting or 'shooting' as I call it has its attraction in the distance shooting that thoroughly tests the hunters' marksmanship skills.The wary bushbuck and kudu are perennial exciters for all hunters too.But the specie that probably evokes the most excitement from us is the bushpig.We know that they are there but true to their elusive nature they are hardly ever seen,so when we actually get to see a "ghost" that extra excitement surfaces.

With most of our professional hunting over for 2010 by now we have managed to get some time to do some hunting ourselves.
In September we summonsed Gerrie with his pack of hounds to help us chase some pigs on a remote part of the property where there had been some domestic goat-kid killing by bushpigs.I have some reservations about hunting bushpigs with dogs especially if there is just one hunter(a client) that is meant to shoot a pig.It can be difficult and frustrating trying to get just the one gun to the place where the pig is being bayed.When there are multiple guns however,the effect of the guns being spread out and all jostling to get to the point of bay first is where the fun lies.Simply put it becomes a mad rush.Fitness is not something to be disregarded in this type of hunt either,not to mention safety either!We had a lot of excitement and managed to get some of those ghosts out of that thick impenetrable bush.My Brother,Francois, managed to get the first shot into a really big boar something that is not common with the dogs as they prefer to chase the smaller less aggressive pigs.It weighed over 80kgs(180lbs)!
In October I embarked on my 3 year quest to take out the specific old goat killing sow that was still at large after I had taken out the others over this period.I had taken a lot of pictures with my recon cams of this sow over the years and knew that it had a light coloured coat.These bushpigs would actually hack a living adult goat with their tusks and begin devouring the still living goat from the open wound in the gut!This sow was still the only one left from this original group of killers.
I had the bait set up and chose the night that I felt it was most likely to come in.My wait was very short and twenty minutes after I had settled into my bush blind at sundown two pigs appeared.I could clearly make out the "blond sow" in the moonlight and duly dispatched the 75kg (165lbs) beast.The boar that accompanied the sow took off into the night and hopefully it hadn't learnt how to run down and devour living goats yet!I monitor these specific bushpigs closely and so far the goats are safe.


The fact that we are noticing  bushpigs predating ,something that apparently hasn't been the case for a long time here, indicates that there is a healthy population of bushpigs (like all the other species) on Blaauwkrantz again, although one would never say so as these critters are basically invisible and damned hard to hunt.
We fully appreciate bushpigs for the challenge they pose and thus regard them highly!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Link to my old Bushpigblog address.

Hi,

Here is the link to the old blog site.I had to reopen a new site according to Google.The old one is still there but I can't add anything to it.

It has the 2009 and most 2010 entries.

So for the sake of valuable bushpig info read it!

http://www.eardleysbushpig.blogspot.com/

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Zak Cadiz from Cape Town,South Africa, the newest Blaauwkrantz Bush King and Hogslammer!


Congratulations to nine-year old Zak Cadiz from Cape Town for becoming the latest holder of the Blaauwkrantz Bush King award as well as completing a single safari Hogslam by succesfully hunting both our wild pigs,the bushpig and the warthog.

Zak's dad ,Ray, brought his son out to Blaauwkrantz on Thursday the 23rd September and bushpig was on top of the wish-list.
Since the 23rd was full moon we headed straight to the bait site I thought we would have the best chance at having some action.
At 8:30 pm we noticed a single pig scurrying around in the moonlight and eventually start feeding.
I could see that it was an average sized pig and whispered that we should wait a bit longer for the other pigs to arrive as I had noticed even bigger ones coming in according to my scouting camera that had been out there for a few weeks already.
At 9pm Zak couldn't wait any longer and said that he wanted to shoot that pig.He said he could see it in the moonlight with the feint red dot of the Zeiss scope on its shoulder.I whispered that he should go ahead and squeeze the trigger,my words were still coming out when Zak shot,I was surprised how quickly he shot and didn't hear the rapport from the 300 Win Mag and assumed that he had missed.I went to the spot where the pig was standing and there was nothing.
I was sure Zak had missed!
I was reluctant to go into the bushes and start tracking at night as I didn't want to make too many tracks around there since we might have to come back again to try again.Anyway a wounded bushpig in the dark and in that thicket isn't something you want to have a rendezvous with!
The next morning we went to investigate and I noticed some blood near to the bait in the morning sun.My tracker,Jeffrey, got called on to ply his trade in the densest of dense thickets and investigate further...It wasn't long and Jeff called from the darkness that the pig was dead.I almost couldn't believe it!

Zak had actually done it- a bushpig in the moonlight!

The pig weighed 120 lbs and was an excellent way to start his safari as he succeeded in taking a warthog a few days later too.
Congratulations Zak!