Hunting Pigs in Australia.

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Ms_Dragon

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It seems that there is a fair share of feral pig haters here on this site so I was wondering if a thread about how we Aussies deal with our pig issues would be welcomed?

Obviously with our gun restrictions more often than not pigs are dealt with using a highly trained pair of purpose bred dogs, a long sharp knife and a bit of physical endurance.

I'll state for the record that this has very little to do with firearms and more to do with highlighting another way of controlling a common enemy - feral hogs/pigs.

I don't have photos of my own but I have access to some OUTSTANDING footage of Aussies putting the hurt on our type of feral pig up close and personal like.

Yes?
 
Absolutely, Miss Dragon. Using dogs to corner boars and stabbing them with spears/ knives is practiced by some here in the States. Of course, it's not out of necessity - we have guns out the wazoo - it's done strictly as a blood sport.

Just today, I saw a pit bull (APBT) the owner runs as a "Barr" dog.... poor thing is missing an eye. It made me feel really bad. I feel almost as bad for a boar hounded, and then stabbed repeatedly. Nothing worse than seeing a pig that someone stabbed more than half a dozen times before getting it right.

I'm an animal lover, myself. I don't hurt or kill animals for amusement or sport. As a personal preference, I limit myself to shooting only what makes good eating or what just needs to be shot. To that end, I prefer a quick clean rifle bullet behind the ear, and done. Ideally, a young sow - better for eating, and more effective population control.


That said, a feral hog problem is a big problem especially for, say, a sheep rancher. Compound the problem with short-sighted weenie laws restricting availability of suitable firearms, and I'm sure I wouldn't know how else to get rid of them. Traps, dogs, spears... do y'all have access to cut vests and collars for your dogs, and leggings for you?
 
Well we here in Australia have developed a purpose bred pig dog called a Bull Arab.

These have the ability to find, run down and hold a pig by the ears / cheeks until the hunter runs in and lifts the pigs hind leg off the ground and does an accurate stick to the heart with the knife.

Yes the majority of us use purpose built collars with breast and shoulder protection on our dogs.
Some don't but then it does depend on the talent of the dog to latch on to and control a pig so that he *or she* doesn't get hurt.

I'll post some awesome youtube footage of our Aussie Bull Arabs working pigs.

Please note I have no affiliation with any of the youtube contributors that I'm posting.
I simply like their dogs.

Cheers.

Some of the best Bull Arabs I have seen.
I don't know these people and I'm NOT selling pups for them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOl5aM0aPLk

A good quick kill...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DtJWVix7zo

Running Bull Arabs off the back of a Ute *truck*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBmCJ0AwWKU

Bull Arabs are a mix of shorthaired pointer, dane, wolfhound, bull mastiff to produce a leggy mastiff type that can find, hold and lug and work as a single or as a pack.

But, as always, getting that all important lethal stick the first time limits the pigs suffering.
 
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I am addicted to hog hunting. I mostly use rifles but I enjoy hog dogging to change it up from time to time. I dont run my own dogs but know guys that do. It is a huge adrenaline rush and better for those that cant sit still for hours at a time waiting for hogs to shoot. Once the dogs bay up a hog and you close in those last hundred meters, there is nothing more caveman. Your primitive instincts kick in and you go to a place modern folk will never know about.

p1010430_zps4ec124db.jpg
knifehog0312.jpg
 
Interesting sounding dog. Mostly use various coon dogs here like Blue Tick or Walker and some folks use pit bulls as catch dogs that hold them by the nose. The times I've done it with a friend of a friend, we stuck 'em in the throat to slit the jugular or carotid. It is a blood sport, for sure. Dog handlers here are pretty well practiced with suture kits. I've not seen those dog vests, but heard of folks using kevlar on their dogs. Sounds like an excellent idea to me.

Personally, I prefer trapping. I'm lazy and too old to go tromping across rice fields in my old age. :D
 
The preferred stick here is just behind the elbow, pointing down and in, to reach the heart.
It's easier to reach and a surer strike when you are hanging onto the hind leg of a large, moving animal.
 
Ms_Dragon,

Reading about your dogs, I had to giggle when I read the Bull Mastiff part.

A fellow I work with on occasion related to me a story about when he had gone out with a group of others and their dogs. The one fellow used Scotties to round up the hogs in the brush, and would then, and I quote, "RELEASE THA HOUND" at which time he would let the Mastiff loose. He said it was the funniest thing he had ever seen, until the Bull was loosed on the hog.

Then he said he had never imagined something like that. He said the Bull would simply grab the hogs by the head or neck, and with about two shakes and some cracking sounds, was looking for the next. He said he had never seen anything that powerful.

What really got him going was when they were driving out across this farmers pasture, he said the mastiff was looking over the cows like they were dinner or something.
 
People get deceived by a Bulls placid "at home nature" and think they are dealing with a Saint Bernard and forget what these dogs were bred for.

Here a favorite cross bred is Mastiff X Great Dane. Produces a very good pig hunting dog.
 
My last dog was a Great Dane I had for 13 years and he was healthy right up to the end. Down South they used to breed Great Danes with Dobermans to get a Dobe the size of a Dane. They were called King Dobermans. I don't know if they still do.
 
Meh, my dog's a Labrador retriever. I'm a duck/goose hunter, but I also like sweet natured dogs and none are sweeter than the Lab. :D I don't need her to attack hogs. I just take 'em out with a head shot in the trap. :D I just wish she'd get out of that tearing up everything in the yard puppy stage. :rolleyes:
 
Using dogs to corner boars and stabbing them with spears/ knives is practiced by some here in the States. Of course, it's not out of necessity - we have guns out the wazoo - it's done strictly as a blood sport.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree with this statement. If you've ever worked hogs with dogs which is a highly effective control tool you'd know that knives or spears are the only safe method of kill once the dogs have caught and are holding a hog. It's easy to get emotional about this stuff but in truth the dogs love their job. Mine love hog hunting above all other activities.

I've seen hogs with multiple gun shot wounds that suffered before death. I'm not sure how multiple stab wounds are any worse. Plain and simple you can be competent with your chosen method of kill or you can mess it up. One is not more humane than the other. A knife in the heart or lungs does the same job in about the same time as does a bullet.
 
Indeed. A boar spear is intended for the job, gives you some stand off distance, allows you slip between your dogs, and allows a two handed grip.


I knew a guy who hunted pigs in shorts sneakers and armed with a knife and one dog. I considered him somewhat cracked. He needed the danger to enjoy the hunt.
 
Well, there's ol' Ben Lily that hunted Louisiana swamp bears with a knife. It's said he'd reach over their back and stab 'em on the off side because they'd always react in the direction of the pain. When he moved west, he used a gun for griz, though. :D Ol' Ben was a little cracked IMHO, too, but he wasn't stupid. :D
 
I met a fellow about 45+ yrs. old and he said that he and his son would take a catch dog at night and grab the hind legs of the hog after the dog caught it. He would then "wheelbarrow" walk it out to the truck where he'd kill it with a knife, gut it, and load it.

I asked him about rattlers getting him when he was occupied with the hog but he seemed unconcerned.
 
Sounds like the perfect job for something like a Zulu short spear or a Roman Gladius. And someone a helluva lot braver than me!
 
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