Hogs

[Wilderlife]

Pigs make up the bread and butter of a lot of Australian hunters, and were even more so back a few decades ago when deer were in much smaller numbers. I've chased pigs plenty but have spent more time chasing deer the last handful of years, purely because my spots have more deer on them than pigs. I've been lucky to hunt pigs in a variety of ways - traps, rifles, compounds, trad bows, and dogs. I probably prefer hunting them over deer just because it's more accepted to kill as many of them as possible and they are found practically everywhere on the continent, so you get to see a variety of country when hunting them.

A few pictures.
A good boar with my new bow just over a week ago.


My first kill of any kind with a compound bow, back in 2017.


My first pig with a trad bow.


First pig with a longbow.


A few with rifles

 

[HuntHogsnFish]

Pigs make up the bread and butter of a lot of Australian hunters, and were even more so back a few decades ago when deer were in much smaller numbers. I've chased pigs plenty but have spent more time chasing deer the last handful of years, purely because my spots have more deer on them than pigs. I've been lucky to hunt pigs in a variety of ways - traps, rifles, compounds, trad bows, and dogs. I probably prefer hunting them over deer just because it's more accepted to kill as many of them as possible and they are found practically everywhere on the continent, so you get to see a variety of country when hunting them.

A few pictures.
A good boar with my new bow just over a week ago.


My first kill of any kind with a compound bow, back in 2017.


My first pig with a trad bow.


First pig with a longbow.


A few with rifles

Fantastic pictures! Thanks for sharing those, what part of Australia are you hunting? Do you have to contend with massive spiders and snakes?


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[Wilderlife]

I personally live in northern NSW but besides hunting pigs in my own area, I've hunted them in western NSW, south-central QLD, and far north QLD (Cape York). We do see snakes and spiders on a regular basis and it's always funny when North Americans ask about it, as I'd much rather deal with snakes and spiders than grizzly/brown bears.

That last picture I posted was a really big boar off a big swamp in Cape York. I shot him while he was at the edge of the water and I'm lucky he ran up onto dry ground to die, as crocodiles are a huge risk in those areas. Crocs are worthy of a very healthy fear and respect, whereas I see snakes and spiders so often, it doesn't bother me, but I do respect them as well.

Here's a picture of that boar in the swamp before I shot him. I used an FN 98 9.3x62 with 286gn Woodleigh PPSN projectile.



Here's another boar from the same trip, but an interior pig in a mostly dried up creek system. The dogs found and grabbed him and I stuck him.



Some good pigs from a previous trip to Cape York.







A lot of the stuff in western NSW is quad bike based. Chase them in the flat open country and shoot them. I always liked to use my .308 with 150gn Woodleigh PPSN projectiles (a very tough Aussie-made bullet) as I could Texas heart shot the pigs and it always pulled them up. Many times, I shot pigs like this and recovered the bullet in the neck in front of their shoulders.



These ones weren't off a bike as I just spot and stalked them.


These were all shot from my Hilux just after harvest, so there were pigs everywhere on the stubble.

 

[HuntHogsnFish]

I personally live in northern NSW but besides hunting pigs in my own area, I've hunted them in western NSW, south-central QLD, and far north QLD (Cape York). We do see snakes and spiders on a regular basis and it's always funny when North Americans ask about it, as I'd much rather deal with snakes and spiders than grizzly/brown bears.

That last picture I posted was a really big boar off a big swamp in Cape York. I shot him while he was at the edge of the water and I'm lucky he ran up onto dry ground to die, as crocodiles are a huge risk in those areas. Crocs are worthy of a very healthy fear and respect, whereas I see snakes and spiders so often, it doesn't bother me, but I do respect them as well.

Here's a picture of that boar in the swamp before I shot him. I used an FN 98 9.3x62 with 286gn Woodleigh PPSN projectile.



Here's another boar from the same trip, but an interior pig in a mostly dried up creek system. The dogs found and grabbed him and I stuck him.



Some good pigs from a previous trip to Cape York.


A lot of the stuff in western NSW is quad bike based. Chase them in the flat open country and shoot them. I always liked to use my .308 with 150gn Woodleigh PPSN projectiles (a very tough Aussie-made bullet) as I could Texas heart shot the pigs and it always pulled them up. Many times, I shot pigs like this and recovered the bullet in the neck in front of their shoulders.

Looks like a great time, I don’t mind snakes and spiders as long as I see them first. I was going to ask about Crocodiles too, those will sneak up on you and eat you like a bear, would be incredible to see one in person in the wild. Thanks much for the pictures and stories. Someday I’ll make it out there.


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[Wilderlife]

I know people in Cape York who lose roughly one dog per year to crocs. In some cases, they've been swinging off the back of a pig near a swamp and a croc has taken a dog (or even the pig) while they've been there in the mayhem. Crocs are not to be underestimated but like anything, if you're smart about things you can keep out of trouble.

Here are some pigs I've caught with mates in western NSW and south-central QLD with their dogs.

This one was huge and up in the mountains. A very solid pig.



This one was a sow, interestingly.







My mate listening for his dogs in a lignum swamp.


Some of the dogs from that trip.

 

[Sierra Hunter]

@Wilderlife is that a vizla you’re running on dogs, if so we don’t see many working vizlas here in the states and certainly not on fur.

 

[Wilderlife]

Yeh, the bloke I know in Cape York has been hunting pigs up there for decades and he has gone through many dog breeds to find what he likes. In his case, he has a line of working Vizslas that find the pigs. The heat and humidity in Cape York is extreme (probably similar to parts of Florida? I don't know) and he finds the Vizlas cope with the heat very well. They aren't heavy dogs, have an insane prey drive and a very high level of energy. He will typically walk creek lines or ride his bike, and the Vizslas will trot alongside. When they scent or put up a pig they'll bark and give chase. When we get close we'll drop the heavy dogs off the bike, or walk/jog them in with them on a lead. The risk of overheating a heavy holding dog is massive, so the Vizslas do most of the work in that sense.

Lots of people in North America probably do things similarly.

This is Garmin, the dog from the photo of me with the boar. He's probably no longer with us as he was six years old in 2017. He was named Garmin for obvious reasons.



These are fairly typical of a 'heavy' or 'holding' dog in Australia. A lot of the breeding is mixed up nowadays but they are called a 'Bull Arab'. The breed was developed in the 1970's (I believe) and consisted of 1/2 Bull Terrier, 1/4 English Pointer, and 1/4 Saluki (an Arabian Greyhound). Hence the name 'Bull' coming from Bull Terrier and 'Arab' coming from the Saluki. Over the years, people have put all sorts of things into Bull Arab lines - Dane, Mastiff, Wolfhound, etc - so people are more interested in a dog's proven ability to work, than what magic mixture of breeding it includes. Having said that, most Bull Arabs are white with dark patches like these.



Some Bull Arabs are far too big, in my opinion. You can see the picture of the three dogs on the quad bike, and the big fella was called Diesel. He was an Arab but obviously had a lot more Dane/Mastiff blood in him than other dogs, as he was enormous. He was strong and wouldn't let go, but he wasn't fast and he got tired quickly. Here's a picture of my mate holding him in some lignum and you can see just how big he was.



You can also see in some of those pictures a Kelpie puppy. Lots of pig hunters are now moving towards having Kelpies (or similar stock dogs like Blue Heelers or Border Collies) being their finder/bailer dogs to save their holding dogs from having to work quite so hard. One friend in particular is getting a bit long in the tooth, so the stock dogs allow a lot more time for him to get to the pig and have far less risk to the dogs in the process. Here are some pictures of him - an absolutely amazing hunter (and bloke).





A typical Aussie Kelpie.


The dog furthest from the camera is an incredible dog. My friend doesn't have much in the way of Arab in his lines and the foundations are mostly based on Bull Terrier and Wolfhound, but his line is decades old now and he just breeds based purely on ability.

 

[Hoghead]

Heat is a problem in California, too. I tried border collies, and a buddy had some healers, but they didn't range far enough for my liking. I find Catahoulas to be a good mix of nose range and enough bite to slow or stop a hog until the bulldogs arrive.

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[Wilderlife]

Yeh, you don't see many Cats here but some people run them. A good mate of mine has one out of his stepdad's line and he's a great looking dog.

When my old dog passes on and my wife's cats pass on, I'll likely get myself a GSP to indicate some game, and more importantly, blood trail for me as I'm red/green colourblind.

 

[Hoghead]

My buddy has some GSP dogs on order from Germany to replace the 2 that got killed recently.

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[Brooks051]

I've heard rumors there are pigs in SoCal. Yet to see or get a legit story on them.

 

[MallardSX2]

Killed quite a few over there years.

All Public Land Hogs.

 

[Folgrim200]

Anyone know a good location near Orlando to paid for hunt?

 

[Rock-o]

An acquaintance of mine...

https://www.youtube.com/@CarpeSus/videos

He has killed way more pigs than there are videos.

 

[KnCaffre]

I live vicariously through videos of pig shooting in Texas, and I have seen more than a few from Australia as well. Too bad there aren't any up here in NY.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Yeah being from Texas they're a regular species. We're not that mad at them though, we hunt for meat in Feb and Mar when it's cool and the grass is low. Obviously everywhere we go has hogs but typically only kill them at our fish camp on the coast, just drive down the road and stop and blast away when you spot one or I have a few huge coastal fields I'll let the dog loose and she'll go find them and run them out into the open. I found a 3 acre dewberry field out in the middle of nowhere I like to stalk with the dog. They're always in there somewhere. I just wait on a high spot until she runs them out. She'll bay one and the rest of the group keeps running so I'll shoot one in the group that's clear. Since we can blast them down here (posting from camp) we don't bother elsewhere. Cleaning them is easy, do it on the bay and pitch the carcass into the bay to feed the sharks.

 

[HuntHogsnFish]

Yeah being from Texas they're a regular species. We're not that mad at them though, we hunt for meat in Feb and Mar when it's cool and the grass is low. Obviously everywhere we go has hogs but typically only kill them at our fish camp on the coast, just drive down the road and stop and blast away when you spot one or I have a few huge coastal fields I'll let the dog loose and she'll go find them and run them out into the open. I found a 3 acre dewberry field out in the middle of nowhere I like to stalk with the dog. They're always in there somewhere. I just wait on a high spot until she runs them out. She'll bay one and the rest of the group keeps running so I'll shoot one in the group that's clear. Since we can blast them down here (posting from camp) we don't bother elsewhere. Cleaning them is easy, do it on the bay and pitch the carcass into the bay to feed the sharks.

That’s what’s up! I’ve been looking up outfits to do a Texas hog bow hunt, never been out there before.


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[Ropin4gold]

I’ve killed many and enjoy hunting them. Mostly south Arkansas and central Arkansas. Went to TX once, will probably get back there when it cools off. All private land of friends/relatives. Mostly at night with thermal, but have killed several nice ones in the early morning on feeders or spot and stalk throughout the day. Also do some calling, when it works that is fun!

 

[RWT]

I like it quiet. Running subsonic ammo

 

[Cant hit em]

Got this one last week

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