Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February - March 2018 i Bacon Busters

Gday All, well 2017 has flown by, hasn’t it! Its been another year watching my young family grow, whilst seeking life goals and ambitions with my wife. Included in those are trying to pay the lifelong debt of a house off ASAP, however family caravan holidays and hunts are always booked in to keep our sanity. I don’t have any latest big boars to show you, but I have been getting about when I can throughout the hills catching a few pigs and getting stuck into a few local goats with my Dad and young fella (Bowen). I’m just carrying on this tradition, which I think is very important in installing character and quality time with the boys! I watched him stalk and shoot his first Billy on our latest…

The romantic lure of adventure and longing memories draws at the heartstrings once again. Everything is huge in the Cape...immense distances on dusty gruelling tracks, the richness in wildlife, magnificent sunsets, iconic termite mounds, the monotonous yet ever-changing sweeping vistas. Everything up here however wants to kill you...Crocs, King Browns to Taipans, Rogue Bulls and our quarry the Wild Boar. Even the petite and vibrant green ants give me excruciating love bites. The Cape has had a wonder and an intoxication that is hard to explain. I take with me wonderful life long memories once again and some of its dust within my pores and the love affair continues! We familiarise ourselves with our equipment and double check everything… We are two eager kids in a lolly shop bright-eyed with…

It was finally September and after missing last year’s annual hunting trip up north, it was time for redemption. With a couple of weeks off work, it was time to load the Ute, trailer, and dogs and start our 35hr drive to the Gulf. My brother, who works as a Jackeroo, had organised for us to come to some new country and get stuck into a few. With my mate Jason, my younger cousin Reid, we packed into a bench seat Cruiser with only two working air-con vents. We began our trek from Orange NSW to McArthur NT. For hours, we drove; only stopping for fuel and food and to let the dogs have a stretch. After leaving on the Friday, we arrived at our destination on Sunday afternoon. We’d…

With a camera around the neck, rifle over the shoulder and a dog by your side, hunting is in the blood! It was late September, and although the weather was starting to heat up in the west I was keen to get the family out for a pigging trip. My father was working in Western Queensland around the Mitchell area. He had been seeing a few pigs in his travels, so with a bit of sweat and determination, we were bound to get amongst some. The trip out was smooth sailing in the 90’s model Hilux, making the journey from on the Sunshine Coast in around seven hours. It was good to finally arrive and the family have a catch up. The first afternoon was spent driving around having a…

On Saturday, my son Matt and I went out with our good mate Mick chasing buffalo and pigs. Tragically, Mick was involved in a workplace accident that left him confined to a wheelchair. However, mighty Mick's positive attitude to life is inspirational; he enjoys a good laugh, is a passionate hunter, a devoted husband, family man and a top bloke. As usual, Matt drove the Honda Pioneer 700 side-by-side as if he'd stolen it and Mick wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I always keep looking over my shoulder just checking we weren’t being chased by the Police. Later, as the Honda cruised the open ground a stone's throw from the river corridor, the dogs and I pushed a path through the thick entanglements of vegetation hugging the rivers…

Yamaha is replacing the best-selling ATV in its range with this one. The new Kodiak 450 renders the mid-capacity Grizzly obsolete. But there’s no risk that getting rid of the best-seller could be a mistake because this new one is a massive improvement that’ll suit hunters alot better. Yamaha’s pitch for the Kodiak is aimed at farmers. They’re pushing the toughness and practicality, which the Kodiak has by the bucketful, but what’s more impressive is the way this one’s ride and handling make it a pretty fine four-wheeler for hunting. The last time I rode a Grizzly 450, I was largely unimpressed, and decided the bigger Grizzly 700 was the way to go. Now I’ve pledged my allegiance to the 450cc class again because the Kodiak is such a good…

Well 2017 has been a great year so far for the hogs. While it started a little slow during the end of the wet, it quickly stepped up for me once the water dispersed. I have been lucky to be able to hunt a fair bit with friends and family. With my Dad, Ross and my wife Timina, we are always keen to go for a look. The dogs have been going good and the youngest bitch Maddi has been stepping up to the plate with some nice finds and is always keen. On one particular hunt with a few mates, we were lucky enough to score a 159.7kg sow, which dressed out at 133kg. This was caught with two dogs, Chief and Maddi. This pig beat my personal record…

It was Wednesday night and I loaded the dogs Mack, Mator, Willow and Dex. I grabbed a mate after work and we headed up to my block which is an easy 45minute drive up the mountain sharing a couple of refreshments and weekly bullshit on the way. We arrived and it was a nice 4degrees at 7pm. I was pretty happy as I didn't have to open the gates. We kitted the hounds up and off we started. My mate Coomsy acknowledged the breeze in our favour heading straight toward the Ute in the direction we were heading in the first paddock. Mator and pup Dex (both Catahoula’s) were up first. 500metres in, they were both off zig-zagging on the edge of the tree line showing heaps of early interest.…

I have had some memorable hunting in my young life and that is because I have a Dad who is a keen pig hunter. He loves catching a good boar in the cane and I have been in the front seat next to him for as long as I can remember. It might be a full Saturday or even a run after work and school, but Dad and I are always up for collaring the dogs and hitting the Burdekin cane-fields and it’s surrounding plantations and wild forests. I have hunted with some good mates at different times, such as Brayden (Ranga) Lampton, Jacob Poletti and some mates I even consider family; like Dad’s mates Greg Pearson and his daughter Bryt, along with Dad’s other mate that I call Uncle…

Townsville has had some good rain over the last week so I decided to go for an afternoon hunt and later that night, catch up with my mate Jamie and his dogs. Early in the evening, I located some good pigs with the thermal and with some good shooting, I managed to whack some good boars just before midnight. The dogs also had some action catching a nice boar. The week after, I thought I'd try my luck with another night hunt. I arrived at the swamp just after dark and walked to a spot where I had seen a good mob just four days earlier. It was around 8pm when I found my first pig with the thermal. It was around 250metres and a good size boar, but he…

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I hunt two dogs. Opie, who is a 4yr old Brian Neal Bull-Arab. My second dog is Boy who is a 2yr old Arab/ Wolfhound X. He is out of Opie and both are hard nose dogs. I feed them an excellent diet weekly and they are well worked, which means they need to be well rested at the same time. The mountains do take their toll on dogs with unlimited stamina levels needed to keep up with the rough cold country boars. The country I hunt is mountain country around Canberra. Using dogs to find the pigs in this country is the best way to control the pig numbers as it’s really thick and you never see the pigs before a find! Usually, I don’t need to travel more…

It was a good start to the New Year! We were out checking dams and the first dam was no good, so approaching the second dam, the dogs got keen and jumped. They only went out to about seventy metres and came back; strange! Anyway, we arrived to the dam and the dogs jumped off and started pissing (great wild dogs!) We walked around to the other side of the small water catchment and there were a heap of wallows that weren't too old, but the dogs weren't overly keen. I checked the wallows out and was just about to go when I thought we might as well walk up to the spring a couple of hundred metres away. Slim took off nose down over the dam bank. When we…

1st Prize: 20kg bag of Enduro Full Boar Hunting Dog Food Send your photos to LEADER OF THE PACK Competiton GPO Box 606, NSW 2001 or email: editor@baconbusters.com.au Proudly sponsored by FULL BOAR PREMIUM HUNTING DOG FOOD…

We were pig hunting on a good friends cattle station in North Queensland. The station is well known for its big fighting boars that sneak into the feedlot at night and also fatten up on the sorghum in the cultivation. There’s never a pig shortage as feed brings in the pigs at all times of year! They can be difficult to find at times, but with a few handy dogs that have grown up on the station, it’s no challenge for them to locate a hog or three. Through the day, they are laying up or hanging off a deady or coming off water. Not any dog can handle these basalt boars and many times it’s been proven as they fight hard and escape into some rough, unforgiving country! The…