Hunting Season 2013: Day 8

We're getting out late all the time now, haha. My youngest brother and I headed out past noon, so only had a few hours.
We hunted our usual area since I was quite sure the Kai boys had not done a very thorough job a few days before, but since we've covered a fair bit of ground in here since the season opened, I took us to all the corners of the area that we don't usually cover.

There was not much going on, but started picking up fresh scent. We were around the back of deer mountain, and Baron moved into some bamboo and started baying. It was a good strong bay, and we got to within 10 meters of him, but couldn't see the boar at all. The boar began grunting, and after a good couple minutes, they got wind of us humans trying to get in, and they made a dash for it.

All hell broke loose, since it was a herd. One charged Baron, and I saw glimpses of it flying downhill with Baron in tow. There were a few more flying downhill as well, but in a different direction. There was no point in moving, so we slowly crept downhill and waited. I pulled out my iPhone, and started up iHunt, playing some wild boar noises. There's usually a straggler or two left after herds take off, and sure enough, one started shuffling around in the bamboo, and headed toward us. Unfortunately the wind was against us, the boar caught wind, and started moving away. Funny thing is, it moved in the direction Baron had gone, and Baron was on his way back to us. They ran into each other, and another chase ensued.

After a good 600 meters, Baron came back. He had stopped a few times, but there was no way we were catching up. We headed back in the direction of the truck, and just as we were about to lose sunlight, Baron stiffened above a bamboo spot that we've found boar in before. He was attentive and very tentative moving forward, so together we moved downhill. Since we only had a matter of minutes before I was not allowed to use my firearm, I moved into the bamboo, making a fair bit of noise before Baron had got the boar located. We heard the boar slip out of the bamboo to our left. Baron got on the trail, but came back quickly, and we were happy he did since we had to get out of a dark bamboo covered ridge before we lost all light.

It wasn't an extremely good or bad day. Just a short one.

The art of using a single dog to hunt boar is difficult to master. It's like there's a thread between the boar and the dog, and one between the dog and me. We're all pushing and pulling at different times. If Baron and I can manage to get to that golden space without letting the thread snap at any point, we win. For this, it's paramount that he finds the boar as quick as possible, locates exactly where it is, and gets to his comfortable spacing before the boar moves. I have to pick up the messages in Baron's posture, and stay close enough to see/hear what's going on, not make noise at the wrong times, and then get into the sweet spot at the right distance and position. Baron then has to apply just enough pressure to the boar to keep it in place. Too much pressure and it will charge/run. Too little pressure and distance, and the boar will just move away. I can almost sense what's going on now when we're hunting together, and once we hit a rhythm on any given day, I know we're coming out with a boar.

So still, 4 boar on 8 outings.

Comments

  1. That's a great last paragraph- I know exactly what you mean. Flow. Thanks for writing out all your hunts, I really enjoy reading them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading them! My memory is flaky, so I'm continually looking through my blog and emails for information.

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  2. Hi there! I know this is kinda off topic but I'd figured I'd ask.

    Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa?
    My blog covers a lot of interesting and helpful posts just like yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. And also, I think you'll love my recent blog post titled Do Women Truly Love It When A Man Respects Their Need To Take It Slow?

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    Daniel.

    ReplyDelete

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