Our Dogs Pig Hunting
We have two bitches out of Echo by Sakorn, (Sendai & Kenya). Kenya and Ice II are litter mates and Sendai is from the litter before. I'm new to pig hunting and have had a lot of trial and era learning the sport on my own.
I started pig hunting last year and after many times out only found old sign. I've learned a lot about the movements and habits of pigs, finally I started finding fresh sign and my dogs got onto a pig 3 ridges west of me. It was only 50lb but perfect for me and my dogs to handle for our first. Once I arrived on the scene with Kenya and gave her some encouragement she went for the hold. 
Now that we have our first pig I'm looking forward to Kroa opening day next weekend.
RIGHT: Sendai left and Kenya right, at home with our little pig.
My Niece and her boyfriend own Ice II, the brother to Kenya and Sendai, Ice is just as mad on pigs as his siblings
We've kept 3 bitch pups from the last 3 litters, two out of Echo by Sakorn (Kenya & Sendai) and one out of Echo by Uzi (Vagas), all have the same high prey drive. These dogs are smart and fast, they're also very quiet in the bush and light on their feet which I love. It makes all the difference when hunting smart game.
May 2013 - Opening Day Kroa Boar
Well what a day, we were at Kroa before the sun was up, hunted all day with three jumps and no pig. At 4.30pm we decided to pack up and head home. While stopped the dogs picked up the scent of another pig. They chased it two blocks before stopping it on the track, then it broke and headed into the scrub.
This boar didn't have big hooks but still managed to put a few rips in Sendai. Sendai is an awesome finder, bailer and holds with help.
They bailed it until we got there, once they know I'm close to a bail, thats when they go for the hold.
I don't always have a lot of time to pig hunt during the season but still get out when I can.
November 2013 - Kenya, Vagas and a Very Grumpy Boar
I got up in the middle of the night to set off for a hunt at my normal spot where I have known a decent sized boar resides. Over a two year period of going to this place off and on I'd seen a lot of sign there was a big boar living there. Big tree gouges and marks all over the place but I'd never seen him and the dogs had never found him.
This morning was different there was that distinct smell of boar everywhere. The dogs were keen, we came across some fresh sign of a small pig which I thought, great we're going to get something this morning. I'm happy with a smaller pig, any pig is better than nothing. I had Kenya, Vagas at 8 months who'd never seen a pig before and our old cattle dog Merl. I was pleased with how Vagas was going off with Kenya and Merl tracking, she looked like she'd been there done that many times before, you wouldn't know she'd only been in the bush twice before. After half an hour or so the dogs came back giving up on the little pig who must have been and gone. We kept walking hoping to find another.
We were heading towards a track I call the middle track when Kenya and Merl got another scent and were off into the blackberry for a look. It wasn't to long before I here them going off, very aggressive barking I haven't heard them do before. Could this be the big boar, we were in a place I'd seen previous sign of him. I don't carry a gun, only a knife and a stick I carry turning it into a spear.
After what seems like forever, I finally get through blackberry to a big pig run in fern. This pig was in thick fern, no more than 20 meters in front of me and I'm not in the safest place. I head around and up above the bail, up behind a pine tree only to find Vagas has gone and I can hear her bailing too. I haven't seen the pig yet so have no idea how big it is, I take the camera out and try to film in the dark with my small spotlight seeing nothing. Mean while it's all on, the dogs are bailing well and Vagas is really impressing me with her aggressiveness. He was a monster and very grumpy, I knew I couldn't take this boar, I had no gun. Instead I thought this will be a good experience for the dogs to learn something, I called Vagas off since she was young and starting to get to confident, I didn't want her to have a bad experience on her first pig. These days Vagas is finding and catching her own pigs, she's one of my main finders, although they all find.
I let the dogs bail this boar from 4am until almost 6am then called them off letting Mr Boar go on his merry way, leaving a good boar to get away isn't easy.
