The Bracken Face Boar

Pig hunting with dogs can be a roller coaster ride – and that’s in the settled times. Raising pups to become good pig dogs is not as easy as it sounds. There is a huge investment in time and energy, and depending on how high you set the bar, sometimes young dogs simply don’t make the grade you want

Then if they do make it but they get injured or killed while hunting, you can suddenly find yourself back at square one.

Starting again requires dedication and commitment, and five years ago, I realized I didn’t have the necessary drive to do this. My good old dog had been killed by a boar and the young ones in my kennels simply weren’t performing at the level I wanted them to, so I passed them on to other homes. Ironically, two of those three turned into good hunting dogs for their new owners, so I accept that some of the blame lay with me.

I first met Dan Grimmett through a mutual hunting and fishing mate. After three or four years in a hunting wilderness, I began teaming up with Dan and we started chasing a few pigs together. Dan lived in Northland too – but at the Auckland end – and it wasn’t long before he began making the two hour drive to the far north with his dogs in tow to hunt my old haunts with me.

I soon learned that Dan’s dogs were a