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Grunter hunting in Austarlia..... some of my grunters

2K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  wilecoyote 
#1 ·
Well seeing a show we Aussies get some big pigs at times and a lot of pigs in mobs of anything up to 50+ depending on what part of Australia your hunting or dogging in I thought as a noobie I'd show some of the grunters I've nailed over the years some with my 45/70 and others with my 30/06AI. I've also nailed them with my .222,.22BRNO (all I had in my hands at the time but unfortunately no pictures),.270, shotgun, 30/30 and .303.
I lost a lot of pictures off my old phone when it died rather suddenly and took a lot of pig and other critter pictures with it.

We have a great range of areas to hunt grunters ranging from mountain country to open plains where a quad bike or 4wd is used to chase down mobs to lay into them or up in our Northern areas where it's easier at times to walk in to them in the swamps and hilly country while dodging crocs, cranky scrub bulls or buffalo or snakes.

Anyway here's some of the pigs that have had career ending moves with me.

The 1st,2nd and 4th pigs were 45/70 kills and the 3rd pig was from 30/06AI

Wildlife biologist
Boar Terrestrial animal Suidae Snout Peccary
Soil Adaptation Suidae Boar Woodland
Tree Plant Wildlife Trunk Wildlife biologist
 

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#2 ·
The bottom pictures are the 1st pig I nailed with the 45/70 and a 405gn Speer at something like 20' after a mate bumped it out from under a log and I hit it with 1 shot on reflex. the next 2 grunters I got with my son's Rossi 30/30 on the run around 20 yards out with a 150gn Speer reload and the last pig was really a tiddler that I basically chased down on my Yamaha 700 quad bike and flattened with the 45/70 at something 10 yards.

I dropped a sow on the run as she crossed a river and as she came out up the bank on the opposite side she copped a 405gn Speer Texas Heart shot but I couldn't get across to get a picture as the river was flowing so that buggered up that idea. Hope you enjoy.
 
#5 ·
No worries.

This happened around 20+ years ago and the rifle a REM 788 loaded with 50gn Hornady SP's was all I had in my hands at the time as we were culling Kangaroo's and this boar wandered out of the scrub sooooooo.......................I hit him just behind the shoulder and down he went down but not out and it took another 3-4 shots to finish him off. The only reason I didn't get closer was that the boar was still able to get up on it's feet and move a bit and as any of us know that hunt pigs a cranky boar is something NOT to be mucked around with 10' away unless you have a shotgun or bigger calibre than .222.

Honestly the only way I'd tackle a pig with a .222 again is if it's a small pig or I've got a clear shot at it's head behind the ear or be able to slip a shot in behind the front leg for a heart/lung shot with a decent projectile that is better than the varmint pill I had at the time otherwise I'd be using something like my .270, 30/06AI or 45/70 or 30/30 or a shot gun loaded with SG's.

Our feral pigs especially the boars have a fair bit of "padding" up front with a fair bit of gristle under the skin before the meat and vitals and if you cop a boar or sow that has been wallowing in mud then that's more stuff a projectile has to get through before it gets to the vitals so you can see that while a .222 will dropp a pig if you get 1 that's been wallowing in mud and you hit it with something like a .222 there's a very good chance that the pill will explode on the mud and gristle leaving a nasty wound and 1 very disturbed pig looking for something to wreak revenge on.
 
#13 ·
Like anything hunting or fishing it's what you make it and when you've got a couple of good mates with you it makes it a good trip. My best mate has got us onto a place that we've been spotlighting foxes on for the past 2 weeks as his ewes are lambing so any dead fox is a good fox.

This bloke owns a heap of farms which have serious fox and Kangaroo problems PLUS he has another farm about 3 hours away that may have pigs and his brother has a farm in our West about 5 hours away that has a good chance of having more pigs as well.
I'm trying to organise another trip up to our Cape in North Queensland again next year to try and improve on the pigs I got last year trophy wise.
 
#14 ·
With the pigs in North Qld it seems sometimes, when you have a good season, you will see big mobs of smaller pigs, weaner up, of 10 - 30 pigs.
I've almost finished cleaning up one mob on one dam... shot all the adults, missed a big white boar (and I mean big), because it was standing with just its back showing out of tall grass and I thought it was a horse lying down! Rode a quad up beside it, and it took off from under a chinee apple... no shot! Finishing off the last weaner pigs at the front, which are STILL making a mess routing up around the dam.
Another mob in a back creek I've whittled down, but they have spread out into the scrub.
Nothing fancy, mostly 12G double, and Marlin lever Model .410 with solids.
I had a 12G with solid/OO SG when came across that pig, out the back, but he headed out towards a neighbours house... not very polite to put a solid through someones place, in the night! So he was a missed opportunity!
We very rarely see a fox here. We do have the odd rabbit or three. Lots of wallabies, roos, wild dogs, at times. Wallabies and roos are protected. We don't have a duck season here, although there are HEAPS of ducks.
Most hunting is in daylight, actually hunting, but daughter wanted to go for a spotlight on a quad, to have a look (note to self, sitting side saddle on back of a quad sucks!). That was when I saw the large creamy boar, most of our feral pigs are black or black and white.
Some of the properties here have big pig populations in the river systems, and back paddocks.
 
#15 ·
Have chased pigs in the Southern part of Queensland(near St.George) out on the open flats with quad bikes.......................... good fun. Western New South Wales has been a disaster after probably 3 years of solid drought but there's been good rain and a couple of mates and I are hoping like hell that in the next few months the pigs will return and we can get a fair crack at them out around Bourke and Cobar.
 
#17 ·
They are becoming a very big problem in rural areas as they attack sheep and cattle. In Queensland the local councils there are paying a $100 a scalp for wild dogs an din Victoria there was a $10 bounty on fox scalps.
Years ago fox skins were worth anywhere up to $50 each in some seasons depending on overseas demand for our fox skins that were turned into coats and stoles but the animal liberation idiots killed that off and now the skins may or may not reach around $20 not worth chasing,skinning and pegging out for sale so we just knock them over as a favour for the farmers and it keeps us out of the pub on a weekend.
 
#20 ·
Just found a picture or 2 of my son's 1st pigs when he was about 11 with my CMC .270 that were shot up in our Northern Territory about 12 years ago. It was his 1st time on pigs matter of fact anything bigger than a rabbit or fox.

These were shot over baits at around 5-10 yards


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