Big Tusks at Kaitieke by Rob Marshall

                         I got a call from my young nephew, Nathan, just started a new job as manager on a big station at Kaitieke. He said he’d noticed a lot of sign in a basin that ran into a big ti-tree  face towards the back of the station- and he asked me to come down for a hunt. I said I’d be down the next night ready for ready for an early morning hunt. I told my son Thomas that we were going to Nathan’s and before I knew it, my daughter Nicole was insisting she should come too, so it was a good truckload that set off the next day. Nathan had said he would have tea ready for us, but being a bachelor, we thought he might be stretched for tucker so when we got  to Taumaranui we decided to have tea there. We bought some beer because I knew there would be a lot of news and plenty of hunting stories to catch up on – and it would get Nathan to loosen up on where the big ones were. We were a bit surprised because when we got to Nathan’s. He had cooked us a lovely tea -so me and the kids looked at each other and knew we had to eat it.Nathan didn’t take long to start talking hunting. He said he’d seen fresh sign that morning, but thought it was mainly good-sized pigs, nothing big.Getting up the next morning wasn’t easy – it was about an hour before light. We soon devoured the sausages and bacon and eggs which is real station tucker, according to Nathan. We loaded the dogs (Gemma, Girl, Mace and Kay) onto the trailer behind Nathan’s four-wheeler and headed on past the woolshed. I was on the side of the bike and when I looked around, all the dogs were winding and trying to jump out of the trailer.Quickly said to Nathan, “Wild pig!” He shook his head and said Tame pig! I had to jump off the bike to grab a dog that was just about to leap out and the  kids grabbed the rest. Getting towards the back of the station, the hills were looking seriously huge, reverting into heavy ti-tree and scrub. Pulling up the end the end of a dirt track, Nathan informed us that we would have to walk from there. I could see a big basin running away from us up into a big ti-tree face. Nathan suggested we should head off towards the main  spur at the top. We made our way up the sheer ridge and Nathan. Thomas, Mark and Nicole were in front making light work of it. I was really pleased when they found some pig sign that needed examining after about three quarters of an hour walking straight up. At the saddle, there was an old fence and we saw a lot of sign. I said to Nathan that I should wait there – if he carried on up the ridge and anything broke – I might get a shot. So they carried on.I could see the dogs really working hard and then, looking down into heavy ti-tree. I saw this really good boar going like the clappers. Back up the face I could see Nathan and the kids waiting for the dogs. This old boar had smelt the dogs and was sneaking off- like he’d probably done heaps of times. I waved frantically to Nathan to come back because I could see a couple of dogs working just below him. He got the message and ran back down the hill and called the dogs. Thankfully they came.About five minutes  had gone by and we went down and put the dogs onto the boar’s marks and away they went. I knew I had to  get back to the top of the ridge because I might be able to see where they went. From there, I caught sight of the dogs going over the spur. Nathan had followed the dogs and the kids had waited on top of the ridge. After seeing the dogs go over the spur I said to the kids, “Let’s go. We’ve got to try and catch up.” Hopefully we would meet Nathan later on. This main ridge we were on was really big and it was hard going, but good visibility. From the top of another knob, I saw two dogs come the top of another knob, I saw two dogs come out of a gully across a grassy patch, tracking the boar. Gemma and Mace are very good dogs and I knew they would  they would give it everything. The other two dogs had come back and were in on the chase too-but well behind. We carried on along the main ridge and went down another knob and many more until finally we got to where the ti-tree runs out and the native begins. We were absolutely knackered and decided to have a listen.  After the heavy breathing had stopped and a few minutes ticked by we heard a bark. It was a sharp, hard bark, and then there was another, and more constant barking. We could tell there were two dogs there. They were away down in a gully below us; the kids were looking pretty excited. I said “Let’s go!” and away we went-it was pretty steep. I could hear the dogs really getting into it. The kids were a bit behind, but I knew they would catch up, so I kept going till I got about a chain away. The dogs were really bailing and the other two had arrived. I went as quietly as possible down a steep papa bank and tried to stay on the right side of the wind because 1 could tell the dogs weren’t holding this pig- so it must be pretty good. I got to a place where I could look down the gully and see the dogs bailing. The kids were coming, I could hear them crashing through the ti-tree. I thought I’d better wait for them to catch up. so I could tell them to wait there till I surveyed the situation, as it was steep below where the pig was bailed, and if he broke – he may beat the dogs.I could see that Nicole had slipped over on some papa and skinned her nose – there was blood all down her face – but that wasn’t going to stop her. I said to the kids “You wait here. They could look down and see the dogs through the tree but not the pig. He was through the ti-tree. He was packed hard into a dug out hole. Looking at the dogs, I could see they had some pretty bad rips: looking down at the pig, all I could see was the ivory in his mouth. I knew I could not shoot the  pig, because there was a dog underneath him – and I didn’t want to take the risk of breaking those tusks. I  thought Nathan wouldn’t be far away, so I decided to sneak around the back and get just above the pig. I gave the dogs a little bit of encouragement, but tried not to let the pig know where I was, and they started bailing harder.The pig rushed out half a metre, and it was enough for me to jump down. I landed on the pig’s back and grabbed his front leg. He tried to go forward and somehow I ended up with him lying on top of me – but I had a really good hold. The dogs tried to come and help. but I had to put them off because it was infuriating the pig and I was getting pretty worried with all that ivory flying around. I knew that Nathan must be coming soon  and did not want to get the kids involved in case the pig got loose – so I told them to get back up the bank. I was getting really worried because five minutes had gone by and I could feel the pig getting stronger  as he was resting – while I was getting more knackered. As the pig and I were thrashing around in the papa water hole, my position had improved and I was now against a bank holding onto the pig. But there was no way I could get my knife out, as one arm was jammed against the bank and the other was over the pig’s shoulder, holding onto the front leg.Still no Nathan. My arm had gone numb. It was time for Plan B. I was thinking that if I let the pig go and ‘sooled’ the dogs onto him at the  same time, I might be able to make a break for it. I shouted to Thomas to bring my gun down to where I could get hold of it in case I might be able to shoot the pig. Once Thomas was clear. I encouraged the dogs. They responded immediately, which made the pig more horrible. I could see just below there was another little bank and a hole in the dry creek, so with  all the strength I had left, I pushed the pig towards it. The dogs rushed in and grabbed the pig as he went over the bank. He regained himself pretty quickly and those dogs just came flying out of there. Just as that happened – Nathan turned up – he had gone too low and got into some real shitty stuff. The dogs were really bailing hard now.Thankfully the pig didn’t break and had backed himself into the bank – but he was in a much more exposed position now and this gave me time to get my gun and I shot him in the shoulder. This didn’t stop him. He came rushing out of there but the dogs grabbed him and Nathan grabbed a back leg. The pig was really throwing his head round and dealing to the dogs. One went flying backwards. letting out a scream of pain. It was quite steep, but scrambling round the side of the pig I managed to get hold of a front leg. Between Nathan and I we turned him over and the knife did the job. We had a good look over the dogs and there were no life-threatening rips. The kids looked rapt – we all couldn’t believe how good  pig’s tusks were. Nathan put him on his back and slowly made his way up the dry creek which was pretty scrubby and shitty, We finally got to the top and then it was all downhill to the bike and home for a Tui.