Shades Of Grey
Late one afternoon, after work, I was directed down near the Barratta Creek end of the property where the "paddock boys" had been seeing a mob... Went quietly down, looked down the headland between two blocks ... bingo, 4 big sows and a stack of youngsters were out in the muddy drain about 400 yards down!! Was loading my rifle, currently a 257 Weatherby, when I noticed that about half way down to the pigs, trotting along, was a big red dog. In that area of The Burdekin, there were very few cross breds. Intrigued, I picked up camera instead and watched... The dog was watching the pigs, but not sneaking, simply trotting towards them, they were still oblivious. Suddenly he came on the remains of one of my previous kills, just skin and a few bones, but worth a quick chew... Not a lot there, so he set off again, still head up watching, and still trotting.
Going to dinner. Having caught his piglet, still alive and squealing, the dog has galloped back almost 400m, disappeared into the next cane block after another 100m, never slackened pace…
At a bit less than a hundred yards one of the sows spotted him and she quickly gathered the mob and they too trotted off, around the corner of the block sadly, out of sight. Still the dog continued at a steady trot, disappearing around the corner a few seconds behind the pigs.... Unfortunately I never saw exactly what happened next. I waited a couple of minutes, nothing, so put down camera, grabbed rifle and headed down to look. I normally wore my "Yowie Suit" when pigging in that area, it allowed me to get up very close if I went carefully with the wind in my favour and I had it on this day.
I had walked maybe 40 yards down when all of a sudden the dog came screaming back around the corner and galloped up towards me carrying something! Back as fast as possible for camera, just made it and waited, still, in the edge of the cane. He never saw me till he was right beside, but then only swerved slightly, kept going and disappeared into the next block. He was carrying a still-very-much-alive-and-squealing piglet, had carried it for at least 400 yards at flat gallop, plus however far since catching it, didnʼt look like slowing up!! The little pig had a dinner date he was not going to be able to refuse..... So much for "The House of Straw"!
Feral dogs in this general area are of increasing concern and are not tolerated at all…
No sign of pursuit from the sows, but they may have been some distance along when the dog pounced ... All quiet, I had some great pictures, so again, let the adrenaline settle, grab rifle and start back down on the off chance. Had no sooner started when the remainder of the pig mob calmly wandered back out to their mud wallow and started in again ... a remarkably short grieving period I thought ....! Wind was still in my favour, tall cane beside, so a quiet stalk to within 40 yards, 1 loaded and 3 in magazine and I had all 4 sows before they figured out where I was... easy meat when the dog returned, if he was fast enough!
257 Weatherby is maybe a bit much, but is very flatshooting and does not "take prisoners". As deadly a dogging rifle as my older 270 was.
There is only one thing that stinks worse than dead pig, dead fox, and there were none of them up there. To keep the paddock boys happy and eliminate bad smells where they were working I used to lie the pigs on their backs and open up down both sides, lying legs out flat. There was a well conditioned "disposal crew" on hand waiting, up to 50 Forktailed Kites, Whistling Eagles, Wedge-tailed Eagles, White-breasted Sea-Eagles, and Crows which reduced the pigs to skin and bones often in the space of a day, seldom more than two ... a good cooperative effort! The dogs had to be quick, or catch their own!!
Now I live and work down a bit at Bowen, as compost maker on a big vegetable farm. A lot smaller than the big cane farms, but a similar situation ... pigs along the water courses that raid out to bugger up irrigation lines and destroy vegetables... Recently a family of dogs arrived, lovely golden ones again... Pigs are history and rabbits now few and very fit. Every morning I see animal tracks all over my compost windrows where they have been playing, and occasionally I have been lucky enough to see them in the early morning ...Emus, Wallabies, even flocks of Whistling Ducks sliding down like kids with cardboard on a sandhill!
Recently the occasional glimpse changed, when one young male dog reckoned he would have a closer look at the doings... He quite calmly walked out, climbed a windrow, dug a bit of a nest to get closer to the 60+ degree C heat and lay down to watch. The Turner is pulled by a 160hp tractor, but goes very slowly, but he let it come right past him, later I worked past him with a 955 Cat Loader, going within 3 - 4 paces of him, quite unperturbed. He has since become quite a regular visitor, sometimes with siblings, though they have never been as trusting.
As we all see it, he / they are doing no harm, but considerable good here, so let them be. For me, I never would have thought that I would ever look at a dingo in the wild and reach for camera rather than rifle. "Old Dogs" can indeed learn new tricks ... In this area there are an increasing number of "feral dogs", cross-breds of all manner, they are not looked on with favour....
Going to dinner. Having caught his piglet, still alive and squealing, the dog has galloped back almost 400m, disappeared into the next cane block after another 100m, never slackened pace…
At a bit less than a hundred yards one of the sows spotted him and she quickly gathered the mob and they too trotted off, around the corner of the block sadly, out of sight. Still the dog continued at a steady trot, disappearing around the corner a few seconds behind the pigs.... Unfortunately I never saw exactly what happened next. I waited a couple of minutes, nothing, so put down camera, grabbed rifle and headed down to look. I normally wore my "Yowie Suit" when pigging in that area, it allowed me to get up very close if I went carefully with the wind in my favour and I had it on this day.
I had walked maybe 40 yards down when all of a sudden the dog came screaming back around the corner and galloped up towards me carrying something! Back as fast as possible for camera, just made it and waited, still, in the edge of the cane. He never saw me till he was right beside, but then only swerved slightly, kept going and disappeared into the next block. He was carrying a still-very-much-alive-and-squealing piglet, had carried it for at least 400 yards at flat gallop, plus however far since catching it, didnʼt look like slowing up!! The little pig had a dinner date he was not going to be able to refuse..... So much for "The House of Straw"!
Feral dogs in this general area are of increasing concern and are not tolerated at all…
No sign of pursuit from the sows, but they may have been some distance along when the dog pounced ... All quiet, I had some great pictures, so again, let the adrenaline settle, grab rifle and start back down on the off chance. Had no sooner started when the remainder of the pig mob calmly wandered back out to their mud wallow and started in again ... a remarkably short grieving period I thought ....! Wind was still in my favour, tall cane beside, so a quiet stalk to within 40 yards, 1 loaded and 3 in magazine and I had all 4 sows before they figured out where I was... easy meat when the dog returned, if he was fast enough!
257 Weatherby is maybe a bit much, but is very flatshooting and does not "take prisoners". As deadly a dogging rifle as my older 270 was.
There is only one thing that stinks worse than dead pig, dead fox, and there were none of them up there. To keep the paddock boys happy and eliminate bad smells where they were working I used to lie the pigs on their backs and open up down both sides, lying legs out flat. There was a well conditioned "disposal crew" on hand waiting, up to 50 Forktailed Kites, Whistling Eagles, Wedge-tailed Eagles, White-breasted Sea-Eagles, and Crows which reduced the pigs to skin and bones often in the space of a day, seldom more than two ... a good cooperative effort! The dogs had to be quick, or catch their own!!
Now I live and work down a bit at Bowen, as compost maker on a big vegetable farm. A lot smaller than the big cane farms, but a similar situation ... pigs along the water courses that raid out to bugger up irrigation lines and destroy vegetables... Recently a family of dogs arrived, lovely golden ones again... Pigs are history and rabbits now few and very fit. Every morning I see animal tracks all over my compost windrows where they have been playing, and occasionally I have been lucky enough to see them in the early morning ...Emus, Wallabies, even flocks of Whistling Ducks sliding down like kids with cardboard on a sandhill!
Recently the occasional glimpse changed, when one young male dog reckoned he would have a closer look at the doings... He quite calmly walked out, climbed a windrow, dug a bit of a nest to get closer to the 60+ degree C heat and lay down to watch. The Turner is pulled by a 160hp tractor, but goes very slowly, but he let it come right past him, later I worked past him with a 955 Cat Loader, going within 3 - 4 paces of him, quite unperturbed. He has since become quite a regular visitor, sometimes with siblings, though they have never been as trusting.
As we all see it, he / they are doing no harm, but considerable good here, so let them be. For me, I never would have thought that I would ever look at a dingo in the wild and reach for camera rather than rifle. "Old Dogs" can indeed learn new tricks ... In this area there are an increasing number of "feral dogs", cross-breds of all manner, they are not looked on with favour....
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