Feral Pig v's Bull bar

I whipped out the other day to set the pig trap after a fantastic day Skiing in the snow.  While the rain was coming down out side of the Hilux and the outside temp around 4 degrees, the heater in the car was just about unbearable but it was something that I think I could handle.   I arrived at the property and had to leave the comfort of my heater to open the boundary gate.  I must say I couldn't get back in the truck fast enough as the rain ran down the back of my shirt and edged its way toward my plumbers crack.

The property road while normally solid as a rock, when the rain falls they transform into slippery clay it doesn't take much to either lose the front of the car while in the beginning of the turn or flicking the rear around.  This was no more evident than when I approached a road that runs parallel to a deep creek that runs nearly all the way through the middle of the property.  As I drove down this road I was thinking to myself that this is fantastic weather for ducks and pigs. Now it wouldn't of been 30 second later when three pigs appeared out of the scrub and stood right in the middle of the road.  One was a sow and the other two where her off spring of around 5 months of age. 

Now I'm not sure if it was the fact that I was surprised that there were in fact three pigs standing in the middle of the road right in front of me, or that the slippery conditions and the speed I was going affected my ability to respond, but either way I guess it doesn't matter.  Within a second or so there was a mighty thud and skid marks around 15 meters long.  Normally I would jump out of the car and see what the outcome was but given that the weather was not on the inviting side and that there was possibly that there was a cranky pig in the dark, I decided to do my thousand point turn so I could light up the area with my high beam.

On turning around I could see one of the smaller pigs laying on its side half way off the road and kicking in the final throws of life, to which I grabbed my pig sticker and jumped out of the truck.  It was about this time I started to think of the mother of this downed child and how she could be sitting in cover of darkness only a meter from where I was standing.....  About the time I finished running the idea of the sow charging out of the bushes and teaching me a lesson, my wind screen wipers sprung into action with the sound of then running across the glass without any water to help then function.  I have to be honest here and say that it scared the s**t out of me...  It was like someone sneaking up behind me and saying BOO!!!!  I quickly grab hold of my composure, check that the sow was not coming to take me down, and chuck the pig in the back of the Ute.

On closer inspection I had crushed its skull so death was instant, and with not damage to my truck I would have to say that Bull bar get one point and feral pig still sits at zero.

I quickly popped up to the trap, and put some extra star pickets in to ensure there would be no more escaping pigs and headed home.  On arrival my wife was keen to ask "How did you go?".  She was thinking that I would say something like "Good, I fixed the trap and set it up for me to check in the morning", the disbelief on her face when I told her "Yes it was good.  I scored myself a pig!!"..

The conversation went back and forth until I convinced her to look in the back of the Ute and to here surprise there was in fact a pig in the back.    Go me!!!!

The next morning I took my daughter back out to the paddock to conduct some pig dog training with Scarlet (my fearless pig dog in training).

On arrival at The Pit we saw a nice health fox having around getting a mid morning snack.

http://www.ozhunter.com/media/p/2781.aspx

 To which my daughter was very excited about as this is the first time she has seen a live fox in the paddocks.  After taking a few photos, I handed the camera to my daughter to video part of the training session.  You can see the video on my YouTube page.

Here is a photo of who wins between a bull bar and a feral pig.

http://www.ozhunter.com/media/p/2782.aspx