Thread: Pest Controllers Endorsement

Most of your options have been described, good suggestions by @Hiawatha above.


Simple fact is you will need a combination of all the suggested methods, in a well thought out pest control plan. I would suggest the following:


Feed out grain regularly in two or three spots close to the bush edge where you see rooting. Smear pig shit on your boots and gloves and only go to the feed dump on foot to place grain. Otherwise observe from a distance or if you want to get closer, sit on the quad, don’t get off. Absolute minimum of human scent in the bait areas. High quality trail cams are helpful, but don’t place them too close to the baits, put them on game trails into the baits, and leave them alone. Otherwise you just fill the card with hundreds of photos of little pigs. Bluetooth download cameras are the best, you must not go marching up and down around the cameras and baits else your scent will spook the pigs.


Acquire a proper pig trap as described above, with a remotely controlled actuation and an auto feeder that re-baits around midday. Acquire a thermal monocular. Yep, this problem is going to cost you time and money. Bait the trap with the same kind of grain in the same area, and leave the trap alone for several days. Hang a couple of goats or similar in the trap, you want something to keep them interested. Try and avoid at all costs going to the trap - you must keep your scent away from it. Best bet is to erect / load / test the trap just before a decent rain.


You need to catch as many of the suckers and weaner pigs in the trap as possible, plus as many adults as you can obviously. The objective of the trap is numbers, not size. When you have successfully done this, now is the time to call in the expert pig hunter - he needs to be ready to go the minute a bunch of the small pigs are gone. A proper pig hunter’s experienced dogs will only target large pigs, and you need to go get the sows. The guys I hang with would clean out a block of adult pigs in two or three nights over a week no problem, hunting on horseback at night with a mix of dogs with different skills.


After proper pig hunting is complete, then revert to patrolling baits at night. Numbers should be down and mature, experienced pigs will be very uncomfortable and will probably have fucked off for a good while. Repeat the cycle with the trap in a different location. Your reconnaissance should tell you what’s left - the type and amount of pig mark around baits. Again, the absolute minimum of your scent is critical. Run good pig dogs through the block regularly, now its all about keeping up the pressure, making the pigs feel unsafe.


We often think that an AR15 or similar is the answer... it’s not. To be honest, I think its often a distraction for inexperienced guys. Close to bush edges, you’ll get one or two, the rest are gone. Fact is, a good shooter with a bolt gun, especially a straight pull carbine with a red dot, can do just as well on a mob of pigs. I use a powerful medium range rifle with strong ballistics good for several hundred metres - daytime patrols with lots of glassing ahead will often turn up pigs a good distance away - that’s when to shoot them, easy as. Practice on gongs.


Flushing pigs with good dogs to shoot them on the run isn’t that hard, the hard part is to be a competent running pig shooter. The critical thing is to only shoot at them on open ground a good way from cover. If you miss the first shot you’ll get another chance - but if they’re close to cover you’ll struggle, whether you’ve got a semi-auto or not. It is very frustrating watching a mob evaporate after one fudged shot.


Pigs are a pain in the arse, but not that hard to clear out of a block with the right tools and approach. I spend a lot of time on carefully managed pig country - I just recently left a Taranaki farm where pigs had suddenly become a problem just before lambing. We shot some with thermal in August, then subsequently a combination of trapping and hunting with dogs, and a few more shot, was enough to clear most of them out. Earlier this month we put out some dead ewes where they were used to rooting for porina bugs in spring / early summer, and I shot four medium pigs from half a click, middle of the day. They will be back, but a good relationship with a competent pig hunter will encourage them to bugger off again sharpish.


It’s hard work, and a team effort, but it can be done.