2009 Bushpig Report

John Wood from Texas with his bushpig shot in just the moonlight.Its longest tusk measured 8 14/16", a new Blaauwkrantz record and SCI possible top twenty entrant.

Dr Terry Witzu from Canada with "Ultra Daddy" the heaviest bushpig shot on Blaauwkrantz yet.(191lbs or 87kg)Terry shot this monster in just the moonlight as well. A fantastic effort!

Clanton Wood with a bushpig sow that weighed 86,5kg or 190lbs.The second heaviest pig ever weighed at Blaauwkrantz.Clanton also made an excellent shot in the full moon using my Hill Country Rifles 300 win mag fitted with the Zeiss Diavari 3-12X56 illuminated reticule scope.An ideal combination for this type of hunt that help produce these fine trophies.

2009 reflected a slight decrease in the number of trophy bushpigs taken mostly due to 25 % less hunters coming to Blaauwkrantz as compared to 2008. In 2008 we harvested 16 trophy bushpigs and in 2009 we totalled 13.It must be added that there were a few misses too by clients who ended up leaving without a bushpig. So the figure could've been slightly more although their shots were taken in spotlight and this makes things very tricky. I have been hard at work building better blinds in the last couple months so as to try eliminate as many misses as possible.My strategy of trying to hunt baited bushpigs on moonlit nights is by far the best way and certainly goes a long way in giving the shooter more time to aim and make the shot at the right pig.

When using the spotlight at the baitsite,the already skittish bushpigs,start moving around when the light comes on making it difficult for the shooter to identify and lock onto the target,many of them who have never even seen a bushpig.

So prospective bushpig hunters need to try book their safaris during the waxing phase of the moon.A generation three night vision scope will eventually be the answer though so that we wont have to rely on just the moon.There are only about 12 nights every month where the moonlight is sufficient for this extraordinary hunt.

I have also been hard at work during the year getting the bushpigs to take on sour corn at the various bait sites.It is not easy to train these wary animals to eat something they are not familiar with although once they have taken on the "pap" they cant get enough and return regularly to the baitsite albeit in a very nervous,excitable manner.I have even setup a American self-timed feeder from a tree where the warthogs,guineas and kudu have also learnt to eat the bait.I have set the time to go off just after dark,eliminating the warthogs and guineas who are diurnal.

Bushpigs run the kudu off the baits taking care of them themselves.Using sour corn instead of carcasses is a lot more flexible and allows the baiting process to be timed a lot better.

Generally the sizes of the bushpigs shot were relatively large this past year.2009 saw the heaviest bushpig taken yet on Blaauwkrantz.It weighed 87kg's(191lbs) and was shot by Dr Terry Witzu from Canada in June.

The second heaviest was taken by Clanton Wood from Houston and weighed 86,5kg's(190lbs),it incidentally was a sow taken in August.

A few nights earlier at the end of July,Clanton's Dad, John , shot a boar weighing 82kg's with a Blaauwkrantz record length tusk length of 7 14/16".

There have been some reports of certain bushpigs killing domestic goats again, so my quest to elimate the goat killers continues.Last year I managed to take out 5 of these goat killing pigs.It is very difficult and time consuming to target individual bushpigs taking into account that bushpigs are territorial yet their home ranges can overlap with other bushpigs.

2010 will hopefully be another interesting year in the dynamic and constantly evolving sport of bushpig hunting at Blaauwkrantz.

Bushpig conservation related issue

On Sunday afternoon 22ND November my spotter ,Pedro, had just taken up his observation post to lookout for stock thieves and poachers as we have had some trespassing and goats being slaughtered in a certain area of our property.Nearby neighbours have reported snaring and although I haven't found any snares recently we have had a problem of stock theft and trespassing.

Pedro had been spotting every afternoon for the past week and had just settled into his position with my Zeiss 8X56 Binos when he spotted an individual walking along a cut line in the distance.The individual moved along cautiously and proceeded to Georges house,who is an employee on Blaauwkrantz.George was not at home and the person then entered his house through a window.He reappeared a short while later with a bag over his back.
He then walked to a position and put the bag down when he started herding some sheep that were about 1km from Georges house.Pedro had already alerted me by then via cellphone, and I in turn had contacted the Rapid Response Dog Unit from our Police Services who met up with me in less than half an hour of me phoning.
The extremely professional officers and I then approached or "stalked" the offender.(the wind direction made no difference on this stalk)
The suspect was duly told to freeze but instead decided to head for cover.
The police used all the hardware at their disposal to immobilise the suspect.

It turned out that this thief/poacher/trespasser has multiple other convictions against him for stock theft and poaching.He had a wire cutter on him and is no doubt the snaring offender our neighbours are complaining of.(they have solely game on their properties)
Bushpigs and warthogs are definitely this illegal hunter's favourite quarry besides our fat sheep or goats.
Due to us privately owning and managing our property and resources on our land we take extra care of our belongings and in so doing protect all our wildlife too.This is the beauty of privately owned land and wildlife in South Africa.(incentivised conservation)
Paying trophy hunters who sustain our wildlife resources with their currencies are then benefiting from this system by coming to our game rich locations.

Hunting the bushpig

There are two basic ways to hunt bushpigs ,besides a very rare chance encounter, namely baiting them and hunting with hounds.

The former method has proven to be more successful,for me, when a specific trophy hunter is after a bushpig.The hound method which can be very exciting is better when no specific hunter has to shoot the pig and a group of very fit hunters can cover a larger area depending where the dogs have bayed the pig. I am not in favour of this method as a trophy hunt as it has many negativity's I'll discuss in some other entry.

Welcome

Welcome to Eardley's Bushpig Blog

The basic reason for this information page or "blog" is to share a bit of my knowledge about bushpigs.I certainly don't know everything about these creatures but am trying to learn as much as possible about these wary pigs at the same time.

Most hunters that come to visit Blaauwkrantz don't know very much at all about the bushpig,so much so that many believe them to be feral pigs like that are found in the Americas,and the South Pacific Islands.

Bushpigs are NOT domesticated pigs running wild.

Bushpigs are an completely wild species of swine just like the warthog,red river hog,giant forest hog and Barbary boar all from Africa.

The European or Russian Boar is a wild pig species occurring in Europe and Russia.

The distinguishing characteristic of the bushpig is that it is extremely nervous and shy,and is therefore very difficult to hunt in most places of its range,which is across most of the Eastern half of Africa.Given this relatively large range that the bushpig occurs,few of these animals are hunted as trophies mainly due hunters being unaware of them and their relative difficulty to hunt.

They are normally nocturnal creatures,although they do move about during daylight inside their very thick lairs.

They have an omnivorous diet, eating anything from grass to live animals.

In my next entries I will try explain how we hunt bushpigs and add more photos amongst other things.