The new Bushking Award

Because targeting and actually succeeding in shooting a bushpig is not something that any Safari Outfit can even try let alone suggest, I feel that when a Blaauwkrantz Hunter attempts a bushpig he/she needs to be honoured when achieving his goal in shooting a bushpig.

As this blog of mine is mainly to describe what bushpigs are really all about, the Bushking trophy is merely the crowning glory of all this description.Reading all the past posts and many yet to come hopefully gets the message through what bushpigs are all about.

Our bushpigs live in a very sensitive habitat in the Eastern Cape namely the Valley Bushveldt Biome and because we are permitted to hunt bushpigs and enjoy the sport they provide and meat they supply(the locals are very partial to this meat) we are extremely determined in conserving their habitat.Habitat conservation is the cornerstone of all our wildlife resources and on private property the sustainable utilisation of our bush animals such as bushpig, bushbuck and kudu naturally ensure that we guard our sensitive habitat from livestock overgrazing and constructions such as powerlines and mines.

The Bushking Award is a floating trophy that is awarded to the newest, successful bushpig hunter.The "necklace" consists of bushpig tusks and porcupine quills that I put together myself. A Board of Honour is on the wall at the Buhpig Bar in the lodge to acknowledge the holders.

The picture accompanying this post is that of Rafael F.Ruiz from Spain who was the inaugural winner of the new Bushking Award.

Congratulations also to Tom Harrison and Hans Zagleur who have since won the award, they will join all the other bushpig hunters in the "Bushpig Hall of Fame" too.

Long live bushpigs.

Great bushpig hunting in the waxing moon during July at Blaauwkrantz!

Rafael F. Ruiz (Spain) PH Eardley+Tom Harrison(N.Carolina) Hans Zagleur(Montana)

In the space of four nights these three lucky hunters managed to hunt these three bushpigs each at a different baitsite.What made it even more remarkable is that they were all taken in just the moonlight.

The moon was waxing beautifully from 1st quarter on the 18Th July when Rafael arrived and headed straight to the bushpig blind not far from the lodge with myself.At 19h10 he made the moonlight shot to take a boar,congratulations Rafael!

On Monday afternoon the 19Th PH Eric and Hans headed to another bait site and settled into the blind just before dark.They saw a lot of animals moving around them but the elusive bushpigs didn't arrive.They lucked out!

The next afternoon Tom arrived from North Carolina and immediately set off to another bait site with myself. With a cameraman in tow we didn't wait long after dark when the hogs showed up.There were a bunch of them milling about but Tom and myself managed to isolate the biggest one and Tom also made an excellent shot in the moonlight to take a very nice boar.Congratulations Tom!

Meanwhile Hans and Eric where at another blind waiting patiently....As their luck would have it nothing other than warthogs were showing themselves. Again they lucked out!Hans had sat out two nights on his previous safari here in 2008 without success either.So he had spent four nights now without luck.The pressure was on.The next afternoon they headed to the same blind they were in the night before as I said there was no chance the bushpigs would stay away there two nights in a row.At 18h40 the bushpigs appeared and Hans made that shot,congratulations!

Apart from this feat of three bushpigs in four nights at Blaauwkrantz, is that Tom and Rafael had made 25 hunting safaris to Africa between them and had neither taken a bushpig yet.They had been to countries like Tanzania, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Zambia, Namibia, Benin, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa with Tom only once catching a glimpse of them in Tanzania.

No one can ever guarantee getting the extremely shy bushpig, but I can certainly say that Blaauwkrantz has something special here.

Yours in buhpigs,

This is how we are giving our wildlife a chance on private land

Less than two weeks ago my Brother,Francois, and I apprehended and arrested this poacher with his plunder on our property,Blaauwkrantz.
The Police were still on their way by the time we risked our lives and intercepted him before he crossed the boundary.He is still in their custody.Although this incident was a relatively uncommon occurence,our efforts weren't just by chance as we are constantly vigilant on our private property and have professional scouts giving us the alarm should any trespassers/poachers be spotted.

This is the beauty of the equation involving private land and "incentivised" conservation :the wildlife is really being protected.

Bushpig Taxidermy

Bushpigs are such unusual looking animals that I always recommend the full mount to give the correct visual perception of what these strange animals really look like.They have very large heads with extended snouts and the boars have those prominent warts or protuberances from their upper snouts that make them look almost alien-like.Bushpigs also have those glistening, shaggy coats that distinguish them from all other pigs.Their short stocky legs are also a feature of interest.

An extended wall-pedestal would also give the mount its due as just a frontal view doesn't allow for enough depth.Bushpigs can't turn their heads, so a 1/2 turn on a head mount is not an option and just plain straight-facing head mounts aren't fashionable anymore.The wall pedestal would then be advisable if not going for the full mount.

In the end it's up to the hunter to choose but these are such fascinating strange creatures that they deserve all the credit they can get,believe me!

Immortalising the bushpig hunt is just another good reason to give this animal its due.

Long Live Bushpigs!!

(The full mount of the bushpig attached to this entry is that of a goat killing pig that I shot in November 2008.The excellent taxidermy was done by Basil and Kevin Boucher of Port Elizabeth)