When it Rains

Well it cools down! Temperatures dropped from 34 to 24 centigrade overnight, and there was a slight drizzle. And then I got another call. 60kg male boar in a snare.

I've been worried about Baron. He's coming along really well, but he's a bit too aggressive on boar, and always goes straight at them head on. Doing that in the mountains he's bound to get injured. I asked my friend who owns Baron's dam about it, and he gave me some good advice. I got his mail as I was driving down to the trap with the dogs, so it was perfect timing.

The farmer/landowner came down with me and one of my hunting buddies to check out the boar. This boar was a lively fellow and I could hear him making his little warning grunts and clicks from a ways away. After we made sure he was securely caught, I brought in the dogs on leash, releasing them one by one.

Basically today's training consisted of letting Baron learn the hard way that it's no fun to try to overpower boar. He's got to use his brains, and learn to judge his opponent. If he comes up against a boar he can't stop alone, if he bays it up, the other dogs and myself come to help. Everything went very well, and my worries about Baron being a knuckle headed bruiser were allayed. He got the point, and started attacking from the sides and rear, and actually looking to see where I was at and the other dogs were at. It was a good learning experience for him, and the cooler weather made things a lot easier for all concerned.

Today I brought Haru along and decided to see how she'd do. She's been a bit iffy about boar, and I've had a really hard time reading her. The last time we ran into a boar in the mountains she was the one who found it though, and bayed it up till the other dogs came. She's a good finder, but has never barked on boar before. I wanted to see if it was a fluke, or if she vocalizes because she's more confident when the other dogs are with her.

Well today for the first time she really worked the boar. I was very surprised. The differences in her style of hunting when compared with the Kishu are obvious though. They're looking for an opening to get in and catch, while Haru keeps more distance and bays, with no interest in catching. Once the boar was dispatched, she had no interest in it whatsoever, but the Kishu still wanted to get at it and latch on.

Regardless, I've seen that when she's with the other dogs she does have a lot more confidence, and is quite happy to work with them. She's not going to catch at all, but it may not be a bad thing to have one of the dogs continually baying when they've stopped a boar. If all the dogs catch, a lot of times it gets really quiet and it's harder to pinpoint their location. I'm going to wait before jumping to any decisions based on what I've seen today, but all in all it was a positive effort by all the dogs.

They're all pretty much gun broke, although Haru is still not a big fan. They're starting to catch on that once the gun goes off, the boar's going down, and that if they can stop the boar I'll be there to finish it off.

I managed to drop my phone on the way to the boar, so no pics or video. At least I found it on the way back to the car. We're all muddy and tired, but home.