Ilan Life: Piggy no more

By Sutchy Titasey

It was the September holidays and I was keen to have a successful hunt before I headed back to boarding school. The weather was bad, blowing 20 knots and no good for fishing or diving. That left hunting.

Dad came across new ground while I was at school during the term so we decided to check it out. Oliver came with us because Kibbim was too slack.

We anchored between Big Buttertin and Little Buttertin and walked to the east.

Ollie and I start our pig hunt.

Being September, months of no rain, everything dry and sandy.

We headed towards a waterhole because it was hot and we knew the pigs would be at there.

As we came to where it was obvious that pigs had dug caves into the side of the dried creek bed where they lie in the heat to keep cool (pigs don’t sweat) we split up and went to the banks of the dried creek so we didn’t spook a pig if there was one there.

We walked about an hour and stopped and had a mandarine and water.

Pig huntin' is hard work!

Dad was taking pictures of where pigs had dug. He was getting really excited and taking more photos.

He looked at the map and saw the waterhole was not far. We eventually found it and discovered caves on the edge.

Dad took more photos.

Dad and Ollie kept walking then Dad noticed a cave with a big overhang and soft brown sand looking comfortable for pigs.

A cave dug by pigs to shelter from the heat.

We pushed on. Then Dad tried to tell Ollie to check if there was a pig, but Ollie kept walking and talking. Dad told him to stop when he saw a pig.

Ollie sees the pig

“Ollie,” whispered Dad as loud as he could. “Be quiet, be quiet.”

Just then Ollie saw the pig and shouted at the top of his voice, “Pig! Pig! Sutchy shoot it. Shoot it.”

As the big boar ran off I watched where he went.

On past hunts Dad told me not to chase a pig, just watch where it goes. Instead I pulled an arrow, cocked it and chased it. I just had to get this big one.

The pig ran for about two minutes along then up the creek, down into another creek and I went into the creek, still chasing it.

It came up onto a rise in the middle of the creek and it stopped and turned. Me and the pig were both tired.

He looked at me, grunted and charged for two metres to scare me off. He stopped and had a breather which was good because I was tired too.

I pulled the arrow back and aimed at his chest and shot with the arrow sailing a little low, going through the boar’s leg, snapping the bone.

He shook the arrow off and ran, but I knew with a broken leg he wouldn’t get far.

Then he stopped, turned and grunted and tried to charge me.

I pulled out another arrow as he gave me another chance for his chest. I cocked the arrow and aimed for his chest and as the arrow was sailing to his chest, he put his snout down ready to turn and run and the arrow sliced his nose.

Squealing, he ran off and I chased him a bit more.

He stopped in some thick bush and I had another chance and sadly, it went underneath him and the arrow disappeared into some dead leaves.

The boar took off and I called to Dad for some more arrows.

As I took one of Dad’s arrows, he said, “Look for some blood. Look for some blood.”

I checked the area founding a good blood trail. Sadly it stopped after a few metres. I realized that if I lost this pig my holidays wouldn’t be complete so I ran to see if I could catch up if him. Sure enough, there he was among some trees staring at me. Like before he grunted and charged for a few metres.

I ran back trying to keep my distance so if he continued through with his charge I had room to run. This time with a cocked arrow he didn’t quite present me with a clear shot to his chest so I thought if I got him in the spine he would be ended quickly. The arrow flew true and got him in the spine. Surprisingly the pig fought the arrow, trying to shake it off.

After a few minutes of watching him, Dad and Ollie caught up and I got another arrow from Dad. Dad had an arrow already cocked so I gave him a shot at what was my pig!

Dad’s arrow stuck strongly to the tree, so he had another shot and got the boar in the middle of the ribs.

This pig turned out to be tougher than I expected so I let another arrow loose into the pigs shoulder.

Poor piggy.

The pig was still standing so we gave Ollie a few shots. Ollie missed all three shots.

The pig took off for about twenty metres and finally came to rest with three arrows in him. Although down it was still breathing and this was Ollie’s chance to get at least one arrow into ‘my pig.’

His first shot sailed to high and the second was a hit.

I checked the boar and he was dead.

Now it was time to check if the meat was okay to eat by looking at the state of the pig's organs. To our disappointment the organs were pale and not bright red the way healthy organs are supposed to be. There was a pale outer edge to the liver and heart and when Dad opened the stomach all this white froth bubbled out.

This meant the pig wasn’t okay to eat.