For me these bush pigs are the nightwalkers of the bush
and probably the most challenging and awesome animals
to take with a bow especially at close quarters. I have set
up feeding stations that I can both monitor and watch the
comings and goings of my bush pigs, however, these “bait-
ing sites” also inadvertently attract warthogs from the
farm and the surrounding area and through this my story
will follow. One must remember that African pigs are not
owned – they are shared with the neighbours. There are
very few farms that can keep pigs out, so when the oppor-
tunity of a lifetime arises you grab it.
In the winter of 2018 I picked up a giant white tusked
warthog boar at one of my feeding stations. Although I set
about to lie in ambush for him he never showed his snout,
let alone those great pearly whites, anywhere on my prop-
erty again. On Saturday 11 April 2019 while returning to
the farm after off loading a golden wildebeest to a nearby
farm I spied the Giant in the “lang-plaas” (public road) close
to my gate. I literally nearly rolled the truck in excitement
and to my delight he ran under the fence onto my farm. On
Monday morning as is customary I checked all my baiting
sites and the camera traps to see the comings and goings at
each site. Low and behold, the Giant had made an appear-
ance just that morning. So the Giant sat on my mind all day,
and there was lots of scheming and deliberation as to how
I was going to get an arrow into this boar. Fortunately for
me the site he chose had a very close elevated tree stand
in easy proximity to the feeder, a total of 18 yards to be
precise.
For me a tree stand is the ultimate, especially if it is
just there in the open as you have to ensure you wear a
leafy suit, you have to take into account wind, movement
and all the good things that go with an exciting hunt. So
on Monday night I hatched a plot, had to do a bit of careful
negotiation with the minister of sports and recreation (I
needed her to take the kiddies to school and do a couple of
other chores in town that had already been scheduled for
Tuesday). So was sleep an option that night? Well, not real-
ly as I had a picture mind and had the vision of just how the
hunt was going to go, how the arrow was going to f ly, pen-
etrate, the reaction the follow-up etc. I also had to charge
all of my cameras and other equipment as I wanted to try
to get this all on camera to share with the world. It’s crazy,
but one of the best forms of education with bow-hunting is
to watch other people do it as even a book or an article can
only describe it so far and then it is all about how the word-
ing is interpreted. Very often one is not able to hunt with
other bow hunters, as it is more a solo type of activity, so
self-filming has it challenges.
Back to the hunt
In Tuesday I was up before the sparrows, kit packed, cameras
charged, broadheads sharpened and kit clean. I walked to the
baiting sight as it waz a mere 600 metres from my house. I set
up my ground camera’s climb into the tree stand and hoisted my
chair, bow and other kit and began with the long sit. I climbed
into the stand at 06:10 – light came at 06:25 and sunrise just
before 07:00. To say it was fresh was an understatement but
the sights and sounds of the bush starting with the morning
cacophony have always been one of my biggest highlights.07:
Two midsize warthogs came in and although jumpy they set-
tled in and started munching away on the spoils left overnight
from the nightwalkers. By this time the wind was a problem- our farm is close to mountains, so in the darkness we have a
katabatic wind (downhill wind caused by cold air descending)
and during the day, as the slopes warm up, we have an anaba-
tic wind as the air moves upslope with rising hot air. And it is
just before dawn and dusk that we have winds that swirl and
eddy and this can be an issue if the pigs smell you. They will
bolt – and this was exactly what happened to these two midsize
porkers. They lifted their heads and bolted all of a sudden. Now
doubt set in – maybe I should have taken one of those; they did
of course give me opportunity but I really wanted the Giant.
07:
A drum walked in with small tusks. When I say a “drum” I
mean an 80 kg fat pig with small tusks. I sat watching him and
again my mind started deliberating: should I take this one or
not? While I wrestled with this thought I casually took a look
around – I think more not to think about putting an arrow in
this pig than anything else. When I look down to the right, I saw
the Giant. My heart rate went from 75 to 140 in one breath andThe author's bow