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All the discussion about shooting in National Parks
prompts me to recount an experience I had probably about 18 years ago if memory
serves me correctly.
I was a runner in those days and had set off for a
gallop on the firetrails of the magnificent Murramarang NP at South
Durras. I was only about half a mile into the scrub (i.e. about that
distance from the houses in the village) when I came across a bloke standing in
front of his ute at the edge of a deep puddle in the track. He had two
small dogs with him. I stopped for a chat, thinking he was sussing up
the puddle with a view to crossing in the vehicle.
Meanwhile, one of the small dogs disappeared into
the bush up the adjacent hillside. Next thing the dog started barking
excitedly which galvanised the bloke into action . Like a man
possessed he was back to the vehicle, pushing the seat
forward, dragging out a rifle and scrambling up the hillside. At this
point I decided to get outa there and resumed running at a greatly increased
pace, the other small dog accompanying me despite all my attempts to tell it to
"stay". A few minutes later came the "kaboom!" of a single gunshot.
In the stillness of the forest it sounded like a cannon and I instinctively
ducked the head and accelerated to 4 minute mile pace. (The dog having no
trouble keeping up).
About half an hour later, (my pulse rate having
returned to something below 200 beats per minute) I heard a vehicle and
turned to see the man and his ute approaching. He stopped, we resumed
chatting and there in the back of the ute was the other small dog with a
very proud & pleased look on its face sitting beside the biggest dead
pig I had ever seen. His story was that he was (obviously) a hunter
who shot only wild pigs and saw what he was doing as a service to the community
and a benefit to the National Park. The dogs looked like ordinary domestic
pets and were certainly not in the traditional pig dog mould (i.e. the stud
collar kind that grabs their quarry by the ears to bring them down). He
said they were trained to detect pigs at which point he steps in
with the firearm. On this occasion the dog had found the pig holed up in a
hollow log (must have been a big log!) He said he didn't eat his kills
because they apparently have a record of TB, but he did boil up the meat and
feed it to the dogs. At this point, having established in his mind that I
wasn't going to squeal to the authorities, (and I didn't, but probably would
today) he gathered up the other dog and headed off.
Whew!
That was my one and only encounter with a wild pig
in Murramarang. I don't know if they are regarded as a problem there
today. Foxes are probably a different story.. I note that
Murramarang thankfully is not a listed NP for hunting purposes, and of course it
wasn't then.
Cheers
Rod
Footnote: If I was ambling along
with the binoculars on the trails off the Clyde Mountain I would hate to
encounter some of the wild dogs (BIG dogs) I have seen there.
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