LUISETTI SEEDS PIG HUNT

When rugby isn’t being discussed in the Luisetti Seeds smoko room, the next most popular topic is hunting. With so many hunters on the staff it was decided to hold a pig hunting competition to put to the test some of the stories that have been told of ferocious boars and 14 point stags.

Three teams were formed:

The Southern Porkers

Chris Sparks (now working for Syngenta)
Carmel Burgess
Peter Ayers
Kerry Thomas

The Razor Backs

Ken Townley
Andrew Johnston
Vincent Luisetti
Roger Jones and Darryl Travis (advisors)

The Mighty Tuskers

Dave Laing
Richard Luisetti
David Fordyce
Edward Luisetti

Competition for the title was intense and months before the day of the competition attempts were made by teams to disrupt other teams hunting grounds, including persuading farmers to block access to the properties of opposition teams.

Much was made of the experience of some teams and the quality (or otherwise) of the dogs that were being assembled. Even the design and length of sticking knives was debated.

The Mighty Tuskers hunt was little more than a circus. Casually leaving Rangiora at 8am in a car, they were late to the 3pm weigh-in having lost dogs and, at one stage, one of their team members. Next year the Mighty Tuskers have undertaken to purchase more GPS collars to attach to their team members as well as their dogs, it is likely that this team will need to be strengthened with some more experienced hunters.

The Southern Porkers were a more professional outfit altogether and quickly bagged a 51kg boar (stuck by Carmel).

The Razor Backs, a very experienced and confident team brought home 4 pigs with a total combined weight of 95kg.

There was trouble at the weigh-in however as the rules of the competition had not been clearly defined and although the Southern Porkers had the largest pig the Mighty Tuskers had caught and carried almost twice the amount of pork.

The dispute is ongoing but the jaw of the Southern Porkers boar is to be mounted and used as the trophy for this hunt which will be contested annually.

Some action from the day: