Hog Hunting in Cooktown, FNQ

When you arrive in Cooktown, it is hard not to miss the number of ute's and trucks driving around with big cages on the back filled with large hunting dogs.  Pig hunting and the dogs associated with it is a big thing up here and good hunting dogs are coveted and their breeding lines carefully managed. In the newsagent you will find at least 8 magazine titles for Pig Hunting with names like Boars and Babes, Pig Hunting weekly and Boar it up Ya.

First lets get this out in the open - Pig hunting is a necessary activity in Far North Queensland. There are feral pigs everywhere and they increase in numbers at an alarming rate.  They destroy the countryside and eat the natural vegetation of the wildlife.  Not everyone agrees with it and many question the method of dispatch where the dogs hold the pig until the hunter can get there with his knife. This is what makes the 'sport' and where the abillities of the pig-dogs come into play.

Three years ago some of the locals who enjoy this sport decided to make an event of it and allow those that already eradicate wild pigs to enjoy a competition in doing so. This year over 34 teams entered the Cooktown Hog Hunt, heading out on the Friday afternoon to return dirty, smelly and exhausted with more than 5 tonnes of dead pig for the weigh in on Sunday lunchtime.


So far the Cooktown Hog Hunt has put away (that means killed and buried) 14 tonnes of feral pig from the in three years. That's a good amount of dead pig and we hope this helps control this feral pest as well as providing the men from the stations and bush around these parts enjoy a little bit of competition and a get together at the end of the weekend.