“KING OF THE SANDHILLS”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 213, 28 November 1927, Page 16

“KING OF THE SANDHILLS”

SEVEN-FOOT WILD BOAR PIG-SHOOTING THRILL A MASSIVE wild boar, nearly seven feet long, and weighing 240 pounds, was shot by four Aucklanders yesterday at the back of Helensville. The shooters proclaim him the “King of the Sandhills,” and they were so pleased with the capture that they carried him back for an hour and ahalf over the sand —a heart-breaking task —and brought him to Parnell, where he sat up to have his photograph taken this morning. The party, Messrs. A. Knight, the All Black emergency, HE. Rustin, A. Hunter and Bert Fletcher, who distinguished himself a few months back by a daring horseback rescue in Muritai surf, went by car to Helensville on Saturday night, and tramped over the sandhills toward the ranges. Knight saw the big dappled boar making for the brush and he set the dogs to head him off. The dogs bailed the pig until the shooters came up within range and finished him with five shots from sporting calibre rifles. Before his death he had slashed one dog’s throat with his tusks. A comparatively young boar, he was in excellent condition and his size was phenomenal, the thickness of his hide had turned and stopped several bullets, but one had smashed his shoulder and given him mortal injury. The four men carried the immense weight of pig back to the motor.