On the road: The gentle wild man of Kinloch

By TONY WALL

He rides a huge Harley-Davidson, his muscled arms are covered in Harley tattoos and he enjoys taking the 1600cc motorcycle for a spin on the country roads near Taupo.

But Winston McNae's first love is hunting, and these days you are more likely to find a pig on his back than a helmet on his head.

When we arrived at his 10-acre property near Kinloch, he was about to take a blowtorch to a 90-pound wild boar caught the night before. The torch singes the pig's hair off to get it ready for eating.

They breed 'em tough in the rugged south Waikato, our latest stop on our epic road trip from south to north.

The blokes in town who gave us directions swapped knowing glances and chuckled as they told stories of a wild man of almost legendary status. As we drove towards the McNae property, we half expected a grizzly old man-giant, foaming at the mouth, to emerge from a ramshackle hut with a mad look in his eye.

Instead we found a short but stocky man of 39, who politely asked us inside his large country home and talked in gentle tones. He admitted being a wild man in his younger days, getting into the odd fight, but looming fatherhood has tamed him.

He has always loved the outdoors. He shot his first deer at 9. His father taught him to hunt and all the family, sisters included, love hunting.

He has worked at sheep farming, well drilling and live-deer capturing from helicopters. Five years ago he found his niche as a hunting guide and runs a successful business called Great Lake Expeditions.

His clients are almost all foreigners - "Kiwis are too proud to pay to go hunting" - and he charges $400 a day for pig and deer hunting and about $300 for trout fishing.

He says Taupo is a hunting paradise. "Hunting's a good sport. It keeps you fit, and it's good for the old freezer."

The hours spent in the south Waikato bush and plantations have produced many a good yarn.

"One time me and a mate were up in a pine block with the four-wheel-drive and we got stuck on a native stump. It took about two hours to get it off.

"I walked about 20 yards down the track and one of the dogs stuck his head under a toi toi bush. I growled at him 'cos I thought it was a possum.

"But I looked under and there it was - a 120-pound boar just sitting there, hiding. I grabbed his tail but he bolted off down the track. He ran straight into a dog and got caught."

Another time, when he was 13, he shot a pig in the jaw and it dropped to the ground. He approached and it jumped up and attacked him. He had to climb a fence post to escape.

These days he does not use guns. He has good bailing and holding dogs and only needs a knife to finish the job. "I killed 22 of the big boys last year and didn't need a gun for one of them."

He has about 10 dogs, the best a greyhound, bull terrier, border collie-cross that can find, bail and hold, and because he mistrusts vets, he stitches the animals himself when they get gashed by pigs.

We leave his mother, Shirley Higgs, to finish off blowtorching the pig, while we grab some wild Sika venison from his freezer.

After passing Pohaturoa Peak near Atiamuri, it's into Hamilton, where we fry up the venison for a couple of minutes. It is surprisingly tender and sends the taste buds into ecstasy.

Feature: On the road with Tony and Mark