Hunting
Samuel Agong discusses some Lun Bawang practices when hunting for wild boar and other animals in the jungle using the Ba Kelalan dialect of Lun Bawang. The recording was made in Buduk Nur on 24th February 2019.
now I want to tell you the story
of how to hunt for animals and go into the jungle
of hunting with my grandfathers
when I was young
when I went with them
I watched them
to see how they hunted
and how the dogs barked
and how they killed wild boar
when I was young
when we hunt
if we catch a wild boar
then we carry it
and we smoke it in the hut
then we go home with it
a while later
then I tried something
then I tried to learn by myself
to learn how to train the dogs to bark
I fed the dogs
then I trained the dogs
then I took them out
bark and then stop
bark again and then stop
it's tiring to train the dogs
training puppies that have just started to bark
after that, I went hunting again
and I speared the wild boar
I speared him half dead
but he didn't die straight away
so I let the dog bite him
I speared him half dead
and when the dog bit him
I ordered him to eat him
after that
when he has eaten the blood
then they really bark
as long as they bark
then they get to have the wild boar
if they surround a boar
then they bark at it
in Lun Bawang we call it "nurung"
at that time
the dogs really bark
it's very easy
if they bark
bark at a wild boar
or if they surround a sambar deer
they catch it alive, the sambar deer
they catch the deer alive
and bring it home
that's how I hunt for animals with dogs
as well as that
I have a story about how I learned to call for barking deer
calling for barking deer
we call for them
and the barking deer appears
and when he comes closer to you
you shoot the barking deer
then you take it
that one is easy
you just sit down
if you go hunting
you have to chase after the dogs
if the dog barks badly
it's difficult for you to follow the barks
if they bark well, it's quick
kuk kuk kuk once
it's close by, he'll die quickly, easy!
easy
if the dog barks badly
then you shout
you shout
"oooh, where's the dog? where's the dog?"
far away
then you run several miles
if the dog is smart
and barks right up to a given point
it could be several, what is it, half a...
if they bark like this up to this point
then it is just a few meters
then they bark straight away
and you shoot the boar
afterwards then you take it home
when we take it home...
when you follow a big group
it's lots of fun but there's a problem
we have to divide it up
so I go by myself
when I'm on my own
when I catch a boar and carry it, it's difficult
it's really heavy
it almost comes to 80
80kg or 100kg
you just have to carry, carry it all
it's really painful here
you carry it
that was what people did in the past
before the road came here
that was the work here
to get wild boar and get the fat
they melt it to use for frying
today they use cooking oil
that's what the old people did
what did they do in the past
they stored the melted fat of the boar in a drum
the stored it
that was something we did in the past
in past times
that was my work at that time
when I went to the jungle
there are also other ways
going to the river
going to dive for fish
the fish, you set a net
then you disturb the fish
disturb them
and use a stick to get them out from under the log
then you catch the fish
then there is another way
I mixed a lot with the Iban
they are different
they use a fish gun
they look in
then they shoot the fish
I mixed with lots of group
we went to set fishing hooks
with eel or tortoise as bait
I learnt everything about that
just like going into the jungle
there are lots of ways
you can go midnight hunting
midnight hunting for what?
lots of different types of animal, bears
I have already done that, shot a bear
shouted at it
that's how bears are
bears at the top of the tree eat kiran fruit, you know, in the dark
you shout at it
then the bear climbs down
and comes at you
that's a way to hunt in the jungle
when I go into the jungle
when there were no guns, it was hard
it was difficult to spear boars
they bite you, attack you
you are forced to use your parang
use a parang and a spear
one time I noticed a wild boar
so I speared it
oooh, he attacked, he bit the spear
after that, I speared him here
and he died
after that there was another one
so difficult with two of them
afterwards, I speared the wild boar
and drowned him in the river
that's a difficult way
so difficult to go into the jungle
there are people who have been bitten by wild boar
ike me, I have had a wild boar bite my leg
it was a baby boar
and I went to catch it
and he bit my toe