Te Ranga School bags $20,000 from Pig and Possum Hunt

Kingi Murray keeping track of the team totals.

Te Ranga School's recent Pig and Possum Hunt raised over $20,000 for the school.
Principal Brendan Wilson says the silent auction alone netted over $6000.

Money from the event was tagged for fitting out and providing equipment for new classrooms being brought in to cater for the growing roll and for a Year 7 and 8 trip to Christchurch.

Brendan says because of the amount raised, there is also the chance to "do a couple of extra things".

"One of those is to move the library which is out on the field where it's been misplaced by the ministry, and we've been offered to have extra decks and things that we can now fund ourselves."

Brendan says the Pig and Possum Hunt, which was held for the 21st time, is part of the school's and local community's identity and culture.

"It's the thing that pulls us together, the families working together the day before and after to erect tents and all those sorts of things are really important.

"Whenever you go anywhere and say you are from Te Ranga people say that's the pig and possum hunt schools."

He says there has been an increase in professionalism in recent years and that, plus the school's experience of running the event, means other schools contact him asking if they can use it as a template to run their own pig and possum hunt.

There were 140 hunters and 35 teams enter the pig and possum hunt.

RESULTS

Most pests: All I Want to do is Bang Bang Bang, 25.
Guess the final tally possum: Beauties and the Beast 782 (closets to the actually total, 784).
Heaviest possum: A Dead Possums Society, 4.77kg.
Best tusks: Charlie Wade.
Best coloured possum: Murray Winters.
Heaviest boar: Murray Winters 58.5kg. Average weight pig: Charlie Wade.
Most possums, 1, A Dead Possum Society 243 possums), 2 All I Want to Do Is Bang Bang Bang (153), 3, Plucking all night (50).