The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-01-21
A Battle with Wild Hogs.


such things as wild hogs in this country,
but such is the case, however little the
fact may be known.
giNot long since Jim Reynolds and
myself were uu deer hunting expedi.
ton on one of the numerous bayous
that jut into Red River, in tho South
eastern part Of Arkansas. We had with
us two dogs, and were trailing alcng the
bank of the bayou-the dogs some two
or three hundred yards in advance All
at once the dogs began to bark and there
arose the greatest CONSERVATION imag-
nable. 1t did not take US long to deter.
mine the cause of all this commotion, as
the dogs soon hove in sight fighting and
retreating toward us.
Attacking them was drove of wild
infuriated hogs, some of them so large
and ferocious that a grizzly bear would
be little more formidable. To say that
they would strike terror to the bravest
heart is but to make sn assertion that
would receive immediate credence if
the reader should he ever be brought
face to face with them.
What was to be done? Here they
came, with deafening and unearthly
noise, their every bristle projecting for.
ward, eyes rcddened with rage, froth
dripping from their long tusks, ready to
rip open any one or anything that offered
combat
We stationed ourselves by the waters
edge so as to be ready to take to the
bayou in case of our guns failing to
check them.
When they we're about fifty yards
from us we encouraged the dogs to stand
their ground, and so they did for short
time until one of them was struck by a
very large boar, and literally ripped
open, the poor creatures entrails falling
to the ground before be expired. The
other dog then beat hasty retreat to-
ward us, closely followed by these mad
iened monsters.
We were armed with double.barreled
oreech-loading guns, one barrel riaed
and the other shot, rifles 38 calibre and
our shot cartridges contained No. 2
shot. The remaining dog had been so dis
nbled that wo could expect but little if
any assistance from him. 1t was all he
could do to take care of himself and
rather questionable about his being able
to do that for any considerable time.
suggested to Reynolds that we give
them volley from cur four barrels al
once, and perhaps it would so discomft
taem that they would retreat. This we
did when they were about two rods from
US, aud, although we feled soule three
or four to the ground and crippled Others,
they seemed more enraged than ever, and
we're on US before we could reload our
guns. The only thing left for us to do
was to take to the water land very fortu
nate nat we had water to take toy which
we Immediately did. Abandoning our
guns, we plunged in and swan to the
opposite shore, the live dog taking kind.
ly to our example.
The bayou at this point was about four
reds wide. After crossing, we each
selected tree which would be easy to
climb in case the hogs should cross after
us. Several times / imagined that they
were about to cross, but the dog now
having ceased to bark and lain down,
while we concealed ourselves behind the
trunks of large trees, their rage seemed
to assuage, and they presently moved off
down the bayou.
Some little time after they had disap'
peared among the thick timber of the
bottom, we swan back to our guns.
After making an examination of the
hogs we had dispatched, We concluded
that we had had all the bottom hunting
that we desired that day, and struck out
for The uplaDds.
We learned that these wild hogs
abound in considerable numbers along
the bottoms of Red River and tributary
streams in this locality. These hogs be-
long to the 'razor back" breed and grow
to an enormous size, feeding principally
on the mast of the bottoms and adjacent
uplands. We were also informed that
had it not been for our dogs they would
probably not have given US any trouble,
but would quietly have withdrawn on
our approach.
The tusks of the largest one that we
killed ian old boar) projected fully four
inches from the jaw, curying outward
and upward from their base on the upper
jaw, aud upward and outward on the
lover jaw. They are frequently hunted
in The fall and winter after the mast has
fallen, and they have become fattened
on it, aud make, it is said, fair bacon.
We're it not for the fact that the hog
cholera makes frequent rayages among
them, the bottoms would swarm with
them, and it would be dangerous to
travel there. AS it is, one feels safer at
a distance than.among them, especially
if you have dogs with you, which they
are certain to attack if they come within
sight. In the drove that wo encountered
there were fully thirty, the greater num-
Der of them large, and must have been
four or five years old. 1 presume, also,
that oyeraows destroy very many OF
them.
II there is anything to be dreaded
more in the woods than an attack of
wild hogs in considerable numbers, |
have yet to learn what it is.