The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-12-27
WITH A WILD HOG.
The Champion Deer Hunter Has g
Thrilling Encounter

From the st. Lous Globe-Democrat.
Captain w. H. Owens, of Austin, Tex, has
probably killed more deer than any man in
the world. He did not begin keeping a.
count of deer he killed until eight years ago.
Since then he has killed 1923. He never
hunted deer for the market in his life,
and he INDUCES in the sport purely for
amusement. Sportsmen who have been on
hunting trips with him say that he is a
natural-born hunter. He can trail a deer
better than an Indian, and one shot from
his rifle is certain death to the animal with
in range of the gun. Captain Owens is at
present quartermaster of the Texas
Rangers. He lived the western plains
of the state for many years, and in the
days of the buffalo he killed hundreds of
those animals. He has just returned from
a huting trip to Encinal county, where he
added a number of deer to his long list of
victims. On his recent trip he was accom-
panied by Acknowledgement A. p. Wozen-
craft, Ed Meyer, Ed Houston and j. r.
Mobley The party left the railroad at
Encinal station, and proceeded to the Gala
CHAN ranch, twenty-five miles distant.
They spent two weeks in that section hunt
ing deer and other wild game. There are
thousands of javelins, or wild hogs in
that part of the state, and Ed Meyer had
an exciting experience with these animals.
They are very vicious, and it is dangerous
for a man to meet drove of them. They
have even been known to attack man
when on horseback, killing both horse and
man. Mr.. Meyer had never seen a jave-
line, and when cautioned by Captain Owens
to avoid coming into contact with any of
the animals, Mr.. Meyer laughed, and re-
piled that he would like to meet whole
drove of them.
you must take me for fish, you dom
suppose that I'm afraid of wild hogs do
your" Mr.. Meyer said.
Captain Owens said no more, but he was
not surprised at the subsequent experience
of Mr.. Meyer. The latter started out early
one morning with view of killing deer
before breakfast He had tramped several
miles from camp when he heard the con-
tented grunting Of number of hogs In a
clump Of prickly pear bushes near by.
Here is an opportunity of killing off
these javelins" thought Mr.. Meyer.
He picked his way into the thicket eau
tiously and came upon a drove of about
forty of the wild animals. They were
quietly feeding when he first saw them,
but moment later big boar In the drove
caught sight of him and with a terrific snarl
he showed his long tusks and made rush
for Mr.. Meyer. The latter was SO surprised
at the attack that he let go both barrels
of the shotgun which he carried. The buck
shot struck the bear on the shoulder, but
apparently had no effect. 1t is said that
1t takes five pounds of lead to kill one
javein and Mr.. Meyer believes the truth
of the saying. He dropped his gun and fled
for the nearest mesquite tree. 1t happened
that one was within easy reach and he
climbed into it with the agility of a boy
The whole drove of javelins were In close
pursuit and he had hardly reached safe
distance from the ground when the animals
were surrounding the tree, snarling and
showing their tusks in the most frightful
manner Mr.. Meyer supposed that the
javelins would leave in a few minutes,
but In this he was mistaken. The wild boar
made several ineffective efforts to climb the
tree and then laid down directly underneath
the limb upon which Mr. Meyer was seated.
The whole drove remained with the boar
and they lay under the tree hour after
hour.
Mr.. Meyer tried every conceivable way
of frightening the javelins, but they
would not scare particle. He hallooed
until his voice grew weak in the hope that
his companions would hear him and come
to his rescue. But no help came. He was
contemplating strapping hiself to the tree
with his shirt to await the final outcome,
whatever 1t might be, when he observed
then the javelins were getting on their
feet. A few minutes later the big boar took
the lead and the entire drove trotted off
into the brush. Mr.. Meyer looked at his
watch. The time was p. m. He had been
In the tree for eleven hours. He waited a
half longer and then climbed down to the