Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-01
MORE THAN 4 MATCH FOR GRIZZLIES
Fight in Big Droves and Are Never
Known to Give Up.
ARE AFRAID OF NOTHING

me ABOUT tne peCcdTy L was diiAiouS " 81
out and see a drove of EN- in the woods
somewhere. feeding on mast, but as Joe
Parker and the rest of 'em developed the
disposition of the peccary by tale and rem
inisCence | was willing to take the interest
ing little creature by proxy. AS a rule, 50
they assured me, the peccary isn't looking
for fight. He doesn't prey on other ami
mails, and a dozen men may ride past
feeding drove of them without their paying
any attention to the party, unless some one
of the party Is so unwise as to fire shot
into the drove. II one peccary is hurt the
whole drove, and there may be a hundred
or more in it, instantly abandons all other
business as one peccary. and never does
another thing until the injury done to one
of its number is avenged, If vengeance is
possible
a man who has thus brought down upon
himself the enmity of drove of peccaries
needs to be well mounted if he would eS-
cape their fury. They will follow him at an
amazing pace for miles, and will not relin-
quish the chase so long as there is any hope
of Overtaking him. If he is overtaken and
surrounded it will not be the work of ten
seconds for the peccaries to strew the plain
with inhnitesimal fragments of himself and
his horse If a man on foot should be fool
hardy enough to fire into a drove of pee
carries and one of them should give the pc
culiar snort that calls for vengeance, the
smoke of his gun would have scarcely
cleared away before he would be separated
into bits so small that one big enough to
make the pro verbal grease spot could not
be found. Experienced piainsmen know
this popularity of the peccary, and never
give the animal reason for the slightest sus-
picion that they would disturb its serenity
As with the mountain lion, the grizzly bear
and the silvertip. the wise western hunter
or rdnchman has instant business elsewhere
when he comes upon peccaries. MANY mys-
FERROUS diSappearances of tenderfoot hunt
erS and tourists in southern California New
Mexico and southern Texas can be explain
ed In no better way than by the assumption
that they had tried their guns on peccaries
Joe Parker of San Benito told me that and
as Joe has lived among peccaries and the
other Wild beasts of that extraordinary re-
g1on ever since he was a boy he ought to
Know what he is talking about
Master of Lions and Bears.
But while the peCcary is not, as a rule,
aggressive or inclined to fight either dumb
brute or man. it invariably makes an ex-
ception TO the rule in all cases where the
mountain lion or bear family is concerned
Peccar1es and lions or peccaries and bears
can live in the same woods and it is al
ways the peccaries that remain The I'M
assuming little beast is as much monarch
OF all ne surveys in his bailwick as Robin
son CrIsoe was on his island A mountain
lion may be doing a lively business in the
hlhs OF Deast line IN some particular pre-
clnct, levying tribute by the ton on the
II eat OF his covering subjects, but lust let
1t become known that the humped-up little
peccary has come into the locality to test
its foragiHg possibilities. and King Lion will
abdlcate so quick that you can hear his
II rome totter, and he won't remember that
he pretends to be a monarch until he has
put a good stretch of country between him
sell ana the invading peccaries. Or perhaps
some great hulk of a grizzly or a swagger-
ing SilVertip, carrying nearly a ton of con-
centrated maieyolence around with him.
has been running things with high paw
in some community, but let either a grizzly
SllVPrtiO SUaPgerinV along in off
sef-cCnsciousness of his superiority, come
in sight of one of these little chaps nosing
around after his dinner among the fallen
mast. and instantly the swagger is gone.
The bear suddenly acts as IL he wishes he
wasn't 50 big. He tries 10 draw himself
into as contracted space as possible and
puts all the speed he can into his enor-
Nous Iegs as he turns tail upon the grunt-
ing peccary and seeks a new domain to do
his staggering in. Joe Parker said he had
Seen en- do it time and time again.
Small Chance of Escape.
If a bear sees a drove of peccaries be-
fore any Of them see him. said joe he
nay be able to sneak away and make his
escape, but If he is discovered by the pee
carries there is sure to be one bear less in
d very short time, no matter whether he
is grizzly or silyertip, cinnamon, brown or
black The peccaries surround him, and
although he may rip and pound the life out
of half dozen of the implacable little
beasts before ii is accomplished, it is only
a question of a very short time when he is
torn his entire length by the sharp, curved
tusks of the wild hogs, and he falls among
The attacking horde. Once down. the hated
bear is instantly torn limb from limb. His
flesh is chopped into fragments and quick
ly devoured. Every bone is crunched and
ground so fine that piece two inches long
would be a large one to find after drove
OF peccaries have dealt with bears car
CaSs. to such destructive length do they in
yariably carry their hatred of the bruin
family
once. so Joe said. a tourist who was
staying with him had the luck to see a
drove of peccaries tackle a tree-climbing
bear that had almost got out of their reach
up the tree before they got hold of him.
and the tourist in telling Joe about it men,
toned how near the bear came to making
its escape. Joe laughed and said to the
tourist:
You think he'd have escaped, do you?
Well. let me tell you that if the bear had
Climbed 10 the top of the tree he wouldn't
have escaped. He would only have gained
respite Peccaries never let up on an en-
envy they have gone out to conquer as long
that enemy is in sight. If that bear had
got up the tree the peccaries would have
simply sat down at the foot of the tree
and waited No matter how long they
might have had to stay there-a week. a
month. three months, a year-there they
would stay until that bear either came
down or fell down and they had scattered
him to the winds. Peccaries never give up.
W men tiAts nave SCI lflelT uedln watch
bear OF a hunter or a mountain lion, or
whatever it might be. a strong guard is
always left to see that the victim does not
escape While some are guard others
are off feeding and their reliefs are regu-
lar and constant. II that bear had got into
the tree there would have been no minute
OF the Gay night that he could not have
locked down upon a group of peccaries
sitting around the tree, each with his eyes
liked immovaby upon him. If the bear
could possibly have fastened himself in the
tree he might Starve TO death, with the
satisfaction of knowing that his carcass
would not fall to the ground to be torn into
nothing by the tireless wretches below:
but as The bear could have had no way to
secure himself fixed tenure in the tree
Ii would have only been a question of time
when. grown weak from hunger. he must
nave lost MS grip on the branches and re-
warded the patience of the peccaries bv
tumbling among them to be supineIy an
INITIATED
FooIhardy Deeds of PIainsmen.
Lots Of other ranchmen told me similar
things about the Peocary. Hunters have been
known TO undertake the foohardy task of