The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-24
MONEY IN WILD HOGS.

|
Southwest is an Exciting Event.
While it is generally accounted tina
the sheep and Angora goat furnish mos
of the revenues to the rancher in the
broken and wooded country south of the
Staked Plains and west of, the Colorado
river, it is nevertheless fact that the
razor-hack hog contributes full
share. Probably there is no country
anywhere better adapted to the produc-
tion of cheap pork. The hills are COW
cred with cedar and a great variety of
scrub-oak trees, and the canyons and
river valleys are heavily wooded with
pecan and Spanish walnut, so that there
| is always an abundance of excellent
mast, and it might be mentioned that
the cedar berries are considered equal
to corn in lard producing qualities.
! With this sort of feed, which is al
ways abundant, the expense of care and
feeding is removed, the animals simply
| running at large over the country, so
that the only outlay required is that of
the first cost of a few head for start
Running loose in this way they are not
subject to the diseases common to the
| iioto ~ tiAC sly VI leu lOL, iillll DtlIlS
| cellent fighters they hold their own, with
the wolves and other wild animals
| which prey on the sheep and goats.
Thus they multiply very rapidly.
| In order to get the benefit of the in
crease in his stock however, it is neces-
sary for the rancher to get his mark on
| the pigs. As this, owing to the rough
ness OF the country and the wildness of
| the sows, is no small task, 1t IS general
| ly the custom for all the hog owners in
given section to turn out together,
with their dogs, and practically "round
up" the range
Compared with one of these hog
hunts a cattle round up is a quiet
and commonplace affair. On the morn
ing appointed the dogs are turned loose
and started out on a hog TRAIL and the
men ride after them just as on a wolf
chase As the pigs cannot hold out very
long one of them is soon caught and his
squeals bring back the rest of the bunch
to his aid AS soon as the pig Is free
the sows form a circle around the pigs,
from which they now and then dash out
at their tormentors and all the while
gruntng like the rafting of hundred
old wagons. BY the time the uproar
has reached its full height the hunters
ride up and hiss the dogs on to seize the
sows. When one is caught two men go
to the assistance of the dog, one with
club to beat off the other hogs, the 9TH
er it'll bit of rope to tie the one seized
When all of them have thus been put
out of the way of fighting, the pigs are
caught and marked. Then the sows are
OF their. tbortxt az ha cto taJ
out on a new trail. When it happens |
that there are hogs belonging to several
different men thef pigs are simply divi- |
ded.
While the work of marking" is more !
like sport than labor it is not less ex-
citing than that of getting the hogs |
ready for market, for as it is impossi- |
BILE to drive them any distance--even to /
the corrals at the ranches-it is necessa
ry simply to butcher them out in the |
hills
So along in the early part of the WIN
ter, after the new mast has fallen AID 1
the hogs are as fat as they will get, the
ranchers load their wagons with salt
grub kettles and lard cans. take their
dogs and Winchesters and strike out for
the hills. They make camp near solne
spring or water hole and then begin the
work of killing" which includes the
of the lard and sailing of the
meat. 1t Is like a great hunt. When
ever a wagon-load of lard and meat has
been put uD 1t is taken to the nearest
ranch and left there until the killing"
season Is over. then it is loaded again
and freighted to the nearest railroad
point, where it is sold at the market
price
1t is said that only one man in that
ever tried driving his hogs to
market. That was Uncle Ben Pepper,
who lives few miles above Junction
City, on the South Llano river He had,
he supposed, about three hundred head
Of fat hogs, and the idea of that kill
ing worried him. SO he hired all the
men in the country. got all the dogs in I
Nimble and Edwards counties, and
rounded up all the hogs to be found. It
was, of course, impossible to keep the
herd together and as it scattered Ben
ordered him men to separate a little
md keep moving toward Kerrvile.
AT noon on the fourth day the line '
vas within half mile of the Guada-
oupe river the men were half a mile {
apart ana every dog worn out. Then
Ben decided that he would like to
snow how many hogs he had, as after
passing the Guadalupe it would be i'm '
possible to see them in the open again '
80 he ordered .he ends of the line to |
wing in and close up toward the river 7
t was nearly sunset when the circle {
vas completed, and he climbed into a t
all pecan so as to get better view of /
he hogs when they should come /
wermlng out into the river. He t
watched intently until night was fall I
re-. then he saw lean old sow emerge
rom the bushes and go down to drink S
nd moment later the drivers began i
olning out. He nearly fell out of the t
rec. He has never tried driving since. t
kansas City Journal. n