The sun., 1905-12-31
WILD HOGS OF CATAHOULA.
FIERCE BEASTS DESCEN DED FROM
DOMESTIC SWINE.
They Haunt the Depths OF Louisiana Cane.
49,. srakes ami Occasionally Give Hunter
an Unpleasant surprise se--The Guileful
: Catahoula HOG D0gs-HoS Hunting.

ORANGE, Tex, Dec. So.-4There are some
pretty wild regions over in Louisiana,
said Champ Lachctte OF the Bayou Funny
Louis country. but none quite so wild as
portions Of Catahoula parish. Bears are
plentiful and ugly in the deuse thiokets
into which it IL difficult for man TO work
his way.
Wildcats are common and sometime
aggressive. | heard the cry Of a panther
in the junges about Lake Catahoula within
the past three weeks. But Of all these
fierce creatures none is so fierce as the
great hogs that run wild through the forest
and hide and wallow in the almost i'm.
penetrnble areas OF canebrake and isolated
bayou.
"These hogs are the descendants Of do.
mestio swine that came into that region
with settlers when Louisiana was yet under
Spanish rule and long intimacy with the
wilds and the influence OF their environ
nent have transformed them into a pugna-
,ous and untR .nable race OF beasts. They
run In droves, and with the exception OF
an occasional raid on some wayback set
tiers oornfeld or yam patch they keep
well in the depths Of their haunts, where
they find abundant food.
High shouldered, big headed, long OF
limb, fierce rise Of bristles and vicious
eye when enraged, and equipped with long
sharp tusks Of ivory whiteness, the Cata-
houa wild hog is by no means a pleasant
looking apparition to rise before an un-
suspecting hunter from Il bayou wallow
at the tangled roots Of u cypress or emerge
suddenly from the edge of a dark canebrake,
That's the way it seemed to me, at least
once in my life, at any rate.
Il was bear hunting in the thicket along
the west border Of Lake Catahuula. and
the dogs had brought big fellow to bay
twice, with the result that Of the six dogs
had started out with had but one left, and
the bear was still al large. / kept on his trail
however, not yet having had shot at him,
and was in the depths of the thicket, when
a wild boar, with snort that brought me
mp all standing, rose from some hidden
resting place Of his, not ten feet away, and
confronted me with bristles erect and his
long tusss glistening on each side OF his
snout.
my lone dog was not a hog dog, and with
recollections, perhaps. Of Juggling the ear
Of some lazy tame, old sow at home, he
sprang upon the boar before I could give
him a restraining word. The mad hog
received him with one vicious lunee Of his
big head
"The next instant the dog was crashing
through the brush, ripped open from his
flank to his throat by the boar's tusk. He
gave yelp. gasp and kick, and joined
his five companions that had fallen before
the bear.
"The boar had not raised his head from
this thrust at the dog when fred at him.
He fell, but was up again in second. and
charged me on three legs my bullet having
had no other effect than TO break one OF
his forelegs.
@He came with such speed that could
not fire again before he was upon me. |
evaded the full force Of his charge by n
quick Jump TO one side. One Of the enraged
brute's long tusks was thrust through my
trousers leg between the ankle and the
knee, and with a quick upward jerk OF his
head the boar tore the cloth open nearly TO
my waist. l could feel the cold rush Of the
tusk all the way up my leg, but the thrust
had, fortunately, not been deep enough to
enter the flesh.
sThe scene OF this encounter with the
boar was in a small opening in the thicket
which had evidently been made by some
one who had put up brush shack there.
In every direction outside Of that spot the
vines and bushes were dense and fight
was impossible.
The boar had gone pace or two beyond