pappa bear

well i will tell a story of a hunt that happened in the late 80's.
i was hunting on the san antonio river bottom in karnes county out side of charcoal tx. i was hunting corn fields in the heat of summer at night.
i was hunting 3 to 4 nights a week and catching good hogs. nothing to brag about but good hogs.
each night the dogs would jump a big hog and run him and each time they would loose him or catch a smaller hog. we gave him the name of pappa bear.
well one night i got to the corn field a little early. i set up with the dogs on the open field several hundred yards from the corn field. i made the dogs sit down around me and wait.
i did not have long to wait. the moon was full and across the field you could see old pappa bear coming.
this hog was huge, he looked like an angus bull walking down the turn row.
i got the dogs up and show the hog to the gray hound crosses i was hunting with my cur dogs. i hissed them and the race was on.
pappa bear turned around and started back toward the river with the dogs on his heels.
the hog hit the san antonio river and swam across and started up the far bank.
the dogs stopped him on the under cut of the bank. the hog was trapped. he could not go up and he could not go down. the dogs were above him and the dogs were below him. he was so big he could not do any thing but stand and fight the dogs off.
i walked up to the river bank and shined my light across the river and saw the hog bayed tight to the river bank.
i pulled my 44 mag and fired one time stiking the hog in the head. the hog fell and rolled down the river bank and into the river. the hog sank. the cur dogs swam around in the river looking for the hog.
i called the dogs out of the river and called my hunting partner on the walkie talkie and had him bring the 4 wheeler.
i got my ropes off of the 4 wheeler and i pulled my knife and gun belt off.
i waded out into the river. i had marked the spot were the hog went down. while holding the rope i swam out to the spot and dropped down in the water column. i felt the hogs leg and surfaced. i got a breath and went back down i tied a rope around the leg and resurfaced.
i swam out of the river and tied the rope to the 4 wheeler and got him to the surface. i pulled him to the bank and tied him off.
i tried to pull him up the bank with the 4 wheeler but he was to big.
i always carried a block and tackle in the 4 wheeler. so i got them out and rigged a block and tackle in a cotton wood tree on the river back.
i was then able to pull him up to the top of the river bank. i tied him off and unhooked him from the 4 wheeler and backed up and loaded him on the bed.
i got back to town as the sun was coming up. i drove to the locate cotton gin and asked to use their scales. the hog rang in at a whopping 656 lbs. pappa bear was the largest hog i killed in 30 years plus of hunting.
i have never told this story before. i hope you enjoyed it. it is one of the hunts i have relived many times.