I sat home nursing a bad back, while dogbone took my son and brother in law out and ended up with a nice boar with an attitude. My brother in law wrote the write up,
*****Went for a Sunday morning hunt with my father in law (Papa), and Flatbroke's youngest boy. We were on the ranch and ready to go by 5:15 am. It got light very quick, and this gave us plenty of time early to glass. As we slowly made our way through the ranch, we were finding no game out. There were two dogs out, and they were not finding anything either. We drove to the back to check an area that is good in the spring, and had recent activity. Papa spotted one hog, but it was a long ways off, and across a nasty canyon, plus the hog had started to move out. I think he heard us. So we decided to try to find something easier to get to.
By now it was about 6:45 am. With what we had seen so far we figured we should make a walk through one of the brush piles. The plan was to leave the truck at the bottom of the canyon, and take the quad to the top. We loaded the three of us, and four dogs on the quad. The other dog was left loose. About three quarters of the way up, there is a steep spot. We had to stop, and unload two more dogs, to be safe.
Right away T-Bone headed out with Buster and Payton close behind. We drove to the top of the canyon. We unloaded the other two dogs, and got ready, the other dogs were still gone. I went to look down into the canyon. At this point I began to hear T-Bone barking, then another dog join in. The three of us with the other two dogs started running towards the bark.
After a few minutes, the barking was still going, and the other two dogs could hear, and wanted to go. We sent them, and they were well on their way. Shortly there after the barking stopped, then a yap or two. I spotted the T-Bone, Buster, and Payton, running down a finger in the middle of the brush. Then I noticed Coors, and Bo, about 20 yards behind. They all were headed into the thickest part. We continued to make our way in the same direction.
A few minutes later barking started again. First one dog, then two, then a lot of barking. It sounded like all hell broke loose. There was no second guessing where they were at. We were trying to get to them as fast as possible. The fact that there was no squealling, was a sign that it was a good boar. You could tell they would fight, then break 5 to 10 yards, and fight some more. As I got close, you could see dust rising out of the brush.
I was not sure where Papa was,as we split up when we started into the brush. It got so thick, I had to crawl, and break some branches. I reached a point where I could see the dogs about 15 feet away. The problem is I couldn't see the hog. As I tried to get another angle I found Papa. He was set up for a shot, and could see the hog, but it wasn't a safe shot for the dogs. Just then the hog broke towards me. The dogs spun him around, and gave me a broadside shot. I took the shot from about 20 feet with my pistol. The hog stumbled and then broke. The fighting intensity doubled. The dogs knew the pig was hurt, and they began to catch him. I heard a dog yelp, and knew I needed to finish it quickly. I crawled as fast as I could. I only had to go about 30 feet. As I got about 10 feet away the hog spun and was facing me. I could see he had good teeth. This needed to be a kill shot, if I messed up, I could get cut. The dogs spun him again, and I went in. The dogs were hanging on the pig. My shot needed to be placed well as to not shoot a dog. I got about 3 or 4 feet away and took the shot. The hog dropped, the got to his feet. He lunged foward about 6 feet (going away from me)and dropped again.
Then came the next phase, damage assesment. We had five dogs there, and he cut 3 of them. Nothing major, just a good cleaning, and a few staples. He is a great hog, but what impressed me about him, was how rank he was. You can see he was a fighter, and very tough. There is tons of hair missing. He was scarred from head to tow. Lots of big cuts on him. There was two that looked to be very fresh, with in a days time. And others that were a week old or so. You could just tell by looking at him, that he was old, tough, and mean. His tusks were nice. He had a fat 2 7/8 inches on one side, and about 1/3 broke off on the other. With a very long snout, big shoulders, and smaller hind quarters, he had the look.
The dogs did a great job, we got a great hog.
