1 66 Hunting the Grisly 



them, a boar and two sows, and a couple of 

 the cowboys stumbled on them early one 

 morning while out with a dog. After half a 

 mile s chase the three peccaries ran into a 

 hollow pecan tree, and one of the cowboys, 

 dismounting, improvised a lance by tying 

 his knife to the end of a pole, and killed 

 them all. 



Many anecdotes were related to me of what 

 they had done in the old days when they were 

 plentiful on the ranch. They were then usu 

 ally found in parties of from twenty to thirty, 

 feeding in the dense chaparral, the sows re 

 joining the herd with the young very soon 

 after the birth of the latter, each sow usually 

 having but one or two at a litter. At night 

 they sometimes lay in the thickest cover, but 

 always, where possible, preferred to house in 

 a cave or big hollow log, one invariably re 

 maining as a sentinel close to the mouth, look 

 ing out. If this sentinel were shot, another 

 would almost certainly take his place. They 

 were subject to freaks of stupidity, and were 

 pugnacious to a degree. Not only would they 

 fight if molested, but they would often attack 

 entirely without provocation. 



Once my friend Moore himself, while out 

 with another cowboy on horseback, was at- 



