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 wilh 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- 



