by 300 pounds of bone and muscle, are considered by some to be 

 more lethal than the claws of the grizzly. 



Pitted against these in a boar hunt are men armed with 30-30 

 rifles, or i2-gauge shotguns with solid slug shells, and a pack of 

 boar hounds that are about the toughest hunting dogs to be 

 found. These dogs appear to be of no particular breed one boar 

 hunter went so far as to call them "just a mixture of mountain 

 mongrel." But an effort is made to get short-eared hounds, which 

 make the best fighters, somewhat at the expense of hunting 

 ability. 



Dogs trained by a family named Plott in North Carolina have 

 the reputation of being among the best boar hounds, although 

 they vary so much in size and color as to be difficult to describe. 

 Their only similarity is that they are all known as Plott hounds. 



In boar hunting, the hunters are stationed in a cove, or moun- 

 tain valley, and one member of the party usually the guide- 

 takes the dogs out in the woods until they find a boar trail. When 

 the dogs are loosed they trail until they find the boar and then 

 start working him back to the cove where the party awaits. 



In the running battle that then ensues the boar may turn at 

 any time to rip and slash its attackers, and when this happens the 

 animal is said to be at bay. During these pitched battles the boar 

 frequently does serious damage to the pack, slashing any dog in 

 reach. 



Despite the boar's murderous attacks, the Plotts and other 

 boar dogs have amazing ability to pull through a bad mauling. 

 One hunting party came across one of their hounds whose entire 

 underside had been ripped open. They sewed him up and in two 

 or three weeks the dog was hunting boars again. 



The boar will charge a man as soon as some think sooner 

 than it will a dog, so the hunter had better be a good shot, keep 

 his distance, or have a handy tree to climb. A photographer 

 accompanied one party, eager to get full coverage of a bang-up 

 boar hunt. He paid scant attention to the warning that he was 

 unarmed and open to a charge by the angered animal. He was 

 squinting through his view finder when the boar suddenly 

 changed course and headed for him. Luckily the photographer 



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