94 



RECREATION. 



with peeled eyes, but for an hour no game 

 was visible. Crossing a high ridge I 

 peered into the neighboring canyon, and 

 discovered 2 black moving objects. They 

 were peccaries rooting, and I concluded to 

 get nearer the game, which was about 600 

 yards distant. The trail was rough, with 

 loose stones, and it was difficult to proceed 

 without noise. When I had gained 200 

 yards I discovered one of the hogs across 

 a deep ravine and farther from me than 

 ever. Believing that my game was escap- 

 ing, I hurried on as fast as I could, mak- 

 ing noise enough to scare away anything 

 in the canyon. 



Meanwhile, I came among the trees 

 where I first discovered my game, and to 

 my surprise, 3 peccaries started on a run 

 toward me. Their bristles stood erect, 

 their jaws worked like machines, their 

 mouths foamed, and in their language 

 they seemed to inquire, "What business 

 have you among us?" Remembering that 

 T had an effective weapon in my hand, a 

 .30-30 carbine, I shot the nearest. 



This was an overt act, a casus belli, as 

 I soon discovered. Four peccaries came 

 from below, 3 from the left, stones rolled 

 toward me from above — peccaries came 

 from every quarter, grunting, squealing, 

 and snapping their jaws like steel traps. 

 Under the circumstances it took me but 

 half a second to remember all the 

 peccary stories I ever read in my life, and 

 within the next half second I was 5 feet 

 from the ground, comfortable in a fork of 

 a tree. 



The little beasts seemed astonished and 



enraged at my escape and stopped short, 

 never erasing to snap their jaws, exposing 

 their white, sharp tusks. I believed my- 

 self treed for a siege while the peccaries 

 kept watch or tried to uproot the tree. In- 

 stead, my vicious antagonists did not come 

 to the tree, so to show them I meant busi- 

 ness I rolled over another boar. 



This new victim settled the intentions 

 of the peccary family. They hurried out 

 of reach, across a deep ravine. Two old 

 sows, with a numerous following of young- 

 sters, went like a cyclone; the old boars 

 retreated in a dignified manner, stopping 

 frequently to eye me from a distance, and 

 grunting comments to the drove. Two of 

 them acted with impertinence, and I rolled 

 them over at long range. The last one had 

 his rump smashed, and when I went to 

 look over the field he almost succeeded in 

 hooking his tusk into my foot. Lying 

 wounded under a brush, he jumped like 

 a bulldog toward me, and I learned that 

 I can outjump a peccary about 16 to 1. A 

 long stick held toward him he would seize 

 with his jaws, and if the stick happened 

 to get between his lower and upper tusk 

 it would be cut clean, as with a sharp knife. 

 Inserting a short range cartridge into the 

 carbine, I put an end to his sufferings, 

 and after dressing the 4 we carried them 

 to camp. 



At no time before the shooting did I see 

 more than 3 of the drove, yet I am con- 

 vinced there must have been at least 

 50 of them/ The meat of the peccary is 

 juicy and tender, and its taste is like good 

 veal. 



PINE SNAKE, 



Winner of 31st prize in Recreation's 4th Annual Photo Competition 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY WM. H PISHER. 



