A Hog Hunting Tale

Hog Hunting

by Christina Ceville

(my baby sister! - the girl on the far left... wearing the hat!)

This was my 4th time hog hunting and the most exciting excursion yet. Mostly because we actually got on some hogs this time! That's the thing about hog hunting with a bunch of young dogs...it's a lot of walking, waiting, and hoping that you will even see something to try to catch. This time it was myself, my boyfriend Colt, his brother Clay, and Clay's girlfriend Lexi. We had 5 dogs with us, Della, an old pit x cur Colt got to catch cows with, Sue, a leopard cowdog, Buck, a young cur cross we got from Mrs. Krystal, Buddy, a leopard dog Colt found stuck in a hog trap and Cleo, a timid border collie puppy. Normally we would go with the intent of sticking the hog, but with people buying them now Colt decided we might as well try to keep them alive...

I'll jump to the juicy part which is when we fiiiinally got on the hogs. The last two trips we didn't catch or see a thing so after hours of looking we were all about ready to give up hope and pack it in. There was a loud noise off in the distance of someone working some machinery so when the boys claimed they heard some noises that could be hogs coming from deep inside the brush I wasn't holding my breath. Now from this point on, the story might be different coming from each one of us because it turned into hectic chaos with pigs, dogs and people running around in a lot of different directions.

First off I hear Clay and Colt hollering before I actually see them, saying that we were on some pigs. I run towards the commotion. I hear a dog barking to my left. Then to my right I hear snorting and grunting coming from the brush. Then a pig darts out of the brush about 30 feet ahead of me and disappears. I hear Clay hollering that there are lots of pigs everywhere so I'm on high alert not quite sure what to do. It gets a little quiet again but we are now aware that there are pigs hiding in the brush all around us. It was just a matter of our dogs catching one. We have 5 dogs with us but right now I only see one. Buck is running around the brush and begins to bark because he knows there is something in there. Clay and I try to get him to go inside but he is just a puppy and this was only his 3rd time seeing hogs so he was excited, but hesitant to enter into the unknown.

In the distance I hear Colt hollering, "yyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! We got a hog! YYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Clay and I run towards his voice and hear the best thing we've heard all day. The squealing and grunting of a caught pig along with the growling and barking of some excited dogs. There's another noise I hear that wasn't so good which was the loud splashing from the creek. When it's 45 degrees outside, a creek isn't where I wanted to be. But hey, at least they had one! Clay and Colt were the first ones there. I hear them saying they need help so I try to locate where all the noise is coming from and try to find an opening in the brush to reach them. I find one and run through the brush.(This was easier said then done because there were a lot of thick vines and thorns.) The adrenaline definitely helped with that.

I finally get there and Clay is already in the water fighting with the pig while our oldest dog Della is caught solid and Sue and Buck are barking at it excitedly. From here on out there was a lot of cussing, yelling, and tension. Colt is straddling the bank yelling at Clay to bring the hog to him so they can pull it out of the water. The hog is fighting Clay with every bit of its being so this was no easy task. Clay is struggling in the water grabbing the hog every which way he can, and briefly having it by the ears, the tail, and every one of its legs. He finally gets the hog by both of its hind legs and drags it to Colt. Colt and Clay lug it up the 3 feet from the water to the bank.

Della is making this process a lot harder by pulling it back towards the water. Buck is trying to catch too but he is mostly just curiously nipping at the hogs genitals and causing the hog to move sporadically and violently. The boys start yelling, "Get the damn dogs! Grab the dogs!" Clay pulls himself out of the water and Colt and I have the hog held down. We call for Lexi telling her we need help. Lexi arrives and Clay and Lexi start trying to hold back the dogs while Colt and I are holding the hog.

The dogs keep getting loose so Colt tells me to help hold them back. We are in a terrible spot in between the creek and the encompassing brush crammed into a tiny space that was not at all conducive to 4 people 5 dogs and a hog. I let go and next thing I know Colt begins to slip into the water with the hog. The hog is thrashing under him violently. He yells, "I'm falling in! I'm falling in!" Then boom. They both fall into the water. Clay jumps over Colt from the bank and they both try to regain control of the hog, but to no avail. The hog slips away from them and jumps up on the other side of the bank and runs away. Many expletives later, even though I have given up hope, the boys think he is still in the brush near us, and we still might be able to catch him. The most frustrating part for them was that they've never caught a pig and had it get away like that.

We talk briefly about what went wrong but brush it off and quickly jump back into the hunt. Colt motions to Lexi and I to be quiet. We stand in silence for about a minute until we hear Clay yelling, "Yyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Got a hog! YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Colt and I take off running toward him excitedly screaming "YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" back at him. We end up back in the thick brush along a different part of the creek with a new hog. This time I become quickly aware that I am going to have to jump in the water as well in order to help. I had little time to come to terms with the fact I was going to have to get really wet. Clay is wrestling the hog yet again by himself. This time we were in a much better position and had more room to work with. Clay drags the hog to Colt and they get it up on the bank. We don't even try to get the dogs off this time. We figure we need to secure the hog first with some ties so it aint going anywhere. I join them so all 3 of us are on top of it holding it by the legs and the tail while Della and Buck pull away at it and it squeals bloody murder. The near freezing water had pulled the strength out of all of us. Clay calls for Lexi again telling her we need help. But she screams back that she can't get in the brush because it is too thick and she can't find an opening. Clay tells her in a few choice words she better figure it out because we need her. They exchange some words back and forth until finally she braves the brush and shows up next 2 me in tears and grabs one of the hogs legs. Now with all 4 of us on top of it, we got this one and it aint going anywhere! The boys start tying its legs until they are secure and we pull it away from the water. The hard part is finally over! Now we just gotta get the dogs. Once we pull Della off she is shaking and whining never taking her eyes off the pig as we drag her away. At this point with Colt sitting on top of the defeated hog, we all finally get to take a breath, apologize for all the names we've called each other in the heat of the moment and celebrate our catch!