Show rancher tells of wild boar hunt on mountain hunting and fishing stories have furnished table talk in southern utah for many years but unique among the stories and still of interest is an account of a hunting excellence expel lence john A parker of joseph had 30 years ago this story was brought to the attention of a reaper ie leport porter cr by major J AT deweese a hunting enthusiast and mr air parker was persuaded to relate the stoby the parker ranch country popular deer hunting huri ting grounds on the west vest mountain was the scene of the incident it was in the fall of the year about 30 years ago A white hog had strayed from the ranch and mr air parker was out on the mountain hunting it when a I 1 laige aige black hog started to chase him parkers dog sensed tho the danger he failed to realize and not until the dogs maneuvers had lead the heavy beast away did it begin to dawn on mr air parker that lie he had narrowly escaped being the victim of a wild boar hunt gone in the large tusks of the hog might have snapped my horses leg lie he said recalling the incident he remembered then of a friend from kanosh telling him about being chased by a wild hog and that at the time he had thought his friend was stretching a hunting story a little too far returning to the parker home at joseph in the evening he told his father the ditc ir te joseph F parker of the incident adding that the hog was branded with a P on the right ribs his father could hardly believe the story since it had been more than ten years since he had ceased the practice of turning hogs out on the range to graze or had used the plain brand referred to however the two left the next day for a wild boar hunt A little snow was on the ground and they tracked the animal without great difficulty to their dismay they discovered that there ar are e homing hogs as well as homing pig cons in the shelter of oak brush the large boar had made himself a bed of maple leaves three feet deep and large enough so a man had to take t ten c n steps to cro cross 4 S it in each direction the hog was not at home but they soon found him and when they did he be put up a fight they had the dog with them but were not riding horses they shot the hog blinding him before they could get close enough to finish the job to care for the meat out on the range they had to skin the animal and when dressed with the head and feet ler lemov noved cd it weighed pounds the average hog when dressed weighs about pounds mr air parker stated As a souvenir mr air parker has one of the tusks it has been broken off twice but it is still four or five inches long mr air parker stated that it was evident the hog grown wild had wintered on the mountain at least ten years out in the pea vine country where the glass is gleen all winter astound the oak brush and there are plenty of acorns in spite of the fact that in places on the mountain the snow reaches a depth of three or four feet at times during the winter capturing of the animal solved what was long a mystery among s sheep heep men who claimed that some strange animal that left tracks not greatly different from the sheep except in size had repeatedly L carried away and killed sheep from their herds incidentally the wild boar was for many c centuries en a favorite beast of chase with the nobility of europe it was hunted on foot with the spear its great strength and its ferocity when at bay rendered the sport exciting and dangerous alike |