When first I saw the headlines, I assumed this all happened in Chicago or somewhere like that, in consequence of some hapless woman carrying pies where she ought not have. But no, it was actually in Texas, and likely just came of a lady being unaware these ponderous porkers were nearby.
For those who don't know, regular old, domestic, barnyard hogs are plenty mean enough, and you don't send anyone near them who isn't fairly spry. When they go feral, and get onto traveling in packs, they are basically the wild boars of Merrye Olde. If they're in the area, folks need to watch out. In this case, this lady, a mere 59 years of age, had just stepped out of a house where she was caring for the elderly residents, and the hogs pulled her down and ripped her apart before she could make the short distance to her car. It can happen just that fast.
Hogs are smarter than you might think, and where there is a structure they can't penetrate, they will set up and lay in wait, preparing to take their shot when any vulnerable person or pet leaves that secure environment, whether in transit to a means of conveyance or (often) a secondary structure such as a corn crib or outhouse. I can recall countless times in my youth when folks asking after some local person missing for a period of time would be told by a knowledgeable neighbor, "He went to shit and the hogs ate him." Personally, whenever I had to go to the outhouse, particularly at night, I would spend a good five minutes at the window first, scoping out everything within fifty yards of that two-holer, just to make sure there wasn't some old, feral hog or hogs out there, fixing to pull me down for an easy dinner. Even when I would go out, I would take the old 1917 Colt Army Model with me, just in case. Big as they might be, a round or two from that .45 could pretty well be counted on to stun a hog or at least slow it down enough for me to get a good chance at outrunning it.
Sadly, it appears the lady in the story who got caught by the hogs wasn't packing, or at least wasn't packing anything with enough muzzle velocity and round mass. Your candy-ass little 270s or .38 Lady Smiths are not what you want to have along when you are trying to stand off one or more feral hogs. You need something with some outright, come-to-Jesus stopping power. The same is true if you're going to go out actively hunting the beasts (or "piggin'" as we say), and I hope some folks will go out after the herd that did this. They shouldn't be hard to run down, on account of they leave deep, obvious tracks. A half-dozen folks with .303 or .306 long arms should be able to get the job done, and if they are quick about it, the whole town can have pork roast for Thanksgiving.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/11/26/feral-hogs-kill-woman-texas/
No comments:
Post a Comment