Wild Hogs and Mean Dogs – An Epiphany

Recently, I had a rather startling revelation that revealed something about me that I never knew about myself–something that has affected me most of my life.

I was sitting outside near the garden with my wife the other day telling her some of the things that I did as a child growing up in the woods of Louisiana. It was while telling her one particular story of my childhood that I had this rather stunning revelation about myself that I never knew.

I was barely 3 years of age. My grandmother on my fathers side was babysitting me. (I know some of you are going to have difficulty believing this but I actually remember a lot of events that occurred in my life as a very small child.) Her house was in an extremely rural setting (as “in the sticks” rural). Getting to the house required driving through miles of dense forests down a narrow dirt road. I do recall we were a few miles from a town called Killian, La. I recall that we would later live in that house for a short time with my dad and mom. However, since my dad was a seaman in the Merchant Marines, my mother apparently grew tired of living in the woods by herself and moved in with her mother near Ponchatoula, Louisiana.

This particular day, I was told to go outside and play. There were no toys around, no swing sets, and no other kids, so I remember just sitting on the ground outside the house playing in the dirt. The house was about 50 yards from the road. There was no driveway. One just drove up onto the grass and parked near the house. A huge oak tree was in the yard and on the other side of the tree was a very old, rusted out truck that had been abandoned there many years before I was born.

I don’t recall how long I’d been outside but suddenly I heard a loud noise. I looked up and saw this huge sow emerged from the woods about 100 yards away. Several piglets followed her. She was snorting and they were squealing as they followed. While I had no way of knowing it at the time because of my age, I would later learn that this was a wild hog and that Louisiana is filled thousands of these wild pigs that roam the woods. They are very dangerous.

I watched, transfixed with the curiosity of a child who had never seen such a sight in his life. Imagine the first time you ever went to a zoo as a child and saw a wild animal and you’ll understand how mesmerized I was. I’d never seen, to my knowledge, a real live pig. Indeed, the only thing larger than the massive hog I was watching was a cow and a horse.

The sow stopped. Her head turned to the right and she stared at me. I stared back. We were about 30 or 40 yards apart. After a few seconds of staring, she let out a loud grunt and charged straight at me. I was too young and naïve to fully appreciate the danger, but I do remember being afraid. However, I just sat there in the dirt watching. I wasn’t frozen with fear, though I was afraid. I had no idea that this wild hog wanted me for lunch.

Suddenly, a large black shape flew over my head and I watched as Blackie, my grandmother’s hound dog raced directly at the oncoming hog, making deep, loud growling noises. They both met about 10 yards from me and I watched as Blackie grab that old sow by the nose and then began attacking her. She began squealing, whirled around and ran into the woods, her piglets following her, all of them squealing as this big black monster was at their heels, growling and nipping at that sow’s heels. I don’t know how far he chased her but after several minutes he returned looking very happy, walked past me without so much as a lick or a wag of the tail and resumed his resting position under the house.

As I told this story to my wife, I suddenly realized why it was, all these years, I have loved bacon. 🙂

The End

copyright 2020 Voyle A Glover