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A Peck Of Peccaries

The young peccary busted me as I raised the bow for what I thought would be an easy five yard shot. Coarse fur bristled instantly, making the little critter look twice as big as it really was. Bolting into the thick south Texas cover, it quickly melted into the brush. I was unconcerned as it was a youngster and the first day in the field. Ever so cautiously I leaned into the road for a peek. Sure enough, just rods away, more were slowly feeding my way.

Minutes earlier I had walked into a small group of peccaries feeding just off the road. Their musky odor gave a clue of their presence before I spotted them. A large boar broke off from the group and moved into the road, offering a twenty-five yard broadside standing shot. That was a bit farther than the distances that I had been practicing at. Besides the hunt had only started less than an hour earlier. I let the boar walk. There was still plenty of time.

My hunting partner Chris Hill and I had been dropped off that first late afternoon at the start of two converging roads that our guide Todd had “corned” earlier in the day. We were to slowly hunt the road assigned to the each of us till they came together. At this converging point lay a lake, and an elevated corn dispensing turkey feeder. I had arrived before Chris and encountered the peccaries. In fact I was surrounded with peccaries.

The first group ambled off. I wasn’t certain whether they had seen or scented me. Moving over to the road that Chris was walking, I had my encounter with the young peccary mentioned above. Not wanting to repeat my earlier mistake in which I had moved too quickly and had needlessly exposed myself, I hunkered down in the brush and waited.

The group moved into sight, a large female leading the way. By the way, just what do you call a gathering of peccaries? A sounder, herd, flock or congress? H’mmm… maybe not the latter. A congress of peccaries doesn’t have the right ring-tone to it. Maybe it’s a peck of peccaries. Never mind. I gathered myself for a shot at the leader just yards off. The recurve arched back smoothly and I let go of the string.

This had its beginning after the past fall hunting seasons here in Washington. Chris wanted more and started looking into the possibilities of a Texas peccary hunt. Having hunted peccary previously on the famed King Ranch of south Texas and wanting a repeat, I quickly signed on to Chris’ plan. After a diligent search for an outfitter, Chris settled on Rob Kiebler’s Fair Chase, LTD(www.fcltd.us). Rob has his operation on the O’Brien Cinco Cattle Ranch out of Eagle Pass. The Cinco Ranch sprawls over 18,000 ac. and shares three miles of it’s boundaries with the Rio Grande. The hunt operation offers collared peccaries and wild pigs generations in the making. Other wildlife abounds such as whitetail deer, doves, quail, Rio Grande turkey, predators of almost every stripe, and largemouth bass cruise the ranch’s many ponds and lakes.

There was another reason I had been eager to make this hunt. I had recently purchased a good conditioned 1962 Bear Kodiak at 55 lbs. draw. At TBW member Lon Scott’s suggestion, I took it to the Bow Doc for a face lift. Don Ward, the Bow Doc, did a fantastic job of restoration. It was so pretty that it really needed to be hung on the wall as a piece of fine artwork and not dragged through the brush. But getting rather old and decrepit, I figured this maybe one of my last archery hoorahs and should bloody the bugger.

After flying into San Antonio on a redeye, Chris and I headed out for a bit of sightseeing. First stop was the Buckhorn Hall of Horns. Therein hangs the famous Lone Star Brewery non-typical whitetail buck that was the former Boone & Crockett world record. Of even greater interest and to our delight, we discovered that the Buckhorn also houses Bill Negley’s African collection. I can still remember as a teenager back in the Fifties, our local newspaper showing on the front page no less, Negley and the elephant he slew with a 102 lbs. Bear Kodiak. Almost immediately my boyhood hero Howard Hill rebuted Negley’s claim. This too made the Aberdeen(SD) American News front page layout. No sooner was the ink dried on Hill’s retort when Negley countered Hill with a $100,000 bet that he could and would do it again. Hill relinquished. How times have changed. Can one imagine this exchange on the front pages of the Seattle Times today?

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