Duck-Hunting Porkers

You of course know what a game hog is, and doubtless in your rambles afield have met many of the two-legged variety, but did you ever happen to come across one of the four legged breed? An experience I had upon one occasion will, I think, bear repeating.

I was sitting in a blind, built far out on the open meadow, near Custer's Broadwater, Va. An eighth of a mile away there was a depression in the marsh, where the cat-tails and a few low bushes formed a thick cover, used by a dozen or more disreputable porkers as a sort of headquarters in which to spend the night after their fatiguing work of hustling all day along the water's edge for soldier crabs, dead fish, etc.

The evening before I had remained late, and on returning to the yacht failed to remove all my birds from the box, where I had placed them on top of the decoys. There were, if I remember aright, some half dozen calico-backs (Arenaria interpres) overlooked, and these were not discovered until the next morning, when, the blind being reached, I started to set out my decoys. They were certainly odoriferous, but nevertheless I utilized them by placing them in as natural positions as possible among the decoys. A gentle air breathed rather than blew across from left to right, and being directly to windward of the depression mentioned above, the rank perfume of the dead birds floated slowly down to where the hogs reposed. You know how one's eyes are continually wandering about in his vicinity at such times. Well, as I glanced over there for at least the hundredth time, I saw on old pig waddle out of the reeds and stand with head in my direction in such a lazy, trampish attitude that my curiosity was mildly aroused as to what he purposed doing. Presently, he raised his head and appeared to sniff the air; then slowly, with a hitchy sort of gait, due no doubt to sciatica or rheumatism from sleeping on a damp bed, he started in the direction of the blind; never halting, never hesitating, he hitched along until perhaps half the distance was covered, when another equally trampish looking porker came out, and after repeating the same preliminary action of the first he also came on after. I could not conceive what they were up to, the idea of their following up a scent for such a distance never entered my mind, but so it was.

Number one soon arrived, and stalking without hesitation among the decoys deliberately ate up the dead birds lying there. He took them all in, and then nosed carefully about for more, being joined by number two, who had arrived by this time.

Slowly and thoroughly they quartered the ground. Fearing their presence among my decoys would not prove much of an attraction to passing birds, I arose and shouted to them to move on. It was laughable to see the effect my sudden appearance had upon them; one of them actually squatted on his hams for a moment, so great was his surprise.

They could not run apparently, so they hitched off in the same woebegone and dejected manner as they had approached. There was actually not enough spunk between them to put a curl in the tails that hung down perfectly limp and unkinked.

I have heard of hogs following the trail of crippled wildfowl on the marsh, but this is the first instance of their following a scent that had ever come to my notice. They were truly a fine pair of "dead game sports."