Terror In The Hog
Woods!
Last season we had the unfortunate task of having to take one of our new clients to the emergency room as a
result of being attacked by an
enraged wild boar at close range.
The story begins as I complete the
safety briefing, a requirement for all
clients, and prepare for the hunt. The
two clients in question were from
Illinois and had indicated to me that
they were a little skeptical about the
hunt as they had heard of many
operations that hunted tame, pen
raised boar that provided little if any
hunting challenge. I assured them
that we only hunt 100% real wild boar
at Clarkrange and that I was sure
they would be satisfied. We had
around 25 clients hunting that day
and I had assigned the two Illinois
boys to Wade, one of our more
personable guides. Each guide was
dispatched with his party to the
woods and the hunt began. Two
hours into the hunt we still had not
struck any hogs and were continuing
deeper in the woods when Wade
yelled over the radio, "Smoke's been
gutted." (Smoke is one of our hard
headed Plotts). I called back and told
him I was enroute. A minute later he
called again and said "Buster's been
gutted, too!" I had no sooner began
to pick up the pace towards the area
when he called for a third time with
the report of yet another hound,
"Rebel" falling victim to the slashing
of the boar's tusks. As I closed on
the area, Wade's last transmission
was the one we all dread hearing,
"I've got a hunter down!" Upon
hearing this I broke into a dead run to
reach the area and render what first
aid I could. Upon entering the sloped
area I saw Smoke with his intestines
dangling to the ground and Buster
with his severed. Rebel was nowhere
to be seen. Proceeding up the ridge,
I found Wade and the hunter, who |
was sitting on a tree trunk in obvious
pain. He indicated that his leg was
broken. According to Wade, the hog
broke from the dogs and attacked the
hunter, hitting him low in the legs and
driving him down the mountain and
into a clump of laurel and stone. Not
having any reaction time (as is
usually the case), the hunter had no
alternative other than to take the
charge and hope for the best. The
boar had cut the sole of his left boot
to pieces and had pressed the attack
until the dogs had caught up to him
and forced him away. After applying
a splint we took the dogs to the vet
and the client to the emergency
room. All the dogs were repaired and
are doing well. Our hunter, though,
had to have 23 pins in his ankle and
had also suffered two breaks in his
leg from the knee to the ankle. He
and his partner have rescheduled a
hunt for this year as they are both
now certain of the "wildness" of our
boar. As for the boar, he was
dispatched later that day when he
charged Frank Gott from Chicago.
Calmly and coolly. Frank drew a bead
with his .44 Mag and cut the boar
down at three yards as it closed on
he and his guide.
..............................................
I relate this story not to frighten
anyone from pursuing boar, but
rather to enlighten those who have
had less than good results from
hunting with other operations. We
hunt around 1000 clients annually
with a 70% repeat in clientele. We
have had to take five clients and two guides to the emergency room at
different occasions due to being
attacked by boar. When you hunt
wild boar at Clarkrange, please
realize that this is the real thing. The
boar are wild, not pen-raised, and
they take offense to you pursuing
them in their environment. Nine
times out of ten a charge results in
some momentary excitement, but no
injuries. It's that tenth time you have
to be ready for!!!! |
KEN MOODY RIFLES
Ken Moody Rifles is a company I
opened last season in conjunction
with Vian Kruger from South Africa.
Vian is a master gunsmith and has
produced for me a beautiful line of
guns. Together with Vian we
designed a gun along the old
Holland & Holland lines that is
simply one of the finest firearms
available today. The lines of this rifle
are clean and the engraving tasteful.
Please note, these are not and never
will be gaudy, flashy, or tacky. They
are elegant and functional works of
art worthy of anyone's gun room.
More info to follow in later
newsletters.
KEN MOODY PRODUCTIONS
Three more videos are in the works
and should be out later this fall.
African Dreams is another African
tape to compliment the Ken Moody
Safari operation. In it, you'll see Ted
Nugent take a bull Elephant and I'll
do my usual bit in dispatching some
beautiful plains game such as Eland,
Gemsbok, Impala, etc. Boss Hog is
another hard hitting boar tape
dedicated to the hunting and slaying
of big boar. Many 300 pounders will
hit the ground in this one as Dan
Fitzgerald joins me at Clarkrange as
well as my usual cast of fellow string
twangers. Stag Party is a tape about
hunting stag (a point I must make
clear given the title). Fallow deer,
Sika deer, Axis deer, and European Red Stag star in this epic adventure
filmed here at Clarkrange. Most of
the footage is shot for all of these
tapes but other "stuff" is needed. As
soon as they are available they'll be
posted on the Ken Moody
Productions page on this site. But
don't wait on these if you haven't
seen the four already listed. If
nothing else, all the videos I produce
are action packed and entertaining.
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