I
Never Ran So Damn Far
Christopher Burner
Wahiawa, Hawaii
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This story is about one of my
boar hunts two years ago. My guest for the day, Justin Apa, and me had started
walking the main trail early in the morning. This was Justin's first hunt
on Oahu. I had warned him that the hunt would be very physical and that
it might not be a good hunt for a beginner. After
one hour of walking we hit the cut down trail. My dogs had been putting
up their noses earlier and I had told Justin that we had a good chance
of catching early. We started to cut down into the main river. When we
arrived at the river it looked like a bulldozer had run through it, overturning
all the rocks and making huge mud holes. My dogs had disappeared when
they hit the river and I told Justin to "keep his ears on" and
that the dogs would start barking any minute. After a few minutes the
anchor dogs came back, but my main trackers were still out. We started
to walk upriver. We came to a mountain apple orchard where the pigs had
been routing the night before and I knew that we had a flock on our hands.
I Never
Ran So Damn Far
I told Justin to wait at the orchard and I started to walk up the river
a few bends to listen. Even though we were only in the river for half
an hour it felt like an eternity. We heard one bark and then another.
I could see my anchors running upriver and I heard Justin's 245-pound
frame stumbling in the same direction .When he reached me he was as red
as a beat. I told him to hold on and let the anchors reach their destination.
For some reason we weren't hearing the fight, so I told him that we had
to run upriver to see what was going on.
As soon as I passed
the first bend I could hear them in the distance upriver fighting the
boar. Every time we thought we were close the boar would buckle loose
and run some more. I lost Justin after the first two bends and my heart
was pounding from running so much. It's hard to find traction on river
rocks when they are wet so you do a lot of falling. A lot of falling!!!
I Never
Ran So Damn Far
Finally, when I came close enough, I could see blood flowing in the water
and I prayed that it wasn't the dogs that were bleeding. When I came into
sight of the action all I could see was the nine dogs hanging on a black
mass of hair and blood all over the place. I pulled out my knife and took
the pig to his maker and then I fell to the ground to try to catch my
breath. Twenty-five minutes later I was in the same position on the ground
when I heard heavy breathing and water splashing. I looked up and saw
a fellow that looked just like Justin, but this man had pants legs that
were torn off and a shirt that had split down the middle. His knees were
bleeding from falling down so many times and his arms were all cut up
from the thorn bushes!
I Never
Ran So Damn Far
I couldn't help but to start laughing at the sight he made. When he reached
me his remark was, "Damn, I never ran so damn far in my life. Next
time you're on your own!!!" After four hours of carrying the hog
we reached the jeep and after sewing up three dogs with a total of 63
stitches we were all ready to go again the following week!
I Never
Ran So Damn Far
Christopher Burner
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