We made this short video from the far side of Salmon Creek.
We were on a journey to find our boar, Redwood, who has been hanging out at one particular homestead a tad too long. Wild sows were involved. We can take a quad to this particular neighbor in about 35 minutes using ranch roads in various states of disrepair, but to take a trailer we have to use better quality roads and it takes almost 2 hours, one way.
The first attempt, (yes, there were multiple attempts) we took our cattle trailer and ended up having to cut a small fir tree down when a particular tight corner had it sliding off the road and getting stuck. Then a half mile from our destination we realized we couldn't get across the last bridge with our trailer. Ugh! We parked it and walked up to where Redwood was last seen. I began calling his name and he ran off a hill right at us. Yikes! Having a six or seven hundred pound boar charge at you is kind of intimidating and I quickly handed Mark the grain bucket and hightailed it behind a tree. He was still our friendly fellow though and we began the slow process of trying to coax him the half mile back to where our trailer and truck were parked. He was happy to oblige and we were patting ourselves on the back for having such a amendable boar when he stopped, threw his head in the air, sniffed and turned around and headed back up the hill. Mark went after him and gave him his grain, hoping that he would later remember its tastiness when we returned.
The following day, we borrowed a neighbor's smaller, bumper pulled trailer, as it wouldn't cut the corners and should be able to make it across the last bridge. Back down the creek drainage we drove and then up the other side. We made it across the bridge and around all the corners with no problems and arrived early in the day at our neighbor's place. I hollered and Red came a running again and followed Mark right down to the trailer. It took a bit of coaxing to get him in, but he did load after about 10 minutes. This is a short video of him following Mark.
After our excursions to get the boar back home, Mark decided, no more boar. It was either a new home or a dirt grave. I put his photo(the boar's not Mark's) on craigslist and, luckily for him, had multiple offers. We picked one that was fairly close by, loaded him up and delivered him to his new home and new girlfriend. We hope it works out for him. I kind of miss him already. He really was a sweet boar, as far as boars go. If only he would have stayed close by like the rest of our hogs do, but he heard the call of a stronger drive than food.
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| Redwood the Redwattle/Tamworth Boar |
The new owners agreed to let us use him when our sows need to bred again. We are happy about that as he makes quick growing and tasty pigs, and I will get to see him again and give him a scratch behind the ears.
