Hunting Wild Razor-Baek Hogs
to a Theine Song
by Lilian Yarbrough
, , OGS had their theme songs long be·
fore the radio or movies ever thought
of them. or long before movies or
radio were ever though t of. In fact. the
melody of the song Bob Burns uses is not
only that of "Arkansas Traveler" but also
of one hunted to by generations of razor·
back hunters. And a razor·back hunter is
really something. comparable only by the
tingling sport of a wild boar hunt.
In Arkansas. where there are no stock
laws. it is the national sport. Vast acres
of bottom land. cane brakes and wooded
areas make a tremendous runway where
the razor·backs plow up a living. getting
wilder and wilder in the process.
Yet it is not shiftlessness that causes the
Arkansas farmer to let them run thus. Free
range means free meat. and the hogs are
growing big as well as wild. But even be·
yond this economic reason for the free·
ranging of hogs. there is the other. It is
the time·honored. eagerly awaited sport of
the wild hog hunt.
There are thorough·bred hogs on Arkan·
sas farms. bu t they are kept fenced in and
fed regularly. But as to how the farmers
feel toward them. as against how they do
toward the razor·backs is subtly expressed
in one word. They butcher the thorough·
breds. but they "clean" the razor·backs.
In the spring of the year the farmer and
his colored help go to the woods or brakes
to put his mark on the hogs he will claim
in the fall. The sows bed close to where
they feed. never changing this location
unless the feeding gives out. She has her
pigs in the spring. and at this time the
acorns, beech moss and nuts are at the
lowest ebb. so the sow. in instinctive regard
for the' welfare of her young. is willing to
approach corn thrown to her. Here is
where the theme song comes in.
As the corn is thrown, a set series of
notes is blown on a wind instrument. After
a hog has eaten to this tune several times
it will come running the second it hears it
again. and to the same feeding place. just
as a radio fan hunts the same easy chair
the moment he hears his favorite theme
song on the air.
The most popular theme of the woods
and bottoms is "Pop Goes The Weasel."
Brass bugles that have called hogs for a
hundred years are by no means uncommon.
Farmers are as proud of them as others
are of a family crest.
The trapping of the hogs
and pigs. so that the pigs
can be marked. still follows
the theme song motif. A rail
corral or enclosure is built
around the feeding spot
where they have been in·
veigled into feeding on the
corn. Then the farmer walks
into the woods or brakes
until he sees the "hog signs"
or freshly turned dirt and
begins his blowing. He walks
toward the corral. drop·
ping a few grains of corn
as he goes, leaving a trail in
through the door. He sit
~
on the fence blowing. and keeps throwing
with system until every unmarked pig is
on the inside. then Pop goes the trap door
instead of the weasel,
Standing on the outer side on a rail the
farmer reaches in when no sow is near
and grahs a pig by the hind leg. Lifting
him out he marks his ears and cuts off
his tail.
"Why do you cut off his tail?" I asked
one of the men. "You don't register that
fact in the court record. do you?"
"No, 'course not." he drawled. "But sup·
posin' you was chasin' a razor·back through
the woods and couldn't see his ears. You
could see that his tail was gone. so you'd
know he belonged to someone."
All the ear markings are registered in
the county court house. and of course only
one sign in any county is allowed. each
farmer's being different.
"You see." the same farmer went on to
tell me, hunting for a fresh stick to whit·
tIe, "My sign is a crop off in the right.
half under crop in the left."
He explained that this meant tllat the
right ear was cut half off and the left ear
cut up halfway from the under side and
then out. "That extra fourth of the ear is
so easy seen as the hogs runs through the
woods," he finished.
I saw others that had a swallow fork in
the ear, a crop in one and a fork in the
other, and so on.
"They're awfully
kittish after the
markin·... my friend went on. "In fact.
they won't come near me again at all. I
blow my song and they come in sight. but
no further. And they remain afraid of
me all summer long. I throw my corn
down and go away. By this time the heat
has laid the grass and other forage and
the creeks and lakes dry up, or they
wouldn't come that near. They are get·
ting to be real wild hogs.
"By early frost the nuts and acorns and
moss begin to fall. and they think from
then on that horns and corn are a lot of
foolishness. They go into the woods and
pay no attention whatever. By cold weather,
cold enough to keep meat. they are fat and
frisky and also mighty self·assertive.
"When the morning for the hunt arrives
I go onto the back porch and blow the
rousin' signal for the hunt. The colored
boys are scramblin' instantly. Rifles are
cleaned. the ax sharpened. The mules are
brought from the barn and harnessed. But
not hitched to the wagon. What with the
dogs a bawlin', then snortin' and the
negroes excitedly talkin' about last year's
experiences. they'd light out the moment
they was hitched.
"I start the dogs near the signs where
the hogs had fed that mornin'. The ground
is damp and the dogs won't lose the scent
that way. When they are trailin' they have
several different notes in their voices.
Mter they have picked up the trail again,
after it went over logs or through a creek.
they lets out several yelps. If you never
heard a pack of hounds trailin' wild hogs.
then you don't know music. Old Homer.
there, bas as pretty a mouth that ever run
in Camp Creek Bottoms."
"How many miles do the dogs have to
run them before they catch?" I asked.
"Catch a hog!" he exclaimed in amaze·
ment. "Why I'd club a dog's head soft if
one ever caught a hog before I said catch.
Why, they just run the hogs until the crit·
tel'S get tired and mad clear through. Then
they turn, and all go into a huddle. They
form a circle and the pigs get in the mid·
dIe. The older ones turn head out and
tail toward the center. They mill around
slowly and the dogs don't have a chance
to slip up on them.
"We can tell from the sound when they
do this. as the dogs bay them. I can tell
from the sound even what distance the dogs
are away from the hogs. We call it barkin'
close when they're up to the hogs. And woe
to the dog, or man either, that gets too
close. A boar will suddenly charge him
and like as not rip an awful hole in him
with his tusks. One lunge, and that dog
or man is liable to be comin' back home
in the wagon bed. That's why razor·back
huntin' is uenuine sport. not huntin' rab·
bits or tame pigeons. It's really big game
huntin'. what with some of those fellows
weighing two hundred or two fifty, feroci.
ous and mad enough to charge anything.
The game is to keep them guessing so they
won't charge or to outsmart them if they
do." He paused. "And ever so often a
man don't do it,"
"Did any ever charge you?"
"Several times. The thing to do then is
to dodge. as they ain't so fast on the turn.
or to swing up on a branch, as their heads
are lowered. And a good
dog, such as Homer here,
is always watchin' for that.
He'll jump him and distract
his attention, and the others
are there to help almost in·
stantly. They are trained to
get that hog back into the
bunch or chew his ears off
tryin'. But I've seen that
first dog get his more'n
once. Ripped up like tissue
paper."
"Do you really mean the
dogs chew his ears?"
"I always have two catch
dogs, one to catch on the
ears and one on the hip.
The "Arkansas Traveler" may
be Bob Burns' theme song but
if's also the favorite theme song
for Wild Hog Hunts in Arkan-
sas. Hunting Wild Razor-Barks
is real he-man sport as this true
artir/e will verify.
9
COIH
MACHINE
REVIEW