March 7, 1993 dawned cloudy with rain a sure bet. Faye, my wife and I left our Anniston, Alabama home at 11:00 AM. The rain began within 10-15 minutes of our departure and continued for the rest of the 180 mile trip to Telico Junction. When we arrived at the home of Joe and Mazie Meeks it was still raining, but stopped while we talked with Joe about my hunt. We unpacked our gear and settled into the mobile home Joe had assigned us for our stay. The rain let up long enough for us to look around and take a few photos.
We woke up at 5:00 AM for a 6:30 AM departure to hunt the "Wild Boars of Telico". The mountains that comprise Telico are both scenic and steep. My guide was Lee. We parked the truck and began a stalk hunt for a wild boar. I have a video, "Tusks of Terror II" filmed at Telico and from it I recognized much of the terrain as well as the guides. We walked and looked, walked and looked, then for good measure we walked and looked some more. With all the miles we covered on foot that morning in the scenic Tennessee hills I was thankful for the mid 40s weather and the wind. There were fresh tracks everywhere we went. Since yesterday's rain had washed out the old tracks, we knew these were from last night, but try as we might we found no hogs. As we walked, Lee told me stories of boars both big and not so big he had chased and a few that had chased him. He told me that if a boar looked you in the eye he was going to charge. I told him that would be all right because as broke as I was I couldn't pay anyway so he might just as well charge.
We ended the morning hunt by attempting to stalk an old red boar that was known to hole-up under a rock overhang on a hillside so steep you could barely keep from sliding to the bottom. Bart, another guide said that nobody had even been able to get a shot at him yet. Neither did I. He ran down the hill, across the flat at the bottom and up the next hill while I was out of position for a shot.
After lunch and a short rest, we loaded up the dogs and headed out again at 1:30 PM. We turned loose four fogs. Three of them headed uphill on a fresh scent and one stayed near us trying to sort out another trail. Suddenly Lee hollered "there he is!" as a big red boar came charging down the hill from the general direction the dogs had taken. I ran to catch up with the action as the dog that was near us began fighting with the boar. As they fought their way along I pulled my S&W Model 29 with 10-5/8" barrel from my shoulder holster and tried to line up the sights for a lung shot. lee was concerned for the safety of his dog and asked me not to fire until he gave me the go ahead--which almost came too late! The fighting pair (hog and dog) turned our way. At a distance of about 15 yards the hog looked at me and started his charge. Lee started backwards and told me to shoo him between the eyes--I did.
When the Hornady 300 XTP hit, the hog went as stiff as a board and fell with his tusks about 15 feet from my toes--close but no cigar for Mr. Tusks. My boar weighted about 200 lbs., the 300 XTP went through the skull and neck and lodged under the hide behind the shoulder. It shed the jacket and weights 338.5 grains as recovered. Joe Meeks' full service operation skinned, cut and wrapped my meat overnight and had it ready to transport the next day. His taxidermy shop did a shoulder mount for me.
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