The Wildboar Hunt.

They had planned that hunting party for months.

The wild boars or savage hogs are plentiful in the Asturias ’mountains and their hunt is very exciting, given the boldness of the animal, its speed and unpredictability.

The last time they’d gone hunting had been six months ago and Eugenio, as well as the dogs, were already missing the hunt’s sweat and adrenaline.

In the car of Andres, his friend, they were going to Teverga in whose hills they planned to hunt wild boars.

Both, Andres and Eugenio, wore trousers made of thick fabric to avoid tears on them, with boots covering their ankles, protecting them against thorns and scuffs caused by the plentiful thicket.

They both were to wear gloves made of black leather, to protect their hands from the thick vegetation they expected to encounter.

Capable of attacking even human beings when chased or harassed by the dogs, the wild boar is one of the hunting pieces preferred by the hunters worldwide, thanks to the ever-present risk involved in their hunting.

Really, Andres didn’t have a lot of experience as a hunter, but he was a good friend and besides, he had access to a vehicle, necessary to go and come back to the different hunting grounds of Asturias.

That was more than enough for Eugenio.

He had all the experience they needed, after all

They were bringing three dogs to the drive: a Bloodhound and two Mastiffs, which Eugenio fed all year round, and kept in form by taking the dogs to the neighboring mountains once a week, in addition to the daily walk by the house’s surroundings.

After all the preparations, they loaded Andres’ car and drove to Teverga in his SUV, a very useful vehicle for hunting, as they could load it with the dogs and everything else, they were going to need.

Given his excellent physical form, Eugenio would position himself in a high point in the hill, for which he had to climb the hill’s steep slope fighting the scrub, thicket, and hawthorns that poke his legs, arms, and hands, making the climb very difficult.

Below, Andres released the dogs, which immediately got into the shrubs; the Mastiffs following the Bloodhound, which seemed to have captured a prey’s essence.

The dogs, very excited, barking with noisy ruckus, detected a male wild boar of a good size and went behind it like crazy.

Andres saw the animal and discharged two shots at it but failed, so the hog began to run up the hill at full speed.

Instead of remaining at his position in the low part of the hill, as he had agreed with his friend Eugenio, blaming himself and swearing aloud, Andres moved slightly to his right and began climbing uphill, following the trail of the dogs in pursuit of the wild boar.

Eugenio, who had heard his friend’s shots but didn’t hear his screams indicating he had hit the mark, took his gloves off and readied himself, just in case the animal headed towards him on its frantic dash uphill.

Escaping desperately from the dogs, wild boars are absolutely unpredictable, very fast and dangerous, so the experienced hunters take a shot as soon as they see the low shrub moving.

From his position on the hill, Eugenio briefly saw the dark silhouette of the wild hog, its curved white fangs, its desperate dash uphill, but didn’t have time to shoot.

However, he had time to observe that the wild boar moved a little to its right and continued its run uphill towards his position.

Eugenio scrutinized the brush left and right, watchful to the slightest movement.

Suddenly, from the corner of his left eye, down below he saw a movement of the low thicket at some 250 feet, and he rapidly shot once in that direction.

Immediately, he saw that the wild boar moved — uninjured — a few feet to his right and continued its mad dash uphill.

Eugenio shot again and again failed. “that hog is very fast and difficult to hit upon”, he said to himself, muttering.

“That pig had escaped “, he thought, as the animal continued its run to the peak of the hill, out of the reach of the hunters.

Eugenio called the dogs to avoid their continued running heading to the hill’s peak after the wild hog.

Once gathering the dogs and tying them to a big rock, Eugenio looked for his friend Andres in order to organize the following drive.

Puzzled and worried about his friend’s disappearance from sight, Eugenio began the hill’s descent, simultaneously calling his name with loud screams: “Andres!”, “Andres!”.

He heard an uttered groan to his left and saw, horrified, his friend Andres lying flat on the floor amid the thick scrub.

Andres had a big hole between his neck and his collar bone of which a lot of blood flowed.

Eugenio’s first shot had missed its target, hit a big rock and the bullet had ricocheted hitting Andres, who recklessly, had moved from his position without notice.

Desperate, Eugenio tried to plug the wound with a handkerchief to stop the hemorrhaging, asking Andres to maintain the hanky tightened to the hole, but the blood gushing from the wound flowed to the right and left of the hole, painting the handkerchief of red.

Eugenio without his gloves, which he had forgotten uphill where he was positioned, went downhill with a lot of difficulties, struggling to tow his wounded friend to the dirt road.

He planned to take his friend to the SUV and then, transport him immediately to the nearby villa where he knew there was a medical dispensary.

But halfway from the dirt road to the villa, already both inside the vehicle, having bled to death, Andres stopped breathing in spite of Eugenio’s efforts to save his friend.

Eugenio just sat at the border of the road with his head between his bloody hands, in despair and still unable to believe what had happened.

Meanwhile, the dogs were at the hill still tied to a rock, thirsty and unaware of the tragedy that had happened.