One Heck Of A Ride

188 I Discover Argentina’s Great Hunting deserved a category in SCI’s book. (The proposal was approved at the Trophy Records Committee’s next meeting.) Author enjoying using a good Argentina horse on this hunt After returning to the lodge, Marcelo and I hunted a collared peccary (javelina) from horseback, using a pack of dogs to track and bay them. It was an exciting way to hunt these pig- like creatures, and it got even more exciting when the hounds bayed one. Peccaries have sharp, fang- like canine teeth and, before I could kill this one with my .300 Weatherby, it had bitten and torn an ugly hole in the throat of one of the dogs. Marcelo poured some type of powder into the wound to treat it, and the dog seemed to be no worse for the wear. I took my white-lipped peccary from a baited blind near Agura in Chaco Province with a Remington .222 magnum that Marcelo loaned me. Unfortunately, although it was perfectly Author and White-lipped Peccari Author and a good Black Buck legal to hunt them, I was not allowed to export any part of the animal from the country. Instead I took a lot of photos (especially of its cream- colored muzzle) and had Marcelo measure its head for the SCI Record Book. Although its body was nearly twice as large and heavy as my South American collared peccary, its skull was smaller. (The collared peccary’s score was 15 12/16 SCI points; the white-lipped peccary’s was 13 6/16.) I’d heard that some white-lipped peccaries reach a hundred pounds and that local hunters consider them to be extremely dangerous, especially when wounded. Mine gave us no problems, though. Author and Collared Peccary Hunting with Marcelo gave both of us a chance to get acquainted, and I came away from my second trip to Argentina convinced that he is a quality person and professional guide, the best in his country. I’d enjoyed my earlier hunt with Hugo Wirsky, but it was nothing like hunting with