By J.B. Salter

For The North Jefferson News



Editors note—the following article first appeared in the May 21, 1990 issue of The North Jefferson News.



In the winter of 1960, when most of the residents of Gardendale were trying to keep warm, Bill Rhodes of Morris and Clyde Mayfield of Mount Olive were testing their hunting and trapping equipment.

It seems that during one of Clyde’s hunting trips to the large wooded area between Gardendale and New Castle he discovered a small herd of wild hogs that had apparently escaped from somebody’s farm. The herd had been thriving and growing in the area for years. Clyde had been baiting one particular boar with the intention of trapping it. He knew that the wild hog was very large and that it had probably been wild throughout its long life because of its cunning. The giant boar was truly wild and it would not fall into his trap.

Mayfield had been waiting for a lucky break or some advantage when his big chance came in the form of a five-inch blanket of snow.

On the morning of Feb. 15, 1960, along with his buddies James Mason, Travis “Bud” Key and his brother Pud Mayfield, Clyde quietly eased into the big hollow between Brentwood and Quail Ridge to check out his bait.

When the hunters discovered that the bait had not been disturbed, they decided to check for tracks. They had only gone a short distance when they discovered the tracks and began following them as fast as possible. The foursome knew that that the giant boar wasn’t far ahead.

Although the hog weighed more than 500 pounds he was at least eight-feet long and was running like a deer. The old porker once jumped the creek completely without even touching the water.

The four hunters were now tracking the boar on the run. the critter discovered that he was being followed and the chase was on.

The men had started from an old logging road close to New Castle and were now in the deep hollows and rock bluffs just East of Snow Rogers.

Clyde said that the old hog had climbed the steepest part of the bluffs.

As the hunters followed, the old boar broke off twigs that were covered with ice to moisten their mouths all the time, wondering if they could even steal a glance of the monster hog.

As they approached a large rock bluff, they finally saw the animal. It’s coat looked more like a wooly mammoth than that of a hog. The hunters realized that the old boar had decided to make his last stand.

Clyde had brought along his .270 caliber Winchester and with a perfectly aimed shot the hunt was quickly over.

After the jubilation that comes after a successful hunt that men came to a sobering reality. What exactly do you do with a 500-pound hog at least a mile from anywhere?

They finally dragged the giant critter to the top of a hill and retraced their tracks to Pud Mayfield’s old short bed pickup, then they drove all the way around Gardendale to Snow Rogers.

The men turned east in front of Snow Rogers school and drove down an old logging road as near as they could to get to the old hog.

With all their combined strength they dragged him to the truck. With that problem solved, they still had the task of loading the animal on the pickup.

Since they couldn’t pick the hog up, they drove the truck up to a bank and dragged the boar onto the truck bed. Only then did the four hunters realize just how big the boar was. with its back end up against the cab of the truck, the boar’s head was hanging off the tailgate. The boar’s tusks were as big around as a man’s thumb and three inches long.

That was a day which all the men involved in the hunt and everyone else who got a look at him will never forget.