Local man in night-time attack by wild boars at San Luis Pass:

A.C. Adams was flounder gigging on the back side of San Luis Pass last week with his cousin. His cousin had gone to the truck to drink more beer as it was a slow night of gigging. A.C. was approximately 100 yards from shore when he heard some loud splashing coming towards him. He said it was very unnerving because it was so dark outside of the lanterns’ perimeter. All at once two large vicious hogs in approximately 16 inches of water started attacking him. He immediately lashed out with his flounder gig and started stabbing a hog. As it made a piercing scream in anger and agony, the second hog cut him in the leg with his tusk while biting him. A.C. screamed for help toward the bank at his cousin who never responded. A.C. then turned with the gig stabbing the second hog and the fight was on. One hog knocked him down to his knees and bit him on the forearm. A.C. told me, “At first I could not believe this was happening and then I thought these hogs were going to kill me.” He got back up stabbing at the hogs over and over as they were snapping at him. Finally, one hog went down and lay in the water squealing. That left him one on one with the larger hog.  The big boar would not give up and the fight lasted for two to three more minutes with Mr. Adam’s stabbing the hog twenty-five to thirty more times before it went down. He limped back to the truck and got his pistol. He woke up his drunken cousin who had passed out in the truck and they waded back out with the intention of finishing off both hogs. When they got back out there the hogs were dead. They tied ropes to the hogs and dragged them up to the bank. They got the hogs loaded into the back of the truck and stopped by the hospital where A.C. Adams received twenty-one stitches in his left leg, eight stitches in his right leg, six stitches on his forearm and a tetanus shot. Here is a picture of A.C. Adams with his two hogs that he gigged while floundering in West Bay.

Greetings to everyone from River Run Guide Service.

In 20 years of fishing the Middle/Upper Brazos River, I can honestly say that I have never encountered a venomous snake (pit viper) within the riverbed. However, as I tell my clients, go outside the riverbed and that can be a very different story.

Obviously, just because I have never come accross a venomous snake in the river, does not in any way mean they are not there. In fact, I always remain vigilant and on the lookout knowing that I’m simply overdue for my first encounter.

The way I look at it, Texas , venomous snakes and the outdoors will always go hand in hand.

So, I wasn’t too suprised when I observed a juvenile rattlesnake headed accross the river while I was in my kayak flipping a jig for bass.

I continue fishing. However, I can’t help to notice the rattler has changed it’s course and is headed straight for my kayak.

At this point, I’ve pretty much quit fishing and have my attention focused on the intentions of this potentially pesky pit viper.

While tracking the rattler’s movement, I couldn’t help but think, from a fish’s point of view, how enticing the serpentine motion of this snake looked while in the water.

Suddenly, I am jolted back to reality by the fact the rattler is now along side my kayak and is lifting it’s head out of the water in an apparent attempt to come aboard.

No way I’m having this ill intentioned reptilian hitchhiker nosing around the kayak. So, with a couple whacks of the paddle, it’s now docile as can be.

Now my mind begins to wonder…Hmmmm.

This rattler looks like mighty good big bass bait!!!

I put him in one of the footwells on the kayak and paddle over to a series of submerged river laydowns so I can begin to put my plan into action.

Here is my “Superstar” getting warmed up in the bullpen.

Put me in, Coach!!!

I now cautiously rig the snake by hooking it through the bottom of the jaw and through the top of the head onto a weedless black 3/4 oz. jig.

On my sixth cast into the snag infested laydown my jig n snake combo gets destroyed on the fall as indicated by a telltale “thump” that reverberates all the way down my rod blank. I set the hook hard and immediately feel stiff resistance on the other end from what I know is a solid fish.

What happens next is something I’ll likely never forget as I watch my bass come cartwheeling out of the water with the rattler hanging out of it’s mouth!

The LMB gave a really good account of itself and I eventually get her alongside the kayak. I cautiously lip the opposite side of the cavernous mouth where the fish is hooked.

I now take a moment to pose with my oversize snake eating river bass before returning her back into the river depths.

I admit, my curiosity might have gotten the best of me on this one. However, I just couldn’t help it.

In the end…

It was just another Kayak Fishing Adventure on the Brazos River, Tx..

What a great story. I’m glad I was able to share it with you.

I hope the hunter had the common courtesy of mounting its hide and consuming its flesh after killing such a beautiful specimen.

Wow.

Maybe it's just perspective? Paralax from the camera lens?

Maybe it’s blown out of proportion due to the camera lens.  Kind of like when you catch a fish and you want your picture taken.  You hold the fish as far out in fron of you as possible to make it look bigger.  I’ve heard that, anyway.  Ahem.

Maybe he’s holding it that far out in front of becuase he’s not 100% convinved it’s dead…

Hog Hunting river road next to I-75 & U.S. 41 just south of North Port, Florida

Crocodile with a pig in its jaw

Ram hit by a new Chevrolet pickup truck

Ram hit by a new Chevrolet pickup truck. Poor thing never had a chance.

Just goes to show the kind of damage running into a large animal can cause a vehicle.

For a much more graphic depiction, view this.  Caution, this is not for the week of stomach.

Huge Cat -- Mountain Lion

Another view of the huge mountain lion taken near Swensen, Texas

But wait!  This may not be an oddity so much as a hoax.  Check this out.

The truth:

The mountain lion displayed above was hit by a Ford F350 truck on Highway 64 in northern Arizona (about halfway between Williams and Valle) in November or December 2007. The couple driving the truck pulled over and found the lion under a tree, still alive but beyond rehabilitation, so they called 911 and ultimately an officer from the state’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) was sent to put the big cat down.

Although the large mountain lion was not weighed at the scene, it took three men to lift the animal, whose weight was estimated by those present at about 200-220 pounds. (Adult male mountain lions typically weigh in the range of 80 to 150 pounds). The animal’s paw was about 8 inches across, and the lion measured over 7 feet from head to tail.

Jason Ellico, the DPS officer who responded to the call, also happens to be a taxidermist and offered to skin the lion. It is he who is shown posing with the lion in the pictures above.

Snopes has a good explanation on the truth of this but, wow.

It’s a beautiful deer regardless of the name you give it.

Unique coloration of mature whitetail buck

Another angle showing the unique coloration

A good angle showing the piebald (skewbald) coloration