Midnight Guests

Last night our front porch was visited by a small herd of wild boar! Our late-night visitors announced themselves with the tap-dancing clickety-clack of their tiny hooves. Eric and I ran to the front window just in time to see a dark, pig-like creature pass directly in front of the glass, while two others jumped off the porch and trotted through the damp grass. Beyond them, a band of nearly a dozen boar congregated. We stared in open-mouthed amazement until the herd passed into the shadows and out of sight.

Wild boar are common in West Texas. They are rarely seen, however, because they burrow in dark places during the day and only emerge on cool nights. Most often, they are spied during the rainy months (July - September), since this is their primary breeding season.


The wild boar local to West Texas have several names. Most people refer to them as javelinas (hav-uh-LEE-nas), which is the Spanish word for "javeline" or "spear" and indicates their razor-sharp tusks. They are also known as skunk pigs, though, because they mark their territory (and each other, and just about everything in sight) with foul-smelling oils from their scent-glands. While you may never spy the darkness-loving wild boar themselves, it is still possible to faintly smell a herd as it passes through town.

As Eric and I watched the wild boar melt into the darkness last night, I half-expected to see a tumbleweed roll across the road, or to hear a banjo in the moonlight. The potted plants and paved roads of town suggest that we've city-fied ourselves here. But last night I realized that the Wild West still lives... just beyond, in the darkness!