Soul of 78: Heather Baldwin
Hog Hunter
Words by Alyson Robbins | Image by Ryan McGill
“I can do anything a boy can do,” seven-year-old Heather Baldwin chanted to her father, desperate to join him on a hunting trip. Relentless badgering afforded her basic dove and deer hunting experiences but not the chance to tag along on the coveted hog-hunting excursion.
“He would take me to the lake fishing...and I would scoop out the minnows and put them in my pocket,” Heather recalls.
Those minnows—later discovered in the laundry by her mother—proved Heather’s word true: she could do anything a boy could do.
In Heather’s twelfth summer, her dad finally relented and took her to Uncle Holland’s dairy for a hog hunt. The adrenaline and action were unlike any other, and Heather was hooked.
Her first hog kill occurred in Florida—a 40-pounder with a pocketknife. “From that moment forward, I fell in love with it,” she says.
Heather attributes hunting success to her dogs—Mia, Doug, Colt, and Tex—her current companions, though she’s hunted with many before them. “You have a tracking dog, your bay dogs, and a catch dog, which is normally a pit bull or more aggressive dog,” she says.
Heather describes how the catch dog will bite the hog on the ear or jaw to “catch” it, and all other dogs assault the prey. At this point, Heather grabs the hog by the back legs, pushes it “almost like a wheelbarrow up on his nose,” and flips it, pinning a shoulder with her knee before coming in for the coup de grâce.
After the flip, it’s all over for the hog, as Heather wields her weapon of choice—a 12-inch Cold Steel blade.
She can flip a hundred-pound hog like a flapjack. “I still like to flip ‘em,” she says. “That’s part of the fun for me.”
Heather has hunted all over the South, but no place tops Texas. Heather says, “It’s so open...it’s always fun to watch the dogs go in and work.”
Kills are not Heather’s only objective in hunting. She treasures friendships gained, frequently visiting Georgia to hunt with friends of over 15 years.
Hunting, as a way of life, led Heather to train dogs. When asked why she is partial to female dogs, she says, “they have more heart, and they mature faster,” a fitting description for Heather Baldwin herself.
Not bad for a girl, huh, Dad? 78