As morning broke, Old Head went outside to see where the beast was and found him curled up next to the girls' pen. It seemed that he had spent the night, a he always did, as close to the girls as he could get.
Old Head tried, for several hours, to persuade Beast to let him pick him up and get him back into the cage - at this point he was just going to put him back in the pen with the girls since it seemed the girls' pen was where Beast wanted to be anyway.
Old Head went to Tractor Supply and bought some hog panels and proceeded to extend the pen system out larger so that when Beast went around back to the girls pen again, he could block him in and capture him.
They spent the day bonding: Old Head coercing him with treats and trying to get him cornered and at one point, he was laying in the yard, looking at Beast and Beast looking at him - each situated about three feet away from each other, Beast venturing closer then pulling back away again. He would circle Old Head, never getting too close, but wanting to be near the girls.
As beast circled around Old Head again, he realized that he was now blocked in with Old Head in the way of the exit. He leaned one way and Old Head, sitting on his knees, leaned with him. He leaned the other way and Old Head followed. Finally, Beast decided to make break for it. Old Head reached out and snatched him, holding on with all of his might and Beast, squealing and kicking, tried to get away, dragging Old Head backwards and sideways at the same time. All of this squealing and kicking, pulling and dragging got Old Head all twisted up with his knee under him, being twisted in a way that knees just don't twist. The agony of the twist was just too much and Old Head had to give up the game of war and let go, sending Beast flying back into freedom.
After a short rest and recollection of this thoughts, Old Head, not to be deterred, headed back out and reinforced the newly built pen and added more to it, making the exit hole small enough to prepare for the final showdown of Beast against wood and screw gun.
Old Head waited until Beast went back into the area to get some food and talk to his girls through the fence. This time Old Head was waiting outside the entrance with wood and screws at the ready. He picked up the board and proceeded to close up the hole with Beast watching from within the new pen. Beast didn't seem bothered by this at all even when he looked around and realized he had been trapped.
Old Head went over to Beast's old cage and removed the gate to allow Beast easy access to his water nipple again. Beast immediately entered the old cage and looked up at Old Head. "Hey, Old Head! That was fun, whaddya say we do that again some time?"
And as he settled back into his pen after a great 24-hour adventure, we could hear Beast say to the girls, "It's fun outside. They have cheese, prunes and marshmallows out there!"
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