Ralph is not, by disposition, a hunter. As he accompanies Jack and his group on the pig hunt, he spends time talking with Simon, who is also not a hunter.

When the group happens upon a boar, Ralph is able to reflexively throw his spear at it and wound it before it runs back into the jungle. Jack takes off after it, but the boar eludes them all. Ralph is uncharacteristically proud of himself for what he has done, and he is eager for the boys' recognition. "Didn't you see me?" he asks the others. Ralph basks in Maurice's acknowledgment and validation when Maurice says "Right bang on his snout—wheee!"

Shortly afterward, the boys spontaneously act out a vicious hunting scene that goes too far. Robert plays the part of the boar, and Ralph actively takes on his role as a hunter; he "grabbed Eric's spear and jabbed at Robert with it."

The excitement that Ralph felt when he wounded the boar awakens emotions and desires in him that he had heretofore repressed.

Ralph at first is very nervous about hunting and certainly is not looking forward to actually trying to kill an animal.  After he is left alone in the path of the boar, he is forced to respond, throwing his spear, perhaps scaring the boar but certainly not hurting it severely, but he is the center of attention and absolutely loves it.

Ralph feels for a moment or two the free adulation of the boys, the emotion he has longed for in so many situations in his life, but it quickly passes as he tries to make logical decisions, but as it says in the text, he will never be a good chess player.

So the encounter gave him a brief taste of that feeling of power and influence, but it was also to be his last real moment n the sun as his power waned from then on out as he never was that into the hunting, etc., and the boys would soon be following Jack.