Gr8 White Jr

AWESOME!!!! No better sight after a shot than bubbly blood. Congrats on sealing the deal on a great buck! Is that the 3 point that kept toying with you? This has been one of my favorite threads. Thanks for taking us along with you on your hunt! -Tracy

If there is one thing I absolutely love to do in January its hunting javelina with a bow. This year didn’t start off as well as I had hoped. It was extremely cold (14 degrees) and extremely windy on opening weekend and it seemed to keep the pigs held up in their warm hiding holes. After glassing all day on opening day I finally glassed up a herd of javelina at almost a mile away. With less that a half hour of light left I knew that I didn’t have enough time to make a stalk and I just called it a night. The next day my good friend Frank (Kaffer62) and I were back in the same spot as I was the night before hoping to find the herd of pigs again. We glassed for a few hours with no luck. The rest of the day was a bust as well with only one pig being spotted, again at a distance close to a mile away and with less than a half hour of light left. We headed home feeling humbled and defeated. After such an incredible action packed season last year we were very confused and wondering where the heck all the pigs went. Frank and I both had the following Friday off of work so we were planning on a 3 day hunt the next weekend. Frank had a dentist appointment on Friday morning so I was going to head up by myself early Friday morning and frank would meet me up there later in the afternoon. Thursday night I spoke with Ron (ibowhuntaz) on the phone, he didn’t have a pig tag but had been hunting deer in the same area and he had seen a herd of pigs earlier that day. He was heading out to hunt on Friday as well so we made plans to meet up on Friday morning and hunt together. Friday morning found Ron and I on a hill side glassing. It was a slow morning with only a single spike mule deer buck being spotted until about 9:00 when Ron said to me, “I gotta pig!” Excited to hear I immediately asked “where?!” but before Ron had a chance to tell me the pig disappeared out of sight. Ron had seen the pig on a far hill but it disappeared lower into a canyon and behind a ridge between us and it. Ron and I agreed that we should move to the next ridge in front of us so we could see down into the canyon so we gathered our gear and we were on our way try to relocate the pig. When we got to the next ridge we glassed and glassed but could not find any pigs so we moved a little bit further down the ridge. We stopped at a good vantage point and we were both glassing down into the canyon when I spotted a pig bedded down laying in the sunshine. After a brief discussion Ron and I agreed on what would be the best approach for my stalk and I was off while Ron stayed up high to watch from his “front row seat”. I made my way down into the canyon and crossed the wash in the bottom. Before I made the last 70 yards of my stalk I took off my pack and left it under a juniper so I would be more mobile and quieter as I closed the distance to the pig. The wind was very unpredictable and seemed to be changing every couple of seconds but was blowing in my face for most of the stalk with the occasional 180 degree switch where it would be right at my back. I kept creeping my way very slowly and quietly toward where the pig was bedded making sure to scan the surrounding terrain for any other pigs that might have been laying close by. I was getting really nervous thinking that the pig was gong to catch my scent as the wind kept switching back and forth from blowing in my face to blowing at my back. When I made it to what I thought was 40 yards I could see the pig clearly in his bed and he had his head up looking around. I felt it was risky to try to get closer being that I was in the wide open in the sunshine with no cover. Being confident with my shooting ability at that distance I decided to take the shot from where I was. The problem was I couldn’t get a good reading with my rangefinder on the actual pig, only the bushes and cactus that were near him. I estimated and decided to shoot for 40 yards. I drew back and settled my 40 yard pin on the pig’s shoulder as he laid in his bed. I slowly applied pressure to my trigger release and the arrow was on its way. I watched my arrow as it flew literally inches over the pigs back. I must have misjudged the distance. It turned out there had been two pigs laying there and they both jumped up and busted out of their beds at the sound of my arrow crashing into the rocks behind them. One pig ran to the left and out of sight and the other ran up and to the right about 10 yards and was standing in the shade of a juniper. I figured that if I barely missed high on the first shot then I should be right on now that the pig is a little further so I knocked another arrow, drew back and settled my 40 yard pin on the pigs shoulder for the second time. I released and watched the flight path of my arrow on its way toward the pig until it went into the shadow of the juniper where the pig was standing. Because of the shadow I could not see the last few yards of the arrow flight and had no idea where or even if I hit the pig. After the shot the pig ran out from under the juniper and out of sight. Every pig I have ever shot with a bow has always let out a roar when the arrow hit and this time when I shot I heard no sound at all so I was thinking that I had missed for a second time. I was feeling very disappointed and thinking to myself “how the heck did I blow it twice?” I walked over to the juniper where the pig had been standing to look for my arrow. As I looked around I heard a “clack, clack, clack” and I looked up to see the pig about 25 yards above me spinning in a five foot radius circle clacking its teeth. I could see that I made a good hit on him and the rage two blade made a massive hole right behind his shoulder. As the pig was spinning in circles he came to a stop and seemed to gain his composure. He then came charging down the hill right toward me. I came to full draw and stayed stationary but spun my body keeping my sights on the pig as he passed by me at 5 yards clacking his teeth and continued on down toward the bottom of the canyon where he piled up less than 10 feet from my pack. What an adrenaline rush it was to have him come charging down the hill toward me. My pig was down! He was a big mature boar probably right in his prime. This was my 8th javelina, 5th with a bow, and this one is the 2nd to biggest pig of the 8. After I saw that he was down I through my hands up holding my bow in the air signaling to Ron that I was successful. Ron had watched it all unfold from up high on top of the canyon. As he later put it, he “had a perfect view and watched it all go down from the expensive seats”. Ron came down and met me at my downed pig. We shook hands as he congratulated me and I thanked him for his help. We took pictures, I field dressed it, tied it to my pack and we started the hike out. Frank was there waiting when we got out of the canyon and back to the trucks. We all talked about how it all went down. It was a good time to be in the field with some great people! We continued to hunt the rest of the weekend in hopes of finding some more javelina so Frank could try to fill his tag. Saturday was a bust and no pigs were found but late Sunday morning I glassed up 12 javelina on a far hill about 1 ¼ miles out. After a long hike up and over several ridges (over 3 hours) to close the distance we lost the pigs and could not relocate them. We got back to the truck just in time to brake camp before dark so that concluded our weekend. You can be sure that Frank and I will be right back at it next weekend trying to get Frank a pig as well. Thanks again to Ron for coming out and hunting with me on Friday morning! Thank you for reading my story and as always thanks to Amanda for a great site where we can share our passion and adventures! -Tracy Frank glassing. Me trying to relocate a herd a javelina. Me and my big boar. Had to get a pic with the Coueswhitetail.com sticker in the background.

$700 for poaching a bighorn? Thats it??? Unbelievable! That SOB should be sitting his sorry butt in jail! I am 100% for guys like this being prosecuted at the felony level. -Tracy

Woohoo! Congrats again bother! Can't wait to do it again next year! -Tracy

Very cool! Beautiful cat! You probably ruined your friend, now he will be expecting that kind of excitement everytime. Congrats! -Tracy

WIDE!! What a great buck! Congrats! -Tracy

Man I hope this lady has them! Talk about a happy ending to what would seem like a nightmare. Let us know what happens. -Tracy

Two great archery coues bucks!!! Congrats to you both! -Tracy

Relph, glad to hear of your success! Would love to hear about the hunt and see some pics. Post it up. -Tracy

Well Frank and I went out yesterday and got it done. I watched it all go down from across a canyon as he whacked a good sow. I'm sure Frank will be posting his story soon. -Tracy

Great write up and what a magnificent monster mule deer! Congrats on a great trophy! -Tracy

+1 Thank you for taking the time to share this with us! The world has lost a true hero. -Tracy

Very nice buck Christian! Gorgeous animal for sure! Congrats! -Tracy

Those are some great pics! Those pheasants sure look pretty out there in the snow. Thanks for sharing! -Tracy

Way to go TJ!!!!! I'm glad you were able to get it done with your body still in tact and in good health. A big cangrats to you buddy! Now lets see some pics! -Tracy

Always excited to see your posts. We can always expect to see big bucks in them. Congrats to the hunters and to you on some great bucks! -Tracy

Call AZGFD and get the contact info for Ben Brochu. He is the unit manager and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. Give him a call, tell him ur situation and all the effort you've put forth so far and I'm sure he'll help you out and point you in the right direction. -Tracy

+1 +1 That is what I would consider the starting point and from there I would just use percentages to make the comparison. For example a 120 coues is approximately 9% larger than a B&C minimum coues of 110 and a 207 muley is approximately 9% larger than the B&C minimum muley of 190. So the way I see it is a 120 coues = a 207 muley. -Tracy

Really great story! Thats exactly what its all a bout right there. Congrats on your 1st deer and a successful hunt with your family! -Tracy

Way too cool! I love seeing all the women getting out there dropping some great deer. Some of the most valuable time you can spend together. Congrats to you and your wife on a great buck! -Tracy

That is AWESOME!!!! Outstanding! Congrats on a great buck Jen, especially for your 1st! There's nothing in the world quite like sharing that kind of experience with your lady. I look forward to Angie's hunts more than I do my own. Josh, I'm bet you already can't wait for her next hunt, probably already have it all planned out in your head. Congrats to you both on a fine buck! -Tracy

Those are some beasts! Of course nobody could forget Saddie's awesome story. Congrats to all the hunters! Its a nobrainer who to call if you have a buffalo tag. -Tracy

Very nice bucks! As usual Lance delivers and as usual those girls lay the hammer down! Is there anything they haven't killed? Congrats to all! -Tracy

Sorry bud but I have to agree with your dad! When I was younger it was the same rules with my dad. If I got anything less than a "C" then I couldn't go hunting. Guess what...it was the only thing that worked and kept me in line. You may be upset with your dad now but you will understand, respect and thank him for it later. Its plain and simple, GET YOUR GRADES UP and go hunting! -Tracy

Holy smokes!!! I would call that a 2x2, a HUGE 2x2! Very nice buck! No way on the european mount, that buck is definitely worthy of a shoulder mount. Congrats on a great muley! -Tracy