galiuro mountain man

Awesome javi, makes good chili too!

Saw a couple that were very light, almost white, and almost got a jet black one, but the white is very awsome. Never seen one that white before, a very cool trophy indeed.

Morenci is in eastern AZ. It is a mine town. What I have found for javis in NM is around Rodeo and north of I10 in Stiens Pass on the east side of the road. Right on the border of AZ. I live in AZ but frequent both areas to get into someof the different areas I hunt. Some things to look for when finding them is ocotillos and agave cactus (century plants). They will dig under them for the soft roots. Another thing they love is the low, thick mesquites, they will den in them, and sometimes root them out. Look on the east sides of the hills for these, a lot of mornings the javis will be tearing it up on the sunny side. For scouting look for the rooting areas. There will be holes from 6" to 18" around and up to 12" deep where they root around, usually under a prickley pear, agave, or ocotillo. Water is another key, find the stock tanks with less rocks. They will drink from rocky tanks but prefer the sides with less rocks. I have seen them roll around in the mud at tanks when it is only 40* outside.

I ALWAYS get an archery pig tag. Out of all the years I have, there has only been one that I did not tag. I have a great respect for them, they are one of the toughest little animals out there, and they have about the best sense of smell. One thing I have noticed is that when a big boar gets old and slow, the herd will run him off. If you are able to find a big boar by himsef the hide doesnt stink at all. Most of what I find the smell comes from is the herd laying and rubbing together. I have seen them rubbing the rump gland on eachother, which I think is an identifying mark of smell for the herd. The javis from the herd usually have the "stink" on them, while the boar by himself usually has less odor than a deer. Another thing I have found is to use just the hooves when removing the legs, then running a knife under the skin to go around the neck. Their hair will dull a knife faster than anything on earth minus a rock. I will wear gloves (if it was a javi from a herd) and get the legs off at the knee, then cut just under the head all the way around the neck, then it is pantyhose (just pull, the hide comes off easy, pull from front to back), even the hide on the tail comes off, along with the gland on the back. Now all that is left is to gut them. Once the hide is off, just remove the head and gut them. In my experience the smell is all from the hide, get it off first and cleanly, then you have the simple task of getting the insides out. Pull the gloves off and find a clean spot (rock) and gut just like anything else. Once the gutting is done put the tag on a dressed and skinned animal and it is done. As for the gloves, I use my normal hunting gloves, I just pull them off and turn them inside out in the process and place them in my back pocket. Sometimes they stink sometimes they dont, but after the javi is in the cooler, they make a good cover scent, and it beats rolling around in the green stuff in a corral, and just as effective. Javelina do make the BEST summer sausage.

Great buck, and think, you can do it again in a few days in January.

Getting closer, didnt see any bucks till friday. Saw one 3x3 around 140's with 3 does. Then saw two forks and another small 3x3 (120's) with 7 does. Went out this morning and saw a 150's class 4x4, maybe a 3 year old (racehorse look but big body) with 6 does. He wasnt all over them, but he wasnt letting get too far away before he followed. It wont be long before the big boys knock these smaller bucks off the does. Also the does are grouping up a little, saw a lot of doubles until friday. Happening a little earlier this Dec. than last in my area.

A buddy of mine and I went fishing on the river close to my house one time. We were seining helgramites, but I didnt have anywhere to put them, so I finished off a can of copenhagen and started to fill it with the 'mites. We fished for a while catching a few cats and decided to head home. When we got to his house we had a beer or two and we were talking about where to go fishing the next day. He didnt want to go to his fridge for a new can of copenhagen so he asked me for a chew. You can guess what can I threw him, when he opened it there was about a dozen lively helgramites to greet him. Not expecting them he jumped up and thew them across his house and yelling stuff at me. I just laughed and told him "oops, wrong can". Now every time I go fishing with him and he asks for copenhagen he shakes the can and listens for them moving in it. A good one we all do to eachother is when we are driving into a new area mid day someone always falls asleep with their arm out the window. As we are driving along we run their arm into yuccas, mesquites and catclaws. It is a rude awakening, but we never learn. The best one happened to me. I had got off night shift and was too tired to drive so I had my brother driving. He saw a cholla on the edge of the road and tried to run my hand into it, but he caught it with the mirror and a pod flipped into my lap. I thought it was a yellowjacket stinging me so I smacked it. I drove cactus into my leg and hand. I spent the next two hours pulling cactus out. Now we have one rule, no chollas. My last one is one I pulled on my wife. I was always picking up pebbles or droppings or something and holding it in my hand where she couldnt see it and dropping it to hers. One time I picked up a grasshopper and dropped it into her hand. She jumped a little, and cussed me, and I said it was just a grasshopper. She explained that it wasnt the grasshopper that scared her, it was that it moved, and that she wasnt going to take anything from me again without seeing it first. So the gears were turning then. We walked probably 100 yards and I was still trying to figure out what to put in her hand when I saw it, a medium sized trantula. I scooped it up after my wife passed it and didnt see it. I told her to open her hand, and she said NO, she couldnt see it as I had my hand cupped over it. I asked her if she wanted to see it and she told me to put the grasshopper down. I finally got her to turn around and look, but when I uncupped it, the dang thing jumped on her chest. She screamed and flopped to the ground and rolled like she was on fire. When the dust cleared she picked up a big stick and glared at me. She thought I threw it, but I explained to her that it liked her and jumped on her. She still puts in for elk, but hasnt put in for deer since then. I have a lot more, when we cant find animals, we mess with eachother a lot. Gotta keep eachother awake somehow.

Went out yesterday and saw does. No sign of rut yet, going to set a cam or two and find a buck somewhere.

Someone did deface them in spots, but they are close to town

here you go, thaught these would work.

I belive I had the best teachers for hunting. I still have and had (find them bulls Papaw) some of the best hunters anyone could ever learn from. For one, my dad, I can remember going out quail hunting,and lizards too (lizards feared me), he would start to get ahead of me and then stop to tell me they were "right over there", and "slip up on them", and give me the first shot with my pellet gun. My uncles and my dad's cousins would get a kick out of my "stealth mode", and I remember this from when I was little, probably around 4 years old. My uncle would tell me stories about when all of them were younger and chasing deer, I can remember my face and belly hurting from laughing so hard from those stories. I still get a little smile on my face every time I think about the stories. I remember all of them saying to be patient on my first deer hunt, when my little brother already tagged his first deer on the first day. I hunted hard and finally got it done on a sporky the last afternoon. My grandfather (papaw) tought me a ton too. To never give up on a hunt and how to determine a buck from a does tracks on a dirt tank. He also showed me how to keep a positive mood no matter what happened on a hunting trip. From what I was taught from my many mentors, it isnt about the kill, but the experience. If nobody gets hurt, it is a successfull trip. Its about a passion to just be there in the moment. The kill is just a bonus. Some of my most successful trips were ones that no one tagged, or even fired a shot, or even left camp because of weather. I believe from what I was taught was that hunting is about the memories you make with the people you love. I still remember the sunset that everyone stopped for when we were quail hunting, it was overcast all day and while we were cleaning quail there was a break in the clouds, it lit up the sky to the west and everyone stopped to admire it. It makes me really appreciate that I could see it with the company I kept. I am teaching my own kids how to hunt now, and I hope I can instill in them what my mentors did in me. Best part is that I have help. My dad was there on my daughters first deer hunt. It wouldnt have been the same without all three of us there. We have something together that can never be taken away.

One August archery hunt about 7 years ago I was watching a whitetail doe and two fawns come into water. The doe and both fawns made it to the water and the doe got a drink, while the fawns ran around in the tall grass around the tank, it was funny, you could see the grass move and sometimes the tips of their ears. The doe finished and started off the water with fawns right behind her and it sounded like a small jet over my head. I looked up and a golden eagle was darting across the pond. The doe turned the direction it was coming from but it was too late. It hit the fawn that was about 10 yards to her left, and hit it so hard it popped like an arrow hitting ribs. The doe and other fawn took off. I could see the eagle and fawn good, it was only about 60 yards away, but looked through my binos to get a better look and before the eagle even started eating on the fawn, I noticed the fawn was nearly torn in half from the force of the eagle. I had seen eagles like that before, but never that close, it is a BIG bird. On another trip to the same area I was watching a small group of mule deer does walking along a trail that goes to the bottom of a canyon that holds water year round. There is a section of the trail that goes about 5 feet from the edge of a 60 foot bluff for 50 or so yards. As the doe in the lead got to the end of the bluff she spooked and jumped up a 4 ft rimrock and all the deer exploded up the hill, except one, it exploded the wrong way, 60 feet head first. It was a nasty thud at the bootom and I still remember the sound like it happened yesterday. At least she died intantly, I went to the edge of the bluff I was on and she was done. One of the saddest deaths, well two, I have come across is just south of my house. I hunt mule deer there a lot and I have never seen anything like this. There is an old homestead with an old concrete pool. It has always been pretty full and when we find animals they usually drown. Over the past few years with no water in the area and the well running low, the water dropped to just about a foot in it. We had just been out to the area two weeks or so before and we always check it for animals, we have saved four mulie does and one buck from it in the past, so it gets checked every time we are there. This time when we got there we could smell rot so we went to the pool. What we found was a fawn that had started to rot in the pool and a doe that the front end of her was tore up. the fawn we figured drown but we couldnt figure the doe out. She was fresh dead, not stinkin or bloated but dead. It took us a minute but we figured out she was trying to jump out but was slamming herself on the side of the wall. We found hair and blood in a corner, she had a broken leg and her chest was ground to burger. There was also an iron wood tree with a branch that dropped into the pool and there wasnt a leaf or twig left on it that she could reach, so she had ate on it for a day or two. We think she finally got too weak and gave up and drown. Later that day we ran into a ranch hand and told him what we found, he had been there the day after us and the doe wasnt there, but they were going to build a way for animals to get out. I went back there after a month and the old pool was empty and they had a plastic holding tank and the pipe was pulled from the pool. Since then, nothing has been dead in it. We had told the previous ranch manager we would build an escape for the pool if he wanted, but he told us that he would take it out and to leave it alone. Im glad there is a new manager.

One of my friends shot a 4x5 hybrid with his bow where I hunt mule deer. Would have been 5x5 but it had a tine knocked off. It was a bow kill that scores in the high 130s to low 140s. G&F wouldnt even come look at it to see if they would consider it a wt or md. I would have because of the area it was shot in.

Another thing to remeber is to go to a place where there is predators. I scout for them like deer or elk, checking for tracks at water, listening for them early in the morning or at dark, looking for droppings (especially in roads, usually different groups of coyotes marking territory) and sometimes staying up all night and using a siren to make them howl to find them for the next morning (just dont have a spotlight out with firearms in your vehicle, we usually take 2 vehicles, one we leave behind with guns for the morning locked up, and the vehicle we locate coyotes with).

I dump all my brass out of the media/brass seperator and my kids take care of it. That is about as automatic as I have seen.

We had a great hunt. My daughter drew a tag this year so I put in a ton of time scouting different areas. She worked equally as hard getting to where she could shoot the 243. The night before I couldnt sleep at all, three hours of sleep at max and my dad said he didnt sleep either. I was more excited about her hunt than I was about my first hunt. Opening morning we got out of camp early and the wind was howling. We got to where we were going to hunt before shooting light and spotted two does. Keelee couldnt see through her scope yet so we just watched them. Once she could see through her scope we decided to drive up into one of the saddles we glass from. As soon as we got there I spotted two smaller bucks at around 300 yards. The wind was so hard she couldnt stay steady on them and they trotted off. We followed them around the mountain, but never found them again. I spotted another buck about 900 yards away across a canyon on the next mountain over. He was bedded so we snuck up to him. We got 35 yards from him and got ready, but when he jumped up he got behind some tall brush and Keelee couldnt see him. He turned and took off. We were going to go glass another area, but saw people there and decided to head to camp early. My dad and I decided to go where we knew we wouldnt see anyone, and got some rest because it was going to be some rougher, steeper country. We got an early start in the afternoon so we could go slower thinking that we didnt want to tire Keelee out, but she wanted to go faster, she kept right up with us on a pretty steep and rocky grade. When we hit the top my dad spotted the deer. They were close to a mile away, but we could see antlers shining so we went after them. We had to drop off the mountain we were on and cross a steep canyon to get to where we could see them again. We got to the top of the other ridge and spotted the deer again. I got Keelee ready on the shooting stick and my dad ranged them. He whispered "212" and I told Keelee to hold it on the shoulder and squeeze. As she was getting on the buck the wid was blowing the rifle around some, and she was shaking, but as soon as she put her finger on the trigger she went smooth as glass. The shot went off, and he dropped. My dad and I both say "hes down", and Keelee didnt even know what was going on, she just knew we were excited. We had her put the rifle down and look with her binos and she saw it. The smile I saw on her face was worth everything. When we all got over there, we had time to only take a couple of pictures real quick. We also knew we werent getting him out that night, Im glad it cooled off good that night. When we got done with feild dressing we had 45 minutes of light to go two miles. What impressed me about my daughter the most on this hunt was that she never complained one time, and she even wanted to help with field dressing without being asked. Now she wants to go out in January with me on archery hunts, and I told her any time.

I have not noticed any extra fouling with accubonds. About the same as any other bullet. I also only strip copper once I notice the accuracy or point of inpact change. Some rifles it is 50 rounds, some up to 300 or so. I used to use Sweets 762 but found I like the foaming wipeout better. Works just about as good, but the odor is less offensive, my wife even lets me use it in the house. I doesnt seem to give wood finishes any problems if removed quickly and it is best to be used with a bore guide in place to keep it out of the magazine area.

I dont want you to get an official score for this buck, it is a great buck (their all great in their own way). What I want is a story, remember, the rack on the wall only reminds you of the fun to get it there. At the end of the day a score is just a number, but the memory will last a lifetime.

I have not rifle hunted deer in 16 years, but I am going to put in for one of these hunts. If I get drawn, I will put a deer down with the new rifle I am building, and then probably go back to strictly bowhunting. For me it is not a big deal if I am drawn or not, I have only bowhunted for deer since I was in high school, but it would be nice to get a chance at a monster that I dont have to be 40 yards from.

A lot of times you can find good reloading equipment at good prices at pawn shops or ebay. If the 308 is the only cartridge you are going to reload, you might be better off finding someone who reloads and use their equipment, just buy your own dies (if they dont have them) and all of your own components (bullets, primers, brass and such). If you dont know anyone that reloads and you still want to do it, the initial price is fairly steep if you purchase it all new and all at once. This is the minimum of what is needed: Press (look for good used stuff, it will cut costs tremendously), dies for what you will reload, shell holders, balance beam scale (magnetically dampened are fairly quick and are accurate), case trimmer (lee makes inexpensive ones that are cartridge specific that work decent), chamfer tool, primer pocket brush or something to get excess carbon out of primer pockets, dial caliper (auto parts places are way better priced), small bowl and spoon that wont get static to put powder in to be put on scale, reloading book or use internet sites like hodgdens website for recipes, a block to hold brass as you load it, all of the components for certain cartridge, case lube, and a powder funnel. You also need a work area and storage area for all of this stuff. If you have kids it is also a good idea to be able to lock this stuff up (they may get curious and then it could get dangerous). Some things that speed up loading that you dont absolutely need are: case prep station, full size case trimmer, powder thrower, electronic scale, powder trickler, hand primer, case tumbler and media, case and media seperator, and a few other things, but the main stuff is up top to get you started. It is a really good idea to watch someone do it first, or have someone walk you through it before reloading on your own. As far as components, I use cci primers, for the 308 I like 165gr Hornady SSTs for deer and 180gr partitions for elk, both on top of IMR4064, or H414. The 4064 seems a little milder but both are good from my wifes 308, and my 30-06 loves the 165s with H414. 4064 is a long extruded powder and it is sometimes a pain to work with, but it is not very sensitive to heat changes. 414 is a sperical powder and meters easy and is easy to work with (even with a bowl and measuring spoon), but is somewhat sensitive to heat, but I can only tell with chrono (no excessive pressure signs and my 06 loads are near max). Like stated before, a good chronograph is something I dont reload without now, but you CAN reload without one. Watch group sizes and and pressure signs like cratering primers, and sticking bolts and stuff like that. If you test loads and you get a sticky bolt, back off powder some, and start at minimun and work up for given powder. I like to start at minimum and work up a half a grain at a time until I either get pressure signs or I get 2 loads that group good and there is even speeds through chrono. I then take the two best groups and reload that charge again, then one in the middle of that and check groups again. Once I find the most accurate I stick with it. If I change components I start the process over. Hope this helps

Right now, I have to say a big ole nothing. I dont have a ratio because I would have had to call one in to put against the number of stands. In years past I would have to say about 2.5 to 3:1 for an average. For every three stands or so there would be something come in. Some days would be every other stand and some only every third or fourth. On another note, one of my best days, my brother and I had 4 stands and killed 14 coyotes (me 6 him 8), but that was an exceptional year for coyotes

There are a few things that are affecting the dry spells this year. Drought, more people educating coyotes, and E callers (goes with the more people educating). First is the drought, the pup crop hasnt been as good the past couple of years due to drought. I have talked to gov. trappers who also say their #'s are down from previous years. I am always out messing around in the hills and I have also seen a drop in young dog numbers the last couple of years. Drought also affects feed, think back five years ago, I remember a lot more cottontails and jackrabbits where I live, now I wont shoot them at all so the is some breeding stock left. This has a huge effect on coyote #'s for a given area. If there is not enough feed #'s will drop. I feel the ongoing drought is most to blame for this. This drought is pretty bad where I am, tanks that I know, that I have hunted since I was a child, that I have never seen dry, are dustbowls now, and have been for a couple of years. This is why there have been more coyotes in the suburbs lately. They have water, people watering grass all year, and feed, little fluffy things on a leash for them to eat. These coyotes have learned for the most part they will live unharmed by people and they have everything they need. The second and third are kind of the same thing. Since E callers have become so popular I regularly run into people out calling. A lot of them have asked me if I know how to set up for coyotes and such because they just started because they dont have to know how to use a call, the magic box does it for them. Now everywhere I go there is someone out with a distress sound going, and I live in very rural part of AZ, about 1000 people at max in area (3 small communities). A lot of these guys have just started and are just learning and make a lot of mistakes that make the dogs smarter, and some dont even realize the mistakes made, which is fine, because everyone has to start somewhere. Then on top of that is the people that dont even shoot their rifle all year, then try to take down coyotes, educating them more. But, there is hope, even if there are a lot of newbies to calling (we need them to keep this sport going), and no rains. Everything cycles, rains, animal populations, peoples interest and so on. For my area, we need some rain at the right times of the year, and the rabbits and other small critters will come back, which in turn will bring back coyote numbers. Be patient, it will happen and there will be more coyotes than you know what to do with. As far as dry spells, in 07-08 winter I shot over 60 coyotes myself and a couple other guys I know got in the 40's. It seemed like an endless amount of dogs. The next year we didnt hit it as hard, but still found a few. Last two years have been rough. I dont even hear them around my house like I used to. This year has been my dry spell, havent called a single coyote in (I have tried), but I have shot 3, right out my back door.

I carry a 1911, and a spare mag. I like the feel of a little heavier pistol, plus they are VERY reliable.

First, there must be dogs in the area you are in. There are coyotes everywhere, but some areas hold more than others. I dont hunt some areas I used to because we have cleaned them out in last couple of years (tried to eradicate them because deer pop. was going down because of predators, now deer are back). We scout for coyotes juast like deer and find areas where they are thicker, the more there are, the easier they are to call in. We havent been out that much since the year we worked on our deer hunting areas, but we are about to hit another area with lots of sign. We mix up sounds on foxpro, we use all different kinds of sounds, even if there isnt that kind of animal in the area, we also use hand calls and sometimes we use both at same time, for example we will use deer fawn in distress with foxpro and then use open reed call to throw out some short yelps and barks at same time, this really fires up dominant dogs in areas. The first year we really hit them hard, we were seeing 5 to 6 coyotes a day while hunting deer. We did our cleanup and now we see one every now and then, but the reason we did so good was that no one else was calling that area and we knew there were a lot of dogs there, we also spent a LOT of time in the area so we knew where to find them, and had them "patterned" (we knew where they watered and where they liked to bed and such) because we spent so much time out there.

Tuesday I hit a good one, but he jumped my string and he got away. I went out again Wednesday to try to find him again, but no luck. I am having a hard time connecting this year. I had decided to start going after WT again this year after trying to get a BIG MD buck with my bow. I have passed up a few of 140 class MD and a bunch of great WT in the past 4 years, and decided that the next good buck I had a shot at was going to get a Montec in the chest. On Tuesday we set out at 430 am to a spot with good WT and MD in it. We sat at a tank for a couple hours and there was no action, so we split up and worked back towards the truck. I snuck around a point and saw this buck feeding right in front of me. I was able to rangefind him, 46 yards, I drew, aimed and started to squeese the trigger and he jerked his head up. The shot was off and was going perfect, untill the arrow was about to hit. He lunged forward and ducked. It happened so fast that I thought I had hit him good, but it was high and back in the backstrap. Passed right through without hitting spine or liver. We spent about 3 hours trying to track him by tracks and the little blood, just a couple of spots of blood, but it was not much because I hit straight muscle. I went back out yesterday to try and see if crows and buzzards were on him, but he is still alive, a little sore but should be OK. I walked all over the hills and did not see him. I have to work a few days, and will be back out after this week to find him. He is a great buck, I hope to get on him again. I have a couple of sheds from him. He is a bit bigger than my biggest WT to date from measuring sheds. I have an idea of where to look for him, and will try again. Until then, everyone else have good luck.