stanley

Thanks for posting so quickly Amanda! Hopefully folks will educate themselves and voice an opinion. S.

Good deal Bret! Congrats to Megan on her pig!!! I spent last weekend out with my son as he nailed his first javelina. We also helped at the ADA youth camp and saw over a dozen kids come through with pigs. Big smiles all around... Good stuff! S.

Hello All: I just had a great weekend hunting with my son! He drew one of the Junior javelina tags. I had never been to the unit, but the ADA has been hosting a Junior Hunter's Camp for the past several years during the youth pig hunt in one of the central units. I was encouraged by some of the ADA folks to have Erik put in for the tag & join them at the camp. We had an outstanding time! The WM for the unit (Matt Pierce) is a HUGE supporter of youth hunting. He was there all weekend, along with many other locals who helped throughout the weekend. I couldn't help with the camp as much as I would have liked, as I was concentrating on Erik's hunt. Erik and I owe big thanks to one of the volunteers who made the trek from Phx, Ron Tereda, as he helped us glass some pigs up on Saturday morning. We stalked in and waited them out from some rocks above a brush choked draw that we knew they were in. We had Erik set-up on some big boulders overlooking the bottom of the draw with my backpack as a rest. Finally, after 30 minutes or so of waiting, they started to move around. This one finally stopped in an opening about 80 yards away at a sharp downward angle in the bottom of the canyon. When the pig stopped, Erik quickly dropped the healthy (and stinky ) boar with one shot through the boiler room with the .308. This was Erik's second javelina hunt, and his first kill. What a joy it was to see the excitement in him while we waited the pigs out from above. He was so happy when he made the shot that I thought he would do back-flips down the canyon! I've got some better pics coming, but wanted to get this one up right away. Take your kids hunting everyone! It will be the best 'trophy' you ever helped score!!! S. PS: I can't remember all of the names, but big thanks go out to many people who volunteer their time at the youth camps. This one was a huge success due to the hard work of people like Woody Farnsworth, Bill Hill, Matt Pierce, Ron Tereda, DeWayne Tabbot, Rich, Richard, Doug, Eric, etc, etc.... To many people that I can't remember their names. We had over 3 dozen kids come through camp to enjoy the hospitality!

Right on Mike! Anyone who has experienced one of these youth events knows that the rewards are great. Good stuff.... S.

Good for getting your boy out Avion, and good for all who volunteer to help the kids on these hunts!!! My son bagged his first pig on a hunt in unit 20C this past weekend. (link to pics -> http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/index...?showtopic=2826 ) We were participating the the Youth Camp that the ADA sponsored. Good times for sure!!! Did your boy have any luck Avion? Anyone else??? S.

Thanks guys. It was a fun hunt indeed! I was wondering which crack I would get from the peanut gallery first; the 'cammo' comment, or the 'rifle is pointed at your head' comment.... P&Y, you're right about all the kids. I saw probably 10 kids myself, of which I think for 8 of them it was their first pig! Sooooo proud & big smiles! One sweet little 11 year old girl was there. I first met her and her father at the ADA Deer Hunter seminar in Sept. I then saw her & her dad at the ADA Junior Camp during the Kiabab youth hunt in November. I saw them again this past weekend at this youth camp. She killed an elk, deer, and now a pig this season! BIG KUDOS to her dad for getting her out there!!!!! S.

A great day, indeed AZ-Rich! Congrats to you both. I was out chasing pigs & deer last weekend, but didn't score. Had a good time though... S.

Outstanding story Matt! Thanks much for sharing. Big congrats on our deer as well! S.

I don't care what unit it's from, that is one SWEET buck! S.

2 out of 3 aint bad, indeed Scott! Congrats on another great hunt. I went down south with my buddy from Tucson on Tuesday last week and hunted over his vislas. We got into two coveys of mearns, and got a couple. The funnest thing was to have my 11 year old along for his first hunt with dogs. He really got a kick out of watching the dogs work. Seems like your dogs are doing great this year, even with the warm & dry conditions. My buddy keeps complaining about the weather, but I think he's just making excuses for his dogs. S.

A couple of decent bucks is an understatement! Outstanding work!!! Looks like some familiar Kearny/Winkleman boys in those pics. Congrats! S.

Congrats Amanda! Sounds like you had a great (and challenging) hunt! S.

I've been out of the country working, and then hibernating with family over the holidays. Just getting back to the 'real world', and there are some great stories posted. This is a great one Lisa! Sounds like a real adventure... Congrats and hopefully we can see some pics soon. S.

Bret's right. There's pigs in there, either along the Gila or in the washes. While catfishing once along there in highschool we actually saw a nice 3 point muley jump into the river and swim across. Also don't be shy about checking out the Dripping Springs road that comes off that highway. Shouldn't be a problem with your 2WD, and there are lots of good spots in there. Good luck! S.

I'm with you 25-06! Turkey feast on Thursday, and bird hunting on Friday. A family tradition... How was that smoked turkey Amanda? We did one in the oven (traditional), and one in the deep fryer. Good stuff! Hope everyone had a great weekend! S.

Big congrats Earnesto! Sounds like you guys had a great hunt. S.

Outstanding Scott! Thanks for sharing the pics. Looks like it's going to be a great year for mearns (and gambels...). I can't wait for my Christmas break, as I'm planning on getting down there to hunt over my buddies vislas! S.

Awesome story! The pics along the way were great. Good luck to your daughter! S.

Awesome Doug! I sure wish I had that tag this year.... Rich & Richard headed back down for their second try this afternoon. They'll be there til Sunday (if necessary...). Good luck! S. PS: Erik (my oldest) scored on his first deer last weekend. A TROPHY doe! One of the grandest experiences of my life!

My son killed his first deer on the Kiabab junior hunt this past weekend. Story to follow, but I can tell you that this was one of the most spectacular moments in my hunting life! Lots of hugs & high-fives.... S.

Hi Everyone: I know it's deer hunting season (for you lucky folks that got tags... ), but I was cleaning-out my files and found this. It's an article that I wrote last spring for the Deer Times, the ADA's quarterly publication. Obviously if you're an ADA member you may have already seen it. I thought I'd share it with the group on here as well though. I know it's a long one (and it's not about deer), but seeing the recently posted deer hunting stories inspired me to post it anyway. I'll be up on the Kiabab with my boy building more memories just like these next week! S. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you Have to Harvest an Animal to Have a Successful Hunt? - A Junior Javelina Hunt It was a cold February morning, and my 10 year old son Erik & I were just getting settled in behind the tripod to glass a wide desert ridge & wash area. Erik had been drawn for one of the many ?Youth Hunts? that the Arizona Game & Fish offers to the young hunters of our state. He had drawn a junior tag for the 36A/C javelina hunt. This was to be his first big game hunt, and we were both jumping with excitement that opening morning had finally arrived. A Young Hunter?s Education The road leading up to this hunt had been a long one, which started in October when Erik put his application in for one of the Youth Hunts in the southern part of the state. He was only 9 years old at the time, but would turn 10 prior to the hunt which would make him legal. At this point, we also started researching potential dates for him to take Hunters Education, which would complete the necessary requirements making him eligible to hunt. Well, by December he had his tag in hand, and we were scheduled for a Hunters Education class in January. We were all set?.. In early January, we began the 4 week Hunter Education course. We went to class two nights per week, which added quite a heavy load to Erik?s already busy home-work schedule. Finally the last night of the course arrived and he took the final exam with confidence, knowing that he had prepared himself thoroughly. The test was a success, and he passed with flying colors! One of the questions on the final test however, generated quite a lot of discussion prior to class being dismissed. The question was ?Do you have to harvest an animal to have a successful hunt??. We talked about it in class, with the instructors & participants agreeing that the answer was ?NO?, success should not necessarily depend on killing an animal. Hunting success was much broader than that, and should also be measured by quality time in the field with family & friends. Animals Seen & Un-Seen Now here we were, opening morning, enjoying the chill of the winter morning as the sun rose over the eastern flats behind us. We were glassing a large bowl that looked like prime javelina habitat. By 9:00AM on opening morning, we had glassed-up over 20 deer, a coyote, and numerous birds & other objects of interest, but no pigs. We knew we were in prime javelina habitat though, as evident by the many tracks & diggings in the area. We decided to still hunt our way back towards camp, where we were scheduled to meet my good friends Rich & Bert, who would be joining us for the rest of the weekend. As we slowly worked our way back towards the truck, I heard a ruckus a couple of hundred yards below us in a brush choked draw. Thinking it sounded like feeding/digging javelina, we set-up and I began blowing furiously on a call that I had purchased for the occasion. While I had never called-in a pig myself, I had several friends tell me of success they had using this tactic so we thought we would give it a try. After 45 minutes or so, we didn?t get any pigs to come in so we decided to slowly hunt through the draw. We didn?t see any pigs, but found their fresh diggings which confirmed their presence and gave us a good location to start hunting after lunch. After meeting up with Rich and getting a bit of an early afternoon rest, we headed back up to the area where the pigs were feeding for the evening hunt. We got set-up on a nice vantage point and spent the evening scanning the surrounding hills, ridges, and flats. As in the morning however, the pigs eluded our glasses and we called it a day. The next two days were spent pretty much the same way; Glassing, calling, still-hunting?. We continued to see lots of deer & other sites, but no pig sightings. We had a couple of close calls, hearing & smelling pigs in some of the dense undergrowth we were hunting, but again with no confirmed sightings. We also mixed-in lots of other activities including a little trap shooting, some quail hunting, & plenty of good times around the camp fire. It was a joy to see Erik soak in all that his first big game hunt had to offer. He continued to quiz me throughout the weekend regarding javelina, deer, the desert, and life in general. It was a great weekend?.. Well, Sunday afternoon finally arrived, and it was time to break camp and head for home. Luck would have it however that as we were driving out of our camping area, a group of pigs ran across the road in front of us. I hit the brakes and asked Erik if he felt up to trying a stalk on these guys, and was answered with an enthusiastic YES! Although the pigs had run into a ravine to the side of the road & were already out of sight, looking at the lay of the land we took a gamble on where they would be heading and took-off for a knoll a ? mile away. Fifteen minutes later we were sitting on the hill, watching a flat area where I thought the pigs might cross. Sure enough, here they came. Erik got set-up with his shooting sticks and waited as the pigs came moving by. A big one stopped broad-side at about 40 yards, and Erik started to take a bead on it. The pig moved-off quickly however, and never stood still for a shot again. The rest of the pigs were very spooked at that point, and none of them offered a shot either. In hind-sight, the wind was wrong where we got set-up for the pigs, and they likely smelled us as we were trying to ambush them. It was a tough lesson for a young hunter, and Erik?s spirits were down as we again loaded-up into the truck for the ride home. I could tell he was frustrated at not closing the deal when he had the chance at the one pig that stood still, but I told him that I was very proud of him for not taking a ?low percentage? running shot. A Proud Dad The drive home was a long one, and Erik & I had lots of time to reminisce about the weekend. We talked about all of the sights we saw: Deer feeding in the early morning, numerous birds, coyotes, rabbits, etc. We talked about the good times laughing around the fire with our buddies, and we talked about how great it was to be out in the desert as opposed to back in the city. Towards the end of the ride home Erik said ?Dad, you know what? Now I know what they mean when they say you don?t need to harvest an animal to have a successful hunt. I think this was a very successful hunt?. I knew then that he had learned much more than ?gun safety? during the previous month?s Hunters Education course & subsequent hunt. It was a proud moment for me indeed, and I?m looking forward to many more ?successful? hunts with him and his younger brother & sister.

36 archery javelina for me, 20C junior javelina for my son, and he & I both got unit 23 turkey tags! S. :-)

Good luck Christian! I hope you bag one, but either way I'm sure you'll have a great time. GLASS HARD and squeeze that trigger slowly (I'm trying to break my 10 year old from jerking the trigger..... )! S.

Definitely not wrong to keep shooting at a standing deer! All a matter of opinion Casey. Don't worry about the heat from the other board (or this board for that matter...). Doesn't really matter what other folks say, because they aren't YOU. Hunt in the style you're comfortable with. S. PS: I was brought-up to keep shooting until they are down as well.

Bill, enlightening for sure! I obviously stand corrected. Guess I need to get my facts straight prior to running my mouth.... Thanks for the link; No doubt I'll need to be more careful what I do on trust lands in the future. Hey Casey, is that how a 'ya hoo' dresses? Thanks for the tip, now I'll know one next time I see one. S.