johnapt

I guess I should keep secret any great spots... however, since we haven't found any yet I'm more than happy to share the places we DIDN'T find Javelina! We went out into 37B today with not much success. We started out working some ridges south of Freeman Rd. about halfway to between 79 and San Pedro river valley. Didn't come across any pig sign, but snuck up to within 80 yards of 4 Muley does. We don't have tags for deer, but it was fun sneaking up on them. From there, we tried a few washes west of San Pedro from the road going North along the rail road tracks. There may well be pigs farther in than any of the places we were looking, but we didn't see enough sign to warrant a 4 mile hike. We also figured out that a LOT of what we were thinking was pig sign, i.e. chewed up prickly pear, is likely cattle or deer sign. I wish we were hunting cattle, we saw lots and beef is yummy too. At a loss for where we will try next week, and what tactics to try, but I think we will invest in the J-13 Javi call and go back to some places where we did see pigs and sign. Although we didn't see lots of pigs or lots of sign in 33 we at least saw some, beats today's results! John

Congrats TJ and Ted, great looking pigs! This year's Javi hunt is my first hunt ever, and even at 27 years old, being out there with my dad teaching me makes me feel like a kid again. My daughter is 16 months old, so I've got some time to figure out how to find and hunt these desert ghosts before I'll need to teach her. It's a good thing too... 3 days and many foot blistering miles into this hunt and I'm realizing it's going to take many seasons to earn my stripes and get good at this! John

Okay moreso embarrasing than dumb... and this just happened last weekend. This will definitely earn me a permanent, unwanted nickname of some sort. As i said in another blog, this years Jave hunt is my first hunt ever. Stayed up till 1 am getting gear ready because I was so stupid excited, even though my dad was picking me up at 4 am to hit the road to San Manuel. I was WAY overtired in the morning, had my dad stop so I could get a big tall coffee. 2 hour drive there, and about and hour on some really tough dirt roads, we parked behind my brother in law and freind Zack to start our walk in. That coffee was running right through me so I thought it best to dig a hole and handle an urgent #2 before we got anywhere near where we were hunting. Grabbed a shovel and went off a bit, feeling so proud that I was smart enough to have some camping tp in my fanny pack. I was wearing overalls, and thought I had been pretty careful to move the straps out of the way. Evidently I wasn't. The end of one of the straps was at the bottom of the latrine I dug. NO water to clean with, tp wouldn't have gotten the job done. I sat there for a good 2 minutes trying to figure out what to do. Certainly wasn't going to call my dad, brother in law, and Zack for help, I was too embarrassed. Finally I had a eureka moment... overalls have 2 straps! I figured I could get by with one, and then wouldn't have to tell them at all what had happened. I was pretty releived that I wouldn't have to admit to the party what had happened, grabbed my leatherman and cut the strap. Went back up the hill, pretty pleased with myself that I solved the problem without having to tell the story. The first thing my brother in law says when he sees me is "What happened to your overalls?"

Hello all, new member. Looks like a good group with some great stories and advice to share! My first time hunting, and my dad (experienced hunter, but no kills with bow yet) my best friend Zack (several bow kills under his belt, but no Jave's yet) and my brother in law Justin (1st hunt, hunting with a 1960's bear traditional bow... no sights... shelf rest.... he groups unbeleivable at 30-40 yards) are all hunting Javelina in 33 and 37b. Last weekend, worked the tributary washes around Peppersauce in 33... lots of off road vehicles, didn't see any Jave's the first day. Sign all over, but a lot of pressure down there. We were given a spot to try by a Pinal County Sherrif's deputy near Tiger Mine. Saw at least 8 muleys up there the next day, but no horns. (Justin said he though he saw a buck though) Not much javelina sign though. Came back to Peppersauce that day, driving up the wash (weren't anywhere near where we intended to go yet) spotted 2 or 3 pigs up on on the side of a hill... got way too close to them in the trucks before we spotted them, they were in the next county by the time we grabbed our bows. We settled on working 37b for this weekend, I'm thinking Tortilla Mountains, both south side and San Pedro side. Haven't scouted there so we'll just be scouting with our bows and hopefully get lucky! At any rate, wanted to see if any of you have been on the pipeline road up off of Freeman road and/or up Camino Rio along the San Pedro from there. We nearly lost a jeep trying to get up out of Peppersauce last weekend and don't want to repeat the same mistake again... anyone know what kind of shape those two roads are in? If anyone wants to offer any advice on locations or tactics, I would appreciate it. We didn't have a chance to do any scouting and don't know the area at all. If not, we are happy to put in our dues and learn as we go. Who knows, maybe we get lucky! Thanks!