Coach

Nice - too far for me though.

Awesome job! Congratulations!

Want me to come help you find the other side?

Awesome pix! Sure looks green and healthy wherever that is.

I love the OTC youth tags. Like many here, I'd give up my tags altogether if that's what it took to get the kids out there. I've got a 3C tag this year but it's staying on the back burner until my boys get their chance (1 down, 1 to go ) From a management perspective, I totally agree that mandatory reporting is essential to make sure we don't over-harvest and that adjustments can be made if necessary.

Awesome, Brian - Great job to Sam and you!

Great job and congratulations! That's a dandy looking Tom!

Looks like it won't be ready for a few years. While we're waiting, I'll take one of

Very cool vid - thanks for sharing. Don't you wish the hunting TV shows were that cool???

African copperhead

That's awesome - I was just thinking what a cool mount that would make!!!

Based on the second photo I have to agree with the 'big black dog' comment.

Goose egg for my boys and I.

PM sent You a-holdin' out on us, boy?

After 3 days I finally got through, but after entering my info it said they were having technical difficulties!!!! ARRRGGG! Anyone else getting this?

Aaarrrg I can't get through!

I prefer them proportional. No wider than high or vice-versa. A good balanced rack slightly wider than the ears is just about right to me - oh yeah and drop in a split brow tine and a dropper or two.

+1. Don't bother.

Shoot me a PM, I've hunted it twice and it was extremely tough both times, but I did do a lot of research and scouting.

Very cool write-up! Congrats to the boys!

Vortex, hands down.

Very nice! I'd like to learn how to tan hides. Is it complicated?

Yeah, Go to Zillow.com and type in your address. You get to see your home from above OR from the street, what you paid for it, what it is worth, how much your property taxes are, etc. Then you can just scoot on up the street and do the same to your neighbor's house. Pretty wild.

Thanks! We were planning to do a shoulder mount just can't afford it right now, so he got added to the "Skull Collection".

My middle son, Nick just turned ten this month and we've been working like crazy to get his Hunter's Education course finalized before his first ever big game hunt. I scouted the area during the HAM and found what I thought would be a honey hole, but never connected with Grandpa's old Hawkins. We headed to the range for a little "anotomically correct" target practice. A few flyers, but not bad considering he was shooting from a variety of field positions everywhere from 50 to 100 yards. So we head off but right out of town had a little trouble... the paneling started blowing off of the fifth wheel. With the help of a good Samaritan, we were back on the road in no time... We weren't going to let a little mechanical failure get int the way of Nick's first hunt, so we headed on down to our hunting area and set up camp. The following morning was opening morning of the general Javelina hunt. We headed to the area I had scouted previously, but the sign was all old. This was a major blow because I had really counted on them being in there based on the sign we had seen (and a few pigs) during the HAM hunt. We shifted our plans a little and hiked some steep ridges to get a better vantage point that evening... We glassed the country hard, but found no pigs... The following morning, it was up to Nick to decide where he wanted to go. We had seen some really good country near camp the previous day and he decided that was where we'd start day number 2. A short hike at daylight had us on a nice high point with tons of country to glass. Within less than 5 minutes, I had found a small group with one huge boar. They were about 700 yds off so we bailed down the ridge and followed a wash to a small knoll that would put us about 100 yds away, the max we had practiced. Thankfully, when we arrived, the herd was still there, feeding on the hillside. We got positioned for the shot and really took our time waiting for a good broadside shot on the big boar. I told Nick to hold the red-dot sight on the AR15 right on the shoulder and shoot when he was ready. As I was trying to get my bincos up and on the pig we had selected, BOOOOOM! I was hoping to have a better look when the shot fired, but as I finally got things into sight, I saw Nick's first Javelina rolling down the hill - he had obviously hit. It was a little further back than I would have liked, but it was enough. I didn't have a scale, but this was a HUGE boar. Ready to hike out... And finally, the celebration fire! Overall, a great first hunt for Nick. We have another lifer on our hands for sure. A big thank you to my friend Bryan Yorksmith who made this hunt possible and gave Nick the tools he needed via the Hunter's Education course to put all of the studying to practice. I hope you all enjoy the photo and story. Jason