Coach

2A General. 3 points. Got 19 two years ago. Good luck to everyone with a tag, and best of luck next year to those waiting a long time.

I agree on the leftovers - those are first and second choices most years. You guys are gonna hate me. 2A General Pronghorn (with 3 bonus points) and Unit 1 archery Bull. Somehow I have to take off the whole month of September.

Man, those are some primo tags - I'm thinking computer glitch.

Got either 2A general or 2B muzzle loader with like 2-3 bonus points - sorry man.

Yee Haw. An antelope tag for me, and a bull elk tag for me or one of my sons.

Nice! I love it. Way to make the best of this hunt. My oldest and I doubled up, but not before a lot of hard hunting turning up nothing.

I was just wondering if there is a way to find topics we've started here over the years. It currently seems to be limited to about a year. Thanks, Coach

Classic chupacabra, hiding his shoulders like a stump. That's how they fool ya, then dropping a bag of corn - WHAM, you're done.

Congrats to your son! Very fine moment right there.

Super cool. Love the skinning picture under the mesquite. Congrats on a fun hunt.

I've got the general hunt, but I have yet to take a javelina with a muzzle loader. I've tried several times with my Hawkins flint lock, but haven't been able to close the deal with it. Something about that flash pan blowing up in your face while holding steady - one day I'll get it. I'm going to take my grandfather's Thompson .50 cal and my Remington 1858 New Army stainless. If I can't get it done with those, I'll be happy to come home empty handed.

Yeah, I just went in an deleted a lot of old messages, so it should be OK now.

Had one of the coolest hunts ever with my youngest son, Joshua this season. We were in an area we'd never been before but had guidance from a fellow CWT member here who got us started out very well. 8:00 AM opening morning we were getting our first look at some country we'd never seen. Right off the bat we had a nice group of mule deer does and fawns to watch. Within minutes we had three groups of deer just milling around. Before long I spotted a single javelina about 1000 yards off and by 9 we were starting our stalk. The terrain was broken and very open, the "half-way" point was around 560 yards. Josh really wanted to test his long range skills but this was still a little further than we wanted. He's never really wanted to do the archery route so for him, the challenge was extending his range with a rifle. He was lugging around my 25-06 heavy barrel gun that drives tacks, but we were thinking more like 300 yards to be safe. In order to close the distance, we had to circle around to get above the lone boar. As we got into position above where we had last seen him, a doe and fawn bolted below us. I was wondering how we could have bumped them given our quiet stalk and using the wind - and even more puzzling was why they were headed towards and just below us. Josh says, "Dad, there's a mountain lion chasing those deer". I looked behind them for movement, and sure enough, a lion comes trotting up behind them. It's only about 100 yards away and totally oblivious to us. Josh is taking pix with his phone as the lion just walks out to a rock and sits down. I've been hunting AZ & NM for 30 years now, and I've seen a few lions but usually just a glimpse, maybe a few seconds. We sat and watched this lion for at least 3 minutes sitting there trying to figure out his next move. He wanted so bad to be able to shoot it, but he didn't have a tag, so we just kept watching. Eventually, the big herd of deer we had been watching earlier ran behind us making noise and the cat turned to see what was going on. It saw us and slinked off the rock and out of sight. That was definitely one of the high lights of all the years I've been hunting. We worked our way back in a big circle to where we had parked the ranger, still hoping to find either the lone boar we were after or another group, but saw only more deer. From there, we drove back the way we had come in and took a little side road that we could tell went up to a water tank at the top of a ridge that looked to have some good glassing opportunities. As we started getting out the tripods and set up for a short hike, I looked up along the hillside we were on and there was another lone boar, just eating cactus. Quick range - he was 297 yards right in the open. Where we were was an area that had been cleared out for the big water tank, so it was perfect to set up prone. Josh put out the bipod and set up for the shot. The darn pig just kept facing straight away and we didn't want to ruin the meat. We were about to move in closer, but he turned perfectly broadside. Josh got back on the rifle in prone and I watched through the binocs as the shot rang out and he fell, literally right where he stood - no motion whatsoever. It was boom, fall, then the report of the "whack". Josh's 5'th Javelina just days before his 16th birthday. Couldn't have been a more perfect day. His shot placement was perfect, and I know 300 yards isn't exactly "long range" these days but center-punching a target about the size of an apple at 300 yards in field conditions is pretty cool. We took really good care of the meat, and even though he's a big old boar, he'll taste great. Congrats to all the youth hunters this year, and thanks for checking out this hunt.

Sorry - I've now cleaned out my inbox.

Javelina meat, when handled properly is very good - jerky, backstrap cooked just like deer, etc. As others have said, the biggest issue is cross contamination by getting the oily, musky scent from their hide on your hands, then handling the meat. Best of luck. Another shout out for the J13 call. If you break up a herd and blow this thing, more often than not they come back to investigate. I don't think they work well at all on an undisturbed herd - sends them running for the hills in my experience.

Hey, it's all good. My other two boys and I have the same hunt in a couple weeks, and you can bet I'll have a lion tag in my pocket this time. Just in case

Dude, that is awesome. Hit me up on PM - my family loves canyoneering and have found some really amazing places you have to check out.

“The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” - John Wooden I would never teach my son that poaching is subjective, a whim to whatever circumstance arises. I'm proud of his choice.

Yeah, I know, always carry a lion tag. Man, it's tough these days. The expense of putting in 4 of us for pretty much everything gets up there - you can do the math but x4, everything plus college and sports and cars - it gets crazy expensive. Especially when you're putting in for out-of-state hunts for them as well. I just want to give these boys every opportunity I can, and unfortunately, this year an extra lion tag, given how rare that opportunity might present itself, was one of the things I had to skimp on. That said, Josh will remember that day forever, and I wouldn't change a second of it. Thanks for all of your responses.

Not to derail this, but this is the first I've seen about IMR 4451. I've been using IMR 4350 in just about everything I reload for - it just seems to work out best for them. Is IMR 4451 a replacement for IMR 4350 as well as H 4350?

That's really cool!

Be pretty funny to watch this play out cat fishin' on the river, hangin' around the fire with wayyyyy too much beer. It's all fun and games till someone loses an eye - as momma used to say.

Bickering aside, I did have to drag one out once. Not fun squirming into a little hole in the dark with it popping it's tusks at you. I've lost animals before when bow hunting, and I'll do whatever's necessary not to lose one if it's reasonably doable. That said, a wounded, cornered Javelina in defense mode is a force to be reckoned with and not to be taken lightly.

All the things that worked out so well on this hunt, to me, the biggest was seeing him make that choice himself. He knew where I stood, but I left it to him, intentionally - the apple dangling right there. One of my proudest moments as a father and a hunter teaching his sons, was his choice to "do the right thing".

Man, that was awesome. Great job with the video and super nice shooting. Awesome seeing the kids out there doing such a great job. Thanks for taking the time to video and share it.