elkhunter

I understand this has nothing to do with coues deer but I did set foot in the desert hunting both a coues buck and pig...this morning i came across pigs and thought this would make a good story incase some of you guys are stuck at home. This morning my sister and I headed out in the ford truck incase we had to do some 4 wheeling with the snow and rain we got out in 34B. We arrived at our spot 7:20 and met up with another hunter...I got out and talked with him to make sure I was not going to hunt in his area....turns out he was going to hunt else where which gave us a little break to hunt the spot i want to hunt. This guy was new to the area so i told him about several pig and deer spots in 34B...after talking to this fellow hunter my sister and I headed down the road and pulled over and got our equipment and headed out...we walked about half a mile in this wash and I made my way out of the wash with my sister behind me. As soon as I got out on the flats I saw pig sign to my left....I went under the tree to check how fresh the sign was. The sign was very fresh because there was dirt ontop of the fresh snow...I nocked an arrow and made way to a clearing and told my sis to let it rip on the j-13 call..but she wasn't behind me, she was about 15 yards down and telling me that she sees javelina. So she came over behind me and blew those sqealing sounds on the j-13 and within seconds we had 2 pigs running at us. One pig ran to my left about 6 yards out but this guy wouldn't hold still for me to fling an arrow at him so I foucused on the other pig. This pig stopped under a mesquite tree and I settled the pig between the 25 and 35 yard pin and let the orange arrow fly. I watched the arrow and the pig saw the movement so she took a step forward and the arrow hit her and did a pass through and dinked off a tree. The pig took off running...my sis and I watched it as long as we could. I believed that I miss the shot since the pig took a step or two forward when the arrow was in midflight but after looking at the arrow we found some blood and chunks of food [V]. My sister and I waited from 8:05 to 8:40 and set off to track the pig...we made 50 yards down and my sister spotted a javelina moving in the tall grass 80 yards north of us...since we were not sure if this was the same pig I shot at...we could not pursue it so we continuted with the blood trail we had. My sister set up orange tape every 15-20 yards where we found blood/footprints...the pig track led us to a wash where she bedded down several times and there was good amount of blood coming out...we kept on the trail and lost blood and footprints after 150 yards or so. So we decided to skip that area and head over to where my sister spotted the pig moving north of us. We got there in the tall grass with no blood to be found, just footprints. We followed the footprints to an brushy oak wash bed and the footprints were getting very difficult to find so i was crawling on my knees beggin to the almighty lord that i'll find this porker....and that if i was to look up i would not see a pig charging me [], anyways back to the story...so the track was getting very tough and no blood has been shed for 200 yards or so. When i finally looked up from the ground, my eyes adjusted from the near sight to the far sight mode and I noticed orange tape on the trees...the pig was moving in circles! So my sister and I decided to do the last option...blow on the j 13 call again...my sister spotted the pig moving out of a wash 15 yards below us! The pursuit was on again with full hope! We went down the wash and found the footprints....still no blood, after trailing the footprints for 40 yards we caught a splash of blood and continued to find more and more blood down the trail. As we started to approach the thick stuff i had an arrow nocked and ready for a charging pig...i made way around the corner and found a huge cliff in the wash and sure enough there was a cave at the bottom....I told my sister "I'll be danged if the pig went in there" she grabbed my shoulder and said "I think it went in there, look at that last rock" there was blood smeared on the side of this massive rock before the cave. I made way around the trees to a spot where I can see inside the cave. My sister was right behind me and I moved forward and peered in...sure enough the pig was in there bedded broadside looking at me...so I drew back and let another arrow fly, this time it was true and the arrow struck the lungs...5 minutes later the pig took her last breath and all was relieved. I finally took the pig at 11:30 which means we stayed with this pig until we found it a little over 3 hours later. After getting pictures, tagging, and field dressing, we went back to where I first shot the pig and had to pick up all the orange tape...we picked up a total of 39 seperate pieces of orange tape which spreaded out over 400 yards. I feel guilty that the arrow had to hit the pig far back but after 3 hours of crawling looking for a tiny drop of blood or a rock that has been knocked out of it's orginal position...i was able to find my pig. Here I am sitting on a rock waiting for the pig to take it's last breath...the pig is in the cave on the far end of the picture. Here I am with my sow Here's my sister with my pig...I owe it all to her! Here I am carrying the pig out Another pic with my sister! Another picture of me! [:I] One last picture...my sister and I...this is the first time she's ever seen the process of taking a big game and she can't wait for her general pig season in 19A to come around

shoot! I'd take any of em but the one on the left just has mass all the way out to the tips! Andy dude if i get drawn for 33 late whitey...would ya help me out bro? As a fair trade i'll help you whack a biggun porker in Jan

Well after the week went by after I got my pig my dad has been getting stoked about going out pig hunting again. So this morning we broke loose and arrived at the spot about 7 :23. We started walking and walked a pretty good distance to get away from everyone else. We arrived at our glassing point around 8:20. My dad was set up 15 yards below me and I went under a mesquite tree in the shade and set up my tripod and binocs. AFter a couple minutes of glassing I thought I got a pig in the binocs but as my dad was halfway up, i told him it was a coues deer feeding off a prickley pear. It was tough to see that far becuase the mirage was intense this morning. I kept on glassing the near hillside and revealed no pigs. My dad started glassing up the canyon as I started glassing the flats. After 10 minutes or so...I picked up something piggish looking so i locked my tripod and binocs on the figure and waited.............hot dang! The black figure moved! So I had pigs in sight close to 8:45 in the morning. So i called my dad up and pointed out the pigs and we were getting pumped! After a minute of watching the herd there was up to 8 pigs all together...which means hardly anyone hunted these pigs and that this is a true pig area. There was also babies in the herd which would guarentee that the J-13 will work. So we took off down the hillside falling down like a bunch of drunk morons in England. We reached the bottom and made our way 3 ridges over to the "flat with pigs" We arrived to a large mesquite tree and dropped off our packs and took some layers of clothing off. So all we had were clothes, binocs, 2 j-13 calls, and a bow with 4 arrows. The pigs should be about 500 yards down the flat I told myself. As we quiety made way towards the area that the pigs should be in...the wind started to pick up and the breeze was flowing right in our faces...perfect. But however the wind wasn't all that great...it was super quiet and meant that we had to put up a very slow and careful stalk to get within range. After going 100 yards a plane flew over us with that loud burrrrrzzzzzzzz sound and my dad and I took advantage of this opportunity and sprinted over these cactus and we managed to cover another 80 yards within seconds. So we were getting closer and my heart was pumping and my veins started to stick out of my arms! We kept making our way through the desert until i reached a spot where I can see 50 yards ahead and I started glassing hoping to reveal some pigs that I haven't spotted before. My father was behind me 5 yards and as i put down my bincos i caught movement to my right. It was a javelina coming right at us! I thought the pig was charging until it stopped to feed. The pig started moving towards us again and was 25 yards away when i felt a tap tap on my shoulder. My dad signed to me......he said "Get out of the way, you're in my shooting lane" whoops, so I couldn't move to the right or left so i crawled forward towards the pig and managed to move to the right out of the shooting lane. I was perched down behind a green bush watching the pig feed 10 yards infront of me...then an arrow flew and struck the pig high....and the arrow was sticking out a good 20 inches as the pig took off running. We watched the pig run 30 yards right under a tree and the arrow hit a branch causing the arrow to move farther down the pig and it struck the rear leg....causing more bleeding! (I don't know if the pig was trying to kill herself or if it was an accident), anyways! The pig broke off the top 5 inches of the arrow and went another 10 yards and laid down to take her final breaths....The rest of the herd was still 50 yards out feeding...we didn't scare them but kinda told em off so they moved farther down the flats without getting spooked. This was cool cuz we didn't have to use the j 13 call and this pig had no idea we were right there! First time I had a pig so close and I got to see all the action of the pig and arrow right infront of me! So today was pretty sweet, good weather, long hike, some glassing, and pigs of course! So here are the pictures!! Here's my dad...2nd year straight he stuck a pig with a stick and string Here I am with his pig.. Here's my dad and I Here's pop with the piggy up! Here's good ol pop carryin his pig out Since we already made jerky out of my WHOLE pig, we're gonna freeze this sow up and over the summer we're gonna dig a hole in the backyard have a good ole fashion pig pit bbq! Enjoy the story/pics!

Hey thanks! Last year my dad had this tag and he was able to get a piggy on the last day of the season. I also had the 34B general pig tag and smoked a pig opening morning before the sun came up and by that afternoon i was helping out a buddy in 34A on his general pig hunt and he got a pig on that following Sunday. Then I went out one last time with another buddy in 34B and he smoked a pig too! So last year we went 4 for 4. I have 3 friends with pig tags in 19A and I have to do tons of pig scouting when I get back to NAU. Hopefully my dad and I can team up like always and help other people get their pigs! Hopefully we'll go 5 for 5 this year! Wish us luck!

yeah, andy sent me word on this hunt and pictures right after you smoked this buck! congrats!

lol, no way dude! It got too dark after a couple feet , I had to crawl into the cave a little to get my pig back before the earth swallowed her up!

AHh just got it here tonight! THis is actually Tyler...i used my pop credit card to get the tripod but don't worry i paid him back with my christmas money! I'm done with all these crap plastic tripods and i'm ready for my first real one! Thanks for everything! Will give you an update on all the animals i whack using this tripod to spot em up!

I ordered this tripod from the coueswhitetail site on the 27th because my other tripod broke. I tried contacting Amanda but has not been responding to my email. I just recently went onto the site to show my grandpa the tripod I bought but it is no longer on the site anymore ....I'm worried that I will not be able to recieve my tripod and worried that i will not get it before the 1st. For those of you guys who has ordered items from this site...how long did it take to arrive to your house? i live in Sierra Vista...just south of Tucson, when should I be expecting it? Thanks for the update.

12 poounds! That's a hefty thing to carry in your pack! That's a dandy buck right there! Congrats on the success. Boy Scott, you look diffrent without your beard! I'm used to seeing that picture of you in the Coues Whitetail book with the beard! This one picture almost threw me off. Good luck on the rest of the hunt.

30X80? Sheesh that's a biggun. How much does that pair of binocs weigh? What minimum distance is this binocular considered worthless....such as 100 yards? THe most powerful binoc i've ever peered through was a 20X60 and cannot imagine what the 30X80 would be like! By the way how is your brother doing this season? Is he guiding deer this year or is age getting to him? Good luck on this hunt, my dad has 1 day left in his 35A hunt so we're kinda on a pressured hunt tomorrow

Man i've never even seen a buck that big! How great it must have been to take one with a bow! Congrats on your success!

Hey josh, that's a nice buck right there! This morning I glassed up a nice buck for my pops...it would score 105 easy at the tops...but the sad part is he missed his shot at the buck! He only has a 4 power scope so it's "excuseable" but we'll get him..he left 11 does behind and i'm sure he'll be back to check em out later. By the way..do you know Andy? Recently Andy and I just hooked up with hunting and he said he knows about you, dude i've been following your pictures/articles for the past couple of years and checkin on your site all the time. Hope we can meet up some day for some hunting.

Sweet buck dude!