1uglydude

Someone may have already pointed this out, but if his kids draw general cow hunts they will pay the full non-resident price of $600+ for a cow tag. If a non-resident youth draws on an actual youth hunt the price is only $2 more than a resident youth.

Congrats! How close did you have to get? Seems like I can't hit them beyond 30 yards anyways, so I've been thinking I might as well go the traditional route.

+1 I don't think I have ever been able to get it to be that tender, even with hours upon hours of low and slow braising.

I tagged my first javelina in February of 2011. It took me four years just to see a javelina, and five years to finally get one. At that time, I set a goal to tag 20 by my 40th birthday, which will be in February of 2022. I figured I would have to rely on reservation tags to reach it, but when the Department increased the annual bag limit to two, the goal became a whole lot easier. With a mix of leftover and reservation tags, the goal looks to be in sight (hope I don't jinx it). Since that first pig in 2011, I have been a part of 48 javelina harvests...either helping others or tagging them myself. 17 of those have been mine. This is the story of number 17. I picked up a leftover archery tag in one of the central block units thinking that I would have plenty of time to get out in January. As it turns out, I only had one day to hunt. January 10th. Unfortunately, none of my usual hunting partners were available to accompany me. My wife has a rule against me hunting alone (which has saved me at least once), so I called her cousin's husband who had once told me that he would like to observe a hunt some time just to see what it is like. He was free that day and jumped at that chance. So, I picked up my babysitter at 5am and we hit the road. I was a little slower to get moving that morning. It was clear, but very very cold. A somewhat dry front had moved through the night before and left us with a stiff north wind. In the past, that has made for very productive javelina glassing, usually all day. There had been a bright full moon all night, but with it being so cold I didn't think it would factor into our day much. In my estimation we would have a lot of time to find them, so there was no use in putting ourselves through a cold and dark ranger ride when a cold ranger ride at sunrise would give us the same result. The destination was a drainage that I had glassed from several miles away three or four years ago. It looked good from afar, and I have always wanted to get in there and look around some. It seemed to have everything I was looking for, including plenty of south facing, succulent-covered hillsides. We crested into the basin at about 745 and I got the feeling that I need to stop and look at the hill in front of us before moving on to the high point I had in mind. Within 30 seconds I caught two javelina slowly feeding their way near the very top of the ridge. I called my babysitter over to have a look (his first time ever seeing javelina in the wild), and while he watched them they topped out and disappeared. I wasn't sure if we had been looking at a satellite group of boars, or if we had caught the tail end of a larger herd, but it was certainly worth investigating. As we made our way up the ridge, there was fresh sign everywhere, which suggested to me that we were on the trail of more than just two pigs. After some huffing and puffing we made it to the top, where there was a secluded bowl that I was certain would be full of pigs, but it was empty. The ground doesn't lie. It was clear that they had been there recently, but now all was still. I decided to walk slowly up the side of the bowl in the general direction our two tail end Charlies had been headed, and within a few minutes I caught sight of a large herd walking along the spine of the next ridge over. They were not in a hurry, but they certainly had a destination in mind. After some quick adjustments to make sure we could keep the wind in our favor, we hurried off in pursuit. It only took us about 15-20 minutes to get to where we last saw the herd top out for the second time. Again, I approached a secluded bowl, arrow ready, expecting to be in the middle of a herd. Once again, there was nothing to be seen. Stumped, I started searching the ground for sign, hoping to see evidence of where they had gone, but the ground was frozen solid and wasn't telling the story. I started up the new ridge, but for some reason turned and looked to the left. Across the canyon about 300 yards away I could see a herd of pigs, some feeding, and some sound asleep in the sun. I still can't say with 100% certainty that this was the herd we had been trailing, but it sure seems like it was. They had managed to cover about 600 yards as the pig walks from where we had last seen them, down a nasty hill and half way up another. Not only that, they had done so with enough time to allow half of their crew to start their nap. Where they were now bedded was about a mile where we had caught sight of the first two. If it weren't for the fact that the herd was the same size with the same ratio of young pigs to big pigs, I would have guessed that I was looking at a new herd. Even if it was a new herd though, what surprised me is that after an ice cold and windy night, we had a herd of pigs that was down and sleeping by 9am. Where they were laid up, it was easily 15 degrees warmer and completely out of the wind. It was strategic. All of my previous experience told me that this was the time for them to be up and about doing their feeding in the sun, but it looks like this particular herd filled their bellies under the cold full moon. At a time I expected movement, all they wanted was sleep. With the wind the way it was, there was only one approach for me to get to the herd. I had to down the nasty slope, completely exposed to them and then right back up at them. I left my babysitter to watch the show and started slowly down the slope. One by one the rest of the herd made its way to the growing pig pile until only one individual was left out in the open. When I was 80 yards away from the herd, but still on the wrong side of the canyon, that single pig caught my movement and locked in on me. I held perfectly still, half in the catclaw and one foot on uneven ground for a good 10 minutes before she turned her head to feed again. No sooner had I started to move than I rolled a rock and she flipped back around to investigate. This time she stared my way for even longer...however long it takes for my thigh to cramp up. About the time I thought I couldn't take any more she turned and started feeding again. A few minutes later I was in the bottom and out of her field of view. I checked in with my babysitter and he reported that she had moved over towards the rest of the herd to join the group nap. It had taken me over an hour to move 100 yards and to drop about 200 feet. This was the babysitter's view as I finally made my way up the hill. The formerly alert pig is in the pile of two on the left, and there are 10 or so pigs in the pile on the right. I slowly made my way up the hill, and eventually found myself 20 yards to the left of where you see the smaller group of pigs in the photo, but I couldn't see them through the grass. I sat down on a flat rock and just waited. Every five minutes or so a pig would stand up and shift, and more than once I started to draw back, only to have my target lay back down and out of sight. I passed the time ranging various rocks and bushes while I waited, and prayed that the wind would remain constant. After about 20 mintues on my rock, and several balking draws, something tipped off the herd and they suddenly blew out from their tree in all directions. I can only assume that my scent somehow found its way to one of them. In any event, one of the pigs in the closer group (I believe it was the same one that gave me the cramping stare down) suddenly appeared in front of a cactus that I had previously ranged at 18 yards. I drew back and hit her a bit high on the shoulder, but it was enough to put her down and she tumbled down the hill. Her reaction to the arrow brought some of her herd mates, and I was soon surrounded on three sides by woofing pigs, some no more than two or three yards from me. My babysitter had never seen that before, and thought for sure that I was about to be attacked. Here I am approaching the sow after she had stopped rolling down the hill. And here is a close up of javelina number 17: It was a memorable day, and I learned a lot. Each time I think I know what they are going to do, they surprise me. Nearly four hours passed from the first sighting to when I let an arrow fly. They covered a ton of ground and weren't doing what I thought they'd do, but that's what makes it "hunting."

My kids use a 7mm08. I have a Savage Axis Compact and AR10 in 7mm08 that they both shoot comfortably in the field. For practice I load a reduced recoil round that they both enjoy shooting. Most of their shooting is done with a suppressor, which also helps keep them comfortable. Last week I bought a new Tikka T3X Lite in the compact size and also chambered in 7mm08. It has a 12.5" LOP and 20" barrel, and comes with a 1" spacer to increase LOP when they grow. If you're in the east valley I'd be happy to have you swing by and take a look at it if you can't find one at a gun counter somewhere. The complaints against buying a rifle that they will grow out of are pretty unfounded, in my opinion. When the kid is done you can sell a youth sized rifle for darn near what you paid for it if you originally purchased it on sale. Watch the youth rifles that get posted on here, they never last long. As for the posts complaining about catering to kids, that's some of the stupidest stuff I have ever seen posted on CWT. Keep your kids comfortable. Do whatever it takes to make their first hunting experiences as positive as possible. My first rifle didn't fit me and kicked like a mule. I hated shooting it and I shot like crap. Thank goodness I shot so poorly that I always straight up missed instead of gut or a$$ shooting everything. It took me a long time to overcome my flinching. If I didn't love being outdoors and the thrill of the hunt so much, I wouldn't have stuck with it. With kids who might be on the fence about hunting, you can really win them over for good with a little bit of extra effort and equipment tailored to their needs.

Taking a neighbor boy on his first hunt on the HAM hunt in 24B. The areas I have seen them in the past are all burned. I have a few new areas in mind, but you're all making me nervous with all the "no pigs" talk.

I'll take this

It passed as a Samurai with a diesel engine in it?

What a beautiful Mad-Max-Frankenstein-sonofabitch.

This bill is coming from the Cattle Grower's Association. Thorpe is in deep with the Tea Party movement and the ranchers. The ranchers have a lot of pull at the Legislature and Ducey loves to give them whatever they want. It's just one more page in the anti-public lands movement from the right hand side of the aisle.

I would hope a 1 oz gold bar. Drive to New Mexico and shoot two birds for under $250.

$1700, and it can no longer be split between two people.

I'm not sure who drew, but hoping it's my 12-year old daughter...she was in on her own, but so was my FIL and my wife. But even if it's not the girl's we are in for an adventure. Can't wait!

40a is a Mexicana unit. You have to get north of the Bill Williams River hit the Nelsoni units.

Sent you a PM

Sounds to me like three or four of the most vocal guys in the room are also the ones who make their living guiding elk in the area. The list of names in the article doesn't sound like a roll call of average hunters. If 22 is managed for trophy bulls, then it means guys won't get drawn very often. The "hunters" in that meeting don't give a dang about that because what they want is to be able to get their high-dollar clients on trophy bulls in the areas they know best (i.e. close to home). We already have units that are managed for trophy bulls, and guys are free to apply 20+ years to draw those tags if they so choose. There is nothing wrong with managing some of the units for opportunity for the sportsmen who are willing to shoot smaller bulls, but still get drawn every 3-4 years. Personally, I think these guides are being pretty selfish. Not only that, you have to think that the high number of late season bull tags also give a shot in the arm to the Payson economy each Nov/Dec. In what would otherwise be a slow season, the community gets an influx of several thousand visitors who would have no reason to go up there and spend money without the hunts. Anyways...my two cents.

Cool looking buck You got him back to the truck without gutting him? Must be nice to have young legs and backs out there to do the heavy lifting.

The charges in some of the other justice courts were dismissed at the request of the prosecutor at about the same time, which suggests a finalized plea too.

My daughter has a tag. We are going to wait until after Christmas.

You need to mail them before the weekend. When yours arrived on Tuesday they were put behind the several hundred that arrived in the days prior and were backed up waiting to be processed. It probably took a few days to finally get to yours, and by that time your hunt choices were not available. You've got to remember that the running tally of what they have left is always at least half a working day behind the true total, and they aren't going to get to your app on the day it arrives...especially if you started out several days behind the curve.

I've been wondering how that group was doing. Have they filled any of the three yet?

Where are you located? I have a guy in Gilbert who I really like. DTS Motorsports.

I'm not terribly thrilled with the photos on my camera, and there are probably 200+ photos on the other phones and cameras that were there with us. I want to take the time to write it up properly in it's own thread with the best photos, but for now, a few of my current favorite photos are at the bottom of this post. 🙂 No, it wasn't that ram. He disappeared. Honestly, the ram she killed might score a little better. The photo I shared in that other post was that ram's best angle. (The power of the Internet when you want to show off 🙂 ) He was gorgeous in just about every way, but didn't have the mass her sheep has. Plus, we never saw him in person. Her ram has very nice bases and carries it all the way through. I never saw her ram on any cameras or while while scouting--though he was with two smaller rams that I did have on camera. Everyone is absolutely thrilled.

With the added water and feed, our target ram has about 45 square miles of rugged country he can disappear into. Fingers crossed.

Heading out early Friday morning. The portion of the unit with the target ram has had almost zero rain since March. It got half and inch last week and more is in the forecast. Hoping it doesn't make him move too far.