Search the Community

When the 2014 season ended, I remember thinking, I doubt I can possibly have more fun then that chasing javelina. 2015 proved to be no different, turned out to be one for the books. Filled with fun days in the field and stacked with plenty of "firsts" as well. Dillon started this season of with his archery metro pig back in Dec. We hunted washes behind our neighborhood and it finally paid off. He made a good shot at about 20 yards through the front leg and his pig expired very, very quickly. This is Dillon's second archery pig Dillon's 2014 Dec Metro Javi Per tradition, we started archery hunting January 1rst, first day out was my son Dillon, myself and my buddy Nelson. Dillon stalked a great whitetail buck and came darn close to getting a shot, but we didn't find pigs that day. January 2nd, Dillon, my daughter Ashley and I set out. It was a cold, windy morning and we came up empty the first couple hours. We decided to hike over to the next ridge and I glassed up a herd while we were taking a quick break as we topped the ridge. We snuck right in on them but Ashley missed a shot and sent them scrambling, I was able to call them back, but that also resulted in arrows flying and not meeting their mark. Day 3, Nelson and I were at it by ourselves. We ventured into one of our favorite spots and it didn't take long before pigs were located. Nelson let me take the front and it took us quite a while for me to send an arrow. Just about didn't happen as a sow and two reds were less than 20 for about 3 minutes and I thought for sure it would end badly at any second. I opted to pass and hoped we could hang on long enough for a different pig to present a shot. Finally, one pig started moving our way and I let him have it at about 10 yards broadside as he crossed our path. Wasn't able to call the herd back, but the herd of 20 plus scattered and small pockets remained here and there. Nelson moved down hill to get a shot and even drew his bow. No shot was taken and upon letting his bow down it derailed on a small branch, made a nasty noise and luckily he didn't get hurt! He was chapped, the day was over, or was it!? I told him to shoot one with my bow and he laughed, then I laughed. But a few pigs had made their way down into a wash and held up at about 500 yards. After thumping a barrel cactus with my bow about a dozen times. We clearly saw he was on the mark at 20 and 30 yards and he moved down into the wash, my bow in hand. About a half hour to forty-five minutes later, pig #2 was down for the count! My archery pig Nelson's archery pig During the week, I decided to go out solo and try and fill my metro tag. I had scouted this area once before, which basically consisted of a leisurely walk with the wifey late one weekend morning. Based on some minimal sign and a few beds, I decided it was good enough and headed over for an afternoon hunt. My season ended fairly quickly as I was able to fill both my tags in two consecutive half days of hunting. I hiked all over these little hills and was pleased with the sign I was finding. Probably around five in the evening I came across some very, very fresh scat. I hustled up to a little rock outcropping and started scanning all around. I picked up a herd only 200 yards away. Wind was in my favor so I stalked into them quickly knowing I didn't have much time. When I got into 30 or 40 yards, I just had to stand there and wait for one to step out and I let one fly at about 20 yards when one walked by and closed the gap for me. My javi didn't make it 5 yards and was expired before I could walk to it. I've been using the Rage Xtremes 2.5" and animals have met an instant demise from these heads. My metro javi Tuesdays were the only days off my daughter Ashley and her boyfriend Alex could get together so I made arrangements to take off Tuesdays to hunt with them. I set Alex up with a spare bow and this was to be his first hunting experience. My daughter Ashley has been shooting a bow since she was 8 years old. At 21, she has been on many bow hunts for deer, javelina and even a bull elk hunt. She had never taken an animal prior to this season and last archery javelina season was the very first time she had even flung an arrow. She had two misses last year and two misses for this January, but hard work and years of trying would finally pay off. My daughter and I headed out for the last Tuesday of the January season without her boyfriend Alex. We had hunted the two prior Tuesdays and came up empty. Alex couldn't take another day off so it ended up just being the two of us. I found the herd we were after right as the sun started beating on the ridges. We made a long stalk and got above them. Unfortunately, they bedded right when we were getting into bow range. Hours later, we were feeling the effects of the sun and the one bottle of water I grabbed when we dropped our packs 75 yards above was GONE. I actually resorted to tossing rocks to get them up, as Ashley could no longer take the sun beating on us. We had been twenty yards or less for over an hour and no shot. The rocks seemed futile as I chased some off and some would bed right back down. Just when it started to seem hopeless a giant boar walks out and stops at 20 yards in the best window we had. WHACK, the 10 plus year quest came to end. She hit the pig almost square in the ear, it looked like Mike Tyson himself gave this thing and overhand right. I thought it was down for the count, but she ended up putting another arrow in a couple minutes later. Ashley had thumped a giant boar and redemption was finally hers. A bitter sweet end to a long overdue archery harvest! Her boyfriend Alex had one quick shot opportunity on his first day out on a lone pig, but didn't take the shot. Next year will be his redemption I'm sure. Ashley's archery javelina and first bow kill Next up was my wife Colleen and my son Dillon with muzzleloader tags. We changed gears and went into an area we hadn't been for about a year. Saturday we got into two different herds and a huge troop of coatimundis and came soooo close to whackin & stalkin pigs and some desert monkeys, but couldn't get the shot. My son was using his new Barnett Crossbow and Colleen had her Thompson Center 223 pistol. Sunday was just Colleen and I, but no pigs were located. Colleen and I went out Monday after work, we tried a new area based on some feedback from my buddy Nelson from his wife's deer hunt back in November. Colleen decided to bring out her CVA muzzleloader and she ended up taking a pig that evening from 102 yards. We didn't even move from our glassing rock. Doesn't happen often, but gotta love that! We glassed for quite a while and I must have somehow missed some bedded javelina has they suddenly appeared right under us. I had mentioned all afternoon I could smell them, I should have known it was only a matter of time until they showed themselves. Colleen is now 6 for 6 on hunting tags, an amazing streak for any new hunter. She has taken 3 consecutive javelina (two with muzzy and one with her 223 pistol), two consecutive rifle wt and one muzzy cow. This was a great cure for the "Monday Blues" Colleen's muzzy javelina I pulled Dillon a little early from school on Thursday as he was not going to be able to hunt the second weekend of the muzzleloader season. After about a 35 minute hike, we were posted up on our glassing knoll. The wind was brutal and I could barely hold down my binoculars. We kept at it, but also kept second guessing our decision to hunt this particular spot. Dillon had mentioned if we would have been better off going to where Nelson and I had scored our pigs on the same day back in early January. I told him if we didn't find pigs that we would have been better off going there, and if we had gone there and not found pigs, we would have wished we would have gone here. Pretty simple redneck logic right there! Right when we were ready to call it, out steps the herd. Dillon spotted them with the naked eye. With almost no time to spare, D took off down the canyon with his crossbow, rangefinder and a radio. I walked him into the herd as quickly as I could using one saguaro after the next as a reference. He ended up lighting one up at 18 yards with the virgin crossbow right at dark. The herd immediately turned on him and I could hear the panic in his voice over the radio as the pigs moved towards him woofing and jaw popping. I told him to roar and stomp his feet and that is EXACTLY what he did! No gash wounds to my son and all was well, the celebration ensued. He was stoked for sure. He found em, he stalked em solo and to top it off, he gutted his first animal with minimal help from me. D even packed out the pig and his crossbow out while his ol man came out light as a feather. Good stuff, he's growing up.... and I'm growing old. Dillon's crossbow javi As muzzleloader was coming to a close, my buddies Steve and Bill had not yet filled their tags. I asked Steve if I could tag along with him and we decided on Sunday working best for the both us. Last year Steve thumped one with his pistol, Nelson was with him while Colleen & I watched from long range through the binos. I offered up the wife's CVA as time was ticking on the tag become soup worthy and Steve agreed that might be a good idea. He brought his pistol in case we could find ourselves in the ideal stalking situation. We left the truck at first light and split up to hike separate ridges. At the end of our hike we met up on the back sides and I just couldn't believe Plan A had not produced a stinker. Sign is amazing in this area and we have taken pigs off these hills in years past. We sat down to glass off the foothills, but again came up empty in what is prime pig country. With morning quickly fading away, I busted out my javelina chorizo burrito and gobbled it up thinking we need all the help we can get. I swear it wasn't 5 minutes later we glassed up a herd over a mile away. I had stalked this same herd three years prior with my daughter and Dillon and I KNEW they were already in their bed which made the long hike over there a no brainer. We failed three years prior because after an hour of sitting and waiting I started to second guess they were even there anymore. We staked in, my daugter had my pistol in hand instead of waiting them out with the rifle and that proved to be the wrong answer as they busted out and we barely caught a glimpse of them. What we did see, was well used beds and I always glance up there to see if I can lay eyes on those guys again when hunting in the general area. Steve and I were working with much more intel this time around and we sat on the same rock ledge as three years prior and didn't budge. We held up at 100 yards until we finally started catching movement. It wasn't long after when Steve sent the 250 grain sabot into a very large sow. Steve's muzzy javi This year for the rifle season I offered to take one of my son Cody's friends to come hunt. Cody doesn't hunt much anymore and he was game for a javelina hunt when I told him I would pay for a buddy to come hunt as well. Thomas and Cody's hunt came up quick, the weekend prior I took them both shooting on Saturday. It was the first time his friend Thomas had even looked through a scope. 36A was our destination and since it was myself, my two boys and Thomas, camping was a must! Colleen helped me do the shopping and we loaded the trailer Thursday night for a Friday afternoon departure. It was tough day at work Friday as the rifle pig picks came to my cell and posts went onto facebook haha. Pic of camp right after we started setting up The Friday night campfire was as good as any and we had high hopes for the weekend. Saturday morning me and the crew headed to our predetermined parking spot and I was hopeful there hadn't been hunters in there for opening day. After about a 20 minute hike we were in position and the glassing began. Dillon kept going to a different hill to increase our odds of spotting pigs. I ended up glassing a small herd heading right for him and his hill, but while I was trying to get him to see them the radio went dead and go figure, not enough double AAs to swap out. Cody, Thomas and I bailed off and started to hustle towards Dillon hoping he would locate them and get us on them once we arrived. We never quite made it to Dillon. He was motioning me when I was about 75 yards out and told me to get down. He gave me some hand signals to let me know that they were headed our way, which was a 180 from the direction I last saw them heading. Cody had said from the get go that Thomas would take the first shot. Cody has yet to fill a pig tag, but I was proud of his decision and fully agreed that was the way to go. We patiently waited as the herd got closer and closer. Thomas dropped the hammer at 82 yards after some coaching from me to take his time and shoot between breaths. He made a perfect shot and the pig expired within a few feet. We quickly got Cody behind the rifle but the 82 yard crack of the rifle sent the remaining pigs full speed in different directions and they never looked back, nor did the the J13 have any effect on them. So much for calling them back, works like a champ bowhunting. There would be no double on this day. Dillon had been rolling the video camera and managed to get some pretty decent footage considering he's still a youngster! Thomas has been coming to our house for over four years since we moved into our new neighborhood. He's a great kid and this was a great deal indeed. Thomas and his family have opted for chorizo, bratwurst, and hot italian. I dropped his pig off at Jon's shop. My wife already had an 8x10 framed waiting for him when we got home and I plan on getting the skull to him as final keepsake to his first hunt. Thomas's first hunt/first animal... The Wrecking Ball Crew A quick video of Thomas's hunt, shot by D and I did the editing Unfortunately, Cody getting his first javelina was not in the cards. We had no trouble finding them a few more times, but the bad luck was endless and the wind was bordering on ridiculous. Every move we made after we located pigs was wrong. They always zigged when we zagged and Cody ended up missing a prehistoric blonde looking javi Sunday late morning after waiting almost two hours for him to stand. His was a harsh defeat and the wind made the decision for us that we had indeed lost our will and we threw in the towel for the Sunday night hunt. 25-30mph winds are no joke and the kids just couldn't enjoy themselves in those conditions. I wish we could of snuck out one day this week to get Cody his first javi, but with have busy weeks, me with work and Cody with school, track and band. I hope he decides to stick with it, he does seem unlucky as far as hunting, but the reward will be that much sweeter when the taste of success comes. All and all we hunted well over a dozen different herds of javelina from three different units. We ended killing out of 6 or 7 different herds. I'm sure all but two were boars which is a lucky bonus in my book. I still somehow feel like I haven't quite had my fill, but I'm looking forward to getting out and trying to finding some big whiteys before they drop. Thanks for checking out our adventures if you managed to hang in there for the long winded post!

For the fall of 2013, I got drawn for an early unit 29 whitetail hunt and also a mule deer tag in New Mexico unit 23. During the vacation planning process some months before, I inadvertently wrote down the wrong hunt dates for the NM hunt and planned a Hawaii trip with my wife Julie and her sister, which fell between the two huntsor so I thought then. A few days before I left for the Arizona hunt, I realized my mistake. The NM hunt was actually a week earlier and at the same time as the Hawaii trip. Yikes! Luckily the trip wasnt our first time to Hawaii, it was to visit our old neighbors, and not the first time to go see them (or the last), so I exchanged my airline ticket for a future trip and told Julie and her sister to have a nice trip. Thank you Julie! What that meant now was that I had 2 full weeks off and back to back deer hunts! This marks the first time I have ever been able to dedicate the full time for a hunt and now I have 2 full hunts to go on. Awesome for sure. Back to the grocery store I went to stock up, after expanding my menus and beverage lists. Julie and I recently bought a new 5th wheel toyhauler-its our retirement home, as we plan on traveling the country when the time comes. The original hunt plan was to just take it on the NM hunt and tent camp on the Az hunt, but that all changed with the trip to Hawaii off of my plate. So I loaded all my clothes, food and hunting gear and the Ranger into the trailer and off I went to live in it for 2 full weeks! By the time Jorge, my hunt partner, showed up later on Thursday, I had camp already set-up. We were right next to Pinery Canyon Road, just past the Forest Boundary. Before Jorge got there, I heard a quad coming down the road, so I looked to see who it was and saw them kick up a nice 4x4 coues, which apparently was right by the trailer! Wow, right there! Maybe I can just hunt from camp tomorrow, I thought. Naah, thatll never work. The 1st day neither of us even saw a deer. No worry, this has happened before. The 2nd day, the morning was going by fast without seeing anything again. I was giving my eyes a rest from glassing and just looking around, when I saw something had showed up in a little clearing down the canyon from me. I glassed it up, it was a coyote laying on its belly, just looking around. I ranged it to 172 yds, got my varmint call out and set-up my rifle on it. When I let out a series of rabbit distress sounds, he snapped his head to look at me, then when he got up and took a step in my direction I blasted it! Fawn killer down! Turned out to be a male dog. I went back to glassing for deer and after a while I glassed up a real nice buck about 700 yds away in a canyon beyond a ridge that was between me and it. I studied him and the area so I could grab my range finder and not lose him. I grabbed the range finder and.lost him! I spent about 15 minutes looking, but couldnt find him again. Finally I radioed Jorge, who was further around the side of the hill I was on, about the buck and where it was when I saw it. Several minutes of silence went by as we were glassing, then BOOM. Jorge radios back, I think I found him, ha ha ha. Jorge later went on to say that he was glassing, looking for the buck I mentioned, heard a noise, dropped the glasses from his eyes and sees this buck running right at him! He didnt have time to aim, just pointed the gun and shot itat 20 feet! So yes, we figured for whatever reason, this buck got spooked out of that canyon and ran right at Jorge, in fact was about to run him over. It was a nice 3x3, but unfortunately the shot hit him in the eye and not only emptied its head, but destroyed the skull plate as well. Too bad, as it was Jorges best buck ever. The 3rd day we were both glassing one of our favorite and most productive areas. Not one deer was seen all morning, so when Jorge radioed me that it was time for lunch after 11 oclock, I didnt argue. I stood up and began repacking my gear into my pack, my back now turned to where I had been glassing. On the other side of the hill I was on is a large meadow, over near where the Ranger was parked. I happened to look down the hill and saw a deer walking across the meadow. Theres a deer I thought as I grabbed my binos and brought them up for a look. Its a buck I said to myself. As I was grabbing my rifle, range finder and binos, I noticed it started moving faster, so I started hurrying over to the side of the hill I was on to get closer. By now the deer had flagged its tail and was in a full run, and I ran too, wondering if the deer was running from me. I only had time to kneel and aim at the deer, guessing it was under 300 yards. As I did this, I thought I shouldnt be doing this, but I did anyway. As soon as I got the cross hairs on him, I fired. I looked over the scope in time to see him kind of kick-up in his gait, just before he disappeared off the meadow edge and into the next draw. I thought I think I hit him-hope it was a good hit and he doesnt get away. Then Jorge radioed me Another coyote? he asked. I replied, no, a buck and hes like A BUCK? No way. Way I said. About that time I see Jorge at the far end of the meadow, near where the buck had come from. Apparently Jorge had spooked the buck out from below me as he was making his way towards the Ranger. I think that buck was bedded below me all morning. Jorge asked me where it had gone, and from my vantage point on the hill top, I directed him to where the deer went over the edge. A couple of minutes later, Jorge radios me YOU GOT HIM!, a 2x3 piled up just off the hill. I ranged down to where I hit the deer, it was 250 yards. So I packed up my stuff and headed down there. As luck would have it, I hit that deer in the perfect spot. He was quartering away from me as it ran, and I hit him inbetween the ribs, the 130 grain .270WSM Nozler Accubond bullet traveled through his vitals and came to rest against the hide in his lower neck on the opposite side. Hes a small 2x3 with weird eye guards. One pointing inwards, the other forwards. High fives! This was the first time ever that we both got a deer on the same hunt. Two filled tags! Back at camp, we had him hanging and was carving him up, when I saw some movement on the road next to us (Pinery Canyon Rd). It was two Hispanic guys, each with huge back packs on, walking West towards the highway. Neither was carrying anything in their hands and the back packs were plain looking with nothing clipped or strapped on them.drug runners!

My brother and I didn't get drawn and have chosen to pick up some left over tags. We don't know for sure which hunt we will get (if any), but will most likely get the late November 36A hunt. I would like to start scouting soon, since we've never hunted the area. I would like to get in by the foothills of the mountains out there. I would really appreciate some general areas to start. I'm looking for a place that's accessible by road. Don't mind hiking a few miles off road, just need to get to a general area to start. Can anybody please PM me some general areas that they've had some success with? Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, WTChaser

We started the first morning of the hunt by glassing a canyon where we have always found big bucks, however we looked for several hours and only found a couple does with two little forkies . My dad brother and I decided to walk further down the mountain where we had some luck last year. My dad and brother split off from me and I started glassing on my own, within a couple minutes I had found another little buck that walked right out of a little ravine. I watched him for a while and suddenly a huge buck walked right up to him. I found exactly where he was in my Vortex Kaibab 15's and called my dad and brother and told them to hurry up to where I was, I had found a shooter buck. By the time they got down to me I had the deer ranged at 450 yards. We decided that was to far of a shot for my brother, so my dad and him got everything they needed had quietly walked down the mountain to 300 yards. The wind was blowing hard and my brother missed. He shot three times and I watched every bullet miss the big deer and watched him and the little buck run over the ridge. We looked for some more deer only to see a couple little bucks and called it a day and headed back to camp. The next morning we walked down to the same exact spot as where he had missed the day before. My brother and dad spit up from me once again going on the other side of the mountain. Within minutes I found a little buck which looked to me like the little buck I had seen with the deer we missed yesterday. I focused on him knowing that there was a good chance he was with another buck. I watched him for about 15 minutes before seeing a coues butt sticking out of a tree. It was hard to see but I could make out some pretty nice antlers and called my brother and dad to hurry up and get down to where I was once again. My dad and brother got down to me and we got his tripod with his swarovski 15's on the deer. This time me and my brother snuck down the ridge and got to within 350 yards. We waited and waited but the deer had bedded down and we couldn't find them. Then my brother and I finally pinpointed where the big deer was, however he never got up. Eventually the little buck got up and walked down the ridge and disappeared to reaper 30 minutes later this time 10 yards in front of us which was pretty cool to watch. I wondered if the big buck had gotten up and possibly snuck off with out us seeing him, but my dad assured me he hadnt taken his eye off of where he was and that he was still there. We waited from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm and finally there he was he had stood up! We had waited him out I got my brother on the tripod and he aimed his way. I quickly went over with him the wind factor and where exactly to aim. The deer turned broadside and bang first shot rang out, miss I told him calm down make a good shot. 2nd shot Bang, the deer ran down the mountain about 40 yards and fell over. My dad called right away and said you guys got him, he's down!! We were all realy excited all our hard work had paid off.