Women's Javelina Hunting Camp - Thanks Amanda!

[azslim]

Thanks Amanda, you did a great job organizing the camp, the chow was top notch and I met some really nice folks. I look forward to the next one, hopefully I'll be able to help out again.

[CouesWhitetail]

Hey Bill,

 

Glad you enjoyed the camp. I had fun glassing with you and thanks for sharing some of your favorite spots!

 

I think the camp went great and was very successful. We got some first time hunters some javelina and everyone seemed to have a great time. I will post a writeup about it soon.

 

Thanks for your help out there!

[SunDevil]

Thanks Amanda and Thanks Bill!! It was nice to meet so many new people. Just a few from off the top of my head, TJ and Peg, Chris from Chino, the guys from Y.O.U., Val from Yuma, Debbie, Kathy, Christi, Eileen, Bonnie, Lori and her mom from Tombstone, Stanley. the list goes on and on. Shannon got into javis on friday and saturday (missed two long shots on saturday). Although one of the camp's favorite quotes from Shannon sat night was "it didn't totally sux.", I know she had a good time, enjoyed meeting a bunch of new and nice friends, and was very appreciative of all the hard work that was put into having such an event. I will post pics of the first time, mighty javi huntress later on. Thanks again!

[Girls Shoot Better]

Thanks Amanda for organizing such an awesome weekend! We were spoiled by the great food prepared by Youth Outdoors Unlimited! The mentors that helped were so helpful and knowledgeable! In particular, I want to give a special thanks to AZ Game and Fish Wildlife Managers, Gabe Paz and Craig McMullen. They were patient and a lot of fun to hunt with. Thanks to Steve Paz, who came out on Saturday to help Gabe. The two of them, walked Bonnie and my butts off. It was worth it though to get a chance to see the mountain lion and have them pursue it and get a shot at a pig! It was amazing to watch the lion dogs. Stan, thanks for filling in on Sunday and taking us out. Even though we didn't get a shot, had fun in stocking the pigs. Bonnie, I truly enjoyed hunting with you and hope to do more of that in the future! Chris and Shannon, we really enjoyed talking to you....even though Chris is from Benson (Go Jackets!) and likes ASU (glad you got home in time to see the game :-) Gerry, you better post a pic without your beard! TJ...sorry Pine Donkey missed ya...he waited until after 1. Bill, thanks for the how to make sausage lesson! Amanda, hope you organize more of these and invite back the same great people and more! I am very impressed with the close nit group you have developed!

 

Laurie and Chrystie

[tjhunt2]

This definitely was one of the most rewarding events Peg and I have attended. Amanada did a great job organizing this Women's Hunt. The support from Buenis Aires Wildlife Refuge, azgf, all the mentors, family and friends, Youth Outdoors Unlimited, the huntress's who were super, and our very own Coueswhitetail was nothing less than first class. Bill (Azslim) is an interesting, bigger than life, person to talk with on his sausage making and I hope each of you get the opportunity to meet and talk with him someday. I had the pleasure of meeting Graig McMullin a few years ago on my elk hunt and was glad to see him again. He is an excellent speaker, a true asset to azgfd, and we were honored to hear him speak. All the cooks from YOU did an oustanding job and the food was top notch and Mark, one of the cooks, gave a great talk on safety and keeping it fun. Ilene and Roger brought firewood all the way from flagstaff and was most appreciated on those 24deg mornings. I missed the opportunity to visit with Pine Donkey, after he drove in on Sunday to meet me, but was on a blood trail at that particular time. Sorry! I did get to meet his lovely wife and daughter, Laurie & Chrstie, and enjoyed their company. I can't thank Amanda enough for teaming me up with Deb, Michele, Carrol, Shannon, and Kristin. Deb and Michele mentored with me and both showed experience and had what it took to do a great job. Carrol, Shannon, and Kristin showed exceptional safety skills and I couldn't have been more pleased to have helped mentored these girls with Deb and Michele's help. It was an honor to have met so many nice people who really care for the sport of hunting and helping others. I could go on and on with names but with due respect it was my pleasure to have met each and everyone of you. I will post later with the story of our three day hunt and stock on the pigs that ended with 6 pigs single file passing by at 10yrds with Shannon's handgun cocked and ready to drop the hammer. There definitely were some funny story making events that will be told around the campfire for years to come. lol Congratulations to all the successful huntress's who harvested a pig.

 

TJ

[lucky2hunt]

Again Amanda, my thanks to you and all the people that helped pull this camp together. I had a great time helping Chris and Laura. Whether it was sitting glassing (between gabbing and laughing) or on our stalks through country that grabs, sticks and pokes you, Laura was game for it all.

Her perfect stalk to within 15 yards only to have sticks in the way and the wind change up on her, to her great stalk and shot on a pig....

Her tenacity on following the blood trail for 6 hours was inspiring! Thanks to Stan and Tracy for all their help, Tracy (Gr8 White Jr) is the original "Javelina Whisperer", it was a pleasure hunting with you and learning from you!

Stanley, I still get goosebumps when I relive watching that stalk through the binos, that was one of the coolest hunting experiences I have ever had!!!

TJ and Peg it was fun talking to you and your dove apps. and javelina sausage stuffed mushrooms were awesome! It was great putting faces to the screen names we see on here, SunDevil very nice to meet you and your wife! The guys doing the cooking were incredible! AND..... Bill..... Your jokes (even the ones at my expense) still make me laugh. It was a pleasure sir, I enjoyed your company and I appreciate you sharing some of your knowledge. I shared time with friends, made new friends and enjoyed all of it!!!

 

A few more pictures...

Hello!!!

John the 'Champion Predator Caller'

Chris "WHERE ARE THEY"????

Moving the 'Johns'

HEY WAIT, I'M NOT DONE!!!!!! Oh Kathy.... You make me LOL

The End.

[azslim]

Ilene, that one joke wasn't at your expense, it was so if someone asks you "Ilene who" you have a ready answer for them.

[lucky2hunt]

Ilene, that one joke wasn't at your expense, it was so if someone asks you "Ilene who" you have a ready answer for them.

Oh yeah! I'm ready now!!!

[CouesWhitetail]

LOL!! Love the pic of Kathy in the port-o-john! that's too funny...I hadn't see that pic yet!

[CouesWhitetail]

I had a great time at the camp too! We had about 16 novice women hunters and 16 mentors plus several husbands that came along as well. We also had about 4 people from the Outdoor Experience 4 All group.

 

We had some great representation from the CouesWhitetail.com family. TJ (TJhunt2) and his wife Peg, Stan (Stanley), Tracy (Gr8whitejr), Ilene (lucky2hunt) and her husband Roger, Chris (SunDevil) and his wife Shannon, Bill (Azslim), Jake (Tines) and his wife and sister were all there. Oh and we had Laurie (Girls Shoot Better) (as a student) and her parents there as well.

 

TJ and his wife came early and set up a great tent complete with cots, rugs, a heater, latern, tables, chairs and water station. This tent was for the ladies who signed up but didn't have any gear for camping. here is a pic of the awesome setup.

 

 

 

The first day four ladies got a javelina and ALL four had never killed a big game animal before. One lady was about 64 years old and said hunting was on her "bucket list". She saw the article in the paper at the last minute and signed up! Gerry Perry (retired from AGFD) took her out and let her use his scoped Thompson Contender to shoot a pig! I can tell you Joanne was thrilled!! She kept asking when we were doing another camp!

 

a pic of her and Gerry

 

 

We had ladies young and older at this camp. It was great to see the mix. I am guessing our own Girls Shoot Better was the youngest. She and her mom are shown sitting at the table in the pic below the cooks.

 

 

 

 

 

We had some amazing food provided by the AGFD grant and cooked up by the guys from Youth Outdoors Unlimited!

 

a pic of the cooks

 

 

 

 

Meals included chorizo breakfast burritos, gourmet merlot burgers, tacos, amazing ribs, and on Sat night we had a GREAT game tasting. Many of the mentors brought game meat to share and TJ and Peg cooked up some of their famous stuffed doves and stuffed javelina mushroom caps. WOW, that was awesome. We had bear jalapeno summer sausage, oryx, elk, deer, javelina, antelope and more. AZslim actually taught one of the ladies how to make sausage from her javelina right there at camp and we cooked some up to share. So the ladies got to try some of everything.

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed some great chats around the campfire. Temps were in the 30s at night so it was great to have a big fire. Thanks to Ilene and Roger for bringing a load of firewood from Flagstaff!!

 

 

 

here is our resident fashionista, Jennifer

 

 

and OE4A participant Kellie in her PJs at the campfire in the morning

 

 

Thanks much to the AGFD for funding the camp. Gabe Paz played a big role in our success by providing tons of locations of javelina herds for us. Most of our mentors had not spent time in the 36 units, so this information was invaluable! Thanks to all the great mentors and to the Youth Outdoors Unlimited for cooking for us!

 

It was a great weekend and I know the ladies won't forget it anytime soon.

 

Many thanks to several businesses and groups that helped support this camp:

Arizona Game and Fish Department

Youth Outdoors Unlimited

Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge

Crooked Horn Outfitters

Sportsman's Warehouse

Outdoor Experience 4 All

Arizona Outdoor Women

 

Mentors included:

Kathy Greene

Cindi Richardson

Marcy Harris

Deb Wesch

Ilene Hailey

Michelle Crabb

Craig McMullen

Gabe Paz

Steve Paz

Mark Frieberg

Jake Lindsey

Gerry Perry

Tracy Boorn Jr

Stan Johnsen

Tom Joiner

 

 

 

[stanley]

Great pics Amanda!!!!! The weekend was a blast! Yes Ilene, it was really cool to watch Laura & the guys stalk in on those pigs from 3/4 mile away! Fun to be a part of the stalk, without really being a part of the stalk!

 

Bill, TJ, Ilene, Peg, John, Laura, Laurie, Crystie, Amanda, Tracy, Kathy, Sundevil & wife(forgot first names.... ), Tyler, Mark, Gabe, Steve, Craig, etc..... List goes on & on.... too many to recall, I'm afraid! So nice spending time with old friends and making new ones! Enjoyed helping the hunters and I ALWAYS enjoy sleeping under the stars by the fire! The food also rocked!!!!!

 

No pictures from me, because unfortunately I lost my camera on the last morning of the hunt! I'm sure it's somewhere in the deep/brushy ravine that Laurie and I were stalking pigs in! Was time for a new one anyway, I suppose.

 

Until next time friends!

 

S.

 

 

 

PS Amanda: Yes you did get a picture of Girls Shoot Better!!! That's her and her mom, Chrystie, sitting at the table enjoying lunch!! Right below the pic of the chefs!

[gotcoues]

Tracy filled me in on this and it sounded fantastic. Reading through these posts makes me realize it was even much more than that. I would love to have my daughter participate next year as she is yet to harvest a Javy and I would also enjoy helping out the other ladies as well.

 

 

What a great deal indeed

 

Ilene,

 

"pig whisperer" That's hilarious!!!!! Why use a predator call when you can talk dirty to em and they come trotting in.

[gilaarcher]

What a great recap of the weekend. I too had a blast getting to know everyone. I got to help mentor with Gerry and Craig. What great guys and perfect javelina guides. It was so awesome to see Joanne harvest her first big game (even though Jacqueline and I scared them right to her!) Jacqueline and Jennifer had so many stalks, but each time were unable to get a clear shot through the thick cactus and brush down there, but they seemed to have enjoyed themselves and we certainly enjoyed getting to know them. Kudos to the cooks! Wow! The food was amazing. I definitely did not expect to eat like a queen out there, but that's exactly what we got.

Amanda, you truly did an amazing job organizing this event. It was my pleasure to be there to help out. The only thing that could have made it any better is if the javelina wanted to cooperate a little more, LOL.

 

Marcy

[Me&mybow]

I just wanted to say thank you to Amanda and all the others responsible for organizing this event. I had such a great time and really enjoyed meeting all of you. I'm really glad to have been matched up with Ilene...it was a pleasure getting to know her and such a great opportunity to learn from such an experienced and successful archer. I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Tracy as well and experience his excellent "woofing" ability first hand! And thanks to Ilene and Stanley for their excellent glassing and guidance, providing me with a shot opportunity. Even though I didn't get the pig in the end, the spot, stalk and track was a hunting experience I'll remember for a long time. I'm hoping to have more opportunities like this one and get to know all of you even more. Again...thank you.

 

[Tines]

Amanda did an amazing job throwing this together. A HUGE thanks to her and all involved. Like mentioned before, the food was fantastic and the people were great. If you've got a woman (or women ) in your life that might be interested in hunting, you should really consider this. They'll REALLY appreciate the port-o-jons, if anything. Thanks again, Amanda!!

 

I hunted with my sister and my wife. We had some childcare issues so I wasn't able to take both of them out at the same time (as one would watch the kids while the other hunted). So first up was my sister, Trina. Unfortunately for my wife back at home, we found some pigs first thing in the morning. We made a good stalk to 62yds and she made a perfect shot right off of the top of my tripod. The funny part about the stalk was just before we got up to the top where the pigs were, I realized I made a big mistake. Like many hunts, I took my pack off within 150yds or so or so to lighten the load and make things easier. I realized that I left all the powder, primers and sabot's in my pack! I've got to get used to this "1 bullet at a time, thing!" So I told my sister that she'd better make the first shot count otherwise she'd have to follow up with a .45 Colt. No need as the pig dropped in it's tracks.

 

 

The following day was my wife, Maia, and her turn. This was Maia's first hunt EVER. She said that if she were to shoot anything, it would have to be something ugly. Since there are no tags for her husband, javelina seemed the most appropriate. She also thought it would be a cool idea to be around other first-time, women hunters. She had a great time. So since it had to be a "big, nasty, ugly, old, stinky, boar that had lived a long life and REALLY just wants to die....." I had my work cut out for me. Well, I did my best but all I found were 2 pigs that day. And the combination being neither that she'd shoot- a sow and her young. She felt bad knowing that we worked pretty hard getting her ready at the range and stuff and while there's a legal animal in front of her, she wasn't going to shoot it. I was proud of her for sticking to her guns! After many comments from me joking that I was "tired of hunting with a trophy hunter and wanted someone else", we laughed and had a great time. She cant wait to do it again next year...

 

Here she is, gleaming with excitement at 5am on her first day to the field....

 

 

 

 

I was literally shocked at how well she could glass! She was finding deer all over the place. And she glassed up several bedded! It was pretty cool. She thought this little Coues deer buck chasing a doe was pretty neat..

 

 

Most of the time, she spent just as much time behind the glass as I did. I was impressed that she stuck with it that long. Then there were other times that she got a little distracted.....

 

 

The one thing she noticed while being out there was how "quiet and relaxing" it was. No kids, no need to talk. And that's a lot for a woman to feel like there's no "need to talk"! ;)

 

Anyway, thanks again to Amanda for throwing this together. It was a really good time.....