Good Habitat?

[Heat]

Calling all javi experts!

 

OK guys, my quest for my first javelina continues and I need help finding them. What kind of country/habitat am I looking for? What is an indicator of good javelina habitat? I know lots of prickly pear is a good sign (or at least that's what I heard). How about rocks? Is that a good or bad thing? How do other cactus or succulents fit in to their diet? Or should I be looking for grass and new forbes?

 

How do you recommend looking for good sign? Should I be letting my glassing do the walking or do I need to hit the boot leather in some washes?

 

I know glass, glass, glass! But what if all the hills in the area look the same, and they might only be using one...which one do I pick to glass at primetime? Should I be looking high, low, or halfway on the hill? What if I'm not glassing a hill with good sign? How should I determine where to glass?

 

I have gotten into javelina a few times and made a few bad shots and even hit one I couldn't recover once (still hating myself for that), but I still haven't put my tag on one. I'll be honest, most of the times I found them was either luck or I heard them first. Only once or twice I saw them by just glassing. I'm tempted to go back to the area where I killed my deer cause I saw some sign, but nothing super fresh. A few days after I got my deer, my buddy who stuck around the area found 3 javelina, one boar, one sow, and one red and killed the boar. Don't think that is all that encouraging to go back to.

 

I'll be out in 33/37B again this coming weekend trying again. I am open to any suggestions or assistance!

 

Nick

[Pine Donkey]

Find agave, climb high and glass with good optics. A little luck won't hurt either.

[buckmaster21]

Find a good bedding area and start from there in the morning glass sunny hill sides with alot of cover pand prickley pars On it.

[Heat]

Find a good bedding area and start from there in the morning glass sunny hill sides with alot of cover pand prickley pars On it.

 

Silly question...How do I find a good bedding area? What am I looking for?

[Heat]

Find agave, climb high and glass with good optics. A little luck won't hurt either.

 

That's what I was afraid of. After getting a sheep and a goat last year, plus an archery deer this year already I think my luck should be about worn out!

[CouesWhitetail]

Check out JavelinaHunter.com ....they have a lot of info on bedding areas and such.

 

For prime javelina habitat, I look for a place that has a mix of open grass, mesquite and prickly pear as well as areas with thick brush like jojoba/mesquite/manzanita. Javelina use the more open areas to feed in the sunlight if it's cold out and bed in the thicker areas.

 

For javelina, you don't usually have to start glassing at the crack of dawn. They like for it to warm up before they get active. They are sensitive to cold, so if it's been close to freezing at night, they pigpile in a bed under something a mesquite or in a small cave or scrubby area for warmth. Bedding areas will usually be kind of scuffed up and have a large amount of javelina poop around them.

 

this pig shows a "pig pile" I glassed up a couple years ago in the morning...took them awhile to get moving after the sun got up

 

 

I would narrow down your glassing areas by finding permenant water sources. Then look for places that have a mix of brushy and open areas within say 1/4 to 1/2 mile of the water source and start glassing there or scout for sign.

 

If there are any areas where there is a green-up of grass or other ground vegetation, they are likely to be feeding there. Look for greening up of grass under mesquites, they like that. Lots of times saddles with grass and mesquite is a good place to glass them up.

[AZHUNTER05]

Get up high and glass down into flats, washes, and crevices. They do like cactus so make sure you glass the cactus patches more then once. Because pigs sometimes look like rocks and then you look at the cactus again and see there actually pigs feeding. I literally get up on a mountain and glass from sun up until around 12 in the same spot. I might move around the mountain but if you stay in the same spot they will appear out of no where eventually. I personally think the best time to glass up pigs is between 9 to 11 in the morning. Good luck it takes a lot of patients to find pigs but once you do its so much fun!

[Heat]

once you do its so much fun!

 

Roger that!

[Loner]

I think the best sign is fresh diggings at the base of plants or open areas close by with roots underneath. This almost always means you're in the right place. I even glass for these dug up areas then go inspect to see how fresh they are. Funny how barrel cactus look like javelina rumps.

[Heat]

Thanks for all the pointers!

 

Amanda, I appreciate your information. That is good stuff. I also saw some of your Javelina Heaven pics on the javelinahunter site. Very Cool!

 

I was hoping to hear from some of the guys that posted on the "Pig Logic" thread from last month. There were some very informative posts in that thread. Come on Coach, TJ, Coosefan, Bill Q. and anyone else that can shed some light!

 

It's looking like luck and extensive knowledge of an area have a lot to do with finding javelina. Unfortunately I didn't spend near enough time scouting to really learn an area I want to hunt. Probably because the closest good hunting for javelina is 3+ hours of driving from Yuma. It's quite tough to get away between Thanksgiving and Christmas for me nowadays.

 

There are some in the Gila River bottom near Yuma, but they are almost impossible to kill with a bow. During 95% of legal shooting light they are holed up in the thick salt cedar/arrowweed jungle in the river bottom. I tried hunting them last year with little success. I found fresh tracks of them going into and out of the thickets, and even heard them grunting and woofing in there, but no sight of hide nor hair. Because of that experience I decided to get a tag where numbers and density seem to be near the highest in the state (33/37B), and things are quite a bit more open.

 

Nick

[Viper]

I've hunted 37B for the last 10 years or so. The last few years has been tough to find pigs, in our usual places. Last weekend we did find an old herd we hunted in the past. After glassing them up and following them for nearly a mile, we finally caught up to them where they wanted to bed. They out-manuvered us and ended up down wind and busted out of there. The sign around the area was quite plentiful.

One strategy is to cruise the washes and look for a lot of tracks, usually crossing the wash. Follow them out of the wash to see where they go. Several times we've found bedding/feeding areas this way. Then you can roam the area or glass from a high point to find them. It is especially effective right after a good rain.

My theory is with the mild temps we've had the last few years (at least when I've been hunting) keeps them nearer the brushy bottoms and harder to spot. When it's in the 20's in the morning, they are more apt to be on the sunny hillsides, feeding all morning.

Don't overlook small groups of feeding cattle. Quite often, we have spotted pigs feeding with the cattle. It's become kind of a joke...."there's cows, better take a look".

Picket Post Mountain, near Superior used to be good. I haven't been in there recently though. All along the Gila River, west of Kerny holds a lot of pigs, but can be hard to hunt. They have a lot of pig problems around Oracle (as well as most small communities), but haven't figured out how to hunt around the houses.

A local, last weekend, told me to hunt the road near Mammoth that runs along the San Pedro River. I didn't get a chance to check it out. We haven't even touched unit 33 yet.

IMO, they are more fun to hunt than they are after they're dead...so have fun with it and good luck.

[stanley]

I've hunted 37B for the last 10 years or so. The last few years has been tough to find pigs, in our usual places. Last weekend we did find an old herd we hunted in the past. After glassing them up and following them for nearly a mile, we finally caught up to them where they wanted to bed. They out-manuvered us and ended up down wind and busted out of there. The sign around the area was quite plentiful.

One strategy is to cruise the washes and look for a lot of tracks, usually crossing the wash. Follow them out of the wash to see where they go. Several times we've found bedding/feeding areas this way. Then you can roam the area or glass from a high point to find them. It is especially effective right after a good rain.

My theory is with the mild temps we've had the last few years (at least when I've been hunting) keeps them nearer the brushy bottoms and harder to spot. When it's in the 20's in the morning, they are more apt to be on the sunny hillsides, feeding all morning.

Don't overlook small groups of feeding cattle. Quite often, we have spotted pigs feeding with the cattle. It's become kind of a joke...."there's cows, better take a look".

Picket Post Mountain, near Superior used to be good. I haven't been in there recently though. All along the Gila River, west of Kerny holds a lot of pigs, but can be hard to hunt. They have a lot of pig problems around Oracle (as well as most small communities), but haven't figured out how to hunt around the houses.

A local, last weekend, told me to hunt the road near Mammoth that runs along the San Pedro River. I didn't get a chance to check it out. We haven't even touched unit 33 yet.

IMO, they are more fun to hunt than they are after they're dead...so have fun with it and good luck.

 

+1 on the Gila and San Pedro river valleys. The washes draining into either of these rivers from the 37B mountains/hills that border the rivers are a great place to look for tracks/sign.

 

S.

 

[200"mulie]

Look for fresh digs!!! they will be nearby.

 

Also from what i've seen and what my buddy has told me that pig numbers are down from what they use to be. Areas where he once had 4-5 herds now only have 1 or 2.

 

So don't get discouraged if your not seeing pigs.

[KaibabHunter]

I found a bunch in a thick brushy vein in the flats within 1/2 mile of a dirt tank trying sneek in on a buck. Lost the deer and was gonna try a fawn distress call cause I knew they were close. Coincidentally glassed a pig 70 yards out and when I blew the call I had 10 pigs going nuts and come 10-20 yards out everytime I blew the call. Thought 1 might charge! I didn't have a tag... Bumped into another group in a similar vein way out in the flats walkin back to the truck in the dark after another blown stalk on deer.

[tjhunt2]

Thanks for all the pointers!

 

 

It's looking like luck and extensive knowledge of an area have a lot to do with finding javelina. Unfortunately I didn't spend near enough time scouting to really learn an area I want to hunt. Nick

 

Heat, you're right when you say extensive knowledge of an area has a lot to do with finding pigs. Years of scouting and hunting an area puts you in the plus catagory. You learn their bedding and dining area like the back of your hand and you can harvest year after year. I won't hunt a heard if it gets below 5 pigs. Just my philosophy! Give it a year and you are good to go.

You mentioned luck in your statement. I'll take luck any day. Some years it comes easy and others it comes down to the wire.

I'm no expert but I will tell ya that you don't have to be glassing at daylight if you like sleeping in. After a cold night you will most likely find the pigs on a southeast facing slope. If the weather is warm they will feed most of the night and will bed down early where they can get most of the sun and then head for the heavy cover towards noon like a thick covered thicket or a huge palo and mesquite tree with lots of shade. I could go on and on but that's a good start and a good pair of binos is a must. Good luck!

 

TJ