Good Habitat?

[DUG]

Pigs like saddles near the higher hills. If you are in the flats check the main washes for tracks and if it is hot they will hang out in the thick stuff in those washes.

[elkhunter]

Over the last 12 years, i've got to witness or harvest 33 javelinas! I swear some herds are getting very smart and during the nights of freezing temps they do not bed in the wash but instead high up on a hill side where the temp is much warmer.

 

Javelina have a home core area where they spend 75 to 90% of their time and I've seen the core areas being the size of a football field up to a good half mile square.

 

To increase your odds, always glass the sunny slopes first in the morning, watch the saddles, look for a combination of vegetation (you will more likely find javelina when there's 2 to 3 different type of food in the area).

 

The pigs are also wise enough to often feed in the sun when the sun starts to set. A good size herd is very easy to glass up from a mile away so try to find areas where you can observe several washes, 3 or so sunny slopes, mixed vegetation and you should be near by.

 

If the pressure begins to increase on the hunt, they are always on the next hill over (or so I always say, i'm usually right 30% of the time!)

 

Overall the easiest way to find pigs is to get some elevation and glass towards the flats, if there's green grass in the flats they'll spend more time feeding there rather than up in the hills.

[billrquimby]

Here's what little I've learned about javelina hunting:

 

-- The home range of a herd is actually quite small, maybe 500 acres or less. That 500-acre range could be only two acres wide and 250 acres long, as was the case of a herd that lived in a brushy wash in the flats where we used to hunt along the Papago reservation years ago. The herd will have several bedding areas and which area they use depends upon the weather. If there are caves or overhangs, look for their droppings. They will use the same bed generation after generation, and you sometimes will find dung in that bed that is six inches or more deep.

 

-- What they eat depends upon the season and the availability of the food they prefer. Actually, although they eat a lot of prickly pear pads, they actually can starve if fed a total diet of prickly pears. The filaree (short and thick new green weeds) that pop up in the spring is like candy to them. They also like the roots of shin-daggers and cholla. I've found barrel cactus that they've totally hollowed out, and once shot one after spooking it out of a barrel cactus.

 

-- Glassing absolutely is the best way to find them, but only if they are using the sidehills while you are glassing. If they're in the bottoms of the canyons and don't leave, you won't see them. If you can't find them, try walking along the sidehills, stopping often to glass below you and across the canyons into the side canyons. Toss small rocks into brush, and keep looking for sign.

 

Hope that helps. After shooting my 50th javelina with rifle, muzzleloader, handgun and bow, I got to thinking I knew all about hunting these nifty creatures. Then I went three years without finding one!

 

Bill Quimby

[tjhunt2]

Holy crap Bill, 50 javelinas is alot of pig meat. That has got to be some kind of record even though you won't admit it. I'm glad you shared that piece of info with us. Now I can say " I know a man who has killed 50 pigs in his day". That's quite awesome in my book.

 

TJ

[billrquimby]

TJ: My javelinas were taken over a span of 64 years of hunting in southern Arizona. You are well on your way to beating my score.

 

A few things I didn't mention:

 

-- Their coarse, stiff hair provides little protection against cold. God gave them such hair to keep them cool, not warm. They pile up on each other during cool mornings and days to share their body heat. If it's cold and windy, they might stay in a cave or under an overhang next to warm bouldlers all day long unless someone busts them out of there. If you can't find with your binocs a herd you know lives in the area, you will have to find where they are hiding.

 

-- If you bust a herd that was feeding somewhere, sit down right there and wait a half hour. They often will drift back to the same spot, even though you shot and missed them earlier.

 

-- In my experience, javelinas can be called with a mouth-blown varmint call or by "woofing" with your voicebox. (Neither method will work every time, though). If using a varmint call, the typical reaction from a herd that is near is to bolt and run away from you, but don't stop calling. The herd may run 100 yards or so and stop. When it does, keep calling non-stop and one or two (or even the entire herd) will turn around and come straight to you with teeth snapping and the hair on their backs standing straight up. Keep calling until they are in range. Woofing works best when they are 100 yards off and you want them to move into bow range.

 

-- Their eyesight is notoriously bad. If you get downwind and move slowly and quietly toward a group of javelinas that are feeding, you usually can get into rock-throwing range. There is nothing wrong with their sense of smell or hearing, though.

 

Bill Quimby

[Coach]

A lot of great info here. Pretty much covers it, imo. Good luck on finding them.

[Heat]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

 

I got back from my hunt last night. My javelina jinx continues. I never did glass up any pigs. After it rained on Sunday night I figured I better check out a mine shaft in the area we hunt that usually has javi turds in it. As I approached the mine a few pigs came charging out. One stopped right in front of me just a few yards away, probably under ten. A branch deflected my shot at point blank range. They blew outta there.

 

So I got some elevation to find them again. Heard them sqaubbling in the wash down below so glass down in there and end up counting at least 6 adults and 2 reds. So I slowly and quietly head down the open hillside right at them as the wind is about perfect. Made it well within my comfortable distance but must have moved a tad while one was looking as I was sizing one up to shoot. This one decides to come investigate by circling around to my upwind side, again at point blank range. I decide this one is was as good as any and its probably now or never.

 

I shoot as he was quartering hard to me. Huge mistake! I shot high and stuck him in the head/neck area. He broke the fletching end off by biting it as he ran off. The business end fell out within 50 yards or so. Followed small drops of blood, tracks, and at times kicked over rocks for over 5 hours and probably over a half mile until he stopped bleeding and re-joined some other pigs. At that point I gave up.

 

I made a few mistakes that I realize now were just stupid, but in the heat of the moment, sometimes reactions take over.

 

It was a very draining day with many highs and lows each time I would find then eventually lose blood again and again. I was physically and mentally exhausted at the end of the day. I am pretty sure that pig was not mortally wounded. I gave it all I had trying to recover it but it was not in the cards.

 

Thanks for all the tips on the pigs. I have a growing love, hate thing going with these dang things.

 

Nick