8 for 10 in Unit 18B general rifle! Big Pig winners announced!

[Don Martin]

Well the general rifle hunt has ended in Unit 18B and this year we had a total of 10 tags in our Big Pig contest.

 

Eight of the hunters got pigs--one other had a chance to shoot one on Saturday just at sundown--but passed saying he thought it was too late to shoot. The other guy came in from Vegas on Saturday night, and Sunday the wind blew like 40 mph, so after the morning hunt, he went home.

 

On the earlier HAM hunt in 18B we had 10 in the contest. Five got pigs, two others, including myself, missed two shots at pigs.

 

Winners of the Arizona Wildlife Outfitters Big Pig contest this year were Grant Wiseman 43 lbs, 1 oz., 2nd Brian Erpedling 41 lbs 6 oz, 3rd Alan Chan, 40 lbs and 4th, Colby Adams 38 lbs 1 oz.

 

Other than the herd numbers being down, with lots of herds numbering 4,5, and 6 animals, everyone had a good time, with no accidents, incidents or diasters.

 

Don Martin

Ariozna Wildlife Outfitters

[My Rights As An American]

Sounds like fun! Congrats to all!!!

[Will K]

Sweet. Congrat's.

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

What would you consider a good herd size if 4 or 5 is low?

Congrats on some good hunting numbers.

I didn't weigh mine but ended up with 20 lbs of sausage last night from 2 pigs. Thought it would be more but now that I see the actual weights I see its about right.

[AZHUNTER05]

A good heard is 8 to 12. We had 3 guys tag out in 18b this year also, we had a hard time finding them.

[Mike S]

Those are some big ones Don. Congrats to all. Have you found the boars or sows to run larger?

 

Mike

[My Rights As An American]

What would you consider a good herd size if 4 or 5 is low?

Congrats on some good hunting numbers.

I didn't weigh mine but ended up with 20 lbs of sausage last night from 2 pigs. Thought it would be more but now that I see the actual weights I see its about right.

 

I got 15.5 pounds of sausage from my javelina last night (50 nice sized brats!), all super clean meat. I will not add anything that is pretty much not perfect meat. Keeps the quality exceptional, but the yield is a little less. My January javelina yielded 26 pounds of sausage and 76 brats, a few smaller ones but overall average sized brats.

[JLG]

We went 4 for 4 last weekend in 18b, pulled a couple doubles, 2 Saturday late afternoon out of a herd of 6 and 2 sunday morning before the wind started, out of a herd of 5. Just hunted Saturday and one hour Sunday, Great hunt, JLG.

[tjhunt2]

Congratulations on the big pigs taken this year Don and to all the other successful pig hunters.

 

TJ

[CouesWhitetail]

Thanks for the update on the contest Don!

[Don Martin]

If you look at the management strategy of javelina by G&F, one of the "triggers" to lower tags is when the herds average less than 6 animals.

 

Personally I thnk they (G&F) ought to pull Unit18B out of the multi unit archery package, and let it stand along, with a fair number of tags.

 

Got another idea about this two pig limit, which I think is going to really raise the hunt success as guys who were successful on their first tag, usually know where to go, and they smoke 'em again with a second tag!

 

Unit 18B is an awesome pig unit but according to G&F records, the herd sizes have gone down for three straight years, though data obtained in December said the average herd size was 8.3 animals.

 

Just don't want to see this unit (or any other for that matter) overharvested.

 

Resource always comes first!

 

Don Martin

Arizona Wildlife Outfitters

[Don Martin]

The top five pigs we got this year were all BOARS!

 

Don Martin

Arizona Wildlife Outfitters

[Mike S]

Thanks Don, in my experience the boars seem to run heavier on the average, although my heaviest to date has been a sow. I've also noticed the boars tend to be in the back when the herd is traveling.

 

Mike

[Don Martin]

Mike:

 

We always try and take boars. I call it job security:

 

I'm always amazed at how a lot of javelina hunters when they see pigs just start blazing away!

 

We like to watch 'em and try and pick out the boars. You are right; they are usually (but not always) in the back of herd or they will be off by themselves but close by to the herd!

 

I really like ot hunt pigs, especially if they aren't a lot of other folks around. You can really have fun with them.

 

Last year my hunter shot a huge boar (43 lbs) down in a rugged no good canyon. Took us an hour to go a couple of hundred yards. While we were doing the "Grip N "Grin" photos, another pig came back and started "woofing " at us! I called back to him and got him to within 10 yards. I too had a tag, and since my guide obligation was done, could have legally taken him. My hunter even offered up his handgun, a Savage Striker in 243 to me.

 

But I knew we had a "death climb" just to get out of that canyon, so I passed. Went back a few days later, and called in a group with the old faithful J-13 and shot another giant boar (43 lbs 15 oz) which is my biggest pig to date!

 

Just look at how vertical the canyon is!

 

I know he doesn't look as big as Ken's baor, but trust me he was bigger. It was so steep I couldn't hold him up like Ken did!

 

Climb was all downhill on mine (we had hiked from the bottom to near the top) so even though I was beat when I got to the bottom, it was worthy it!

 

Only year we didn't do a big pig contest and I would have won it!

 

Go figure.

 

Don Martin

Arizona Wildlife Outfitters

[bowhunter4life]

Another great year for AWA, congrats!