Javelina behavior?

[Heat]

I have some questions about javelina after this last hunt. Hoping to learn more about their behavior so I can be more successful locating pigs in the future.

 

Twice I located a herd of javelina that I watched until I could no longer really see the pigs well through my binos and I needed my headlamp to walk back to camp. I figured I would be able to find the herd(s) first thing in the morning. Conventional wisdom is that pigs sleep in a bit and you can find them starting to get moving around sun up, right? I was unable to find the javelina in the AM either time after I saw them in the evening. I am wondering if they fed longer into the night as the sun was going down, did they move during the night, or did they get up and start moving before the sun was up? I know some pigs are nocturnal, especially the ones that feed in farm fields. If its warm will they feed long into the night in their normal habitat?

 

I'm also wondering about bedding areas? Do they just dig out a new spot where ever and sleep for the night where they feel comfortable? Again, conventional thought is that javelina only have a few bedding areas, but I found many areas where pigs had slept under a bush or thick trees in the area I was hunting. How many bedding areas does the typical herd have? How far apart are they generally located? How often do they return to the same areas, every few nights for one night, or a few nights in a row then on to another?

 

Do pigs share certain areas like feeding areas, bedding sites, water or do they exclude all other javelina from these areas within their "territory"? I know they have small home ranges but I am curious how their use of these home ranges goes. Do they have summer areas and winter areas depending on the green up of the area? Do they tend to stay on the hills or in the flats during certain times of the year. It seems like they don't like being out in the wind from my experience, and hunker down in the washes and thick bushes when it blows hard.

[wildwoody]

i have found on my camaras that the pigs move all night and don't so up every night. they move more at night in my opinion. they will bed in caves under dence brush or trees. they tend to use mutiple bedding areas. they ted to be pretty paternable , meaning around the same place everyday at close to the same time. not real sure about the females and juvaniles but the boars are pretty territorial. good look and don't reliegh on the sunny side of the hill.

[elkhunter]

Yes home areas overlap, sometimes 2 herds spend a day or two together resulting in 20 pigs or so!

 

Some times they make new beds but most of the time they have 4 or 5 spots they bed down on a consistent basis.

 

I noticed Phoenix area now has new shoots of green grass and with warm weather they could be feeding longer and at the bottoms and could wake up earlier in the mornings.

 

I have chased herds that are like eastern whitetail, easy to pattern and I chased herds that were like coyotes, always movin and beddin in new spots.

[khmer6]

/>Yes home areas overlap, sometimes 2 herds spend a day or two together resulting in 20 pigs or so!

 

Some times they make new beds but most of the time they have 4 or 5 spots they bed down on a consistent basis.

 

I noticed Phoenix area now has new shoots of green grass and with warm weather they could be feeding longer and at the bottoms and could wake up earlier in the mornings.

 

I have chased herds that are like eastern whitetail, easy to pattern and I chased herds that were like coyotes, always movin and beddin in new spots.

There's green grass everywhere!!! It makes some of the central Phoenix gold courses look like crap.

[hoghntr]

They have many bedding areas depending on time of year sun exposure etc.. BUT they have 1 main place and few emergency get away shelters. the only way to ever find all of this is to be way above them and watch what they do time and time again when they are relaxed and when they are spooked. rarely does a pig just take off without a spot in mind to go. maybe for 2 seconds after a shot he runs without direction but after that right back on course.

 

Urban and farm pigs really super nocturnal and really do not sleep in cuz pig hunting i have arrived at their front door many times at sunrise and already had them up feeding and even in light rainfall. if you reallllllllllly know their address they are very predictable. finding new herds and patterning is the tricky thing like all hunting.

 

Imho pigs do not like other herds in their home range. i have seen some crazy battles when 2 and even possibly 3 herds intersect and it is not pretty. i hunted private property area for 5-6 yrs that had anywhere from 15-60pigs at all times and every animal i shot had torn cheeks or missing eyeballs or ears.. they do not share real estate well. when they come together there is immediate pecking order established and if you are within a mile you will here this take place.

 

I can turn around probably 9 out of 10 herds i jump (9.9) using their vocals and get a shot then bring back again and again.. just takes time with them up close and personal and practice time making the noises and looking stupid in your car at intersections practicing grunts and squeals etc. just need to learn appropriate timing for each thing and volumes must be tested in every circumstance..