Idiot's guide to javelina

[mattys281]

thanks guys, you are all awesome. So what I've gathered is... 1. Don't think 2. Don't look for them 3. Sleep in. sounds like a good hunt to me

 

If you are a fan of late night campfires and crown royal or other such fine beverages, than javelina are exactly the game you want to pursue.

[Big Tub]

Look for Javelina by Jerry Day put out by G&F: out of print but great resource.

[billrquimby]

I'm convinced an individual herd has a relatively small (maybe 400-500 acres) home range that is used for generation after generation. It may be one long canyon, an entire hill, or a portion of a riverbed with a few side-canyons, but it will have food, separate bedding areas for warm and cold weather, and water.

 

If there are several herds in an area, there may be some overlap, with two or more herds using the same water source, for example.

 

My suggestion is to burn in your memory every place you've ever seen javelinas and the time of year you saw them because the descendants of those animals still will be using those areas.

 

When glassing this time of year, check out patches of filaree. If none, look for fields of Spanish daggers or scattered cholla. They prefer the roots of these plants over prickly pear. As you'll learn in Jerry Day's book, prickly pear is eaten as a last resort and provides little nutrition.

 

Incidentally, a photo of a lifesize javelina mount on this site recently show a bite taken out of prickly pear pad, presumably made by a javelina. Most of the bites you'll see on these pads are made by cows or rodents. Javelina leave pads shredded. If you watch them, you'll see them pull off a pad, stand on it and pull, leaving "strings" of fiber behind. They'll also carry an individual pad a long way from the "mother" plant.

 

Good luck!

 

Bill Quimby

 

[cessna]

Bill, the incorrect bite signature on the mount was brought up to the

Gentleman who carved the cactus with the bite out of it. He said

He was working on correcting that. Meanwhile I will enjoy the mount as it is.

I wonder if I could add something to it to make it look more correct.

[billrquimby]

Cessna:

I wouldn't worry about it. It's a great mount as is. If it bothers you, have the taxidermist make the bite look like it was nibbled by a rodent. To make it even more realistic, you could add a mount of a packrat or ground squirrel next to the cactus.

Bill Quimby

[cessna]

Bill, I like the rat idea. The cactus was made by a young fellow in your neck of the woods (Tucson). Company called Sonoran Skulls.

It looks like he does quite a few prickly pear cactus. My taxidermist got mine from him. We'll see what he comes up with as far

as shredded cactus is concerned. Most folks up here in the four-corners area don't hunt javelina. I was raised near the mouth of

Sabino Canyon and was always hunting them since I was young. I flew into Tucson a few weeks ago for business and my has things

changed. I had not been there in years. Anyway looking at the Skulls web-page he does make a nice prickly pear cactus. I did'nt

know if you knew of them or not. I flew into Alamosa a few months ago and was thinking about Brandt. I still enjoy the books he

gave me, quite a fellow. Your the one who put me in touch with him. Thank you for that. Someday we'll have to have a drink and talk

about the old days in Arizona.

[billrquimby]

Hi Cessna.

 

Glad you got to meet Captain John Brandt. I never visited him in Alamosa, but we spent a lot of time together at SCI conventions and had many mutual friends. I don't know if he told you, but he was the second recipient of the Peter Hathaway Capstick International Literary Award (Craig Boddington was first) and I was the third. I doubt any western hunter knew Asia and its wildlife better than John. If he gave you a copy of his "Asian Hunter," treasure it. Signed copies are pricey now that he's not with us.

 

Bill Quimby

[ThomC]

Javelina hunter.com sells a call and a book that is very good. Learn how to plot a Javelina herd in the flats.

[cessna]

Bill, it was a treat and no I did not know about the award. The inscription in my "Asian Hunter" is personal and I appreciated that. Congratulations to you also, I did not know that either.

I really do appreciate writers like yourself, who with words take me to far-off places I will never go.

[billrquimby]

Cessna:

 

Thanks. I'm glad I could help you meet John. He seemed very lonely the last couple of times I saw him in Reno, but that could be because he knew he was dying.

 

Bill Quimby