Pigapalooza 2017 Family and Friends 14 down

[gotcoues]

Another year of javelina hunting has come and gone. I so look forward to this time of year, the seasons are long and I find great satisfaction hunting these guys and in helping others fill their tags. In January, we tried hard to find a big mule deer to try and put a stalk on, but just couldn’t lay eyes on the type of buck we were looking for. My son wasn’t as picky so he got in a few stalks, he always seems to able to sneak right in. Unfortunately, he was never able to launch an arrow, but he had a blast getting in close to some decent looking bucks!

 

In December, my friend John’s son called me up and asked if I had any information on the otc javelina tags, he had been trying for many years, but had fallen short of taking an animal with his bow yet. I pointed him in the right direction and as luck would have it, it turned out to be a very short hunt indeed. He made it about 200 yards from the truck and bumped a pig. He started woofing and bought it right back to 5 yards! My spot was a hit and “Little John” scored his first big game kill. He was stoked and his Dad text me right away to say thanks.

 

 

Lil John's first archery javi

 

Next up was Alex with his first archery javelina, it was an otc metro tag he picked up for December to jump start our pig season. We had gone out several times and he had gone out a few days this season already by himself, but no pig yet. Great experience for him for sure on the day he made it happen. After he stalked in and bumped the herd, he was able to call one back in and took a downhill shot at about 13 yards to get the job done! I got to watch the whole thing unfold through the binos. Alex is proving cool under pressure. He can’t spell buck fever and has no clue what it even is.

 

Alex and I with his first archery javi

 

January 1^st Nelson, Alex and I headed out with tags in hand. Nelson and Alex put on the first stalk of the day while I spotted in the binos. Weather was really bad and got even worse as they moved in close. Nelson with his itchy trigger finger still managed to get it done in sideways rain! Weather was so bad on the final approach, I couldn’t even see the action from 800 yards at the time of the shot….. He ended up shooting one head on at about 20 yards and it made a death run right at him and Alex before piling up. Still can’t believe he pulled that off in those crappy conditions! We moved up the canyon and it didn’t take long for someone to say “I got pigs”. Alex glassed up the second herd of the morning and we managed to pull a double for round two. Nothing better than an archery double, I love those!

 

Nelson with his archery javi

 

Alex and I

 

The following weekend Alex and I took my son Dillon out to try and fill his javelina tag and look for big mule deer bucks. Nelson was stuck at work, so he couldn’t partake in the fun. After I found a herd of javelina, Dillon and Alex were off to the races to close in on the herd. Phone signal was weak so we tried hand signals which proved practically useless to guide them in. Alex eventually decided to let the call rip and brought a lot of angry javelina in close. Dillon let one fly and made a perfect shot killing his 7^th archery pig at 18 years old. As if that wasn’t enough action, Alex decided to call them back for a tad more excitement. Well, they got more than they bargained for and literally were attacked by raging javelina jumping and chomping at them. It was the dang funniest thing I have every witnessed and was literally in tears laughing at them jumping around screaming, stomping and kicking at angry pigs!

 

 

Alex and I with my son Dillon with his archery javi

 

I decided to pick up an OTC tag, just can’t get enough. This time my recurve was my weapon of choice. I was able to take my second 2016 pig with one and was determined to repeat that. First day out was a clean miss on a broadside pig at close range. I was sitting and shot at a weird angle and just flubbed it. Alex came out with me on day two and the results were amazing. We split up to find pigs quicker and I managed to put in 4 separate stalks by 12/1 O’clock. We were finding pigs everywhere we looked. Alex had pigs walk right under his position after I blew stalk 1, so I hauled butt over toward him and got into position. I got in really close on stalk 2, put myself right in front of the herd. They passed by me at less than 8 yards but it didn’t happen. I went to draw and spooked a straggler, it then turned into a standoff with the one I was trying to shoot. Ultimately, it was a mistake I couldn’t recover from and I wasn’t able to launch an arrow. Stalk 3 was another exciting one, moved in really close to a bedded herd, but when I shot from yet another sitting position like on day one, the bottom limb of the recurve bounced off the rock slab I was sitting on and it wasn’t pretty! Lesson finally learned I can’t shoot from a sitting position with that big ol long thing! Stalk 4 was the charm. I glassed up bedded pigs under a palo verde at the base of a small rock bluff. I swung around to pick up Alex and we ditched our boots and crept over to the edge of the bluff. As expected, two pigs were right under us at less than 10 yards. I took just one half step too far and one of the bedded pigs caught movement (dang things sleeping with one eye open!). It jumped up and landed under the branches completely safe from the reaper standing above. Thankfully, the other stood up and had no idea what was happening. I was able to sink one in from above, her mistake proved fatal and she made it about 20 yards before falling over. My second javelina with a recurve was on the ground. Alex and I were pumped, completely ecstatic about what just played out for sure!

 

My recurve javi

 

Opening day of the ham hunt my wife Colleen and I took a long hike after she got off work in the heat for the afternoon to get her hunt started. Man, was it hot that day, and no pigs were spotted from what seemed like was going to be a money vantage point for us. Day two, my wife Colleen, myself and our friend Steve hit a harsh 4 wheel drive trail back to where our buddy Nelson had shown us some pig spots in the years past that we had had a lot of success. We’ve had tons of good times together back in there and this time would prove no different. First two set ups came up empty for pigs spotted. We set up at our third location and it just felt good…… It wasn’t long until I heard noises from in the canyon and had pigs spotted with the naked eye. Luckily, they feed right up towards us and presented a shot for Colleen. She really wanted to use her new Ruger Super Redhawk 44 mag I bought her for Christmas from Big Browns (Adam on the site), but we were on a rock bluff and they crossed our paths at about 75 yards, instead of the 20 some yards I predicted. I ended up pulling out her scoped Thompson Center instead and she made a great shot using my tripod as a rest. She shot a big ol boar at 77 yards, this thing was a tank. Originally, we had borrowed this gun from my friend John Brewer and she took her first pig with it on her very first hunt. He was kind enough to sell it to us after she fell in love it and wanted to keep it since she took her very first animal with it to start her hunting endeavors. We waited for a follow up shot for Steve and they just never came back even though the herd split up in two, maybe even three directions. High fives all around and we went down to grab Colleen’s javelina after giving the herd ample time to make a mistake and wander back in. That evening we drove over to a great spot to glass, but no pigs were located. We did manage to collectively glass up over 40 deer that evening though so we still had a blast. I’m going to leave the part out of missing keys in the middle of nowhere and a locked up tight jeep! All's well that ends well, thanks to our dear friend Nelson for after dark bail out….. Love you man.

 

Colleen and I with Steve

 

Day 3 of the ham hunt I grabbed Steve at his house and we ventured back out to the same general area we started the day before. It was cat and mouse all morning with herd of javelina. Steve was moving in on the herd I glassed up before the sun had even crested the mountain back drop. Ya just can’t beat their noises and at a whopping 150 yards, Steve got busted when the wind shifted and hit the back of his neck. He knew he was in trouble when his phone started to vibrate. I immediately texted him when I saw pig noises go up in the air and start to work his scent over. Too late, they were lined out and gone before he could even do anything about it. We hiked around to a different vantage only to glass them up in a different than anticipated location and then watch them top over a ridge. We made another long hike to a known vantage point to try and relocate. It ended up happening, but not quite the way we hoped. Steve snuck to the edge of a bluff where we pretty much knew they were bedded. He immediately located one walking around about 80 yards below and then it vanished. He folded out the bipod and set up quickly for a shot. Another one stepped out and he fired off a shot with his new muzzleloader he just set up. It happened so fast, Steve told me after it was all said and done he didn’t want them to bugger out again since his luck seemed to be on the bad side that morning and the day prior. He ended up taking a smaller pig but was happy with the results none the less.

 

 

Steve with his muzzy javi

 

The second weekend of the ham hunt I was really looking forward to helping my friend John and his son Little John on their pig hunt. John invited me on my very first hunt over 20 years ago, he truly is the reason hunting became my passion. Ironically somehow over the years, John had never taken a javelina. His exact words were he had encountered every possible scenario in the field except for having “a man swoop in and pick up a javelina right as he was going to pull the trigger and then run off carrying his pig” hahahah… I was only able to hunt Sunday due to falling behind on some work projects and neither John nor Little John hadn’t filled their tags yet. Alex and John met at my house and we were off to the races to finally end this pig curse! His son had to go in to work, so he was out. Weather was crap, cold and windy with a drizzling rain all morning. Certainly not ideal pig weather, but we were determined to make the most out of the day. First spot was a bust so we headed to what Alex and I call the gold mine, it never lets us down! Finally, after more crappy weather, I spotted a herd way off just waking up and shaking the rain off (did I mention way off). Alex stayed back to spot as they could have easily dropped lower in the canyon and out of sight while me and John made the long walk over. It worked out perfect, we snuck in to about 200 yards and let them feed towards us. John felt good to 200, but ended up taking the shot at 148 yards. He made a perfect shot and his pig dropped in its tracks. The whole entire herd stopped by to inspect the body and were nose down in the blood pool sniffing and woofing. It was a tad off, maybe 6 or 7 pigs all smelling the blood at the same time. Looked like a football huddle over there. I turned up the heat and started wailing on the call, the conditions seemed right for them to come right in. Man oh man, John almost got steamed rolled by one of the pigs. He fell over and got cut up a bit trying to get the heck out of the way. Good times, it was a special day for sure. My first hunt with John he took my on was in the same unit for pigs no less. We’ve hunted a lot over the years, but something about him smoking his first javelina and be a part of his finally squashing the curse was bitter sweet.

 

 

John with his first javelina

 

Me and Johhny

 

 

My daughter Ashley put in for rifle Javelina. Since she couldn’t take Friday off, I called my buddy Jesse who also had a tag in another unit. We made plans to meet up on the freeway at 5am and I would follow him to his spot where he had deer hunted last year. What a morning, plenty of mule deer running all over the place! The pigs proved to be elusive, we climbed up higher on the hill to look at a hidden canyon where he had seen pigs headed the year prior from his deer hunt and still nothing. It was a little after 10am when I got lucky and spotted a herd WAY out in the flats. We figure they were 1.5 - 2 miles out. After chatting about a game plan, Jesse took off and headed into the flats while I stayed up high to spot him. He circled way around to get the wind right and moved in. He figured he was about 80-100 yards out when he decided to take the first shot with the iron sighted SKS. Swing and a miss! He was so far out, I could barely hear the shot after a 3 or 4 second delay. I just saw pigs scrambling everywhere, but none falling. He ended shooting a few more times and no pig down. He called me on the phone and was puzzled as to why he had missed. While we were talking, I was still glassing and telling him they weren’t too far off. All of the sudden, some other stragglers came charging back towards the original spot. I told him to get ready and they crossed his path at about 70 yards looking for the rest of the herd. Jesse held lower, assuming he was shooting over their backs on his first missed shots. Bang, he dropped one in its tracks and I packed up and made the long walk out to see him and his prize. I helped Jesse last year take his first javi in one of my spots, javi number two was now down in what he calls his “deer honey hole”! Good times for sure, we went back to the trucks, we each popped open a beer and relaxed a while and chatted it up for a couple hours and then I was on my way back home. He stayed behind to camp out and enjoy the night. I can only assume he was serenaded by 'yotes while drinking some beers and reliving the day.

 

Jesse and I with his javi

 

My buddy Nelson had a rifle tag for a different unit with some of his buddies. They also ventured out opening day with his son Tanner. Sounds like they had a blast, they were able to glass up five different herds from the same glassing spot. The goal was long range pigs, Nelson and one of the other guys Travis had some pretty dialed in machines and all three of them were able to take pigs out of a big herd of 20 plus and some at a pretty insane to remain undisclosed distances. 3 and done by 8:30 opening morning, I was a little jealous of the 5 herds from one spot, because lord knows I love them stink pigs….

Nelson gave me permission to post their pigs with his buddies Travis and Troy.

 

 

Travis, Troy, Nelson and Nelson's son Tanner with the long range triple

 

 

Next up was my daughter Ashley! She has proven to be quite the huntress. Alex (her fiancé) and Ash came over to the house this morning at 5:15 and we hopped in the Jeep. Since Nelson tagged out the day prior he was all about coming out for the next adventure. He met us where the pavement ends and we headed back to the gold mine! The four off us hiked up a small knoll that provides a pretty killer 360 degree view and started pounding the landscape. After about an hour, we heard a beautiful sound. The unmistakable sounds of pigs fighting and snarling with each other. Oddly enough, we still couldn’t locate them even though we knew they were close. They must have been fighting in their beds, maybe mama rolled over on big daddy and he wasn’t happy. At about 8:30, Nelson finally spotted the herd in the general area where he thought the noise had come from. A quick range and they were 325 yards out. The knoll was wide open and flat on the top so we decided to set up and shoot from our position. A few of the herd moved out into the sun on a grassy hillside and I dialed in the shot for 352 yards. Ashley was proned out and ready as we decided what pig to take. Boom, the 270short rang out. It was hit, but a touch back and she rolled down the hill then and made her way back to where we assume they were originally bedded. We couldn’t see it, so we packed up and moved over. There were some stragglers still hanging out in the spot. Just for a touch of fun, because we can’t resist, I called out to the remaining pigs that were hanging out and pulled one right into about 10-15 feet. We took some video and enjoyed the moment and then retrieved Ashley’s javelina. This was her 7^th javi, she has taken them with a rifle, muzzle loader, Thompson center, and one with a bow.

 

Ashley and Alex with her javi

 

Ashley, Alex, Nelson and I

 

I can’t wait to start all over again, it’s definitely one of my favorite times of the year, second to only coues hunting and coues scouting! Team Javi was STRONG again this year! 5 units lost javelina to the javi squad this year. As always, we try to move around a lot. Definitely try not to hunt the same herds and have countless herds we like to hunt.

[desertmafia21]

Wow lots of chorizo! Congrats enjoyed the write up!

[cramerhunts]

Oh man that's a lot of good times right there! Awesome job and congratulations to all!

[CatfishKev]

Never had much interest I pig hunting, until this year taking my kids out on there first pig hunts. After getting skunked on my daughters hunt I have a whole new appreciation for them and I already can't wait til next year. Hopefully will get the old lady hers tomorrow morning. Congrats to you and your friends and family.

[Kaffer62]

Great write up. You guys dropped the hammer!!

[DrRx09]

Key check... lol. Had a great time Justin! Thanks again and I had a blast as always.

[jeffro]

Man, and I just want to find 1.

[bowfishAZ]

That's a whole mess of stink! Fun times as always!!

[elkhunter]

😳😮 WOW!!!! Congrats to everyone!

[mattys281]

What an awesome season! Congrats to all.

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

Yikes what a year.

[AzDiamondHeat]

And now you guys know why you can't find any pigs out there....lol

 

Well done!

[gotcoues]

Thanks guys! I know all of us had a really fun season. It's doesn't get any better than helping other people on their hunts, really rewarding.

 

I follow the women's hunt down South every year, I would like to go down there next year and give that a try. Looks like a blast.

[Couzer]

Wow, Awesome!!!!