# 2017 Javelina Hunt



## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

This year we headed down to Arizona with the prospects of record heat during the first part of February and we were not disappointed.

We started off with a bad omen. My hunting partner had left his key for his 4 wheeler back at our friend home 20 miles away and realized it just as we were about to turn down the dirt road off of the highway. We flagged down our friend who was in a Jeep and swapped riders so that he could head back to get the key. I took a non hunter with me and we were off. We did the usual ride the first thing in the morning as the sun was coming up. This consisted of riding up a wash looking for tracks crossing it. There were none. I then headed up onto a power line road to glass for a while and wait for the others to catch up. About the only thing that we saw were cattle and a few mule deer feeding quietly on the hill sides. By noon it was getting hot so we found a spot in the shade for some lunch of some burritos wrapped in tinfoil cooked in a fire. For some reason they tasted better this way for some reason. We finished out the day by just glassing but it was hot enough that the javelina were bedded down in the bottom of the washes and draws in the shade and were not about to come out until it cooled off.

The second day found us doing pretty much the same thing. I took a hike up on a hill and started to glass. I spotted a small herd and tried to figure out the best way to get in close sine I was packing a TC Contender. By the time I had closed the distance the javelina had moved off a ways. I came upon a smaller one and got this picture of him as he was exiting stage right. 









As he was leaving the others spooked and the stalk was finished. We finished up the day by glassing some more, but it was just too hot for them to be moving or out in the open.

The third day found us out hiking through the draws feeding into the main washes with nothing being seen.

Monday I decided that I wanted to hike into a area where we had ran into them but have had a hard time getting them close enough for a shot. I got back into that area and didn't see a thing other than rabbits and cattle. On my way out I heard a couple of shots but they sounded too far away to be my partner. I found out a little while later that he had got into a small herd and had missed his shots. We had lunch and I decided to head into a very long draw to hike it and see what was in it. I started up it without seeing a thing and then just as I was about to reach the end of it javelina exploded all over the place. They were on the run so I just counted to see how many were headed out. I saw around 30 of them in groups of 5 and 6's head over the hill.

Then I sat down to see if any of them had stayed behind. I spotted 2 of them in a bush a little over 100 yards away. I pulled my Contender and got a steady rest and pulled the trigger. One headed up the hill but the other one just came out of the bush and stopped. My second shot dropped him in his tracks. By this time my partner had came up the ridge the long ways so I told him what direction that they took odd in and he headed out to see if he could find them. I headed over to find my javelina. 









Once I got him cleaned I headed out back to my wheeler. I had three ways to pack him out. I could head to the east down into a wash about 200 yards away, or I could head to the west into a different wash about 200 yards away, or I could pack him all the way down the draw that we were in and to my wheeler about 1/2 a mile. Now either of the two other washes I could of driven my wheeler into but I headed back the long way.

Now if I hadn't taken the long way out I would never of ran into this fella who scared the crap out of me when he took off out of a scrub tree that I had just walked under to get into some shade. 









I finally got back to my wheeler and headed back to the truck to get this fella skinned out and cooled out. Once I had him up in the tree I realized that he looked longer and heaver than a lot of javelina that I had shot in the years before. Now one of the javelina that I had shot tipped the scales at just under 60 lbs and this one was bigger but I didn't have any access to any scales so I don't know by just how much. But when I went to put him into my cooler I had to cut him in half for him to fit, and this cooler had hauled up to 2 javelina home most of the years.

My firearm of choice is a Thompson Center Contender in 7-30 Waters with a 12" hunter barrel which is ported. My load is a 120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip over 26 grains of W748 powder for a velocity of 2200 fps. The scope is a Burris 2-7 with Burris mounts.


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## NVDuckin (Apr 18, 2016)

Dang, nice job! That Contender looks like a sweet gun for hunting around on foot.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Awesome - thanks for sharing!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

This is my favorite thread.

I wanna go.

.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

wyogoob said:


> This is my favorite thread.
> 
> I wanna go.
> 
> .


The HAM (handgun, archery, muzzle loader) hunt is the first of February, application period is September-October.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

A dream hunt of mine. Congrats

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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