Great hunt with Gil and his boys, Anthony, Timothy and Adam, this past weekend for the Juniors Only Javelina Hunt in Central Arizona. This was my son Joaquin's second attempt at Javelina and his first big game animal. The hunt opened on Friday 1/24 and found us in one of our favorite areas at first light. The plan was to split up in to 2 groups to cover as much ground and increase our chances of finding something for the 3 hunters with tags. After splitting up and getting to our designated perch we started glassing spotted a few deer immediately but no javelina, a few hours later I spotted a pig far off and figured out a plan to get Gil in to the area and meet up to close the distance and see if we could locate the critter, once meeting Gil and the boys at the base of the draw that I had last seen the animal we started glassing again but couldn't find it so we decided to split up on the bordering ridges and move slow to push the animals out if they were holding up which was the case. Unfortunately the javelina held tight until the last minute and jumped out once we were on the top of the main ridge and only at 12 yds I tried to get Joaquin into a shooting position but he couldn't see them over the brush and they were able to get away. Tough break after covering so much ground but that's hunting. We decided to head back to the truck for lunch and figure out a plan for the afternoon.
The afternoon we decided check another location to see what kind of sign we might find and things looked good, plenty of fresh tracks in the area and signs of rooting. We decided to concentrate here until dark but no javelina. The sign was plentiful so we figured we'd come back in the morning and see what we could find.
Saturday morning we split up in 3 groups Gil and Timothy headed East, Anthony and Adam to the South and Joaquin and I to the West. It had been about an hour since we split up when Gil called on the radio to say he'd located a herd and we needed to move. We got directions to the location and started going. The terrain is rough and steep so took some time to get there. Timothy had passed on the opportunity to take his shot as he wanted Joaquin to get the first crack at one. Once together we tried to locate the Javelina as they had moved in to a thick bottom. After waiting a while Gil figured he would circle back and get behind the location and move through the brush to see if he could push them out, this has worked in the past but shooting spots were limited if they stuck to the thick brush and that's exactly what they did. The herd busted out and started running only giving us split second glimpse before disappearing. We followed around the slope to see if we could relocate the herd but to no go, they were gone so time to regroup and get some grub/rest back at the truck.
After a good lunch and needed break we took a short drive to start up again. We got in to our spotting position and didn't take too long before I found a nice size herd. I called Gil and the boys to let them know and try and get them in to position. We figured the best thing to do was leapfrog from point to point keeping eyes on the herd at all times. Once they where in position Joaquin and I would make a move, we did this until we joined up with Anthony and Timothy at the bottom of a draw leading to a ridge that would put us in position for a shot. I was hoping to get Joaquin as close a shot as possible without spooking the herd. We moved in with Gil and Adam staying back watching the herd and were able to get to the last ridge between the critters and us at 227 yds at this point we had to decide to shoot because of terrain. I knew it was going to be a tough shot on such a small target for my 10 year old son but doable. I set up the back pack as a rest and came up with the plan on the targets, Joaquin would shoot the lower of 2 pigs together and Timothy would shoot the top. Anthony was not worried about getting a shot and wanted to film. Once ready I laid the 243 in position for Joaquin and asked him to take a look. I knew the javelina were in the scope picture but when he looked he says " I don't see them, only ROCKS Dad" I cranked the scope to 9 and told him to keep looking at the dark spots and he would see them move. Sure enough he waited and it moved when he realized what it was. It was on, he knew exactly what he was looking at and ready to go. Excitement was building! and things got quite I could hear him take a deep breath and slowly release half and hold -Boom Boom shots were off. I could see both Javelina flop over, YES!! Timothy had been waiting patiently for his cousin to be ready. Anthony was filming and I hope to share his video later. Gil and I are really proud of the boys and super happy for my little guy getting it done at 10 years old!Great hunt for the GTeam! Thanks for reading lots of details left out but already way too long. : )
Fernando (Gteam2)
The afternoon we decided check another location to see what kind of sign we might find and things looked good, plenty of fresh tracks in the area and signs of rooting. We decided to concentrate here until dark but no javelina. The sign was plentiful so we figured we'd come back in the morning and see what we could find.
Saturday morning we split up in 3 groups Gil and Timothy headed East, Anthony and Adam to the South and Joaquin and I to the West. It had been about an hour since we split up when Gil called on the radio to say he'd located a herd and we needed to move. We got directions to the location and started going. The terrain is rough and steep so took some time to get there. Timothy had passed on the opportunity to take his shot as he wanted Joaquin to get the first crack at one. Once together we tried to locate the Javelina as they had moved in to a thick bottom. After waiting a while Gil figured he would circle back and get behind the location and move through the brush to see if he could push them out, this has worked in the past but shooting spots were limited if they stuck to the thick brush and that's exactly what they did. The herd busted out and started running only giving us split second glimpse before disappearing. We followed around the slope to see if we could relocate the herd but to no go, they were gone so time to regroup and get some grub/rest back at the truck.
After a good lunch and needed break we took a short drive to start up again. We got in to our spotting position and didn't take too long before I found a nice size herd. I called Gil and the boys to let them know and try and get them in to position. We figured the best thing to do was leapfrog from point to point keeping eyes on the herd at all times. Once they where in position Joaquin and I would make a move, we did this until we joined up with Anthony and Timothy at the bottom of a draw leading to a ridge that would put us in position for a shot. I was hoping to get Joaquin as close a shot as possible without spooking the herd. We moved in with Gil and Adam staying back watching the herd and were able to get to the last ridge between the critters and us at 227 yds at this point we had to decide to shoot because of terrain. I knew it was going to be a tough shot on such a small target for my 10 year old son but doable. I set up the back pack as a rest and came up with the plan on the targets, Joaquin would shoot the lower of 2 pigs together and Timothy would shoot the top. Anthony was not worried about getting a shot and wanted to film. Once ready I laid the 243 in position for Joaquin and asked him to take a look. I knew the javelina were in the scope picture but when he looked he says " I don't see them, only ROCKS Dad" I cranked the scope to 9 and told him to keep looking at the dark spots and he would see them move. Sure enough he waited and it moved when he realized what it was. It was on, he knew exactly what he was looking at and ready to go. Excitement was building! and things got quite I could hear him take a deep breath and slowly release half and hold -Boom Boom shots were off. I could see both Javelina flop over, YES!! Timothy had been waiting patiently for his cousin to be ready. Anthony was filming and I hope to share his video later. Gil and I are really proud of the boys and super happy for my little guy getting it done at 10 years old!Great hunt for the GTeam! Thanks for reading lots of details left out but already way too long. : )
Fernando (Gteam2)
