first javelina

[VingThorr]

A friend brought me javelina hunting for my first time ever here in southeastern Arizona. The first day I walked right up on a piggy not 20 yards away from me while still-hunting a mesquite thicket, but we caught sight of each other at the same time, and he scurried away over a hill with a tree directly between us so I never really had a shot unless I wanted to prune some mesquite. The second day however we walked right up on a herd of 15 or so of them, again about 20 yards away, feeding in some tall grass. This piggy offered the best shot. Can't wait till next year. I was using my Marlin 336c in .30-30 (for lack of something lighter) with scope set to the lowest 2.5x and handloaded ammo. I think a winchester '94 in 25-35, or marlin 1894 in .357 or .32-20 would make a great full-time javelina gun--might have to add one of those to the safe before next year comes around. i had great fun and can't wait to do it again next year.

anyone else have piggy (or peccary if you prefer) pictures and stories?

 

[Schofield3]

Good deal, congrats!

 

[H&Hhunter]

Nice looking peccary! The .30/30 is about the most perfect peccary rifle I can think of. Congrats.

 

[MCgunner]

That's a NICE one! Get 'er mounted. The rifle's pretty sharp, too. They make great wall decorations. Sorta evil lookin'. Good for scaring the grand kids.

 

[Geno]

Fantastic picture. Like that rifle/scope combination. I have always like a good lever action rifle!

Congratulations!

Geno

 

[VingThorr]

thanks.

the scope is a weaver 2.5x7 power, 32mm lenses mounted on low rings. a good match as it doesn't ruin the gun's levergunishness, i think.

 

[Grizfire]

excellent, thanks for posting

 

[LEVRLOVR]

Yeah, those suckers are alot of fun to hunt and not to bad on the plate.

West Texas.

 

[mudmanfloyd]

Hey Ving, what unit were you hunting? I was in 30A last weekend but didn't get to shoot anything. I saw a herd of about 9 of them but they took off and I never saw them again.

I was out with my Marlin 30-30 too.

 

[Dentite]

Nice! I had a tag but I had to go out of town for a wedding...talk about bad timing.

 

[VingThorr]

Hey mudman, i was in 35a. my mule deer hunt in 30b last year had similar results to your javelina hunt.

 

[MCgunner]

Yeah, those suckers are alot of fun to hunt and not to bad on the plate.

Well, I guess that's an opinion.. Soaking the meat takes the stink out, but it's dry as heck. I think it's best to make tamales out of the stuff, shredded, personally. I guess you could mix it with about 70 percent pork fat and make sausage out of it. I never tried that. All in all, I'd rather have a feral pig for the table.

 

[Art Eatman]

I found that if you choose the eye as a target, you can field-dress the little critters and not even get blood on your hands. Greasy, though. If you can stalk in halfway close, a 6" .38 Special or .357 is plenty-enough gun.

I like to slow-cook barbecue the little hams. Heavy on the no-salt basting mix to get a crust, and turn with tongs instead of a fork so what moisture there is stays inside. Yummy. The shoulders work for stew, and the little tiny back straps cook quickly so you have yum-yums for nibblies while the hams are cooking.

Pigelinas are fun to mess with. It's a hoot to be downwind or crosswind and ease along and watch. If you move smoothly and quietly, they'll never know you're there. You can grab a baby piggie and start a rodeo. The herd hauls butt, Momma starts popping her jaws and the baby squeals up a storm. You set him down, he hooks back up with Momma and off they go, ASAP.

I was sitting-hunting one evening and a herd approached from upwind. One mama and a baby came around downwind and came up to try to figure out what I was. She stopped about five feet away and went through the damndest nose-gyrations and deep-breathing exercises, trying to figure out this strange creature. I stayed motionless and she finally said, "Aw, well, no big deal," and wandered off. About two minutes later, here came another one; same deal. It's really hard to not bust out laughing when that sort of thing happens. I sat for a while until they moved on, and then went on to the truck. Why educate 'em?

 

[VingThorr]

Our piggies got mixed with pork fat and turned into bratwurst and breakfast sausage. Our group wound up with 5 javelinas in all and only one of them stank once the hide was off. The fat on the largest piggy, a big old boar, smelled similar to the hides. None of the other four (medium-sized to just plain small) had anything stinky about them, or any real fat to speak of that didn't come off with the hide when skinning. It was just the meat-clinging fat on the old boar that smelled stinky. I've heard if you're looking for good-eating, don't shoot a big old boar. I suppose that goes for any kind of critter though.

Art, I've heard other people tell similar stories! "if you want a real challenge, don't try to shoot one, try to catch one!"

 

[Art Eatman]

For me, the deal in selecting which one to shoot is that I'll take one that's around two inches shorter at the shoulder than the larger ones. That's usually a near-grown shoat, and is the best eating.