Javelinas !!

[j2crows]

OK. Most guys seem to have a preference for big hog rifles, Well, how about a good rifle for our small Javelina out here in New Mexico. Not very big probably 30-60 lbs. I've always hunted them with a bow but, with major surgery on my shoulder this year I plan on using a rifle if I draw out. Yes, we eat them.

 

[MCgunner]

.223/.22-250 for longish range, but they're blind as a bat and it's fun to get the wind at your face and stalk up on 'em inside .357 handgun range.

 

[Pokyman]

Killed mine with a 22 6MM. Way more rifle than you need. I would think a rifle from 223 to 243 would be perfect.

 

[Art Eatman]

My preference on lil piggy is a head shot. Not enough neck to speak of, and it's too easy to get into the smallish amount of meat they have. So, somewhere around the eye-ear area.

If you see a bunch and have the wind in your favor, you can get really close. A .38 Special is plenty of pistol.

I dunno. Most of my javelina shooting has been when I was out deer hunting, so I commonly worked with a .243 or an '06. Both of those are a lot more gun than is necessary...

 

[kyle1974]

we call them "hoovers" at the lease, because they suck all the corn up.

as for a shot, they are small animals. I have dropped them with my bow. A .223 would be adequate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6An3neXoLho

 

[WardenWolf]

I concur on .223. I recommend 55-grain bullets. I used a 68-grain bullet on mine. It was too much. Blew clear through shoulder-to-shoulder without expanding. Heart and double lung, check. Dead piggy, check. But the bullet was nowhere to be found.

 

[brnmuenchow]

.223Rem./ or .243Win. is a good choice.

 

[chas08]

I agree that a .223 would be might near perfect. A .222 or .22 Hornet would also do the trick.

 

[B-LazyS]

I've killed quite a few with my old Winchester 94 in .30-30 with cast bullets at about 1750 fps. Makes a tidy little hole in and out, and I've never had one take more than a step or two.

"Skunk Pig" are mighty good eatin' if you treat 'em right!

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

other than being corn eating pests, cant see much reason to kill em, and javelinas are not pigs.

 

[chas08]

other than being corn eating pests, cant see much reason to kill em, and javelinas are not pigs.

A ten pounder (cooking weight) baked and served on a bed of dirty rice is reason enough for me. And you're right they're rodents not pigs.

 

[Art Eatman]

It's not all that difficult to spot those which are maybe two inches shorter at the shoulder than the really large piggies in a bunch. They'll weigh maybe 25 pounds to 30, on the hoof.

The hams barbecue quite nicely, if done slowly and carefully. Yummy tender and tasty.

 

[WardenWolf]

A ten pounder (cooking weight) baked and served on a bed of dirty rice is reason enough for me. And you're right they're rodents not pigs.

Actually apparently this isn't true. I'd read they were rodents, too, but it turns out they are indeed in the pig family. They're not true pigs, but they're close. I believe you're thinking of a Capybara.

 

[Harley Quinn]

Peccary (Javelina) are pigs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peccary

Peccaries are members of the artiodactyl suborder Suina, as are the pig family (Suidae) and possibly the hippopotamus family (Hippopotamidae).[1] They are found in the southwestern area of North America and throughout Central and South America.

 

[brnmuenchow]

I prefer hog hunting over Javalina, anyway. It gives me an excuse to pop off a few of my 154 gr. SP 7.62x39mm's their way! (instead of my FMJ's.)--Good fun.

 

[chas08]

Actually apparently this isn't true. I'd read they were rodents, too, but it turns out they are indeed in the pig family.

I remember reading that "rodent thing" years ago. It just goes to show you can't believe every thing you read. Now I'm wondering; Should I believe this? (LOL)

 

[brnmuenchow]

I am not saying if they are or not, but my family got me a small field guide for Christmas: Mammals of Texas by Stan Tekiela. (cool little book by the way.)
The author refers to Javelina simply as "pig like" he says their other name known as "Collared Peccary" he has it listed in the appendix under the Artiodactyla order Tayassuidae family next to the Suidae family where the Feral pig is listed in the same order. I am not an expert, nor would I ever claim to be but I have alway's considered it to be some type of pig sub-species, and my cousin alway's assumed it to be a rodent till he was thumbing through my book one day. So if there are any "REAL" experts in mammal species maybe you can set us straight.

 

[MCgunner]

They are of the same order and apparently suborder as pigs. That is the level of taxinomic classification above family, but they're related to pigs, if a little more distantly than family. I was an "aquatic type" (fisheries management BS Texas A&M), did not take mammalogy, but this is what I've read over the years about Javelina or "collared peccary".

 

[CraigC]

I always thought a good cast bullet out of a .32-20 or .38-40 levergun would make great javelina medicine.

 

[chas08]

I always thought a good cast bullet out of a .32-20

A Winchester 1892 in .32-20 would be sweet to say the least.

 

[MCgunner]

A Winchester 1892 in .32-20 would be sweet to say the least.

There's a shop in Corpus where I bet you could find one. I ain't gonna guess the price, though. He's got 92s, a HUGE selection of 73s, all original. Walking into this shop is like walking into a museum. It's friggin' awesome. It's called "Smith's Guns" and it's in a little strip mall on Alameda. They had an original Revolutionary War flinter in there, a Harper's Ferry musket, all sorts of neat stuff. It's small, but lots of neat stuff to see that I couldn't afford without hitting the lotto.

For stink pigs, though, I'd just load up some +P .38s in my Rossi 92 carbine in .357, or .357s for some overkill.

 

[chas08]

There's a shop in Corpus where I bet you could find one. I ain't gonna guess the price, though. He's got 92s, a HUGE selection of 73s, all original.

Yeah the lower end ones probably start at $1-2K, too rich for my blue collar blood. But I still would like to own one.

For stink pigs, though, I'd just load up some +P .38s in my Rossi 92 carbine in .357, or .357s for some overkill.

It would be a lot cheaper than $50 a box 32-20's too. I have a Rossi 92 in .44 rem mag, it shoots the .44spcl's pretty good out to 50 yds or so. I just have to move the rear sight ramp up about two notches. It'd probably be bad medicine on them also.

 

[Harley Quinn]

Yes on the 44 mag, it would be a good one...

I would go to my 35 Rem 336 Marlin for them, could load with 357 pistol bullets short range or the rifle bullet/cartridge, if long range

440 Corbon in my Desert Eagle

 

[dubbleA]

While a tenacious, mean and packish critter, they are not hard at all to bring down, I have deflated many a stink pig with a 17 HMR with lung shots.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

tenacious, mean....javelinas...they usually scatter like quail....packish sometimes, any animal can get a little mean if you corner it, even my old lady...