A real javelina

pistolero45 · Post by **pistolero45** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 6:03 pm

I've been meaning to share this photo of a real javelina. A couple years ago some friends and I went on a 'do-it-yourself' javelina hunt in Arizona. All of us killed pigs. I got this one at 55 paces. All that silhouette shooting must have helped!

Jim Beckley · Post by **Jim Beckley** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 3:00 pm

You did what most of us here fear! You got one! What unit was that in? We usually put in for Javelina, but it's like camping with guns, scouting for deer mostly.

pistolero45 · Post by **pistolero45** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 4:15 pm

I forget which hunting unit we were in, but the location was about 30 miles north of Tucson in the Tortilita mountains. We camped at the base of the mountains and found plenty of pigs about halfway up in little hanging valleys. The area is very rough and all hunting had to be done on foot. This was Arizona's HAM (handgun, archery, muzzleloader) season which occurs in February. The weather is very pleasant that time of year.

lone ringer · Post by **lone ringer** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:56 pm

Jim, I have hunted Javalinas in AZ only three times and have filled my tag twice on opening day and the third time on the second day. We hunted the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation near Glove the first two years and the third year we hunted right by the Douglas Silhouette Range.

Next time you see some of the fellows from the Douglas Club ask them about it. Mike Alva hooked us up with Ruben Flores and we found the Javalinas in a matter of hours.

Joaquin B · Post by **Joaquin B** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 8:37 pm

Congratulations, Pistolero.

I took one in the very same area a couple of year ago with my 7mm BR TC Encore, at the incredible range of 7 yards. The area you describe is about 10 miles from my home.

The little porkers are a lot of fun to hunt. I've been doing in it for over 10 years, with about 60% success personally, and every year, at least one in our group gets one.

I'll keep the location secret!

Regards,

LouisV · Post by **LouisV** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:12 pm

What load did you use ? I've been thinking of useing my 1911 for some hunting. I worked up one with the hornady xtp hp but haven't tried it on game yet. LouisV

pistolero45 · Post by **pistolero45** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:15 am

Both my brother and I used 200 grain cast semi-wadcutters. And we found that these bullets did not perfom as well as we had hoped. They simply punched a neat 1/2 inch hole through the animal. The boar my brother shot took three solid hits. We both decided to use 185 grain jacketed hollowpoints in the future.

Interestingly, our other two hunters both used .357 magnums with 158 jacketed hollowpoints. Those bullets zipped right through the pigs as well. It would appear one needs a bullet that expands quickly.

scotty250 · Post by **scotty250** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:51 pm

i live here in AZ, i have hunted them for years, but i never have my guns out while hunting. Seems that cars and trucks do just as well on these little piggys as bullets do. i worked at the GM test center and used to see them almost daily and if you were careless..... thump thump..... many times out riding motorcycles off in the desert we would cross paths with a patch of them. i have always wanted to put in for them, just dont know any people who hunt them. Neat pic
Scott

A real javelina

A real javelina

What load ?