johnm1
March 13, 2011, 03:10 PM
This is a follow up to my post from last November on her first javelina.
Arizona allows one javelina per calendar year so Alysa was eligible for another javelina this February during the regular rifle season. Her first was last November during the junior season. See the details of that hunt here
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=431086 .
We decided to go back to the same hunt unit she was successful at last November. We knew where the animals were and I was able to scout out some new locations. This time we would be going with two others from work. One is a seasoned safety engineer (Pat) and the other is my boss. Turns out my boss got the flu so it was only Pat, our safety engineer, my daughter, and myself.
Alysa had a commitment at church on Friday night (the first day of the week long hunt) so couldn't get there until Saturday afternoon. Pat got his that Saturday morning. Mom wasn't willing to drive 5 hours to bring Alysa down so she got on a bus in Phoenix and took a 5 hour long bus ride to Willcox, AZ. where I met her at 1:00 PM Saturday afternoon. We went back to the same canyon Pat got his that morning but the wind had really risen and we didn't see a thing. Sunday morning we headed to a neat little 'wash flat'. This is a flat area that a fairly significant (but dry) wash runs through that has 4-500' hills on both the North and South sides. We picked a spot halfway up the hills on the South side. We got to our spot and glassed for less than an hour when I spotted a heard midway up the hills on the North side. This was around 800 yards away and it took a while before I could even describe their location to the others.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60323943@N07/5523212533/
We made a quick move of the first 400 yards but moved a little slower on the last 400. The last 200 were mostly uphill but the natural rock formations gave good cover for making it to within 160 yards of the last landmark we had for the heard. When we got there none of us could find any of the animals. There was another small wash coming off the front of this hill that they could have hidden in on their way away from us or they could have moved to the other side of the hill while we were moving. We spent 15 minutes looking when I made a grunting sound and low an behold the largest boar stood up looking for what made that noise. The herd had just laid down and apparently javelina look amazingly like rocks/boulders when they lay down.
Alysa's first shot was right at 160 yards but steeply uphill and was not a one shot kill. It took out the animals right front shoulder just missing the heart and it dropped but got back up in less than 30 seconds. I told Alysa to put another in it but Pat, seeing another animal presenting a good shot said no. He was trying to get me a shot on another from the same herd. It didn't turn out that way and Alysa's boar made its way around the top of the hill and out of sight.
The blood trail was significant and easy to follow around the hill but quickly disappeared once we got around the hill. I had Alysa stay at the last spot we found blood while I continued to track. Alysa sighted here boar in a small wash down at the bottom of the hill (by hill I mean 400 feet or so) along with the rest of the herd. I felt confident that she could take care of herself so I told her to go down to find her boar and finish it while I stayed up high as a spotter. She split the heard when she crossed the wash they were in driving her boar away from her and the rest of the herd towards me. I stayed and watched as the boar ran as fast as a three legged boar can run in the small wash with my daughter running as fast as an asthmatic 17 year old girl can run on top of the flat that formed one of the ridges of the wash. She fell to the ground just as the boar decides to get out of the wash and head over the next hill around a hundred yards in front of her. Now Alysa knows that if this boar gets over that hill it is going to be a tracking nightmare. So, now that she is on the ground anyway, she improvises a sitting position and takes one shot at the boar now running almost directly away from her at 75 yards and puts a .270 in the left rear quarter that drops the animal like the proverbial sack of potatoes. She does as she has learned and watches the animal drop in here scope.
Here is the result of the first shot that missed the heart by less than 2" at 160 yards.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60323943@N07/5523199437/
Here is Alysa with her latest javelina
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60323943@N07/5523164415/
Because the animal was looking right at us, she was aiming for another head shot. She was sitting but she was using Pat's homemade shooting sticks instead of my tripod shooting sticks. She just wasn't comfortable with his sticks and the shot was steeply uphill. Greater than 30 degrees uphill.
This was a very large javelina. Pat is a schooled zoologist (and a much better hunter than I) and measured the skull at almost 15" green. Unfortunately it has to be over 15" to be recorded in this state. It would have been nice to have her in the record book. Most javelina in this state measure under 14".
Here is the funny part. Alysa arrives at the hunting area around 2:30 PM on Saturday and by 9:00 AM on Sunday is done. Although this was the President's day holiday weekend she could not miss school on Tuesday. So we put her back on a bus at 6:00 PM Sunday evening and she is back sleeping in her own bed Sunday night at 10:00 PM. Almost a celebrity hunt.
As it turns out, the weather turned very windy the rest of the hunt. I had one more opportunity at a herd but they managed to elude us and I ended up not getting a javelina. I wasn't skunked because we had such a great time and Alysa got accustomed to the classic spot and stalk. A skill we hope to use this fall for elk and antelope.
Arizona allows one javelina per calendar year so Alysa was eligible for another javelina this February during the regular rifle season. Her first was last November during the junior season. See the details of that hunt here
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=431086 .
We decided to go back to the same hunt unit she was successful at last November. We knew where the animals were and I was able to scout out some new locations. This time we would be going with two others from work. One is a seasoned safety engineer (Pat) and the other is my boss. Turns out my boss got the flu so it was only Pat, our safety engineer, my daughter, and myself.
Alysa had a commitment at church on Friday night (the first day of the week long hunt) so couldn't get there until Saturday afternoon. Pat got his that Saturday morning. Mom wasn't willing to drive 5 hours to bring Alysa down so she got on a bus in Phoenix and took a 5 hour long bus ride to Willcox, AZ. where I met her at 1:00 PM Saturday afternoon. We went back to the same canyon Pat got his that morning but the wind had really risen and we didn't see a thing. Sunday morning we headed to a neat little 'wash flat'. This is a flat area that a fairly significant (but dry) wash runs through that has 4-500' hills on both the North and South sides. We picked a spot halfway up the hills on the South side. We got to our spot and glassed for less than an hour when I spotted a heard midway up the hills on the North side. This was around 800 yards away and it took a while before I could even describe their location to the others.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60323943@N07/5523212533/
We made a quick move of the first 400 yards but moved a little slower on the last 400. The last 200 were mostly uphill but the natural rock formations gave good cover for making it to within 160 yards of the last landmark we had for the heard. When we got there none of us could find any of the animals. There was another small wash coming off the front of this hill that they could have hidden in on their way away from us or they could have moved to the other side of the hill while we were moving. We spent 15 minutes looking when I made a grunting sound and low an behold the largest boar stood up looking for what made that noise. The herd had just laid down and apparently javelina look amazingly like rocks/boulders when they lay down.
Alysa's first shot was right at 160 yards but steeply uphill and was not a one shot kill. It took out the animals right front shoulder just missing the heart and it dropped but got back up in less than 30 seconds. I told Alysa to put another in it but Pat, seeing another animal presenting a good shot said no. He was trying to get me a shot on another from the same herd. It didn't turn out that way and Alysa's boar made its way around the top of the hill and out of sight.
The blood trail was significant and easy to follow around the hill but quickly disappeared once we got around the hill. I had Alysa stay at the last spot we found blood while I continued to track. Alysa sighted here boar in a small wash down at the bottom of the hill (by hill I mean 400 feet or so) along with the rest of the herd. I felt confident that she could take care of herself so I told her to go down to find her boar and finish it while I stayed up high as a spotter. She split the heard when she crossed the wash they were in driving her boar away from her and the rest of the herd towards me. I stayed and watched as the boar ran as fast as a three legged boar can run in the small wash with my daughter running as fast as an asthmatic 17 year old girl can run on top of the flat that formed one of the ridges of the wash. She fell to the ground just as the boar decides to get out of the wash and head over the next hill around a hundred yards in front of her. Now Alysa knows that if this boar gets over that hill it is going to be a tracking nightmare. So, now that she is on the ground anyway, she improvises a sitting position and takes one shot at the boar now running almost directly away from her at 75 yards and puts a .270 in the left rear quarter that drops the animal like the proverbial sack of potatoes. She does as she has learned and watches the animal drop in here scope.
Here is the result of the first shot that missed the heart by less than 2" at 160 yards.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60323943@N07/5523199437/
Here is Alysa with her latest javelina
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60323943@N07/5523164415/
Because the animal was looking right at us, she was aiming for another head shot. She was sitting but she was using Pat's homemade shooting sticks instead of my tripod shooting sticks. She just wasn't comfortable with his sticks and the shot was steeply uphill. Greater than 30 degrees uphill.
This was a very large javelina. Pat is a schooled zoologist (and a much better hunter than I) and measured the skull at almost 15" green. Unfortunately it has to be over 15" to be recorded in this state. It would have been nice to have her in the record book. Most javelina in this state measure under 14".
Here is the funny part. Alysa arrives at the hunting area around 2:30 PM on Saturday and by 9:00 AM on Sunday is done. Although this was the President's day holiday weekend she could not miss school on Tuesday. So we put her back on a bus at 6:00 PM Sunday evening and she is back sleeping in her own bed Sunday night at 10:00 PM. Almost a celebrity hunt.
As it turns out, the weather turned very windy the rest of the hunt. I had one more opportunity at a herd but they managed to elude us and I ended up not getting a javelina. I wasn't skunked because we had such a great time and Alysa got accustomed to the classic spot and stalk. A skill we hope to use this fall for elk and antelope.