Any body hunt Javelina

[justyhntr]

My wife and I are thinking about going to Arizona next Jan. and hunting Javelina . I've been doing a bit of research but if any body has experience or place to look at that would be great .

[Practical Approach]

I hunted a few in Texas years ago.  But it just happened that they were in the wrong place at the right time while deer hunting.  Don't know of any places to go though. 

[chester]

I did in AZ back in 2005.Ended up filling my tag on the last day. It was a really fun hunt. they are an odd animal. Look for prickly pear cactus. Have you already put in for the draw? 

[washelkhunter]

We see alot of them south of tucson when we visit down there.

[cougarbart]

Collared peccary?lol hunted them in south New Mexico, stinky things not what I would call good vittles but keep you from starving! Glass the desert!

[NWRookie]

Grew up in az. Javelina are fun but not always easy to find. Look south of Tucson around Arivaca junction. Other areas around Globe in the middle of the state are pretty productive. Be prepared for 20 to 80 degree weather in January. Sure miss January, don't miss August at all.

[Soldier5]

That will be the archery hunt. I'm currently living in southern AZ working as a contractor on fort huachuca. I've ran into several deer hunting in units 30B and 35A. Tough to glass them up. Most my encounters have been while I was still hunting. Nothing like jumping a javalina at ten yards and it huffing at you trying to figure out what/where you are. There's usually plenty of leftover tags if you don't want to put in for the draw. If you have any questions PM me.

[justyhntr]

It looks like the draw is in Oct. for the 15 season . It looks like they would be a hoot to hunt and it would be nice to spend a week in the winter were its dry . Soldier5 I will PM you when I have more time . Thanks

[Soldier5]

I would have loved to have hunted for them but I just didn't have the time in January and didn't want to hunt them with any other weapon. Ill be moving back home to Oregon in a couple months but definitely plan on coming back for a January coues rut hunt and javalina combo.

[boneaddict]

I've hunted them in Arizona.  I wont spill the beans where as I would like to go back and it was with a friend and his research.   It was a blast!   Fun but long road trip.   Got in the middle of a blizzard in Utah.  That was whiteknuckle for awhile.  They literally closed the road behind us as in they were setting up the road block and we passed them.   Awesome trip.

[WAcoueshunter]

Heck yeah! Love archery javelina! 

[ANDERWAGON]

Did it once in unit 30A. Great hunt! Had to hunt pretty hard there as we only saw 5 of them in 6 days. We did however see lots of great Coues deer, coyotes and a few

Crane taxidermy did a head mount for me. Great job, shipping was reasonable and the crate he built protected it very well.

Oh yeah... Stinky little buggers. Watch out for the sent glan on there back side. 

[WAcoueshunter]

Back to the OP, pigs are everywhere down there, but hard to find.  I've hunted them up north in unit 19, but mostly in the southern units.  We are usually coues hunting with pig tags in our pockets, so we hunt the foothills that are a little higher in elevation (where the coues live).  The foothills around any of the mountain ranges down there (Rincons, Galiuros, Catalinas, Santa Ritas) all have pigs.  Mostly public land in those mountains so access shouldn't be a problem.

The most difficult part is just finding a herd.  You need to glass and move, glass and move.  They're not like deer where you'll bump into them throughout the day.  Instead, they live in herds, are very localized, and can be difficult to see.  You could go days without seeing a single pig, then you find a herd and everyone tags out in the next 30 minutes.   

They're nearly blind and make a ton of noise.  So they pretty much just rely on their sense of smell.  Keep the wind in your face and you can walk right into the middle of the herd. 

They eat prickly pear cactus and roots.  Focus in places that have plenty of prickly pear.  We sometimes hunt deer a little higher than the prickly pear grows, and we never see pigs there.  I don't think that's a coincidence.  If you see roots that appear to be freshly dug up, there is a herd there.  Pigs shred the prickly pear fronds when they eat them.  Grazing cows (and there are a lot in the desert) bite them clean through, so know the difference. 

Here's a few pics from last year's hunt.  The first one is a pig looking for his buddies after I busted up their herd.  The second one is my pig after the first arrow, but before the second.  Found him holed up in a little cave.

[ANDERWAGON]

One thing I would add is look for bedding areas. Holes in the hill sides, little ditches / breaks, drainages and small caverns. They don't have a very thick coat and tend to bed together for warmth. The pig pile is the only part were I agree that they are pigs.

[justyhntr]

Thanks everybody , Arizona Fish and Wildlife has some good info and I found a couple other sites that are helpful . With the advice on here I think I'll have a good idea come fall on were I will put in for . I emailed a friend from the local archery club what we had in mind and it turns out that he and another guy were talking about doing the same thing . So it looks like we may have 3 couples going down .My wife and daughters are going to be down in the Chandler area in a couple weeks so I'm going to have them stop by any archery shop and get info . Cute gals asking for hunting info , they get details . Thanks again .

[RadSav]

Areas to look at seem to depend if you want numbers or size.  Since most of my Javalina hunting was during competition we concentrated on big pigs.  That put us hunting around Bonita.  My favorite spot was uncomfortably close the Fort Grant penitentiary.  After a few years I got to know guards and didn't get harassed too bad.  Further up the valley west of there was dynamite and not as prickly   Pen guards prefer you hunt there too

For numbers I found the best areas to be north of Globe near the San Carlos boundary.  Not sure with the Phoenix/Scottsdale population explosion whether my favorite stomping ground is much good now.  But, I use to walk under the spillway at Horseshoe Dam and work down stream and a few ridges back.  Back in the mid 80's there were some huge pig numbers there. Not uncommon to see 25 or more in one group.  That was before the parking passes and bicycle trails, when Scottsdale and Carefree were separated by miles of prime hunting ground and not one big golf course.

[Bean Counter]

I've been within 10 yards of them more times than I can remember. As there have said, the hard part is finding them. Stalk is easy. I haven't caught the bug yet and never put in for a tag.