We hunt on a private ranch that is surrounded by BLM
land. You have to drive through BLM to get to the ranch. Also you have to go
through the ranch to get to other BLM land. We take the ranch owner a
care package of things like a case of oranges, lemons, pistachios, dates,
etc. We camp on BLM because we want to. We could camp on the ranch but we
have a favorite spot to dry camp. The ranch has the only consistent water
source in the immediate area, a creek, that runs through it. The rancher
"hates" these critters and says shoot all you can. We don't 'cause we
want to have something to hunt next year.

Our javelina hunt was the most successful to date. Six of us came home
with five of the little porkers. All taken on the same day (Sat). We hunt
in groups of two. Mark and I split up about a mile or so from camp. He
went up one ridge that has a 150 yd. diameter basin near its top. I went
to the next ridge to the West. We were 500-600 yards apart when he informed
me via his hand held radio that he had a "BINGO" (our term for javelina
in sight). He informed me they were between us and 100 yards from him. I
told him to do his stalk and I would position myself about 125 yards over
looking a likely escape route anticipating that I could get a shot at the
fleeing animals after Mark had shot.

I got into position and through my Burris 10x50 binos watched Mark
complete his stalk, extend the bipod on his Contender 14" in .30-30
caliber, carefully pick a mature target, aim and shoot. At the shot, the
herd of about seven scattered in at least three different directions. I
had guessed right as one javelina was using the escape route I had been
watching. However, the little porker had the pedal to the metal and was
nothing more than a blur between the rocks and vegetation. It never
offered a decent shot.

In less than a minute Mark radioed me that he was searching for the
animal he had hit. As he got close to where he thought his animal should
be, a javelina took off almost at his feet and took the escape route I
was watching. The animal had put about 100 yards between itself and Mark.
I took a running shot and the animal stopped. I shot again, and it turned
back toward the same way it had come and disappeared. We carefully
searched the area and had to admit that it had given us the slip.
We located Mark's javelina and found that his shot had taken out the top
of the animal's heart even though it ran about 30 yards after being hit.
After helping Mark do the dressing and hanging chores I went back up the
ridge I had come down earlier to glass the area on the other side. Mark
went to the ridge top from where we had both taken javelina from last
year.

Mark radioed me, "bingo", after only glassing 30 minutes or so. I left in
his direction as fast as I could without burning myself out. When I
reached Mark's position he showed me the herd of javelina located two
ridges over and about 300 yards away. After hiking to the first ridge we
quietly peered over the distance of about 200 yards and could not locate the
animals. Thinking they had dropped lower into a wash that was out of
sight from our location, we hurried down and up to the last ridge top
between us and where we had last seen the animals. We crawled on our
hands and knees to the top of the ridge and glassed the area we had last
seen the herd. Nothing. Then I thought I saw legs under a bush and asked
Mark to see if he could see them too. He told me he had seen them and
decided it was part of the bush. I went back to glassing the "legs" and
the legs were now suddenly attached to a javelina that was standing
broadside at 80 yards. I quickly removed my backpack and placed it on a
rock that I was hiding behind for a solid rest for my Contender 14" in
.223 caliber. As I was getting ready to shoot, the wind came up and
betrayed us. The herd was getting up from their beds and were leaving the
area in single file at a fast walk. I found an opening where the javelina
were crossing on their exit route and covered it with the Burris 2.5x7
scope. I felt the sight picture was right on the third one through the
opening and fired. At the shot the animal bucked and ran up the hill
about 15 yards before collapsing. The 55 gr. Sierra Game King destroyed the
liver.

Mark and I congratulated each other on another successful hunt while
eating our lunch that we had packed that morning.
The javelina was strapped to my backpack, that I had a shoe shop
reinforce for me so the straps won't pull out, and then went to the tree
where Mark hung his animal and strapped it to his backpack.
The trip back to camp took about two and a half hours. At camp we
celebrated again with an ice cold "diet coke" before the skinning chores
began. As we skinned, Ray and Mike brought in Ray's javelina and told the
story of Mike getting the sling tangled up in his binoculars and not
getting to shoot. Rick and Gordon soon brought in their animals, too. All
were taken the same day! We all celebrated the best trip we've had to
date.

Some people believe that javelina are blind/dumb animals. Don't believe
it! It takes as much skill to hunt them as it does to hunt other game
animals on their own turf. In my six years of experience hunting them, I
believe them to be as wary as many animals I've hunted.

Written for Graybeard by Tom Baker.
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