Coach

Dang - that's just awesome!

Yeah definitely looks like lung blood. Good luck finding him! I know from experience, they can go a LONG way and lose a lot of blood before they die. I sure hope we get to see some pictures of him on the ground.

bump

That was my question - we're going to get one and I know very little about them. it looks like the countertop convection oven style has a lot of benefits over the internal basket style. Any experience of the pros and cons of both designs is much appreciated!

Man that looks fun! Congrats on an exiting hunt.

No, but may be going down to Tonto Basin soon and could meet in Globe.

For now I'd like to keep them as part of a package deal, but if that changes I'll let you know.

Bump

I know the number of wolves in the wild they are telling us is WAY under-inflated. There are more wolves right now in units 1 and 27 than I think they can even count.

Nice buck - love the mass! Thanks for the write-up and pictures.

In the picture, it appears that the gas block rail sits well below the upper receiver rail. I'd put a yard stick or any straight-edge on that back rail and see if it sits above the front gas block. That would certainly explain hitting high.

Very cool - look at those smiles!

Great job - bet you're hooked for life now. This is the first year I haven't archery hunted javis in a very long time. Always a blast.

Nicely Done! That's awesome - really nice bucks there.

Looking forward to javi season 2012 - something near and dear to me because it's one of those hunts that you can regularly draw, and once out there you can usually be on the chase. I think Javelina are the most underrated big game species in Az. What better quarry to teach young hunters to glass, read sign, learn the basics of hunting in the desert and keep it fun and usually action-packed enough to hook them for life? There's a few things I've noticed over the years of hunting these critters that I find kind of facinating. For starters, they are extremely social. If you sit and watch a herd for a while, you can quickly learn the hierarchy of the herd. But they always watch eachother's back and tend to the young as a whole. For an animal that is considered "dumb" they have a more developed communication system than deer, elk and even turkey from what I've seen. They are very particular about their "home ground". They seem to find a place that they feel safe, have the forage and water they need and stick to it as long as it feels safe. Once you bust them, if they really feel threatened, they'll leave that spot and might not return - ever. If you bust up a herd in a bedding area that they've used for years, once you see them scatter and go ridge over ridge, that awesome spot might not have javelina in it again for years. And those that re-occupy it later are not likely to be the same herd - just find it as appealing as those that used to inhabit it. Another thing I find interesting, and other javi-junkies have noticed, if you find the "home" bedding grounds of a herd that they are using regularly, sneak in and happen to shoot one without totally chasing them out of there (think archery - quiet, kill one and back out), they'll come right back and continue to use the area - they'll probably still be there the next year. BUT, if you don't take your harvest out of the area before field dressing them, and gut them right there in their "comfort" area, the herd will return, find the remains and get a little weirded out and leave in search of another safe place. It's like they recognize the remains of the one you killed and dressed, and can't feel comfortable hanging around "Bob's" gutpile. Point being, if you kill a piggie in their bedding area, pack him a ways out before the knife work. If you do this, you're likely to find them back in that area. If you don't they'll likely move somewhere else. Just some observations about these awesome little desert dwellers and their social lifestyle. I'd like to hear what others have observed about them.

Not really sure why it is, but Javis in NM are kind of hard to find. They're there - but in my few hunts in New Mexico, I've seen pretty much high concentrations of mule deer, coues deer, elk, turkey, but not as many javis as I would expect.

Yeah lots of good stuff in there, #26 hits closest to home for me. As a life-long hunter, lots of my best and most memorable moments happened while out hunting - with my kids, friends or solo. But none of them would have happened without one of us having that tag in our pocket, that got us out doing and seeing things we wouldn't have otherwise. Thanks for sharing, Tony.

Great looking buck! Awesome how it all came together.

Definitely a cool buck - congrats!

Merry Christmas!

You certainly have a gift - those are some amazing photos. Thanks so much for sharing! Merry Christmas!

I'm speechless. You guys packed several lifetimes of huge bucks into one awesome year - Huge congrats!

That is awesome. For whatever reason this was a bang-up year for big late bulls. Congrats and great job!

Hard to go wrong with the badlands packs. Very versatile - All three of my boys used them. I may have one up for sale before long as I switched my personal day pack over to a Kuiu.

Man - what a great buck! That's just so awesome. Congrats.