Hoss50

Donovan's.

I drew a rifle tag this year because the HAM hunts conflicted with my schedule, but I fully intend to try and take my Javalina with my .38 Super 1911. I will probably have my rifle too, but I want to use the .38 Super if I can.

I usually hunt around the Mayer/Cordes area in the high deserts but sometimes push up the hill into the pines. Deer and pig are both there but take some effort/luck to get near. I almost always see pig sign and have bumped into them more then once in the years I have been up there. It is rough and rocky hunting down in the high deserts but I grew up hunting that area with my dad so it is kind of my area to continue hunting since I know it. Last year I was literally within about 12' of a pig without him knowing, and when I was trying to make my exit off a nasty hillside @ dusk it got sketchy. I knew there were more pigs around but didn't know were they were exactly. The bad part was there was only 1 decent way off this hilltop and it ended up being right through the herd of pigs. As I was moving slowly trying to get out I came within about 30' of a set of babies and could hear the mother in the bushes woofing at me. I backpedaled out of there as fast as I could and luckily didn't get charged.

I just checked. My card got HIT!!! This will be my first javo hunt. I am assuming I got drawn in 20A since 3 out of 5 selections were that area but we will see. During deer season last year I could have killed several with my pistol without an issue. I am hoping that will be the case again in February for myself and my 2 hunting buddies.

Normally my back up rifle is a savage 99 in .243 win. This season I have a buddy new to hunting that is going to carry it as primary.

It sounds like we will be farther north in the Range then this travel path you describe so I am hoping all will be ok, but only time will tell. Thanks

We are planning on camping. I am moderately concerned with camping/leaving camp unattended but won't have alot of choice. There will be 4 of us though so that makes me more comfortable having a few people who have my back around. A friend of mine and I will be headed down there next weekend to do some scouting, and will be camping in tents but we will be well armed and contious of our surroundings. We will get a better feeling of the situation next weekend hopefully. We will probably be hunting up higher in the range in the more northern end of the range so that makes me a little more comfortable.

My friend and I finally got to get out and pull a trigger this weekend on dove! Last weekend the muddy swamps and mosquito's made it impossible to get to our water hole. This weekend we made it and we were stocked up on bug repellent. The fly was pretty slow in our normal spot. We ended up with 13 birds between 2 people. We missed a few shots we should have probably made, but even then we would probably not have limited out. We actually had to hunt them this year too instead of sitting around waiting for them to fly by. They were roosting in the big bushes so we were actually having to walk the desert and split up to either side of the bushes to get shots as they flushed, and we were having to use other bushes as cover to sneak up close enough to get shots as they flushed. The birds this year out by were I hunted were pretty small too. The only good size bird we got was the 1 white wing that I got. The rest were small birds by my normal standards. It was still great to get out in the dirt though and have a good time with my best buddy on his birthday! Harley

Remington 1 oz. 7.5 shot in the 12ga mod choke. During late season or if they are spooked I will switch to 6 shot to get a little extra range and a full choke if I really need some extra reach. I have always shot Remington with great luck. I have a bunch left from years past that I am still shooting.

My buddy and I got stumped before we even got to our normal hole. The roads were muddy as heck and we got to a wash about a mile from our hole that I was not going to risk getting stuck in. As we were inspecting the wash to find out if it was passable the Mosquitos attacked with a vengeance. They were really thick and we hadn't even made it to our water hole. We back tracked to a higher and dryer location to see if we could skirt the nasty swarms. We got about 500 yards out from the truck and decided it was not worth it and packed up. We are going to give it a shot again Saturday if the rain stays away and with a heavy application of DEET products.

Hi, I am one of your new e-scouters. Trust me when I say I completely get everything said from sharing some info to not a word will ever leave my mouth. I am an offroader as my other hobby. Most are very protective including myself in that hobby as the greenies and govt is always trying to stop access to the trails. I am also willing to help out the new guys though if they seem like good people, but I won't do it on open forum. If nobody had ever helped me out when I started hunting and offroading I would have had a lot of years longer to find new trails and hunting spots. I would never ask for help though if I wasn't willing to help others. I don't live close to this years hunting area and have not hunted there in years so I am ok with soliciting a little help, but I fully plan to get at least one good scouting trip in to help actually narrow down my planned hunting area. I have had tons of experience in my normal hunt area but got skunked on the draw there this year. Harley

Thanks for the tips. I think we are going to start near the peak I normally hunt near and start working our way down the hill and south at the same time during our scout. Is seems like the advice from hear and other searches have kind of given me a couple good pointers. Last year we hunted 20a and because the burn was so fresh there was not much sign of anything around the burn area other then just a couple straggler cows and a lone deer or two. I know it has been a couple years since the burns in 29 though. Harley

I am planning to head down there in a few weeks for a scout trip. We are kind of planning on heading in past the monument up in the hills. Is there any place anyone suggests we check out or avoid?

I have had it happen before for an elk hunt. I assumed it was they had 1 open tag left in the hunt and when they pulled your card it had multiple names so they had to issue a couple extra tags to fill the names on the card.

I received my leftover tag yesterday.

If you decide you want to hunt low let me know and I will put you on a couple spots we have seen success on in recent years. It's hard hunting with the need to know your rifle but good deer come out of there. Shots are often in the 350+ yard area if your willing to take the shot. Last year the only shot I had was at about 700 yards. I passed on that because I wasn't on my rifle at that time and even then I am sure I had run out of talent at least 100 yards prior.

The best place to start is buying a Prescott National Forest map and take a drive for a few weekends and start checking it out. The lower areas are nasty thick brush and big hills. Higher up is pine forests. 2 years ago we checked out some of the area near the burn from the fire near Crown King and the deer were gone, they may be working there way back that way now. If you like to hike and like long shots, and like nasty brush stay low. There are some big mulies in there, but you will have to work for them and get lucky. Higher is denser forests and more deer, but also more hunters. If you are going to stay low get some good bino's and sit on water holes and deer trails. That is where you will typically catch the movement and action.