huntswnm

My daughter has a Javelina hunt that starts here in NM on Monday. Its a really long hunt, goes into March, so we have plenty of time to do some hunting. However, with Monday being a holiday I am off work and she is out of school so we are gonna head out. Forecast calls for rain and I was just wondering what everyones experiences have been hunting Javelina in rainy conditions. I am guessing that they wont be out moving much in it, and will be bedded up under heavy cover or in dens. We are gonna go give it heck either way. Jeff

Thanks for passing this along Jason! Watching/Listening to the commission meeting as I write this! Very cool. jeff

I hunted the Coues Deer during the muzzleloader hunt in the Burros. I live within 15 minutes and I never saw a buck, mulie or coues, during all my scouting trips. During the hunt I only found 1 mature Coues buck and a couple of small forkies. I never did see a mule deer buck. I think the dry conditions and higher than average temperatures had a lot to do with it. I had a mountain lion cross the road in front of me one afternoon as well so I am sure that the predator numbers are up as well, and taking advantage of the limited water sources. Guess I am saying that as a local resident I was dissapointed in the lack of deer, although I don't believe that this is a typical year. Jeff

Hey Louie! Great job to you and Andrew! jeff

Ha Ha!! Hey, whatever works...right? Little bit of brown and flat green spray paint and it will be ready to take to the woods. Great Job! jeff

Jason that is pretty much the way I understand it to, wolves are necessarily going anywhere, NM Game and Fish just sounds like they are tired of being caught in the middle of two strongly opposed opinions. Let the Feds deal with it is the attitude I get from all this. Glad G&F aint gonna be spending my money on them things any more. Time will tell what will happen from here I suppose. jeff

SWEET! http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_18242175 jeff

I believe that only the first name listed on the application recieves the email. I drew 2/3 tags and didn't recive 1 email, but I wasnt the first one listed on the application either. jeff

Great Job!! Jeff

Not soon enough...........

I am looking for some camo for my daughter. She is 10 years old, wears size 11 clothes. Thought I would see if anyone on here had some laying around not being used before I drop some money at the local sporting goods store.

Thanks will look around

Good job on the follow up doc...!

Hey Adam... Did they just delete a thread about Howie? Must have.....it sure aint on here anymore. jeff

Well because of this post I have found some cool pinned topics that I didn't even know was there. I ALWAYS click on the 'new post' button so only look at updated posts, some of the pinned topics that are very informational, yet rarely updated, I didn't realize (or forgot) they were there. jeff

Well I closed the deal on my first Javelina this year. Took my 2 older kids out with me on the first day, mostly driving around and not seeing much. Day 2 was a holiday so I was off work and my daughter, Cursten, was out of school. We went and picked up a buddy I work with, Tim, and off we went. We hadn't gone a few miles down a county road when I spotted 4 pigs on my side of the road. They ended up spooking before I could get into bow range and went about a hundred yards down the canyon and stopped in some brush. I made it to about 40 yards and ended up missing 2 of them!! I crossed the canyon and found my arrows and made sure that both shots were clean misses and during that time Tim and Cursten started making their way down toward me. As they left the Jeep the kicked up 2 more pigs that apparently hadn't spooked with the first group. One was coming at me and the other was crossing the canyon to the other side. Well by the time I got an arrow knocked and drew the pig ran past me at about ten yards but had no intention of stopping and never slowed down. I knew that other one was across the canyon somewhere and started moving slowly looking for it. Sure enough I found him near the bottom of the wash and was able to get to 30 yards. He was quartering real hard to me and even though the entry was decent the exit was far back by the hind quarter. We ended up tracking him for about a half mile down the wash with good blood when the trail lead out of the bottom and up into some really thick brush on a real steep part of the ridge. I circled around and got on top of the ridge and my friend followed the blood trail up thinking that if he kicked out up on top I could get another shot on him. Well this whole time I had found it kind of odd that this pig had not stopped at all, it was like he was on a mission to get somewhere specific. Well sure enough he knew exactly where he was going and Tim was about to find out. Now Tim is a tall guy, little over 6’ and as he was slowly climbing this steep ridge in thick cat claw brush it seemed like the whole ridge began to rumble and he looked up and found himself looking at this boar in the eyes at about ten feet. This pig had gone back into his den and was holed up there. The entrance was about the size of a beach ball and went about 4 feet back into the ridge and was solid rock. I scrambled down the ridge, cause I was the only one with a bow and had only 4 arrows left. Now I am a lot shorter than Tim and in order for me to get a clear look into the den I had to take a couple extra steps up the mountain to get at eye level with this thing. Tim asked me what I was going to do and I said ‘shoot him between the eyes I guess.’ He said ‘wont that mess up your skull mount’ and I said ‘guess at this point it doesn’t really matter does it?’ So here I am at about 8’ from this angry boar who is popping his teeth and shaking his hair against the rock den. My first arrow goes right over his head and into his back. Definitely not a fatal shot, but just enough to really piss him off good. As soon as I released Tim and I both side stepped real fast not knowing exactly what was going to happen. So I knocked my second arrow and was a little more timid this time, didn’t climb quite so high and when I shot my arrow hit the base of the entrance and exploded on the rocks. Now this thing is really mad and is starting to charge out of the den then backing back in. I take out my 3rd arrow and know I really need to make this one count. So I get up to my shooting spot and take an extra step to get a little closer and release. I didn’t see the shot to well but I hear Tim say ‘you got him right in the eye!’ So now this Javelina comes charging out of the den with about 2’ of arrow sticking out of his right eye, stumbling, turning circles, charging at anything it can. This whole time Cursten is down by the wash, observing from a safe distance. I look at her and can tell she is a little shaken up over what she has just witnessed and now this thing is working its way down the ridge. I yelled to her ‘don’t worry sweetie, he is dead he just doesn’t know it yet’ and without skipping a beat Tim tells me ‘well you got one more arrow, why don’t you remind him of that!’ So the boar gets tangled up in some cat claw and I put the last arrow right in the pocket and is quickly dies. I am not sure how big a ‘big’ pig is but this guy was pretty good size, and I was happy with him for my first Javelina hunt. This whole time Cursten had a video camera with her and I never thought to yell down to her to turn it on, otherwise this whole deal would have been captured for all to see……oh well. Jeff

That's amazing. What do the licenses for antelope, cow elk and deer cost for residents? Incidentally, friends and I had similar experiences with wounded javelinas while bowhunting. One also was in a shallow cave, and we eventually ran out of arrows and had to come back the next morning after the javelina died. The other was in a thicket of whitethorn, where another friend couldn't draw his bow. I crawled (carefully) into the thicket and repeatedly poked the animal with my walking stick to get it out where he could shoot it. Bill Quimby Thanks Doc, I am doing a euro mount on the skull in the garage right now. The arrow actually blew through the back of the eye socket and lodged deep in the neck so there is no real place that the arrow "stuck." I will post some pics up once its all cleaned up. Bill, Deer = $39 Cow Elk = $61 Antelope = $61 Javelina = $66

Hey Scott! Thanks, yeah it was fun, even though I probably should of had my pistol with me atleast. Cursten already said she wants to hunt one next year! Just wish the tag wasn't so expensive over here for them! Glad to hear from ya, haven't seen ya on here in a while. Hope all is well! jeff

At the time my job, firefighter, wouldn't allow me the time to teach with a rotating schedule. I am now in Administration with more "regular" work hours so I am thinking about volunteering. I have 2 sons that will be needing it in several years so I might look into it. The other thing is the two guys who taught my daughter's class were the same ones who taught me about 25 years ago I think. I mean I am glad that they do it, but two older men have a hard time keeping the attention of 20 kiddos.

Kevin, Thanks for being an instructor for Hunters Education! My daughter went through it up here in Silver City a little over a year ago and there was way more demand than room. My hats off to those who give their time to teach the young ones! Jeff

Good job man!! Great story and glad things turned out well! I too love shooting my Widown, but there are times when the wheels and cables are called for! How's Boones hunt goin? Jeff

Hey guys. I am thinking about doing a float trip on the Gila River starting in SW NM and maybe ending in AZ somewhere. I have never personally done this and am looking for advice on what kind of raft to buy or build and what kind of gear would be essential. The relatively shallow river at times is what has me concerned. This would be late spring early summer. If anyone has any tips, pictures, etc they are all welcome!! Jeff

HA HA HA Jason.....no not a turkey hunt, more like a weekend of catfishing from Gila to Red Rock or so but your more than welcome to tag along. Thanks guys for the input so far. I found some videos on you tube and some guys were in kayaks and others on innertubes. Will see how things go. Jeff

Congrats Hiker!! Glad you all had a great time! Jeff

Went out Fall Turkey hunting here in NM with my son and a couple of friends from work. Was a beautiful day out and finally came across some turkeys near the end of the day. I was able to take this young hen, and was so much fun, especially since my son was tagging along. She is going to make some awesome Taquitos tomorrow at work!! jeff