Close and personal encounter with a javelina this year!

[Capt. Don Martin]

I have been hunting javelina since the 70's and have taken my fair share of the little Grey Ghosts of the Desert.

 

I've taken them with a shotgun shooting slugs, a 50 caliber muzzleloader, open sighted 357 Magnum handgun, scope handgun (Savage Striker in .223) and several rifles in various calibers.

 

This year, I was hunting with my friend Jay Chan on the last Tuesday of the general rifle hunt in Unit 18B after just about everyone else in our camp had tagged out. Jay was using his son's new 6.5 x 284 while I was using my Rock River Fred Eichler edition AR-15.

 

At the first place we stopped, I got lucky and glassed up a herd of about 10 animals feeding on a sunny hillside at 675 yards away in a canyon.

 

We saw that the herd had several large adult animals in it so we decided to make a stalk on the herd.

 

Wind was right so off we go. Note I had sustained a pretty severe injury to my left knee in December so I have to walk very slowly and use a walking stick to stay upright.

 

There was an old two track road leading into the bottom of the canyon and it was still in the shade, so the set up was just about perfect for us to slip up onto the unsuspecting herd.

 

Jay and I slowly worked our way down the old road and got to within 200+ yards of the herd and set up.

 

I had identified the herd boar and Jay had picked out a couple of old, adult sows as our targets.

 

Problem was we could never get two of our targets in the scopes at the same time. I would have the boar in my scope, but Jay didn't have one of the mature sows in his. Then Jay would have a target, but I couldn't see the old boar. This went on for almost TWO hours as we "bird dogged" the herd around the mountain.

 

It is the longest I have ever been on pigs without firing a shot! However when you are selective, these things can happen.

 

So finally the pigs spook a little and run around the backside of the mountain I had first found them on.

 

As we move around the mountain I see the boar about 200 yards above us, slowly walking at the base of some rim rock.

 

Not wanting to take an off hand shot at that distance, we moved on till we were on the back side of the mountain.

 

My knee was hurting bad, so I sat down on a nice rock had had a concave face, perfect for sitting on.

 

I told Jay I wished I had brought my J-13 javelina call, as I had left it in the UTV. Jay said he had a call, an old Circe jackrabbit model that he he has used successfully in the past for locating javelina.

 

So Jay starts to call and I have the AR sitting next to me. Jay goes through the first series and I see nothing. He starts a second series when at the 7 minute mark I hear teeth clacking, snarling, and woofing as a large adult javelina comes running around a Palo Christi tree not 15 feet in front of me!

 

In a flash the pig runs past me, but it was very, very close. Later we measured and it was TWO feet from me! I hollered at Jay as the pig went by and I looked around to see what looked like Jay and the javelina doing a "dance."

 

I stood up, grabbed the AR and watched as the pig ran off into a canyon. I saw him coming out of the brush at 100 yards and got him in the scope and fired! Missed, hit behind him. He kept running and I shot again as he emerged from behind some turbinella oak. "Did I get him?" I asked Jay as the pig disappeared from view. "I don't think so," Jay said just as the pig came out of the brush and up the side of the canyon.

 

Jay started calling again and I walked over to look into a large deep ravine. Then I saw them. Two pigs were headed towards me about 70 yards away. When I stepped out in the sunlight, they stopped and backed up into a small Palo Christi tree. I could see the pig in the scope and fired, but the bullet hit a branch and deflected into the ground, at the feet of the pig.

 

Now one would think this would cause the pigs to run away, but NOPE, these two headed into the deep ravine in front of me and were out of sight in a flash.

 

Suddenly I looked up and at 10 yards, the two were walking straight at me!

 

I stepped back and the lead pig stopped. When she turned her head I aimed at her neck and fired! She went straight down, but the other pig started running towards me and went by at a distance of about 20 feet and straight towards Jay!

 

I saw Jay trying to get the pig in his scope but it was gone in a flash.

 

I recovered my pig and asked Jay to sit on the rock where I had been when the first pig ran by. I had him put my pig where the pig had beento show just how close the encounter had been, The only difference is that the pig was running at me, while the pig in the picture is facing away from Jay.

 

 

Never in my hunting career have I been so close to a javelina who was so heck bent on fighting some unseen predator who was putting what it thought was the hurt on a young pig.

 

One thing is certain, this should tell the average hunter that you should never go into the field without some kind of predator call!

 

They really do work!

 

[naturebob]

When I used to hunt pigs the old green circe would work on getting them to run ya over most of the time. First time a buddy ever did it I was amazed. After shooting with a rifle at 40 yards they would come back and do circles around us. Good time for sure. Hope the leg heels..........BOB!

[gotcoues]

We usually save the call as a last resort, but it can get really fun, really quick sometimes when they charge haha

 

Very nice!

[brian390]

That's a pretty cool story and congrats on the javelina.

[muledeerarea33?]

Did you or your buddy walk over and check for blood on the longer pig shots?

[Hoss50]

Wow that's a close call. Glad you are ok.

 

I had a close encounter a few years ago during deer season and it was quite a tense white knuckle experience. I won't hunt in areas with javo without a side arm. Even this javo season I was walking the thick brush with my 1911 in hand. Those things are no joke.

[AZbowhntr]

Sounds like quit the adventure. I shot my archery javelina at 3 yds one year. My friend was standing behind me calling and it was charging right at him. I was on one knee at full draw and just released the arrow as he ran by. What was crazier is that as soon as I shot that one I noticed another javelina about 20 yds away and I started calling and it came running run and my friend shot it. It was an intense minute.

[Capt. Don Martin]

And yes, Jay went over and looked for blood, on pig 1 and 2, no hits!

[Jazz]

Great story Don-

 

I had a similar adventure in 18B - called in a herd of 12+ using the J13 call. That thing is amazing.

 

For a second, staring at the lead pig foaming and chomping at the bit looking for something to bite at 10 yards away, made me think I might've went too far..

[.270]

This scared me so bad I couldn't sleep. Never realized that there were man killer 35 pound pigs out there. So me and my 5 year old grandson roped the herd living in the orchard and he filed their tusks off round with a hoof rasp. Now I'm not so traumatized. Next thing is to rope all the maneater tom turkeys and cut off their spurs. Lark

[firstcoueswas80]

I thought I called in a bunch one time, turns out I just rang the dinner bell a little to close to the Hubbard family reunion.

[.270]

I hate you. Lark

[carpcody]

I thought I called in a bunch one time, turns out I just rang the dinner bell a little to close to the Hubbard family reunion.

Hahahaha

[.270]

I hate you too. Lark

[Coach]

Nice write up. There's nothing like busting up a bunch of javi's and hitting the call. Getting them all riled up and coming back over and over again is an awesome rush.