Originally Posted by meateater
Not sure about success rates, but I've heard that there is allot of pigs there, and the game biologist for that unit specializes in javelina. I plan on scouting the area with binos and a spotting scope on a tripod.


I have the stats for last year in front of me. That unit had 880 tags issued (same as this year). The 880 hunters issued tags killed 134 javelina -- success rate of 18%.

As AZ Shooter says, the hard part is finding them. Most of the guys I know scout for an area showing sign of recent activity, find a spot with enough elevation, glass for them down on the flats, then get in front of them and work on an upwind or crosswind stalk. That has worked for me, as has spotting them up on the sunny side of ridges in the morning as well as getting into the brush along washes where they will bed during the day. I took last year's javelina with a .357mag at about 20 yards in thick brush in late afternoon. Year before it was a .204 Ruger (45 grain PSP) at about 60 yards, shooting into a shady wash from a completely exposed position on the nearby ridge after a long slow approach. Javelina spotted me at that distance and stood up to make a run. My hunting buddy got his at 200 yards across an open flat with a .223... lots of variability in where you find them.

Javelina scat looks like dog scat but will contain lots of plant fibre and large seed. Fresh, the scat will be green. Black or grey scat is too old... look elsewhere. They leave large (4" - 12") divots in the ground where they feed and will dig up and leave exposed the roots of cactus. You can guesstimate the freshness of the dig by the dryness of the soil in the divot.


Last edited by Elkyri; 01/16/12.