First javelina

[mt_sourdough]

It's been a while since I have been here, but I came visiting and decided to share my recent success with all. I have been living in AZ for over 5 years now and I have been chasing these javelina for 3 years. Our general rifle season is just 7 days, but depending on where you are hunting, it's a hunt in which people have high success rates.
Up until now, I have yet to see one during the season. Things finally came together for me, though.

I wont get long winded about the hunt, but it was a spot and stalk. I closed from about 900 yards down to 100 and then sealed the deal with one of my 444 Marlins. The 444 was loaded with my experimental bullet I call the Chino Valley bullet. It's a 187gr 44 cal cast bullet with a small .202" meplat. I designed the bullet to make loads for the 444 intended for small- med sized game. With aa1680, I have a load that is doing 2900 fps.
The load I used on the javelina is what I call my javelina load and it is comprised of 53.3gr of H4895 for 2000fps. Javelina are small critters and a full house load from a 444 would absolutely mangle one. The javelina load has similar ballistics to a 170gr bullet in a 30-30 carbine.
With the sub 1600fps impact velocity, the water quenched wheel weight bullet with a small meplat worked like a solid. It left a nickel sized hole through the javelina without damaging much meat. Just as I had hoped.
Well I have some reading to catch up here at Lee-Loader, so I'll wrap this up. Fun hunt.

[Ranch Dog]

Good job! A real unique critter that many don't have the opportunity to hunt. Nice work on a javi load!

My place is on the northeastern edge of javelina country and I haven't seen any in the 10 years I've been on my place until Sunday, two weeks ago. In the middle of the day, I had two sows come to my pond at the house and they goofed off for awhile behind my mom & dad's house. I haven't seen them since but I hope the hang around. Within 25 to 30 miles to the south & west of here they are thick as ticks.

[closey]

Great report and photo mt_sourdough, thanks for sharing.

Closey

[62chevy]

Nice but how do they taste?

Looks like a small pig with more fur.

[akuser47]

Great hunt thanks for sharing.

[Ranch Dog]

Nice but how do they taste?

I've eaten quite a few of them in my lifetime and consider them tasty, similar to a deer. A lot of people will not eat them and that is a shame. They do have a particular odor about them that is generated from the musk gland on their back. When skinned, the gland goes with the hide and does not influence the meat. My earliest memories of game animals on the "pole" and table are javelina. They are a game animal here in Texas and the South Texas counties have a "two per license year" but they are not regulated with tags from a license. I grew up in these counties and it was generally thought that you just didn't have more than two dead ones at a time so a lot of people ate them year round. They feral hog population wasn't anything like it is now, many South Texas hunters never saw a feral hog but the javelina was more than common.

As a very young man, best friend had one as a pet. A real sweetheart of an animal that was better than a dog. I consider them a very unique animal as they readily adapt to human contact. Of course, that can end rather poorly them.

I also ran a bowhunting operation for a number of years in deep South Texas that focused on late winter hunts for javelina and feral hogs. Our market area was Canada. I have great memories of these hunters and hunts.

Looks like a small pig with more fur.

They are actually a peccary.