I don't see it as cross wise, just a different experience..Ive never seen a 50 to 75 pound Javalina, the biggest I ever weighed was just under 40 lbs. MOst of my experience with Javalina was growing up cowboying in the big bend country on the River. I also ranched 75,000 acres South of Marathon on the Rosillas ranch, it was crawling with Javalina..I guided my hunters for deer and Javalina tossed in at no charge..Today I can hunt on several ranches for free. but in much of that area you can hunt for $50 to a $100 per day if you know who to talk to, and how to do it. If you just show up from Houston or LA you sure might get charged a bunch..

Same thing for feral hogs, there are places that charge $1000 for 3 days, and places that charge $50 or a $100 to day hunt, even some that will damn near pay you to hunt their hogs.

Thank You for your comments. I can/could probably do a hunt back on the ranch I did my Guided Hunts on outside of Fort Stockton and not be out much money, but have just been too lazy to check with the landowner.

If I remember correctly, I was charging $750.00 for a 3 Day Guided Hunt per person, meals and lodging included, all transportation on the ranch and processing of game, jack rabbits/coyotes/bobcats and badgers were included at no cost. Mountain Lions if we saw one were mine. Aoudads, if we saw one, the client got first shot, but I told them not to miss, because I probably wouldn't.

From 1998 till 2011, I had some of the greatest times a person could ever have. Met some truly nice people, some of whom stay in touch with me, some who have came down and hunted deer and pigs with me here in north Texas.

To me, Javelina are the most underrated Game Animal in North America. I often wish things were where I could offer those hunts again. The Trans-Pecos and Big Bend are the prettiest part of Texas in my opinion and I love spending time down there.

I've probably killed 50 or so javelina. Most of them in the 80s on the Hart Ranch east of Van Horn, now part of Clayton Williams' spread. All were shot on mule deer hunts. I climbed on a big lava rock one time and killed nine. Could have killed more but I ran out of shells. I've never tried to eat a javelina, and no one I ever hunted with would let me put them in the truck. As far as the enjoyment of hunting them, for me, a feral hog is an 8. A javelina is a 3. They are just too damn dumb. If you get them confused, just stay put and they'll run by you two or three times. I'm sure it's the eye sight issue. Plus, if I can't eat an animal it loses two or three points in my scoring system.

Too each their own, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I don't have the same mentality on feral pigs that most in America do.

In California they are a game animal, and people appreciate that they can hunt them year round. Of course California has plenty of put/take wildboar and feral hog operations. But a good feral boar on good property will cost you a lot of money.

Here in Europe even with the damage they do, they are still held in high esteem by hunters.

In the South I think feral pigs are only a plague until you ask someone about hunting them, then they become a commodity.

I have never hunted javalina. I spent a few years in New Mexico and Arizona as a kid, but never got a tag. If I still lived in California, Arizona or New Mexico I'd apply, and if I didn't draw I'd find a cheap hunt in west Texas. I know a lot of people in South Texas think they are vermin, and I am sure some ranchers and hunters shoot more than they are allowed. But that is no different than any other animal.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:


If I remember correctly, I was charging $750.00 for a 3 Day Guided Hunt per person, meals and lodging included, all transportation on the ranch and processing of game, jack rabbits/coyotes/bobcats and badgers were included at no cost. Mountain Lions if we saw one were mine. Aoudads, if we saw one, the client got first shot, but I told them not to miss, because I probably wouldn't.

From 1998 till 2011, I had some of the greatest times a person could ever have. Met some truly nice people, some of whom stay in touch with me, some who have came down and hunted deer and pigs with me here in north Texas.

To me, Javelina are the most underrated Game Animal in North America. I often wish things were where I could offer those hunts again. The Trans-Pecos and Big Bend are the prettiest part of Texas in my opinion and I love spending time down there.

Your pricing on Javelina is what I saw in the market while looking around. The last few years, time has been my biggest issue so I've been booking a guided hunt once a year. So far, all in TX. I was on a management mule deer hunt and a javelina was a $400 add on if we saw one, which we did. Hogs and predators were free.

quote:

In the South I think feral pigs are only a plague until you ask someone about hunting them, then they become a commodity.

Are they not a commodity in California, or Europe?

Shouldn't landowners be allowed to charge something, if nothing more than an access to enter their land?

Personally, I wished feral hogs could be managed as a "Game Animal" to the point where there would not be the impetus to eradicate them, but their natural biology/physiology precludes that.

Not sure about the rest of America where hog numbers are causing problems, but here in Texas, a landowner takes a really big risk by even allowing hunters on their property, even for a reasonable fee, let alone friends and acquaintances for free.

Trespass issues on neighboring properties, accidental shooting of livestock, gates being left open and livestock getting out or going into areas they are not supposed to be in, injuries/accidents to those hunting the property, paying or non-paying.

One thing I have noticed in these type discussions, some folks seem to believe that landowners should allow anyone/everyone onto their property, Free Of Charge to help control the pig problem. What most don't understand, is that once pigs come under hunting pressure, they will move off a property/out of an area for weeks, maybe months, until they come under pressure and move out of the area they had moved into.

Crazyhorse-
If you're so infatuated with AR have you considered going hunting?

Read a hell of a lot more than I post but have loved this thread, first animal I was allowed to hunt with another was a Javalina on the King ranch, back in the mid 60's, was given over to a couple of the Mexican ranch hands and off we went, great fun, they called them using some kind of leaf or reed, made a hell of a squeal noise, and their old lever guns dropped them quick fast and in a hurry, killed mine with a 25-35 carbine, don't remember how they cleaned them up, but do remember the, the tamales and tacos after all theses years

Excellent recount of your hunt. They are fun to hunt, and they will respond to a call.

just fer giggles n' grins!





and a twofer!




ya!


GWB

I shot them for my dad at 25 cents apiece, growing up, they were pests and very destructive to our pipelines and cedar post we had to buy as no cedar in the Big Bend where we lived..No season and no limit back then. The most I shot in a day was about 60 or 70, an average day was 20 or more. bought my first gun that actually belonged to me, a Win. mod. 63 22 L.R. I still have one today and no telling how many Javalina I killed with it..Later I bought a used 25-35 that was a real beater and dangerous in that it opened the action at each shot, I thought that was cool, almost an automatic! I shot it for a year or two on Javalina and Mule deer, a few coues deer and a sheep in Mexico, with no effect on me..Dad borrowed it one day shot at a deer and tossed it over a bluff much to my dismay! Guess he felt bad or guilty as I got an brand new 30-30 Win the following week..I also went and got my 25-35 back without his knowledge, and took it to town and traded it for an old form fitting saddle of sorts, also a beater but sure could ride a bronc mule in it..loved that old saddle, but it came apart over a couple of years..Those were the days, I was truly blessed.

quote:

Those were the days, I was truly blessed.

Yes they were, and you were. Sad those times are gone and will never return. O am about 20 years after you, but the stuff I have experienced, will never be able to be re-lived.

I tip my hat to you Sir, you lived what most of us can only dream of.

I suppose it will never be the same, but with the 6 month season and Javalina litter a sack full of babies, and ceder post no longer used so ranchers aren't killing them, except on water lines and that's far South in West Texas, they should come back in numbers, and if the price of Javalina hunts is getting that much then the rancher will quit killing them and sell them..Same thing I saw with Mule deer, Coues Deer, and whitetail growing up, A deer hunt on my old ranch is $3500 a deer today, Javalina tossed in..and some are twice that much, and the high fence stuff is plumb out of sight at $5000 and even some bucks are sold for $10,000 with a guarantee of course, that big boy will come to the horn on your pickup and surrender! and we havn't even got into the breeding and selling of Whitetail, up to $50,000 for a real mossy..Changeing world in a lot of ways.

Not meaning to disagree Mr. Atkinson, but Javelinas have 2, maybe 3 piglets at most twice a year.

Lots of the "Knowledge" folks have about Javelina is flat wrong.

There is a lot of stuff concerning the natural physiology of Javelinas, too many people do not know.

Female Javelinas have only 4 teats and only two of them are functional.

Javelina are distantly related to pigs, but they are not pigs.

They have two dew claws on both of their front legs, but only one on each of their back legs.

Lots of folks have a lot of misinformation concerning Javelinas. They are really neat, unique animals and damn fun to hunt, but there is a whole lot of Factual information about Javelina's that too many folks do not know or understand.

Could be but Ive seen 5 or 6 little ones in a group, never gave it much thought, I suppose since they herd up that's not uncommon for the little ones to run together and have different mamas..Ive raised quite a few of them on a bottle, good watch dogs when grown..feed them cream or wheat, Oatmeal and bananas..they get gentle and attached to you, and stick there heads up your pants leg, unnerving to the uninitiated...They are great pets to the family, but strangers they will bite. I always turned them back into herd when they got 6 months to a year old, kept a few until 3 or 4 but they got to be a lot of trouble hurting the dogs and scaring visitors so I turned them out and they adjusted fine..

Not commenting, but if javelina really killed cedar, no season would exist.

I have wanted to hunt javelina for most of my life, but the "rank" reputation put me off. If I get a chance to hunt them, I'll see if I can do it with an old hand so I can watch how to dress them to preserve the meat for the table.
This has been a fine thread. Makes me think it would be entirely reasonable to hunt these little guys with a Model 92 in .32-20 or even .25-20.
Ray, I have said it before, but you should write a hunting/ranching/cowboying memoir. Darned few today have any inkling of the life you have lived.

Bill, there is one simple rule to follow when skinning a javelina, do not mess with its musk gland!

Unlike a skunk the musk gland on a javelina is on its back just a little way up from what little of a tail they have.

I just split the hide down the inside of the back legs, then down the belly to the neck, then split the skin inside the front legs to meet the cut down the belly and then just pull the hide down to the head and the musk gland goes with it.

It is a white meat sort of like veal or pork with little or no fat.

Thanks Randall. I'll see if there isn't a Youtube on field dressing javelina.
I recently received a .40 Southern poor boy flintlock from builder Roy Stroh that ought to be a dandy for this use.

The only animal I ever killed with a bow was a javelina.

During my life I have processed around 200 javelina and never had any problems with the meat picking up the smell from the hide.

They really are fun to hunt if a person actually HUNTS them. Handgun/Bow?Muzzle Loader are all fun ways.

Taking a javelina with a longbow would be something I'd be proud of.

Gatogordo,
Never said they killed ceder trees, but some years ago ranchers used Ceder posts for fencing and the Javalina would strip the posts of dead bark and the post didn't last as long..Today they use steel posts..

Bill,
Just never got around to it, Ihave a lazy streak and would rather be hunting or roping! My wife and kids agree with you however, but it just ain't happening, wouldn't know where to start..

I shot my that one Javelina with an old 40 pound pull Herter's fibreglass recurve bow, and the arrow was one a friend made for me with a flint arrowhead.

Now that's special, Randall. A friend here took a blacktail buck with a bow, arrow, arrowhead and string he made from scratch -- the latter with dogbane fibers. I was very impressed.