ARIZONA UNIT 16A JAVELINA

[averagejoehunter]

ok i need some help.i am taking a kid from my church on a rifle javelina hunt in 16a and have never been in the unit before. we picked up a rifle tag after he found out there were leftovers i said i would take him because he is a really good kid(i don't think his dad is around much?) and loves to hunt i know how to find pigs but if someone wouldn't mind helping narrow it down for me that would be awesome9 i would really like to get him into piggys) i am going to scout this weekend so any help would be awesome! pm me if you want to.(i know unit 9,7w,8,6b,6a north,6a west and 5b north well and wouldn't mind trading info.)
thanks
averagejoe

 

[azbiggame]

drop Don Martin an e-mail [email protected] recieved an e-mail from Him that said He finally found some "Porkers" in 16A for His clients.Mention its for a Young hunter,HE usually will help with INFO for JR.---

 

[DonMartin]

Thanks Bruce...

Here is the deal. In five days of hard hunting--and lots of glassing we found just three herds of pigs.

One of my HAM hunters had 6 shots--scope was off and he blanked. Another had a misfire while on a pig at 50 yards. Third guy actually had a gun that worked and bagged a sow.

We hunted the Wikieup area, in the low foothills. Forget hunting up high. Look on the sunny sides with lots of prickly pears.

A cowboy who lives on a ranch near Signal told me yesterday he sees pigs "all the time at the first river crossing" (Big Sandy).

Yep there are pigs in the riparian areas, but how the heck you hunt them? I use a tape of pigs in distress and hope for the best..

I've been hunting archery deer and pigs since January in that unit. Either I'm an idiot or the G&F has put in WAY too many tags out for that unit.

Can't wait to see the hunt success after this year's hunt.

This "Recruitment and Retention" stuff that translates into more and more tags and less and less success is a burr in my saddle.

Had two juniors-only hunters there for that hunt. One got four shots (all misses) the other got two and managed to slay a pig.

In three days with them saw just one herd...

Bottom line it is a tough unit to hunt pigs in.

Sure glad I'm headed to 18B this weekend. We've gone 100% so far there: 2 archers both scored, 2 juniors hunters both scored and two HAM hunters both scored last weekend.

Course the numbers of herds and animals we are seeing is way down and with the nasty weather predicted this weekend, hope our group does ok..

I'll be hunting with State Representative Jerry Weiers for the first three days, that ought to be fun...

Anyway good luck to all who are hunting this weekend. We'll need it!

By the way in our Big Pig contest the top porker is 38 lbs 14 oz, followed by a 37 lb 10 oz..

Last year our big pig was 44 lbs 10 oz...and it took 40 lbs to get a check..

Don Martin
Arizona Wildlife Outfitters

P.S. If you know any lion hunters, send 'em our way! We saw lots of big kitty tracks and scratches...no wonder the deer and pig numbers are down.

 

[Tsessions]

Hunted unit 18B: Burro Creek, Lower Trout, Cholla and a tiny bit near Bagdad and got SKUNKED!!!! Didn't even see a pig, seen a lot of sign near Lower Trout, thanks to the rain we had on Sunday but no piggy for me this year.

 

[DonMartin]

Hey guys!

Remember my post about the mountain lion sign we had been seeing? Well on the last day of the general pig hunt in Unit 18B I called in a 90 lb female that came running in from 400 yards. Happened at 11 a.m.

My brother, Gary shot her at 20 steps with a Mini-14 rifle as she was walking up to us!

I used my custom Tally-Ho call. She was sighted at the 5 minute mark and shot three minutes later!

What a rush and a dream come true.

Matter-of-fact we ate some back straps off of the lion tonight. A little tough but looks and tasted like pork to me.

She was full of prickly pear cactus spines (her ears looked like she had earrings) as she had been on the pigs in that area big time.

But as the song goes, "The lion sleeps tonight".

Don Martin
Arizona Wildlife Outfitters

 

[averagejoehunter]

don,
awesome!!!!!!! with a big A !!!!!!!pictures? must have pictures!that had to have been somethingwatching her come in.everytime i make a stand i picture a lion coming in...one of these days maybe.sounds like it didn't take her long to come in? i have called a few bobs and they have taken a long time to comit even with a motion decoy.
congrats
ajoe

 

[DonMartin]

My brother spotted her coming in on the run through a Palo Christi thicket at 5 minutes into the stand!

Then she took another 3 minutes to get with 20 steps of us and she was still coming when he shot!

When I looked at her through the binos, she must have seen the glint off the front of them as she had briefly stopped. Her tail was twitching wildly and her ears were back, she looked like she was really pi$$ed off!

I don't know how to post pictures or I would, though I've got a bunch.

Little bro took her to a taxidermist in Vegas who will be doing a lifesize mount.

Yep, what a rush!

Don Martin