Hey Guys, Here are a coupla pictures from a recent trip I made.
Seems I put a thread on here at the end of January asking for some spring hunt advice. You see, I haven't bow hunted in the states in 5 years. And for the last year I have been working in Iraq. As a matter of fact I have hardly shot my bow.
I received a very quick response from a wonderful Tradgang member, Charles Suttles. After a few e-mails and a nice phone call a plan was put into motion. What do ya think ? Any guesses ?
These are pictures taken on my way home.
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This hunting thing makes a guy hungry !
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It is close to midnight. Not one for plastic plates and such, but that there is starting to look pretty good.
Going to cook something up, be back in a half.
:campfire:
OK let's get on with the story. :biglaugh:
This is going to be good I can tell.
Jack
Quisiera algo de Taco Bell...
Killdeer
Stop teasing everyone Jack. :goldtooth:
Glad you didn't show a pic of that meal on the other end...LOL
Being Prepared: So, there I was, a trip all lined up and I was not prepared. Its been a long time since I could carry a stick in the woods and I was also suffering from a shoulder injury. I had a few 45 lb one piece recurves that I started using to rehab my shoulder but felt they were to light and wanted a three piece takedown for traveling. Thanks to Tradgang I found a new bow for my special trip.
This is what I found in the door one evening when I arrived home from work.
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The next day at the post office parking lot. And on my trip.
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I had plenty of arrows and fortunately my new Morrison Cheyenne came with half a dozen perfectly matched Gold Tip arrows.
Next came my Broadheads. Man, I had several good broadheads but just didn't like the way i sharpened them. So, a road trip was in order. I made planes to head to Harrisburg PA to the Sportsmans Show. Buuuuuut......this came
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Finally, after several days of shoveling and basically freaking out...I made it to the show..and look who I "bumped" into...Ron and Jake from KME
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Lookin' sharp...
Killdeer :thumbsup:
So where did you end up going on the trip??
I'm likin the looks of this one. Be back in the morn.
gobble gobble or oink oink
Seeing all that white stuff Jack , I believe your due for another Hawaii trip :D
Jerry
JR, Don't forget pop poppers.
:campfire: :pray:
Beautiful Cheyenne Jack what are the specs and how do you like it? Don't be holding out the hero picts too long on us.
Ok Jack, lets get on with the story. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :biglaugh:
get on with it!!!! :smileystooges:
Ok, sorry guys, between getting back home, unpacking, back to work, and well, dragging this out, I haven't had a chance to get on the computer till now.
Tom, I love the 56" Morrison Cheyenne. Its only 50lbs @28 but has foam core limbs which I feel makes up for the lack of weight. Matched with Gold Tip 33/55's, 30 inches long and some 20 year old Zwickey Eskimos and a aluminum adapter the arrows came in at around 554 grains. They were excellent shooting.
Jerry careful. You know what happened last time You made an offer.
Lemme think...where was I....
While I was in Harrisburg I some how also "bumped into the guys at Kenetrek. Strangely enough my feet have grown in the last year and I can't wear my hunting boots anymore. So, I "had" to get myself a new pair of boots. Kenetrek Mountain Extremes were ordered up.
Back at home...trying to get myself together.... I had the trip all lined up, bought a new to me Morrison, arrows matched up and shooting well, broadheads sharpened, new boots on my feet.....hummm, I am missing something....oh yeah right...sent Rod Jenkins an e-mail. Decided I "needed" a new quiver and promptly ordered myself a Arrowmaster.
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb308/GooseBreath/IMG_1293.jpg)
So....now for trip planning. I got on Travelocity and ordered a roundtrip ticket to El Paso, Texas. Then went on Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and purchased a 5 day Non Resident Special Hunting license, $48.00 plus $5.00 handling fee.
Its all set. I was to meet Charles and 4 others in El Paso then drive to Marfa and meet 5 others where we were booked to hunt Javalina with Alamito Hunting and Guide Service owned and operated by Wayne Wiemers. In Marfa we stayed at an old adobe ranch house on the Mac Guire ranch. 64,000 acres of beautiful Texas javalina country.
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So I gotta tell you guys, this has been a trip I have wanted to do for 20 years. I started to plan a self guided trip about 20 years ago but life got aholt of me and it all slipped by. Man was I pumped up. I couldn't stay off of the internet for the next three weeks or away from my bow. If I wasn't shooting in the basement I was surfing the web reading about Javalina or watching videos on youtube.
I slept in my camo and cuddled with my Morrison for 3 weeks straight. There's nothing wrong with that....right ???
Nice pics!!!
Can't wait to hear the rest now.
ttt
Oh Jaaaack...... this pause fro effect thing is getting a bit prolonged. Pics! Details! More please!
:pray:
Ding Dang Jack! I was there with you , and even I am anxious for the rest! But don't get in any hurry on my behalf
I think we are being "Lambed".
Jack
Very Cool!! :campfire:
Maybe I oughta just pop by his house and give him a poke. :readit:
Killdeer
good idea killie! :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: i may even have time for a sleep. wake me up when he starts telling the story again. LOL!!!
I'll check back next month!
Im on the edge of my seat!!!
He must be stopping off in Syracuse for some Dinosaur barbecue sauce.
By the time he finishes this fable we will ALL be fossils.
Killdeer :biglaugh:
I promise you,Jack is not asleep, that man is wired about as tight as a fly on the nose of a spit wad, just getting ready to come off a rubberband!
Hey Guys, I am so sorry. I have had way to much going on this weekend and have left you all hanging. Swear...not on purpose !!!
Ok, upon arriving at the ranch house i meet our hunting group.
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb308/GooseBreath/IMG_1253.jpg)
Jake, Dan, Ed Scott, Charles Suttles, Justin Scott, Dave Haggist, Nick Deadaker, and myself
My daily hunting partners were not there for the group shot ...Tony and Jeff Reiter
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb308/GooseBreath/IMG_1152.jpg)
Man I tell ya what, I had heard a few things about these guys but you could not have asked for a better group of hunters.
And yep, you are reading those names correctly. Mr Ed Scott, his lovely wife Caroline and Son, Justin were in camp. Ed managed to bring along a few of his bows and what a treat it was. Touchy feeling all of his beautiful creations. Let alone the fantastic stories he can tell.
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My pictures don't do any justice to Mr Scott's bows. They have to been seen in person to be fully appreciated. Oh, and i saw one of them in particular put to good use. More on that later.
So, with all the players in place we made dibs on the sleeping arrangements and gathered our gear for a little practice.
Mrs Scott graciously cooked our dinner and we all hung out around the ranch house getting to know each other and shared hunting stories.
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Next morning we were up before 6, getting ready and eating a hearty breakfast in preparation for the days adventures. Once broken into hunting groups we piled into the outfitters suburbans and made our way to different parts of the ranch.
The way this hunt was to happen was that we drove around the vast 64,000 acre ranch until we spotted a herd of Javalina.
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb308/GooseBreath/IMG_0984.jpg)
Then we would quickly formulate a stalking plan and head into the brush.
Our guide Jimmy at work.
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When we left the ranch house just around 7 am, it was 37 degrees. I spent the days hunting with Tony and Jeff, and on this first day we drove to a farther part of the ranch. That said, it was still a quiet morning, not much moving around. But you knew they were there.
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Ok I'm back and its not next month. This is getting good!
Oh my gosh, I just re-read my posts and I stink at this.
Back to morning one....this is were it all gets blurry. Hours of nothing, driving, glassing, looking for these little ghosts....and then....somewhere around 08:30 am, on the right side of the truck I spotted our first Javalina. At first it looked like 3 or 4. But as we watched the heard they turned into more like 7 or 8. We all excitedly got out of the truck, gathered our bows and quivers and began formulating a stalking plan. Fortunately the wind was directly in our face. The little critters were about 200 yards off and we fanned out and tried to approach them. As I silently crept, OK, OK, I have to be more truthful, more like bumbled and stumbled my way across the thorn infested scrub, I stalked like I was being watched by a Virginia whitetail. Then I thought, wait a minute, they have poor eyesight, so I sped up my approach. As I did a large single boar stood motionless tucked up into a small bush, seemingly watching me. Really to this day, I am not sure what it was doing, but Tony walked right by it. I motioned for him to stop and back up, pointing to the boars location. He had no idea it was there. He backed up and eventually saw the Javi, but at about the same time it decided to move on. Tony got a shot at this big boy while it was trotting away. Unfortunately, Tony....m,m,m,m, missed.
We hurriedly moved in their direction only to find Jeff pointing to another beastie's location. I was close, danger close, but had no shot, there was to much brush in the way. Both Jeff and I jockied for a shot. Jeff was in a better position before me and got an arrow off with no success.
Again, things are blurry, it was fast when it all took place, thorns were tearing at my clothing, the Texas sun was in my eyes, and my heart was pounding just a little. When it was over, I think Tony got two shots and Jeff let loose of one arrow. After a quick huddle I wanted to take a look at where the heard went off to. I have always been someone who likes to see whats around the corner, over the rise, in the next field.
By the time I was done looking over the next rise, the rest of the gang had loaded back into the truck and was slowly driving back in the direction they though i had gone. I saw nothing, I was a little perplexed, how can a heard that size disappear ? They just turned to dust.
When I noticed the truck I felt like I was holding the guys up and started to run. Just then I saw the outline of a large Javi under a juniper tree. It was between the truck and myself down in a small ravine. I got the attention of the truck and motioned that one animal was there. Jeff, Tony and Jimmy, our guide, all got out and slowly worked their way towards my directions. I was watching the Javalina and was amused by its sticking its nose up in the air test the currents for danger when I saw more movement. That one Javalina turned into a dozen. As Jeff made his way closer they became nervous and made their way out of the cover, just then they must have spotted both Tony and Jeff and they started sneaking up a small wash, mostly obscured by my view. I was trying to motion to Tony to move towards the wash, simultaneously he and Jimmy were trying to tell me they were coming in my direction. Well, quite honestly, all hell broke loose. A large sow and two yearlings ran within 12 to 15 feet of me on my right, but I felt the shot was poor. One or two ran two my left, and I followed them with my bow trying to work out a rhythm. More followed on my right, not sure how many. The sun was in my eyes I tell ya. Two more made their way to my left. I followed them and drew and released on the second one. My arrow was true, but my timing was off> Jeff shouted good shot. The gold tip was so fast it went right through the Javi but it was to far back.
This is not how I envisioned it to be on my first Javalina hunt. We all went in the direction of the one I had shot at and Tony found him and got a shot in him. Excitedly tony went in the direction of the Javi and I followed. Very little blood was found but Jeff was patient and stayed behind. As Tony and I went farther and farther away from last shot,Jeff made a quick and excellent tracking job, only to find that we had ran right past the boar, held up in a small brush pile. Jeff guided Tony to a quick jaw popping follow up shot and we had our first Texas javalina on the ground. Not only that, This was Tony's first big game hunt with a bow and he had scored with an Ed Scott, sinew backed juniper self bow.
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Nice!
Got my sausage made and in the freezer today!
After some congratulatory hand shaking and back slapping we took several pictures, field dressed Tony's javalina and started hunting again.
For some reason the rest of the morning was slow. Although we did see some beautiful country and a few of its inhabitants.
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb308/GooseBreath/IMG_1018.jpg)
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Take a look at the landscape picture. The mule deer doe on the right is actually in this picture. The photo was take with my little point and shoot Canon SX200is. It is a 12 Mega pixle/12 optical zoom camera. There has been no enhancement with any sort of photo managment program.
By noon we headed back to the ranch house for lunch and to butcher Tony's harvest. Typically we would hang out around the house swapping stories and working on the mornings javi's..
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Jack, where are you????
Probably playing with a new toy.
Just because I work in the post office doesn't give me any special credence, but...
Killdeer :rolleyes:
Just a few dozen shafts from Big Jim...that's all Killdeer.
After lunch, we headed back out. As the day faded we came upon a heard that seemed to get a little spooked by our presence. We attempted a stalk but these guys had a higher power on their side. Arriving back at the truck, Jimmy, our guide, received a call from the ranch owner, Damien, that a Javelina heard was spotted on the other side of the ranch. We made a dash to the other side as we raced daylight. On our arrival Damien gave us a quick run down and we started making our way, quietly up a small draw. Damien was in the lead, Jeff right behind him and I was approximately 10 yards behind Jeff. Tony took up the rear approx 15 yards behind me as we made way up the left side of the draw.
Not 3 minutes into the sneek, Damien spotted two Javi's hidden under what later was a small overhang of rocks. They were so well hidden that I never saw the critters. I was practiaclly standing on top of them. Jeff began advancing toward them and they individually darted out from cover. I had a relatively close shot at both beasts as they ran up the draw but missed. It kinda got blurry for a few minutes, Jeff went after an arrow he shot and I took up the trail of the two piggies. One of them gave me a decent shot and I miss judged the distance across the draw and shot over its back. We all went in different directions after them as they climbed up the draw and one in particular took up a hiding place under a large juniper. I had just climbed up a small rock face and was nocking an arrow when she was pushed out of hiding by Tony. I got a really close shot buuuuut, right as I loosed the arrow the javi began its escape and lept forward. The arrow zipped through it and went off into the next county. At this point I was sure this one was gonna drop in front of me but just for insurance I nocked and arrow and slowly began following it by sight. Funny thing was it never stopped. I kept thinking "any second now and its gonna drop in its tracks". This guy kept going and going, I think it was the energizer pig. I followed that javelina up and over the draw where it meet up with the original herd. So there I was trotting along behind it thinking I should make a texas heart shot and it gets mixed up in the others. I am trying to keep my composure but i am now part of the heard. I could keep track of it as its rump hair was all standing on end. Next thing you know I am 10 feet from a nice big boar staring me down. Humm, maybe I should finish out my tag right here. I ended up passing the others, thank goodness, and continued on. So I am still thinking....this guy is gonna drop dead any second now, guess I am a little thick headed sometimes. I actually began an all out run to try and get beside her and get another arrow off when she made a little jog to the left and slipped over a small crest in the hill.
That little crest ended up being the edge to a large drop off that was 40 to 60 feet high in some places. I stayed on top to try and cut her off and get a shot from above but she disappeared.
Damien spotted a flash of her hair at one point and then she was out of sight. We both managed our way down the cliff and found a trail that meandered its way along the base that lead to the following .....
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What a great thread, kept me on the edge of my seat!!
Good for you being able to finally live a dream of yours!
Looks like its heating up good....Can't wait for the next installment!!!
Hello??
Awesome Keep it coming!
Love hunting Javis
great stuff ... !!!
Nudge, nudge...
Killdeer :banghead:
OK, when we found the overhang in the cliff I made my way under it and did not find my pig. What I found was evidence of javi's that had been there in the past. As I was walking around I noticed a portion of the overhang that turned into a cave. When I stumbled on a rock and made some noise the Javi I was after started poping its jaws. From the sound she was quite a bit back into the cave. Damien volunteered to find his way back to the truck for a flash light. I backed off of the cave entrance a few yards and waited for Damien to return. Which he did with Jeff and Tony.
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You can see by the picture that in one portion of the overhang/cave we could stand up in it. Where my Javelina went was very shallow in depth.
I practiced drawing my bow a few times and found I had to shoot the bow canted totally on its side and there was a very large rock in my way. Damien crawled in close to the critter to move the rock to allow a clear shot. Unfortunately all I had was a straight on shot and all that was left in my quiver at this point were two broadhead arrows. I side stepped into the cave as far as I could to get an angle on the shot. It took both arrows and I had my Javelina. After about a 20 minute hike out we were back at the suburban and on our way back home.
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Our group didn't get back to the ranch house till about 8:30pm. We ate a little chow and began field dressing the javelina from the day. I caped out my pig so that I could potentially get a mount done.
Justin let me borrow his new Havalon Piranta knife. If you guys havne't tried this little puppy you are missing out. It has a Zytel handle with a nice feeling grip, weighs nothing, and come with 12 each 60 XT surgical steel scalpel blades. I sounds like I have a monetary interest in the company and I do not. It's just a fantastic knife at a great price. The only down side it that the blades need to be replaced after a few pigs and are not as durable as a standard knife. The trade off is surgical sharpness in a lightweight package.
So, total for the end of the day was 3 Javelina. Tony and myself from our group and Jake from another group.
It was about midnight when I got to bed that night but man was I a happy hunter.
:clapper: :clapper:
Your determination paid off!!