When opening day of the 2006 HAM javelina season arrived, my son Kevin and I were more than ready. We had practiced long and hard with the pistols we planned to hunt with. We arrived at our campsite in Game Management Unit 18B near Bagdad, Ariz. the previous day, set up camp and were fully prepared to spend the full season going after our “choice” javelinas.

It was up and at ‘em early that Friday. After eating a hardy breakfast, we headed for the hills where we “knew” the javelina were bound to be. After climbing up one hill after another, we prepared to head off to the right to the area we’d planned to hunt. But first, we used binoculars to scan down a hillside to the left.

Let me tell you right now how helpful (and necessary) binos are. They save foot power and energy like all get out! Binos helped us spot a herd of at least seven javelina, completely unaware of our presence, hanging toward the bottom of the hill. Kevin was the first to spot them. Shooting a Smith & Wesson Model 500 Magnum revolver, he chose his javelina and got his shot in first–an instant success. The animal rolled down the hill without another move of any kind. I followed, sighting in a javelina that was running up the hill. Shooting my Smith & Wesson .357-caliber Magnum pistol, I got my first javelina ever! After waiting a while, we crept our way down the hill and over to where Kevin’s javelina was, got it field dressed, then went back uphill to recover mine and get it field dressed. Kevin’s javelina weighed in at 48 pounds, mine weighed 52 pounds (field dressed). What a super hunt! We’ll have some mighty fine meat for some time to come. But when I think about it, we still just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

I’d planned for my 12-year-old grandaughter, Cari, a graduate of the hunter education class in Yuma, to come down from Kingman for the long weekend to enjoy the hunt with us. Because our success came early, she didn’t arrive in time, and she was definitely disappointed. She did, however, get in on the scouting to help other hunters in the camp area that weekend, and she is more than ready to try her luck on our next big game hunt (hopefully archery elk this fall).

During our hunt, we discovered a really useful tool. The T-Post Stepper by Lobo Products is tremendous in assisting a person climb over barbed wire fences that are on most mountains and tall hills. It’s compact and inexpensive.

After getting back to camp and skinning our javelina for the trip home, we wrapped them in cheese cloth game bags and hung them in a tree for safe-keeping, then spent the rest of our hunt time assisting the other hunters in attempting to locate their javelina. Sadly, nobody saw any javelina in the area after ours were harvested. We would like to give a huge “thank you” to those other hunters who helped in hauling our javelina out of the field that first day out. Hunters are like that–they never hesitate to help others.