In October I was drawn for a javalina hunt at the Las Palomas Longoria unit. My weapon choices were bow, muzzleloader, & shotgun with slug. I decided I had put off getting a muzzleloader long enough. As a Marine I assumed it would be very similar to shooting a rifle and I could drill holes through holes at 100 yds. That was not the case. It took some practice but I finally got that muzzleloading thing down by the hunt. I read up on the hunt and it appeared many people were upset with the hunt. They stated it seemed to be friends and family hunt where they were given preference. I did not find that at all. I showed up at 10:00 found out I was the only hunter to show up. The manager and I headed out to look at two positions and he told me which one had more animals. He gave me a bag of corn and I walked down the trail in my Crocs and laid out the corn. Then I went back to the truck to change over to my hunting apparel, did a little scent control, loaded my rifle, and then headed back to the stand. As I came around the corner of the stand some movement caught my eye at the feeder. Two javalina were already there. I get into a kneeling position then rest the muzzle on the step of the stand take careful aim at the largest. FIRE. I see a limb swinging which I did not see before I fired. Went to the last place I saw the javalina and there was the sign every hunter dreads. Gut shot. I waited four hours (I saw several chachalaca run by) then went back to get the manager to see if he wanted to do a search. We looked for an hour and a half. No sign beyond the initial gut trail. I hated to leave that animal but the game manager called off the search and offered to take me to a new location.
2:30 in the afternoon I lay out corn at another location that clearly had some heavy traffic. At 3:30 a herd of twenty javalina come out of the bushes. I locate the largest giving me a clean shot and fire.
Down she went. I then went back to the truck to drop off my gun and gatoraide. When I came back I noticed some movement in the bushes and then I turned the corner to see this
He spun around and charged me


Literally all the way back to the truck. I drove in and picked up my prize.

Some of you may be thinking skunk pigs are no prize and others are wondering if it taste like pig. The answer is javalina is delicious when prepared correctly and cleaned properly. I used my secret ingredients on the tenderloins, salt & pepper, and gave them to people who swore they would never eat game meat. They loved it. Then since I was gonna have thirty or so people over we were gonna make javalina chili with burgers for those who don't like game meat. Let me sum it up this way. The burger is still in the freezer and even though we made enough servings for 50 people not one drop remained at the end of the night.

Disclaimer we used multiple javalina for the chili.

Nice going, and congratulations!

No Javalina where I hunt, but I find that fixing dishes that contain a fair amount of spices (like chili) is a good solution for feeding folks who might be reluctant to eat game meat for whatever reason. Good job all around.

Is that a corn feeder in the first pic? Do they give you an assigned feeder to hunt, that looks interesting. Im moving down that way this year and I need to check that out.

Yep they set out feeders in several areas days ahead of the hunt. This is an easy but fun hunt. You should definitely take kids on this one.

My only Javelina was taken in this manner, on my way back from Ojinaga, Mexico (sp?) headed up to Alpine Texas in my college days I had a call of nature. Happily whizzing away I notice a group of them coming through the fence right in front of me. They notice me and all imediatly get their fur up, all run off except one charges. Still unzipped I take off running around the truck as my "friends" are laughing their heads off. The third time around the truck Bobby hands me my 45 auto. While this was going on the Javelina had decided to stop, turn around and wait for me to come around the truck, something I hadn't noticed. But at the last moment I fired the shot that ended this craziness, zipped my pants and took a look at this pig. I decided for some reason to skin it and was in the process when the border patrol showed up. After getting heartily laughed at they left. The little pig stunk! I left the hide in a jar filled with alcohol in the room when I transferred to Tarleton state. I know but we are all young at one time or another!