Javelina (aka Collard Peccary) are a little pig found in the deserts of the American SW, through Mexico and on into the jungles of Central America.
“Pig” I was told by a wild life biologist is actually a misnomer. Having something to do with some bone in their foot, they are (he said) actually a rodent. I don’t know - it looks like a pig, roots like a pig, and stinks like a pig, so I figure it’s a pig; along with most other folks that see one. But I digress….
They’re not particularly large (35 – 60 lbs, 20 – 24 inches at the shoulder, and 40 – 60 inches long), they have a strong musk gland on their hind side, have decent tusks (four long razor sharp teeth where their canines would be), only fair to poor eyesight and hearing, and I think they’re pretty tasty. When excited they snap their tusks and make a “woof” sound.
Though not particularly dangerous, if they do get a hold of you with those tusks they can do a lot of damage. Easily excitable, they sometimes run into the person that excited them and lash a deep serration into the flesh of said person. Apparently, since 2001, 17 people in the Tucson, AZ area have been attacked by Javelina according to one Javelina hunting web site. Again, because of their poor eyesight and hearing, I figure the pigs just got excited and blindly ran into these folks and lashed out; I don't think they "just attacked". This leads into my hunt…
An early beautiful fall day in Southern Arizona at Ft. Huachuca, clear and mild for my Javelina hunt. I get into my truck and drive to my hunt area in the western ranges of the fort.
Getting there, I spend my time sitting and glassing, then moving and sitting and glassing some more. About noon I spot a group of about five of the pigs about a mile away in one of the lower draws. I drive to within 100 yards of where I had seen them, get out of the truck and approach from down wind. Not where I had last seen them, but nearby I relocate them and begin my approach. Because of their poor eyesight and hearing they are not too difficult to get within range of for a shot, as long as the wind is favorable.
I had decided to hunt using a S&W M625 revolver chambered for the .45 acp cartridge, loaded with 225 grain jacketed hollow points. I knew I could keep all of my shots within a four-inch circle out to fifty yards with this gun; and getting to within fifty yards of Javelina is not that difficult for me.
I sat and watched them as they sniffed about and munched on an occasional vegetation tid-bit. The group was spread out from about thirty to fifty yards away from me. One of them was particularly large; maybe fifty or so pounds and had well developed tusks.
He was facing me from about 40 yards and presented only a head on shot. Because of his size and tusk development I didn’t want to take a head shot – he was worth having a mount made – so I lowered my handgun to wait until he presented a profile shot to the chest.
I don’t know what happened when I lowered the gun, but as if on some cue all of them suddenly swapped ends and very quickly disappeared into an arroyo (dry creek bed). It happened so quickly I didn’t have a chance for a shot.
Javelina will often respond to a blast from a predator call; one of the ones that sound like a jackrabbit in its death screams.
Having such a call in my pocket I pulled it out with my left hand and gave one solitary blast of a rabbit scream from it. My word! It must have sounded like the ultimate challenge to them! They came boiling out from that arroyo at full tilt,
headed straight for me
, snapping their tusks and woofing - Snap, Snap, Snap, Woof, Woof, Woof!
It was no longer of concern which was the biggest, it was a concern of which was the closest!
Jumping to my feet and simultaneously dropping the call, I raised my revolver, aligned the sights with a snout and placed a bullet into the base of one’s neck as rapidly as I could. She dropped five short steps away from me! The others broke and turned away at the sound of the shot; disappearing into the desert.
I was stunned, heart racing, staring at the pig as she lay there. I have never had such a need to defend myself from a pack of raging sharp-toothed critters before! It took me several minutes before I felt I could safely approach her, being concerned that either she would get up and continue her attack or her family would return for another attempt at me.
I love Javelina Hunting!
Friday nights (FSO) at 11 PM Eastern 
