Trespasser last night

[onegunshort]

I've got a seed block for quail in the front yard. I've noticed it's been moving around a few feet every couple days and I had a pretty good idea of what it was. This coupled with the fact that my wife went out to her car a while back and something bolted out from under the front porch.

Last night the cats started acting strange and my wife said she heard something in the grass. So I grabbed the 870 and a flashlight and went outside. Shined the light over by the seed block and as I suspected there was a javelina happily munching away. It was annoyed with the flashlight and eventually exited the yard.

 

[onegunshort]

I've got a seed block for quail in the front yard. I've noticed it's been moving around a few feet every couple days and I had a pretty good idea of what it was. This coupled with the fact that my wife went out to her car a while back and something bolted out from under the front porch.

Last night the cats started acting strange and my wife said she heard something in the grass. So I grabbed the 870 and a flashlight and went outside. Shined the light over by the seed block and as I suspected there was a javelina happily munching away. It was annoyed with the flashlight and eventually exited the yard.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

Javelina...they taste like chicken.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Forester]

Just don't call it a pig!

 

[CTPete]

OK, I live in a rural/suburban area of New England. We are frequented by dear, racoon, black bear, coyotes, red fox and an ocaisional bobcat.

Buy "javelina"??? Never even heard of it. Can anyone post a pic? Are they wild?

 

[CTPete]

Here we go....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peccary


And it taste like....chicken????

 

[deanodog]

They smell like fish and taste like chicken.

 

[dave b]

I used to eat Javalina about once a week, when one of the boat crew would bring some .We made stew with it,and it was good. It was sort of like pork, but you had to cook it long and hard. It was very tough. this was in S Texas.

 

[scoutsdad]

See um all the time in SE Arizona. Photo through our bedroom window.

 

[Wheelgunner840]

Pecari maximus (or Giant pecari)

Not a bad name to have!

 

[Igiveup]

I used to live in Kansas Settlement, south of Willcox, Az. and the "pigs" were quite common there. Sometimes the ranch hands would catch a young one, pen raise it, and have a big feast.

 

[Bassamatic]

Missouri Dept. of Conservation fellas say we have them here but I have never seen one and I spend a lot of time in the woods.

We are told to shoot them with no questions asked.

 

[CTPete]

Wheelguner840 - I guess if it is as ugly as it is, it has to have something to get the girls!

 

[guntownuncle]

East of San Antonio I rarely see them. Once you go west though, they can get pretty thick. They can raise a stink, literally. Some kind of gland they have I guess, like a skunk.

 

[jkc]

Some kind of gland they have I guess, like a skunk.

It's a dorsal "musk" gland, situated on the spine, just forward of the tail. The strong skunk-like scent is used as "herd ID" and also released as a warning when the animals are alarmed. The musk is kind of oily/sticky, and because they rub it on plants and etc., it's often well distributed on their coarse, bristly pelts. One needs to be careful not to contaminate the meat with the musk when dressing and skinning a "pig" as they're colloquialy called, as it can ruin the taste of the meat. They're fun to hunt with handguns, muzzleloaders, and bows, for which there's a special season in AZ. Not much sport to hunting them with rifles, as they can't see well enough to protect themselves from rifle-range shooters...

 

[Double-O-Dave]

Here's some good info on the varmints:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/la...s/big_game/javelina/

Regards,

Dave