My son Zeke and I met up with Chief down outside of Sierra Vista for a quick juniors javelina hunt on Friday, 1/26. He was kind enough to drag his trailer out to give us a warm place to sleep and to show us around the area. We arrived about 12:30 or so and found Chief in his usual position - sleeping...laziest SOB I've ever met . Actually, he was making mango salsa to go along with the evening's supper consiting of grilled salmon w/salsa, salad, and asparagus. We chatted for a while and headed out in hopes of calling a coyote. There were quite a few people in the area running bird dogs (hopefully what I'll do on my next trip down that way) and we didn't have any luck. We tried a couple of stands hoping for the stray coyote and looking for javelina sign as well. We headed back shortly before dark and Chief worked his kitchen magic..Dang, was supper good :shock: We had a couple of drinks, good conversation, and hit the racks for the next day's hunt. We finally dragged Chief out of bed around 0700 or so :lol: , had a quick cup of coffee along with a scotch egg or two, and headed out. We arrived to the area Chief suggested would be good, and had probably gone about 350 yards or so from the truck, side hilled along a ravine and topped a little rise. A ridge topped out about 300 yards or so in front of us, and we saw a couple of coyotes. We looked at Zeke, and asked him if he wanted to give it a try. He knelt down, took aim as I watched through my binoculars, and fired. Coyote down ! Zeke was a little excited and didn't think to shoot at the second one which ended up getting away. We walked up and found a perfect shot on a young female coyote weighing about 20 pounds or so. I'm not exaggerating, but the shot was every bit of 250 yards and probably closer to 275. He was so excited and I was so proud! Part 2 tomorrow if anyone's interested......
He was using a .243 Winchester. Chief took some pictures and we continued along the ridge watching the canyon below for pigs. I noticed something out of the ordinary acrossed the canyon on hill, put the binoculars up, and at first thought it was a bobcat sunning itself. Although we were probably 450 yards or so away, it appeared to notice us but was content to lay there. Zeke tried a shot after getting a solid rest on a downed tree and touched off. The shot appeared to hit low and the coyote made tracks on out of there! We walked over to the ridge the coyote had been to see if there was any blood to indicate a hit. We searched the ridge but was unable to find any blood. Would have been a doozy of a shot had he made it. We slowly circled back to the truck unable to locate any pigs. All of the coyote shooting probably didn't help us any, but it was Zeke's hunt, and he was happy. We went back to camp and ate lunch, sat around basking in the sun a little, and headed out to another area. We sidehilled a ridge for a mile or so, glassing the bottoms and other side. There was pig sign EVERYWHERE, but try as we may, we couldn't find the buggers. We slowy walked back to the jeep glassing the whole time but no luck. Daylight was running out, so we headed back to camp for supper. Supper ended up being a little later than planned, but we finally got to eat around 8:00 pm or so. We ate a pretty good steak, pan roasted broccoli, and half-raw rosemary potatos. I attempted to cook the potatos on a cast iron griddle over the grill portion of the fire ring, but couldn't get enough heat to do them right. We waited on them for a good hour before giving up and starting the other dishes...Sorry about that Chief. Thanks for being a good sport. We cleaned up, played a game of cribbage along with some good conversation and an after dinner drink, and hit the rack. We gave it another go the next morning back in the same area but had no luck. Next year I hope to be able to take Zeke out again for a longer time period so we'll be able to locate the javelina better. We packed everything up and left camp around 11:00 or so. Zeke and I arrived home at 2:30, unloaded everthing, showered , and cleaned the rifle. I don't think any of us three would label this hunt "unsuccessful". While true we didn't bag a pig, we saw some beautiful country, developed a few friendships, and ate some good food. It truley doesn't get much better. Thanks for everything Chief!
Just as I had suspected. My favorite caliber for yotes, pigs, deer & antelope. Awesome story and pics. Thanks for sharing.