The Abused, Misunderstood Javelina | by Steve LaMascus

THE JAVELINA, OR COLLARED peccary, is a small pig-like animal that will weigh, at most, about 60 pounds. Javelinas do not hear well, see even less well, but scent very well. Because of their physical shortcomings, they are relatively easy to hunt with a high-powered ri e, but are great game animals if hunted with open-sighted handguns. eir only real defense is to stay hidden and run like hell if they smell trouble. ey love the thorn brush that covers South Texas and generally abhor open spaces. I have shot exactly two javelinas in my 50 years of hunting and wandering in South Texas. I shot one that was caught in a coyote snare set in a fence with my Border Patrol .357 Magnum duty revolver and one I stalked and shot fairly with a Smith e stories you may have heard of them treeing a person and then milling under the tree in a maniacal frenzy, trying to get to the person to turn him into humanburger, are either apocryphal, untrue, or misunderstood behavior.

& Wesson 6-inch Model 28. e la er occupies a place of honor over my replace.

Now, just because I have shot only two does not mean that is all I have seen. In wandering the Brush Country for 50 years, 22 of those in the Border Patrol, I have seen hundreds, maybe a thousand. I don’t know, really. But I have been within three feet of many and have never felt threatened. Javelina just want to be le alone.

On the other hand, they are equipped with the equipment to do tremendous damage if they are threatened too closely. As proof, I offer you the case of a herd that put an 80-pound mountain lion into a mesquite tree when the lion tried to snatch a young one from a herd of about 10.

The extremely unlucky lion was killed by a bow hunter who happened to be sitting in a tripod blind about 10 yards from the lion’s chosen tree. The lion had a cut on one hip that was as clean as though it had been made with a sharp knife! Javelinas also seem to hate dogs, probably because coyotes consider their young to be right tasty snacks.

Now for the sermon:

Javelina once were very common across most of the Southwest, but overhunting, primarily for their skins, which are soft, thin and pliant, almost sent them to extinction in many areas, and did so in a few.

Javelinas are a game animal in Texas. The problem is that the law says the limit is 2 per year, but there is no tag on the license. What does that mean? It means it is an unenforceable law! If a game warden stops a hunter and he has 2 javelinas in his possession, the game warden has no idea how many he has previously killed. He could have killed a hundred, 2 at a time.

Also, many ranchers and lease hunters consider them pests and shoot them on sight because they eat the corn the hunters put out for the high-priced deer. Instead of simply fencing the feeder so the javelinas can’t get to the corn, they kill all the javelinas.

I once had an acquaintance tell me of finding a herd (10 javelinas as I remember it) in a canyon just off the Pecos River, He was immensely proud of the fact that he had killed all 10 before they could get out of the canyon. He considered them as no more than targets to be practiced on.

Think what you will, but I believe that such actions as above are reprehensible and that one of the responsible parties is the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept., because of their unwillingness to give the javelina the same level of respect and protection as the wild turkey.

A few years ago, I officially petitioned TP&WD to place tags for Javelinas on the state license, explaining in the petition the reasons I thought this necessary. Obviously, the petition was rejecteds.

It is not unusual to find entire javelinas in dumpsters or trash pits. Why? Well, they are not that good to eat unless handled promptly, properly, and carefully; they smell bad; and they are always infested with millions of fleas. It took me two weeks to eradicate the fleas in my back yard after caping the one I had mounted.

I wish we could do more to protect javelinas, but I guess, for the time being, all I can do is beg you hunters to treat them with the respect they deserve, and to obey the law, even though the chances of your being caught for shooting too many are slim to none. Maybe some day TP&WD will decide to do something, but until then you are on your honor. The big question is: what is your honor worth?

THE

Last Six Years

OF my life have been a black hole of hunting and shing. I wake up every day and think about conservation issues, talk to wildlife professionals and pound the ground and water as hard as humanly possible to play catch up on the experience I don’t yet have. One thing I’ve been most intimidated by is y shing.

From day one there was always an aura of not only expense, but advanced skill and knowledge that is needed to begin casting a y. Although not inherently untrue, I’ve found that the same argument could be made for any outdoors pursuit whether it be kayaking, trail running, hunting or bass shing.

A few weeks ago, my good friend Chester Moore hit me with a proposition, “Come down to me and we will go y sh Beavers Bend State Park in Big Bend, OK for trout.”

I had bought a y rod six months ago, and as with most intimidating things, it seemed like an interesting and noble pursuit, which translates into the y rod si ing unopened in the case in my o ce. It was time to hit the pavement and gure out how to cast this thing.

At the same time, he said he needed something about easy access shing for families for the May/June Texas Fish & Game for the Mother and Father’s Day special section.

Without question, the greatest gi you can give someone is your time, and there is no be er time spent than on the water. Don’t worry if you can’t a ord to take your father or mother marlin shing or to some big lodge. You can do it inexpensively and even do it with y gear.

Here’s my journey.

I went online and ordered a vintage torn up copy of Casting with Le y Kreh for six dollars and pounded the literature for weeks. “Keep your elbow on the shelf. Ten and two. You’re casting the line not the lure.” You get the idea.

Many days and hours later, I could get my line to shoot out in front of me without bunching up in a pile on the ground. Misery loves company and I decided to see if my good friend Seth Geib had any interest in learning to y sh as well. Ever since a ending the Hunt Fish Podcast Summit