A co-worker & I headed down to SW New Mexico on January 29 for 5 days of hunting javelina, jackrabbits & quail. Had a great time!
This was my first trip to NM & I fell in love with the country. (Now the people are a little weird. Pretty much nothing but Bud Light drinkers!). Well, there was a micro brew joint that wasn't too bad.
Now the Buffalo Bar, that was a rather interesting place. Big old Buff head on the wall that seemed to wink at you from time to time. The local legend is that "When the buffalo winks, it's time to go home"! Well folks, not being from these parts I missed the significance! The house specialty was some distilled liquid in a shot glass with Tabasco Sauce! As I recall, the drunken cowboy that insisted I drink it, referred to it as a "Buffalo Fart" Now there's something you just want to have a second helping of! Still not sure who won the Super Bowl! God I hate flying with a hangover!
The food was awesome! Just stay away from the tamale plate with red chili!! That stuff will hurt ya twice (at least!)
Green chile good……………..red chili bad!
The weather went from clear and about 45 degrees the first day out to cold, wet & snowy during our stay. The wind, at times could freeze the balls off a brass monkey!
The first day out, we were only scouting as the season had not commenced. Saw the biggest goldang bucks I ever saw! I may be ruined for life hunting the measley piddly ol' blacktail!
The first day out we didn't find much fresh sign. Just enough to keep our hopes up. Coyote tracks everywhere! Never saw one myself. Lots of bobcat tracks as well.
Second day out was looking kinda miserable until I cut FRESH javelina tracks! Mustering all the woodcraft at my disposal,I proceeded onward with the goal of bagging a brochure pig! Ah yes...I could see it now....front page of the Silver City Bugle! "Out of Town Clown Does Good" !
Well ladies & gents...the dang trail petered out!
With grim determination I proceeded to wander about pretty much aimlessly. I eventually bumped into my buddy. His sage advice was "Let's go to the truck & get lunch". As this advice seemed to be of some merit, I agreed.
As he disappeared over a ridge I spotted a fat cotton tail that looked suitable for a frying pan. As I rounded a clump of mesquite in pursuit of Brer' Rabbit what to my big ol' brown eyes should appear? Hmmmm.... you might well ask.
JAVELINA! Just rooting around under an oak tree.
Having been caught with my pants down (metaphor only) before in similar situations, I reacted appropriately and shot the bugger!
There were a couple others with it that flat boogered outta there! I calmly screamed "PIG DOWN-PIG DOWN" into the radio.
My buddy came flying back over the ridge and began coaxing the fleeing herd to return by calling sweetly to them on a J-13 Javelina call. Ya gotta check this out at
web page Scared the bejesus outta me!
Anyhow.....here's some pictures. Naw...I didn't alert the local news people. The critter was on the smallish side but it sure was flippin' cool!
There's a good story behind this next picture......someday maybe he will spin the yarn on this board. (Hint: He can track a 3-legged rabbit through the desert like no other! (By the way...jack rabbit ain't bad eating if you pressure cook it long enough!)
Here’s a couple of pictures from the country that we were hunting in, great country. You can see for a long, long ways. Now enjoy the view, it took this old and slightly overweight outtashape guy quite some time to get to the top for this picture. You're looking south towards Mexico on the other side of the hills in the distance.
Cooked up the backstraps about a week ago. Very good eating. Mild, tender looked like pork.
Got a couple of roasts that I'm gonna put on the BBQ after soaking in some Mr. Stubbs marinade.
Dang! Ain't life just grand?!
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