Dukats Journal of Hunting

Best of luck on the 2009 spring Arizona javelina season. Results have been posted online for several weeks and tags were mailed this week. This hunt is often overlooked by many in the hunting community, but the javelina is surprisingly difficult to tag, especially in the early primitive hunts.

For those interested in chasing the Collared Peccary, AZ Fish and Game has leftover tags that can be purchased. In particular, the archery hunt in Januray is a great time to be outdoors in the state, and gives hunters a reason to walk off some of the pounds added during the holidays. The hunt also corresponds with the archery deer season in many units, so hunters can hunt the two-fer.

Best of luck on the deer, javelina, turkey and bird seasons. Maybe I will see you in January in unit 22. I hope to post pictures of a successful hunt sometime early next year.

I hope to do the same with the posting of pictures. I've been out chasing lions a couple times and have seen some pretty good javelina sign (along with some illegals) in 36.

Also have another lead on someone who says he can find some pigs, so we'll see. It is a challenging hunt and a great way to get out after the holidays. Just wish I'd have a little more luck finding the stinky rascals.

We saw lots of sign and cut some fresh tracks in the bottom of washes, but ended up empty at the end of the season. We glassed one pig at sunset high on a ridge but did not have enough daylight to put on a stalk. The last night hunting we saw 10 pigs crossing the road driving back to the house; other than that it was a lot of driving, hiking and glassing.

As usual, there were a multitude of deer in the unit.

FYI...water temp at Bartlett Lake is 57, a few more degrees and the crappie will begin hitting hard.