Javelina attacked my Son last night

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Sounds as if that group has lost their fear of humans. No doubt...made worse by certain persons feeding them.

In rural or suburban areas it wouldn't be unusual to have them come close to dwellings to feed on plants, raid garbage cans, seek water, etc....but they should never be allowed to become 'comfortable' in doing so.

In reading your story...the worst element (in terms of inducing an attack) was the presence of the dog. Javelina absolutely hate canines of any kind (coyotes or domestic dog...makes no difference to them).

Once they engage a dog...they just go into a 'frenzy' and almost anything else around (that moves) can become a target.

When you read about Javelina attacks in Arizona or Texas (where I live) the vast majority occur when a dog is present.

If they enter an enclosure (fenced yard) they will feel threatened if surprised by either humans or canines, even though there is an escape route.

An electric fence is about the only thing that will keep them out.

Javelina are extremely fast animals and attack viciously. Both Male and Female (adults) sport impressive teeth (not really tusks). Although they do 'swipe' with their teeth, count yourself lucky if that is what they elect to do.

The most serious damage occurs when they BITE.

A word to the wise: If you are in close proximity to a dog and there are Javelina around...you are in serious danger of an attack, so back away (if possible).

Javelina (unlike feral hogs) are not bluffing and rarely 'fake' an attack. If they are facing you...are bristled up and clacking their teeth....they mean business and someone is about to have a bad day.
 
GS, Glad you son was not seriously hurt.

Here in TX where my dad's place is at (out in the country) shooting is as common as farmers. Away of life in the country. A lot of them hunt cotes at night. With neighbors like that I think I would do more shooting to educate them. With them coming from a far left state, they have been brain washed and don't know what the truth actually is. But like said if the javelinas start tearing up there yard and attacks their pet(s) there attitude will change.
 
For sure, dogs are often the trigger that causes them to frenzy like this.

Something really weird during that incident, the javelina were running full speed and leaping into the fence. The dog had already been eliminated from the equation, and the LEO's were trying to herd them toward the gate in the driveway, ye they just continued leaping into the fence?

I've experienced similar encounters with javelina, as well as many other wild animals, and IMO, javelina have been the most difficult to read their next move.

GS
 
Something really weird during that incident, the javelina were running full speed and leaping into the fence. The dog had already been eliminated from the equation, and the LEO's were trying to herd them toward the gate in the driveway, ye they just continued leaping into the fence?
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Javelinas are basically blind. They were panicked.
 
Only had hogs make it to our "yard" once. Sure would have been fun to have enough of them to hang around for a half an hour. Would have finally had a use for the belt fed 308.
 
gamestalker said:
Last night my youngest son, who lives about a mile down the road from my wife and I, found 8 javelina running rampant on his property as he drove up. It was total chaos, his trash cans were all torn up, shrubs were destroyed, his dog was bleeding, and there were holes all over the yard.

He immediately tried to get his german short hair out of the ruckus, but when he got out of his truck they started charging my son. Right off the bat, one swept his leg with his tusks. Didn't get through his clothing, but it took him down and he injured his knee as a result. So injured, he then managed to make it inside the house and got his 22 LR to attempt to scare them out the now open gate, by firing several rounds straight into the ground, but that didn't work. Not wanting to wake his neighbors with a shotgun at 1:00 AM, he decided to use his bow, and stuck one, hoping that would get them going on their way. As he did so, the sheriff showed up, seems the neighbors had already reported the gun fire.

As the sheriff's stepped out of their vehicles they found their selves up to their ear's in charging javelina, to which they immediately got authorization to start dispatching the javelina with their 40 cal. sidearms. It seems the javelina had a moment of clarity, cause as soon as the LEO's drew their sidearms, the javelina decided to leave. This whole event lasted for about a 1/2 hr., and had been going on significantly longer prior to my son driving up on the scene. But there was still one on the ground that had 3 arrows in it that was getting up and falling down, so just as a sheriff was taking aim, it took it's last breath.

The dog is fine, apparently the blood was javelina blood, them short hairs are tough and very capable dogs. My son not so much, his knee is swollen up pretty good, his yard looks like a war zone, and all he got out of it was a badly shot up javelina, not much edible meat left on it.

A few weeks ago a woman was attacked and injured by a small herd of them. We've had a lot of problems with them, dogs and people getting injured on a pretty regular basis. I had problems with them last night also. They dug under my chain link fence, yet again, and I have a good fence with wire reinforcement at the bottom, so does my Son. But when they want in, they'll get in, it's a nightly event out here. And it doesn't help that the tree hugging neighbors feed them, as if they are humming birds.

GS
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I'm glad your son wasn't seriously hurt. We have a herd of about 16-17 that eat and forage in our yards. Our dogs go nuts but have always been separated by wrought iron fensing. I dare not try to open the garage when they are around.....

Two nights ago I went to throw away trash and walked up on a Javalina about 10 feet away. I drew my sidearm and immediately backed away and went back in the house.

Critters are just part of our lives.....we have a family of four bobcats that play and sleep during the day in our front yard and courtyard; have two greyhorned owls in our front yard tree and another two that nest in the back of our back property.

Again, I hope your son has a quick recovery!
 
I live in cul-de-sac (first time home owner, paid 60% of estimate so lay off) and when the raccoons attacked my dogs during the drought my neighbors heard my 20ga singing lullabies to the little bastards. Cops drove by but never stopped and asked questions, even with 2 dead coons laying in the ditch behind the house. Only thing we can figure is that the coons were stealing water and the dogs woke up and it was suddenly game-on. My boxer stayed out of the fight I think, but my beagle was a bit bloody, no coon issues since. Seems a shotgun with buckshot would be a good solution. Dull thuds rather than sharp rifle cracks or the pow of a handgun.
 
Update!

G&F came by his home today and confiscated the meat. They didn't take the remaining carcass though, just the meat. They told him it's against the law to hunt javelina at night time. He told them exactly what happened, and he also showed them the police report. But they told him that because he stuck his tag on the one he killed, at the instruction of the 2 sheriff deputies I might add, that he was hunting them. Even the sheriff's had drawn their weapons during the incident, and they were scrambling to avoid becoming the next victim. BTW, they didn't issue him a citation or even a written warning.

Considering he has an injured knee the result of their aggression, and his dog was charged and attacked, I fail to understand how this can be considered as hunting them. Just because he put his tag on one, rather than let the meat go to waste, it gets defined as hunting.

GS
 
Thankfully your son is Ok. Fish and game officers can have some convoluted reasoning g I r things. I would call the supervisor in the next few days and see what is said at that level.
 
It sounds like they have a fenced yard, with 8 inside I'd guess that a gate was left open. In my experience wire fences are hard for wildlife to see when panicked and as has been pointed out, Javalina have very poor eyesight. I'd make sure to keep the gates closed or take down the fence or at least keep it closed up at night.
 
Their poor eye sight can be a problem when you get too close to them undetected, they can be startled. It also allows one to be able to stalk from down wind within handgun range even in the open desert with proper conditions. Makes you feel like a real hunter. :D They make up for their eyesight with their noses.

There are often javelinas at Aransas NWR near the offices there. They're used to the visitors and I don't know that there has ever been an incident there. They're rather unpredictable, but I can seen that they could be tamed, even house broken.

I have a nice tusker on my wall from a ranch in West Texas near a spot on the map called "pumpville", first one I ever shot. :D I've only ever taken two. I don't have 'em down on my place in Calhoun county. Funny, though, just across San Antonio Bay is Aransas NWR and they're everywhere, there. My place makes up for it in European phenotype wild hogs, though. They're a friggin' plague and they can be mean, too, when they're POed about being trapped. :D I don't let 'em out of the trap alive.
 
gamestalker said:
No, we live in a rural area. In fact, my property borders public land, his is just a few hundred yards from public land.

Unfortunately though, he has 2 or 3 neighbors that came from California, and for some reason they seem to think they brought their HOA's with them? Seriously, we live in a rural area, me more so then my son, but none of these residents are breathing down each other's throats with 2 - 5 acre properties. He has had to deal with the sheriff multiple times just for hanging game in his tree. The poor sheriff has done his best to educate the tree hugger's, in that, he is doing nothing illegal. He even told them that maybe they need to consider moving to a more metropolitan area where hOA's do exist, and would feel more comfortable.

Like that boar spear, cool.

GS
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I live in CA. I would love to have neighbors that hung game animals in trees in their yard. Heck, I'd be happy to sit on a porch with him and a couple of shotguns and wait for the javelinas to show up.

When I lived in a condo in San Francisco I used to still shot a lot but brought them in and out in a soft guitar case. Always found it funny that folks in the elevator would talk about guitars with me.
 
No, his gate was closed and locked, they dug under the fence. His fence is a very secure fence, secure enough to keep a german short hair confined, and that's a task in it's self.

GS
 
.30 carbine is almost perfect for them.

Their eyes are so bad, often when they spook, they will run at you, just trying to get away.

I never felt threatened by them, but I never had a dog with me.
 
Glad everyone is (basically) OK. You have more restraint than I do, I think; if something makes me bleed in my yard, it's probably going to bleed, too.

And 'hunting' after a documented attack? I think I'd see what their chain-of-command looks like at your DNR....


Larry
 
The problem with shooting the javelina in proximity to other houses is that Arizona state law prohibits discharging a firearm with 1/4-mile of an occupied residence or building without permission of the owner.

However, what the OP's son can do - is file a complaint against the neighbors for feeding the javelina with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

They take a dim view of feeding wild animals (other than birds), and if the neighbors really are feeding wildlife, they are creating a nuisance as javelina can carry rabies, distemper, and salmonella.
 
Yeah those stink pigs are a nuisance in town. We had several herds in the neighborhood when we lived in Tucson. My wife couldn't plant flowers in the front yard because they'd dig them up and you couldn't put the trash out night before because they'd knock them over and feed in them. I had to rig up a tie-down system for my cans but sometimes they could overcome it. I had a stick I kept by the door called my "pig stick" that I'd smack them with when they were trying to get at the trash. Only ever had a few that needed more than one smack but they were never hostile towards me. I hit one once across the back (as he gorged himself in a pile of my trash) and he put his hackles up and was going to stand his ground. The second blow ( to the top of his dome, about as hard as I could swing) changed his mind though and he went squeeling down the street :)

BTW when I read the thread title, I knew it'd be made by you Gamestalker;)
 
When I lived in AZ, 25 ish years ago we had Javelina boar figure out how to get into the yard, whip the dog and steal his food. He got brave and would challenge me when I went out to shoo him away after awhile. A hot shot with a 6 foot shaft fixed that little issue real quick! Javelinas don't like a fully charged cattle prod it seems. They work great for breaking up a dog fight too FYI.
 
I'll tell my story... I read of someone else doing this and it gave me the idea to try it the next time wild hogs moved in on me these are not javelina but just bigger do the same things a real nuissance. Anyway I orderd 30lbs of tannerite and I mixed all that would fill a tall 6gallon bucket then I took it out to where the hogs had been rooting around and set it on the ground with a heavy rock on top of the lid then I poured honey all over it then poured corn on the bucket and all around it and went back home a few hours later my wife tells me she see's one so I take my AR and a few loaded mags and started sneaking that way, it was about 800yrds away.when I got to within about 100yrds there must have been 20 hogs on that corn around the bucket full of tannerite, so I got me a good place to shoot from with a good rest I shot the bucket and that explosion killed 5 or so and the rest were shell shocked, I killed the whole bunch with one pass.. of course I live far out in the country..
 
Javelina are often referred to as pigs around these parts, but truth be known, they really aren't a pig at all, but are a peccary, collard peccary actually.

They don't often exceed 50 or 60 lbs..

They have a nasty disposition.

They are very destructive to plants, they feed on root systems.

They are almost completely blind.

They have a great sense of smell.

Their hearing isn't all that bad either.

They have scent glands that produce a horrible stench.

And they often go into a panic when they feel threatened, or smell a predator. A canine will send them into a defensive frenzy mode.

I have seen large numbers of Saguaro cactus, other cactus as well, completely destroyed by these critters. They chew the roots off, then the saguaro comes toppling over. Often they pick slopes to feed on, as that makes access to the root systems easier to dig up.

BTW, they can smell a bowel of dog food from a very long ways away, and will do almost anything to gain access to it. Keeping them from getting to a dog food dish can be challenging, to say the least.

GS
 
BTcan smell a bowel of dog food from a very long ways away, and will do almost anything to gain access to it. Keeping them from getting to a dog food dish can be challenging, to say the least.
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Ha! Got the bait now you need the trap. Why not an above ground open top wire pen, wire bottom, made out of one of those welded wire stock panels. Nice
wide, gently sloped ramp up to the bait platform with a hinged counter weighted tip over board over the wire pen. Nothing like squealing pigs to attract more squealing pigs. Then a neghborhood barbeque. Maybe the traps catch on and you can be rid of those guys sooner than you think. OYE
 
When a wild animal loses its fear of humans it is never a good thing.

I wish you the best of luck
 
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