Tyler's Javelina Hunt

by Tyler Mullins

Hi my name is Tyler Mullins and I am 11 years old. For a long time my papa, dad and uncles have been hunting and I couldn’t wait until my dad would let me go out hunting with them. I am thankful that my dad would take me on lots of scouting trips during my summer breaks looking for big bulls and teaching me how to find animals. After every scouting trip I could not wait to get started on my first big game hunt.

I was finally able to get my hunter safety class finished and then I had to shoot a lot and make some scouting trips for pigs. I did shoot a lot but we never saw any pigs when were scouting. There was lots of tracks but the weather was bad every time we went out. I was shooting a old 308 magnum that my uncle tom shot his first pig with when he was my age with papa in the same unit I hunted for my first hunt.

Opening day of my hunt came and I was very excited to go find some pigs. The weather was bad again so my dad said that we would go glassing and scouting our hunting area. We drove a long time until we found a spot that “PW” the pig whisperer, (that's what my uncle calls him) told my dad about. The spot looked really good and not long after we sat down to glass for animals my dad said I got pigs. I got to look through the binos at them and it was awesome to see them running around and how cool it would be if I could get one of them. Me, my brother Cody, dad and Travis were going after them now. Travis is a friend of my dad and he had a pig tag too but he said that I could shoot one first before he would shoot one. Thanks to Travis he waited for me to shoot first and the pigs got away that time. My Uncle Jim and papa couldn’t be there until later on the first day so they would have missed me shooting my first pig. My dad called papa and Jim to tell them that he has a good spot now and to hurry up and get there. We left those pigs to go get my uncle for the afternoon hunt. Uncle Jim got to camp and it was getting late so we went out to try varmint calling. Uncle Jim turn on the call and said that a fox was coming to us. Then he said that another fox was coming and then he said bobcat. I didn’t know what to do so I just kept the gun pointed where he said the fox was. All of a sudden I could see the fox right in front of me. Uncle Jim said there he is and then I shot, BOOM the fox was gone. I hit him really hard because I saw the hair go everywhere and all I could find was meat and hair. I will use a smaller gun when I hunt foxes with Uncle Jim again. I had a really fun time with everybody that afternoon but we never saw anymore pigs that day.

Now the second day of my hunt was starting. We went to the same spot from the first day where I could not get the shot at the pigs. The weather was going bad again but we had Uncle Jim, PW, papa, Travis, Cody and dad to help find me a pig. PW (Brian) found some pigs really fast and I got excited again. We were looking at the pigs in the binos for a minute and my dad said there is pigs right by us. I saw a coyote running past me with the pigs running after him. Now I was really excited. The pigs turned and went back down the canyon and we went to the edge to look for them. We couldn’t find them again so PW went to find some more. After PW left us Uncle Jim found my pig in the canyon by some trees trying to get out of the rain. There was 2 pigs so Travis could shoot one too this time but I still got to shoot first. Uncle Jim told me to get down and try to get a rest and then find the pig in my scope. I found the pig and then took my safety off and shot her. I had my first big game animal down. There was still 1 pig there so Travis got to get his pig too. We were all soo excited and I couldn’t believe I finally got my pig. Papa, Uncle Jim, PW, Cody and Dad were so excited for me and Travis and I was too. It was awesome

I am thankful that my papa taught my dad and uncle how to hunt so they could teach me how to hunt. I would like to thank  dad, mom, papa, my uncles, pw,  Travis, and Cody for being with me on my first hunt. Thanks mostly to God for every thing I have in my life.

 Tyler Matthew Mullins

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