Sabertooth skunk

[Bdog]

Took a little break this Jan and did a little archery hunting. A true TX heart shot:







32yds running up hill, Thunderhead 100 stuck out the chest. Nice Boar approx 40 pounds and after a two mile hike felt like 100 pounder.

[montananative]

wow, that is awsome. what kinda critter is that, never seen anything like that. that would be one hell of a skull i bet. nice take

[budmandan]

Javelina?????????

[bency]

they are the smellest living critter on this earth, gaint rats. But fun as hell to hunt.
Looks like a good too, thanks for sharring.

[.25-06]

[bency]

hey that turned out real nice.

[montananative]

so do they stink like a skunk? is that there defense?

[.25-06]

[montananative]

[Bdog]

For those of us that have hunted around them they are made for bow hunting and it is a blast. However, if you hunt dogs around where javys are plentiful soon or later you will find out how bad they are and lots of gritty big game dogs have come to an understanding with these sabertooth skunks. They usually make huge vet bills until some dogs figure it out. Some do and make quick work of one but very few and most just get educated. A few friends thought they had tough dogs until they mistakenly run into a full grown sabertooth.

Bruce

[TomJr]

I don't think they smell as bad as a skunk... it is a bit simular to a skunk (bit sweeter) but they can't spray it. Its more of a musk and comes from a gland on the back, when the Javalina is scared or just marking tarritory and mating they flaten out the bristles around the gland. Looks like a bowl of bristles on thier backs and I have seen two get together and rub each others glands with thier cheeks, gota be something to do with mating.

They are not realy that bad on dogs, granted those teeth can give a dog a few cuts but they are only 40-50lbs and don't have thick fat to protect them like the wild hogs. They can be tough to train dogs off of because once you call the dogs back some will usaly follow the dogs back and try to pick the fight again. Its illegal to hunt them with dogs so I try to keep mine from killing and running Javalina. Can't always be there though and 2 years ago some got into the orchard at night over several days my dogs killed 5 out of a herd of 20. Just a few small bites that didn't need a vet for.

[arizonabeagle]

some of those little guys are meaner than hell
any of you boys ever read old yeller, they're javelinas
i've never shot one, dont know too much about em but i dont let my dogs get to chasin em thats for sure

[hounds7]

Did your son beetle that skull?? Thats what I do here in Oregon. That pays for my dog food and hunting. Good work looks great!

[.25-06]