I hunted them with a group of trad guys in South Texas back in March. We had a blast doing the spot and stalk thing. They don't have particularly good eyesight, so it's easy to close the gap to 50-60 yds. But from there it gets tough. They can smellwell and they busted us a few times with their noses. They can also jump the string just as quickly as any whitetail, especially if they can tell something is up. (That was an eye opener for me. I really didn't expect that.) Don't be surprised if you shoot at a jumpy one and it clears 6 feet of ground before your arrow gets there. I shot one that was looking at me 20 yds away. As soon as I released, it spun 180 degrees and took my arrow through its heart on the opposite side I was aiming for.

Our bows ranged from selfbowsto longbows and recurves in weights from the low 40 to the mid 70 pounds. Arrows included everything from lightweight cedars to heavy ash, to aluminum and carbons. They all worked well on shot distances from 6 feet to a touch over 30 yds. Combined, withkilled 16 javies. Only one went unrecovered as I recall, because itwent down inthorny Texas brush too tight and wicked for our group to physically get through.

A word to the wise, stay away from their choppers. One guy recounted how a friend of his was attacked by a group of javies after he took a shot and wound up getting his Achilles tendon and calf muscle torn out. Good luck and have fun. You'll have a blast!