Hawaii Hunting

[kong]

Makua Keaau is unit B and Waianae Kai Valley Road is Unit C. Good hiking and good hunting out there just be prepared and careful hiking in the dark. I think his name was Eric who was an ER charge nurse fell to his death hunting out there.

 

[aftriathlete]

Was just up in the mountains yesterday. Tough hiking, no shade, great views. We climbed up from sea level to about 1800 feet to find the goats in the cliffs, but no shots taken due to low likelihood of recovering them in that terrain. Still fun though, how lucky I feel sometimes to get to do stuff like this, and to be fit enough and healthy enough to do it.

 

[Shootemjacob]

Man….. great story and great thread. Thanks for sharing your experience @aftriathlete.
I’ve been doing my research and due diligence on planning a similar Lanai hunt. Might shoot you a PM here in a little bit to pick you brain if you don’t mind.

 

[aftriathlete]

Man….. great story and great thread. Thanks for sharing your experience @aftriathlete.
I’ve been doing my research and due diligence on planning a similar Lanai hunt. Might shoot you a PM here in a little bit to pick you brain if you don’t mind.

Of course man, hit me up.

Went looking for pigs this past weekend in a very piggy GMU. Tons of sign, and saw two piglets right at the moment that a couple guys came blowing through on dirtbikes and scared them out. Getting closer to the elusive Hawaii pig by rifle though.

 

[Shootemjacob]

Of course man, hit me up.

Went looking for pigs this past weekend in a very piggy GMU. Tons of sign, and saw two piglets right at the moment that a couple guys came blowing through on dirtbikes and scared them out. Getting closer to the elusive Hawaii pig by rifle though.

Elusive they are for sure. Knowing where they are able to hide in the Florida swamps, it’s gotta be another beast hunting them in the islands.
Stumbled upon some locals in Oahu a few years back running dogs at a higher elevation trail. Both the dogs and guys were absolutely gassed with no luck.

 

[jewbacca]

Beautiful

 

[kdsulliv]

Hi all, just posted in the Trad Archery thread but I am moving to Oahu on Saturday and wanted to meet up with any hunters out there to share a cold one and get the lay of the land. Anyone up for a brew on me?

 

[aftriathlete]

Heading to Lanai tomorrow. Planning one day in the “private” Pulama lands and two days of the state hunt. Flood watch here and there tomorrow, so hopefully flight out tomorrow goes as scheduled. Thursday will be interesting, no moon tomorrow night but the weather is an X-factor — it’s supposed to be bad until tomorrow evening, so maybe it keeps them bedded all day tomorrow and they just want to be up all night feeding tomorrow night, but with some luck the rain keeps up enough to keep them bedded most of tomorrow night too.

 

[PurpleDriver]

Good luck out there. Saw some nice bucks just off the main road to the beach during the youth hunt. No telling where they are now that it’s 6 weeks into the state hunt.

 

[aftriathlete]

Man hunting in Lanai is something else. 3 days over too quick. Saw tons of sheep and a good amount of deer, perhaps less than previous years but any mainland whitetail or elk hunter would be over the moon with how many deer I still saw and had opportunities on. Took a decent buck, not a massive trophy but it means a lot to me anyway for my first DIY Lanai axis deer. And it took a hell of a lot of work. I found this guy and a buddy in a brushy bottom about 9 miles into my first day of hunting. One was a very nice buck, one was smaller but still decent. They crossed over the ridge into the next bottom, so I snuck onto that ridge and had them bedded in the brush at about 120 yards. I had clear broadside shot on one, perfect window in the brush, and clear frontal shot on the other, clear window in the brush at his chest, but he was standing frozen staring at me. Couldn’t judge which had the bigger antlers due to the brush and figured I had moments before they spooked, so I took the broadside shot I had. Of course the bigger one busted towards me at first and I could clearly see I had shot the smaller one. But I’m happy anyway. Hell of a pack out back to the truck, it was a mile and 1000 ft climb to get it there on tired legs. Funny, I took the cover a lot of ground approach not knowing any of the hard-earned honey holes, but then I see 4 old guys flying out that each of them got a good buck the one day they hunted, and they probably just parked the truck and sat on the tailgate and shot those deer. I’m not mad at them, I’m sure they beat the brush 30+ years ago to find those secret spots.

Next two days I saw deer, plenty of mouflon sheep. I unfortunately wounded a ewe, shot her from a little over 200 yards just low on the shoulder and broke her leg but watched her run off on three legs down a wash leaving no blood trail, so I knew she wasn’t mortally wounded. That one will haunt me for a while. Possible I just whiffed the shot, I wasn’t in a great shooting position. Possible I misranged her, they’re small animals and there were no rocks in their immediate vicinity for me to get a more reliable range. Either way it sucks.

The place is magical though man, last sunset hunt sitting there looking at Molokai across the water from a mountaintop and watching a nice buck and two forkies feed out into the kiawe trees across the valley, perfectly lit by the sun setting behind me. I watched them disappear into the brush and never saw them again as the light faded. Just quiet and beautiful, it felt good for my soul.

Smaller than the buck I got back in the fall, but this one means a lot more to me having done it myself. My one guided experience was not for me, I felt somewhat dissatisfied, like a tourist. 35 lbs of clean, hard-fought axis venison in the freezer, and one set of antlers that capture the memory. Can’t wait to go back.

 

[PurpleDriver]

Congrats! Lanai is a ton of work but work every bit of it. I’m curious how you got the horns back. I was told Mokulele wouldn’t allow them as baggage. PM in bound as well. I head to the private side in 3 weeks.

 

[aftriathlete]

Yep found that out at the airport that Mokulele changed their policy just in October to not allow antlers any more, checked or carry-on. So I left them with someone who is going to drop them off at Kamaka for me today or tomorrow to ship them to me here in Oahu since Kamaka is closed on Sundays.

 

[kdsulliv]

Man hunting in Lanai is something else. 3 days over too quick. Saw tons of sheep and a good amount of deer, perhaps less than previous years but any mainland whitetail or elk hunter would be over the moon with how many deer I still saw and had opportunities on. Took a decent buck, not a massive trophy but it means a lot to me anyway for my first DIY Lanai axis deer. And it took a hell of a lot of work. I found this guy and a buddy in a brushy bottom about 9 miles into my first day of hunting. One was a very nice buck, one was smaller but still decent. They crossed over the ridge into the next bottom, so I snuck onto that ridge and had them bedded in the brush at about 120 yards. I had clear broadside shot on one, perfect window in the brush, and clear frontal shot on the other, clear window in the brush at his chest, but he was standing frozen staring at me. Couldn’t judge which had the bigger antlers due to the brush and figured I had moments before they spooked, so I took the broadside shot I had. Of course the bigger one busted towards me at first and I could clearly see I had shot the smaller one. But I’m happy anyway. Hell of a pack out back to the truck, it was a mile and 1000 ft climb to get it there on tired legs. Funny, I took the cover a lot of ground approach not knowing any of the hard-earned honey holes, but then I see 4 old guys flying out that each of them got a good buck the one day they hunted, and they probably just parked the truck and sat on the tailgate and shot those deer. I’m not mad at them, I’m sure they beat the brush 30+ years ago to find those secret spots.

Next two days I saw deer, plenty of mouflon sheep and unfortunately wounded a ewe, shot her from a little over 200 yards just low on the shoulder and broke her leg but watched her run off on three legs down a wash leaving no blood trail, so I knew she wasn’t mortally wounded. That one will haunt me for a while.

The place is magical though man, last sunset hunt sitting there looking at Molokai across the water from a mountaintop and watching a nice buck and two forkies feed out into the kiawe trees across the valley, perfectly lit by the sun setting behind me. I watched them disappear into the brush and never saw them again as the light faded. Just quiet and beautiful, it felt good for my soul.

Smaller than the buck I got back in the fall, but this one means a lot more to me having done it myself. My one guided experience was not for me, I felt somewhat dissatisfied, like a tourist. 35 lbs of clean, hard-fought axis venison in the freezer, and one set of antlers that capture the memory. Can’t wait to go back.

Great job! Sounds like a hunt I'll have to get into when the applications open up again next year.

 

[kevlar88]

Congrats! Lanai is a ton of work but work every bit of it. I’m curious how you got the horns back. I was told Mokulele wouldn’t allow them as baggage. PM in bound as well. I head to the private side in 3 weeks.

Also, they used to let you bring a cooler that could be turned on its side to fit into the cargo area, now the cooler must fit sitting up straight. I'm guessing they had too many leaks on others luggage. I asked if I could just put frozen meat into a drybag and they said that would be just fine. I'm only traveling from and back to O'ahu so I'm not too worried about insulation. As far as antlers/horns go I'm thinking I can remove one antler with a bone saw to make everything fit into a large water proof duffel and reattach after the skull has been boiled. Dry bag full of meat could go into the same duffel and hopefully this will all save a few dollar bills for extra luggage and headaches trying to get everything back home.

 

[aftriathlete]

Also, they used to let you bring a cooler that could be turned on its side to fit into the cargo area, now the cooler must fit sitting up straight. I'm guessing they had too many leaks on others luggage. I asked if I could just put frozen meat into a drybag and they said that would be just fine. I'm only traveling from and back to O'ahu so I'm not too worried about insulation. As far as antlers/horns go I'm thinking I can remove one antler with a bone saw to make everything fit into a large water proof duffel and reattach after the skull has been boiled. Dry bag full of meat could go into the same duffel and hopefully this will all save a few dollar bills for extra luggage and headaches trying to get everything back home.

I failed to add that Mokulele Air doesn’t allow antlers/skulls as checked bag or carry-on, policy changed in October.

Edit: ah yep I did point this out above.

 

[kevlar88]

I failed to add that Mokulele Air doesn’t allow antlers/skulls as checked bag or carry-on, policy changed in October.

Wow, glad they didn't catch the two sheds that I picked up on our trip and just stuck in my pack!

 

[aftriathlete]

Finally got my goat from last fall prepped for the garage wall. Also got the axis buck done from two months ago. Super happy how the buck turned out. The goat was a lot more work, and frankly, even in this state it still smells like a goat. Alright for the garage though. It was pretty hilarious to find a broken-off arrow someone fired into this billy’s skull. I’m sure this kind of thing doesn’t just happen only in Hawaii, but the fact someone was out hunting with field points and shot this billy in the face is just a SMH Hawaiian hunters moment.

 

[JNDEER]

Yep found that out at the airport that Mokulele changed their policy just in October to not allow antlers any more, checked or carry-on. So I left them with someone who is going to drop them off at Kamaka for me today or tomorrow to ship them to me here in Oahu since Kamaka is closed on Sundays.

Great trip!

Are antlers still allowed on the Expedition ferry?

Thinking of applying for 2024 state hunt- but would have to take antlers back (high hopes for a 30+” -lol) via ferry to Maui then fly back to the big island (where I will be staying)

@bojangles808

 

[bojangles808]

it will be rare to see 30s on state hunt for next couple years with the past bad drought/ large number of tags given out until the herd can grow back up and also depending on the culling/drought but you can bring heads on the ferry just cape if you can and seal with a trash bag and tape. Main thing is no blood/smell. I usually after sealed put it in my pack under the lid like how you would on a pack out and the skull stays hidden for the most part.

 

[kdsulliv]

Howdy all, I'm going to explore the Makua Kea'au hunting area to prep for goat season and wanted someone to go with in case I twist my ankle and cartwheel over a cliff face and vice versa. Anyone interested in doing some vertical scouting? I'm targeting the weekend of July 22-23.