Hawaiian Goat

[aftriathlete]

Just don’t shoot the big billies. Nanny and small billies are fine as long as you take care of the meat. Nothing to write home about but they eat fine. Nothing compares to Axis in my opinion. Worse case just make curry and it blocks any off flavors

Can confirm all this. Billy's are trophies, but man, they stink to hell. And the meat has the smell too. That said, I successfully ate the big billy I shot, it was stew meat in strong curry sauce in the crock pot. But the nannies I've shot are way less goaty, easy to eat. Still cook it in the crock pot either way, plenty of good crockpot recipes out there with strong flavors.

 

[aftriathlete]

Also, the Oahu goat hunting isn't awesome. It's not just VERY tough terrain and very exposed, and more often than not the goats are in unrecoverable terrain, but it's actually much harder to get in and out of that hunting area now. Back before end of the rifle season (ends 1 Nov) they changed entry to now no one can drive through the gate, you have to park down by the highway, which is bad for two reasons: adds more than a half mile each way to the route, plus directly next to the gate is a homeless camp and you can count on your truck getting broken into. Second big change is they made it much harder to walk up onto the ridge now, you have to go way out of the way that also now includes a crossing of a major (steep, cliffy) drainage. That one is fallout from some poachers shooting the rancher that works the area right there at the entrance. My goat hunting days here might be over. If traveling to hunt, go to Big Island for sure, there's goats EVERYWHERE there, walking around the airport in Kona even.

 

[ProAlpine]

Just don’t shoot the big billies. Nanny and small billies are fine as long as you take care of the meat. Nothing to write home about but they eat fine. Nothing compares to Axis in my opinion. Worse case just make curry and it blocks any off flavors

Copy that. But a Euro Mount of a a big billy would be cool!

Funny, everyone raves about Axis deer as being the best but if I had to choose I'd pick my Muleys from Idaho any day. The Axis, like all game meat, need to age IMO otherwise they're chewy. And unless you've got the time or strategy to age them and bring them home, you're in for a mouthful.

Here in Idaho I age my deer 4-5 weeks and the difference is very noticeable.

 

[diverc18]

Copy that. But a Euro Mount of a a big billy would be cool!

Funny, everyone raves about Axis deer as being the best but if I had to choose I'd pick my Muleys from Idaho any day. The Axis, like all game meat, need to age IMO otherwise they're chewy. And unless you've got the time or strategy to age them and bring them home, you're in for a mouthful.

Here in Idaho I age my deer 4-5 weeks and the difference is very noticeable.

I never really have had an issue with them being chewy or gamey. Sometimes I age them for a week or sometimes I will clean and vac seal it same day depending on how busy I am. Never eaten a muley so I can’t compare unfortunately.

 

[SquirrelyDan]

I hunted Billy's on Maui, and it was on Private land. From what my family tells me, the public land out there isn't great. I have heard that the Big Island is the way to go. This was the archery Billy I shot this year. Cant say I have ever had chewy axis meat, even when it wasn't aged.

 

[TaperPin]

When I was on the big island doing tourist things, I couldn’t help thinking goat hunting in many places would be a lot of fun. I had no idea there are so many different climate zones on the island from wet green on the east side to dry on the west (I saw some prickly pear cactus and felt at home) - from goats by the beach to big herds way up on the volcano.

I’m a basic eater and traveling around it’s hard to mess up French dips, hamburgers, carne asada, fish and chips, short ribs, etc, and it’s hard to do one that is really really good. For each I can remember the place and year I’ve had the best. Ono (wahoo) fish and chips at one of the gated condo restaurants was the best ever. Holy cow it was good.

 

[ProAlpine]

I hunted Billy's on Maui, and it was on Private land. From what my family tells me, the public land out there isn't great. I have heard that the Big Island is the way to go. This was the archery Billy I shot this year. Cant say I have ever had chewy axis meat, even when it wasn't aged. View attachment 812693

That's a sweet Billy! And way to go with the bow! How'd he taste?

I didn't mean to derail the goat conversation by discussing Axis. In my limited experience (a buck and a doe), they are a very light colored meat with great flavor and no gaminess. However, when I didn't age the meat, it was noticeably chewier than the muleys that I shoot and age here in Idaho. This las time I shot the doe, I processed and vac sealed the meat the day I shot her, then put it in the frig to "wet age". I made broth with the bones and froze that, then when it came time to fly home I used the frozen bone broth as my ice to keep the vac sealed meat cool. It worked out great. After continuing to wet age the meat for a total of 4 weeks I threw it in the freezer. I just made Steak Diane the other night and it was delicious! Tender and mild... yum yum!

Next time I'd really like to get a pig in addition to axis!