Left school at 2:30 PM on Friday and drove up to the west slopes of Mauna Kea, a ride of about an hour. Checked in and off I go up the rutty, rocky, dusty Hunter's Road [appropriately named, as you will soon see] for some turkey hunting. Within 15 minutes I had seen two ringneck pheasant roosters, 50 or 60 francolin, a hundred-plus quail, and what I assume was a mouflon ram slinking through the trees. No turkeys yet.
I continue on up to about 8000 feet elevation, where the trees are actually large bushes and they are far enough apart and the grass is dry and low enough to allow for good visibility. 50 feet ahead a small sow and two little ones cross the road and wander uphill. I am in 4WD low, first gear, crawling along at 3 or 4 mph, making very little noise. 15 minutes later, that ugly, scraggly, long hair young boar I mentioned in an earlier post scampers across the road and stands broadside 40 yards away. He is so ugly in a cute sort of way that I just wave at him and continue on. 15 minutes later and 50 quail later and 25 francolin later, I see the red heads of two gobblers cruising downhill through the knee-high grass. I pull over, load my shotgun with turkey shells, and take off after them. I hike for some distance [now I'm up around 8500 feet and hiking is tough], spotting their pinkish-red heads from time to time and closing to within 100 yards. I finally lose them but continue on to a grassy, brushy flood ravine, maybe 10 feet deep and 20 feet across. Both toms burst up and begin flying in front of me, right to left, maybe 25 yards away. I fire at the trailing bird and see a few downy feathers float away and then fire again and he hits the ground with a thud. I track a trail of feathers for 20 yards and there he is. Nice bird, not huge, but nice. I hike back to the truck and put the turkey in the cooler. The limit is two per day and three for the season, but I don't want my turkey hunting to end too soon so I turn around and head back down the mountain. The sun is setting behind a huge cloud bank out over the Pacific and an early dusk settles in over the mountain. 15 minutes later, a fat little pig of about 75 pounds crosses the road and trots along uphill, not minding me at all. Francolin are everywhere and I see two Kalig pheasants [originally from Nepal] taking a dust bath in the road. Quail are gathering in flocks of 40 or more on the road. There is still plenty of shooting light and I am half-heartedly watching for turkeys, although most of them here go to roost before dusk. I come around a hairpin bend [still at 3mph] and a boar crosses the road, going uphill [they always seem to be going uphill in the evening]. That boar looks like a California hog, razor-backed, lean, grayish along the spine, and I'll bet the family farm he is at least 300 pounds, the largest I've seen on the dry side of Mauna Kea. He never even looks at me, just trots across the road and meanders uphill. I watch him until he is swallowed up by the grass and brush and darkness.
I never saw another soul up there. Tomorrow, I'm going to Pu'u Anahulu, about 45 minutes away, to archery hunt Spanish goats and feral sheep, and maybe even a pig or two.
I plan to do this as long as my health and physical condition allow me to. Hope that's a long time, but you never know, so I'm going for the gusto right now and not waiting for anybody or anything.
Aloha for now.
I continue on up to about 8000 feet elevation, where the trees are actually large bushes and they are far enough apart and the grass is dry and low enough to allow for good visibility. 50 feet ahead a small sow and two little ones cross the road and wander uphill. I am in 4WD low, first gear, crawling along at 3 or 4 mph, making very little noise. 15 minutes later, that ugly, scraggly, long hair young boar I mentioned in an earlier post scampers across the road and stands broadside 40 yards away. He is so ugly in a cute sort of way that I just wave at him and continue on. 15 minutes later and 50 quail later and 25 francolin later, I see the red heads of two gobblers cruising downhill through the knee-high grass. I pull over, load my shotgun with turkey shells, and take off after them. I hike for some distance [now I'm up around 8500 feet and hiking is tough], spotting their pinkish-red heads from time to time and closing to within 100 yards. I finally lose them but continue on to a grassy, brushy flood ravine, maybe 10 feet deep and 20 feet across. Both toms burst up and begin flying in front of me, right to left, maybe 25 yards away. I fire at the trailing bird and see a few downy feathers float away and then fire again and he hits the ground with a thud. I track a trail of feathers for 20 yards and there he is. Nice bird, not huge, but nice. I hike back to the truck and put the turkey in the cooler. The limit is two per day and three for the season, but I don't want my turkey hunting to end too soon so I turn around and head back down the mountain. The sun is setting behind a huge cloud bank out over the Pacific and an early dusk settles in over the mountain. 15 minutes later, a fat little pig of about 75 pounds crosses the road and trots along uphill, not minding me at all. Francolin are everywhere and I see two Kalig pheasants [originally from Nepal] taking a dust bath in the road. Quail are gathering in flocks of 40 or more on the road. There is still plenty of shooting light and I am half-heartedly watching for turkeys, although most of them here go to roost before dusk. I come around a hairpin bend [still at 3mph] and a boar crosses the road, going uphill [they always seem to be going uphill in the evening]. That boar looks like a California hog, razor-backed, lean, grayish along the spine, and I'll bet the family farm he is at least 300 pounds, the largest I've seen on the dry side of Mauna Kea. He never even looks at me, just trots across the road and meanders uphill. I watch him until he is swallowed up by the grass and brush and darkness.
I never saw another soul up there. Tomorrow, I'm going to Pu'u Anahulu, about 45 minutes away, to archery hunt Spanish goats and feral sheep, and maybe even a pig or two.
I plan to do this as long as my health and physical condition allow me to. Hope that's a long time, but you never know, so I'm going for the gusto right now and not waiting for anybody or anything.
Aloha for now.
