It's been a typical week here on the Big Island. I've gone archery hunting for pigs up at Vern's estate 3 evenings now. I finally found the "freeway" the pigs use traveling from the coffee plantation next door to Vern's luxurient tropical landscaping [the stuff they love to dig up and eat and kill]. The first night 3 very small pigs---10 pounds, 12 pounds, and 15 pounds---trotted past and I let them go. That was it for that night. The next night a small sow of about 60 pounds came past at a run and I took a quick shot and clobbered her. She's headed for the smoker. Last night I screwed up big-time. Another sow came trotting down through the coffee trees and I raised my bow and pulled back. She was startled and jumped and began to run so I put my bow down. She then stopped broadside at about 20 yards. I could have clobbered her but my bow was down. I slowly raised my bow and pulled back and she took off again. I took a quick shot but shot an inch over her back. In the gathering dark I saw my arrow strike a lava rock and a bright spark told me my Muzzy 100 grain had disintegrated [which later examination of the arrow proved to be true]. I should have stayed still until it was too dark to see but no, I felt the urge to move to a new location. I walked uphill about 50 feet and bumped into a huge boar that was walking down the trail toward my stand and would have passed me broadside at 15 yards. The boar let out a loud grunt and I let out a loud grunt and that was the end of that. I should know better and should have remained absolutely still until dark. On the way back to the truck, I saw a medium-sized pig standing out in the open. I tried to stalk it but the lava gravel made so much noise beneath my tennis shoes that it slowly trotted off and disappeared into the brush. All of this hunting takes place on an area of about 2 acres. There are mango trees and lilikoi trees and the fruit is always falling off and crashing through the leaves to the ground and each time one falls it sounds like a pig on the run so my nerves are really on edge the whole time.
I went fishing in my little 15' skiff and caught a few ono [wahoo] and a mahimahi. The mahimahi are almost gone from the area now but the ono are thick and will remain so until September. My goal is to catch 20 ono between now and then and put away about 150 pounds of prime boneless fillets to eat until the ono reappear in May. Ono meat is firm, flaky white meat that is by far the best fish I've ever eaten. Ono in Hawaiian means "delicious."
On the way out, I saw a tall dorsal fin and a tail fin about 8 feet behind that. I motored over quietly and the tiger shark was probably about 14 feet long, a greenish-gold tiger-striped fish that is a true killing machine. I toyed with the idea of hooking a dead aku [skipjack tuna] to a 20/0 circle hook and tossing it over but having a 1200 pound tiger shark thrashing around my 500 pound boat didn't seem like a good idea so I enjoyed the show until the shark submerged.
I'll include a few photos this time and two of them are of fish. Sorry to post fish photos on a hog hunting forum, but a lot of you have requested that I do so.
Aloha for now.
I went fishing in my little 15' skiff and caught a few ono [wahoo] and a mahimahi. The mahimahi are almost gone from the area now but the ono are thick and will remain so until September. My goal is to catch 20 ono between now and then and put away about 150 pounds of prime boneless fillets to eat until the ono reappear in May. Ono meat is firm, flaky white meat that is by far the best fish I've ever eaten. Ono in Hawaiian means "delicious."
On the way out, I saw a tall dorsal fin and a tail fin about 8 feet behind that. I motored over quietly and the tiger shark was probably about 14 feet long, a greenish-gold tiger-striped fish that is a true killing machine. I toyed with the idea of hooking a dead aku [skipjack tuna] to a 20/0 circle hook and tossing it over but having a 1200 pound tiger shark thrashing around my 500 pound boat didn't seem like a good idea so I enjoyed the show until the shark submerged.
I'll include a few photos this time and two of them are of fish. Sorry to post fish photos on a hog hunting forum, but a lot of you have requested that I do so.
Aloha for now.
