Big Island pig hunt on Mauna Kea

[doccherry]

Took my wife and another couple pig and sheep hunting up on Mauna Kea on Saturday. Clouds rolled in and obscured everything until we got up to about 8500 feet. We drove on up to 10,000 and glassed for Mouflon sheep. Saw a whopper ram with 6 ewes down in the treeline so I hiked down, stalked, wind changed, sheep ran away, and I hiked the 800 feet of elevation back up. I wanted to try for pigs so we went down to 7000 feet in the grass and brush. Very foggy with poor visibility. Busted a couple of pigs but couldn't get a shot. We drove home in the darkness, happy at having seen such awesome scenery up on top but a little dejected at not having put some pork in the cooler. Drove down the road to our house, began to turn into the driveway, and 5 pigs trotted out from the hedge, stood in the road in our headlights, crossed the road, and began to graze on the grass 50 feet away.

Too late and too dark and too many neighbors to grab the crossbow from the garage and close the deal.

Like I said before, this place is crawling with pigs. Unfortunately, on Saturday, they were all in the wrong place.

Aloha.

 

[bighog]

Ahhh.....If I only had your pig problems Doc.......I'm sure your freezer is pretty full anyway. Better luck next hunt!!!!

School starting up soon? I was watching shark week and saw a segment on Hammerheads and thought of your mascot at W.H.E.A.

 

[beastslayer]

Tried hard understanding from this lazy bum.

You have to go up 8,500 feet elevation to look for hogs when your own backyard is crawling with them?

Good luck Doc on another adventure. I guess you got out and hike upwards 800 feet for this: adventure.

 

[Kentuck]

Hey Doc,

Keep your head down the next couple of days. Looks like you all are in for some rough weather.

Kentuck

 

[Bigisle87]

hey doc.. .what time did you head up the mountain? it was beautiful yesterday afternoon..(sunday) went up to sight in my rifle, and spent some time around 9500 for a couple hours. didnt see anything but a couple ewes and young lambs, though.
seen a truck coming down saddle road while we were on our way up , with 2 rams sticking out of the bed.. looked to be hybrids, mid 20 inch range. maybe they went up the mountain, or possibly they hunted pohakuloa. i heard it's open right now.

 

[sportyg]

Look out for that strom headed your way... batten down.. I need to email my cus. also and make sure they are ok.. New say you all don't get many like the one coming your way..

 

[doccherry]

Appears we're going to get clobbered by Flossie. We've taken all the steps necessary to weather the storm. Stocked away a case of beer and put a couple bottles of wine on ice. We should be fine. I'll let you know what happens, but it appears that Flossie is really going to nail us. It's strange, like knowing a really big earthquake is going to happen at a certain time tomorrow and that there's no place to hide.

Aloha for now.

 

[Bigisle87]

it's funny doc said that about the earthquake..cause we had one a couple hours ago, too.. fricking armageddon is here.. LOL
being a life resident of this island, and having seen my share of hurricane close calls, im gonna say its not going to be that damaging to us at all. we're gonna get pounded with rain, for sure... but i really believe that we're going to be okay. but to err on the safe side, i am prepared. got enough food and water, ammo, and bow at the ready if it really gets that bad. the storm is supposed to pass 85 miles south of the southernmost part of the island at about 3pm tuesday.. if you dont hear from us by mid wednesday.. we got worked..

 

[Speckmisser]

Good luck to ya.

As a relatively recent resident in hurricane central (southeastern NC), I know the anticipation you're going through. Looks to be a pretty good storm, so ya'll batten down and hang on.

 

[Marty]

Do they ever find animals washed off-shore by large storms?

 

[doccherry]

Marty:

Actually, there are dead animals washing out to sea, specifically at river mouths when the rivers swell with rain. The tigers [sharks] find the animals. Wildlife officials recommend steering clear of river mouths when diving or swimming for that very reason.

By the way, last night at about 8:00 PM my dogs ran over to the side of the lanai, tails up, and began to bark. I scolded them, concerned it might bother the neighbors. This morning I saw that a chunk of our front yard had been rooted up. Next time I'll take my spotlight and crossbow to check the scene when the dogs start to bark.

 

[Bigisle87]

as of 11:15 am hawaii time.. i have nothing to report here. yeah, its rainy, but no winds or "stormy" activity out of the ordinary. storm center supposed to pass in about 4 hours, so we're hanging tight till then.

 

[Speckmisser]

Sounds like the worst of it has died out. Keep us posted.

And Doc, keep that crossbow handy.

 

[beastslayer]

doc and bigisle,

Keep tight!

Hope it all pass without much damage.

 

[Bigisle87]

sorry...double post.

 

[Bigisle87]

well, 6pm hawaii time, and the latest weather forecast says the hurricane is stalling out south of the island, and will now pass only 50 miles south of the island. it's worst part is expected to hit us in about 6 hours, as compared to earlier forecasts saying that we'd be hit by 4pm... the brunt of the storm is on it's way. will keep you updated hopefully tomorrow.

 

[Bigisle87]

well, it's 9am here wednesday, and i must say... that was barely even a tropical storm, much less a hurricane. the rain altogether stopped for me about lunchtime yesterday and never came back. winds got up to around 25 to 30 last night around midnight, then died back down. it's just another overcast day here in hawaii today.
im guessing the guys down in south point/puna didnt do a lot worse either. damn power didnt even go out. (not that im griping about it, but usually even a decent rainstorm will take the power out on us for a little bit)
i guess at this point its safe to say flossie was more full of hype than she was of power.

 

[EvBouret]

Woke up this morning to rain on Kauai, the storm is supposed to hit us with 1-2" of rain and 15-30mph winds. I think its supposed to be passing by tonight