Hilo Bull Hunt

[sfhoghunter]

EvBouret-

Incredible story - thanks for sharing. You look pretty pale in that first picture. I'm both jealous and relieved that it wasn't me.

 

[snoopdogg]

Good job boys, way to get that beef on the table.

P.S. Glad everything turned out okay.

 

[sactosteeler]

Words can't do it justice. I saved Evans life, Evan saved mine. Evan, I thought I had the audio/part video, but turns out the shock to the camera or something didn't wind up recording... but I can still see and hear most of it as it is burned into my memory as clearly as the text I am typing. We entered a pasture that was about the size of small swimming pool. Evan was leading through the edge of the pasture and up into a small cut of a trail.

I was 5 or 6 yards back and 1 yard to the right of him (not directly behind relative to the bull). The timing of the story here in my recollection is a bit different. The bull had seemed to walk himself in a little corral of trees and branches that he could have easily crushed but I think he decided to back out of the spot. That little artificial corral hid him just enough to allow us to get to within 20 yards. The distance more a quirk of events than a willful choice to get that close. That is when Evan sees backside & broadside, a vitals shot, I see nothing from my angle... 1 shot with the lever action as the bull is turning and lunging (sp?), 2nd and 3rd as it has amazing gained 10 yards to Evans 3 backpedaling and cranking the lever, I don't know how he got those shots off so fast, probably less than a second has elapsed. I believe Evan then realizes he is empty and catches a slight edge of his left boot as he turns to his left, one hand goes down the ground, right shoulder and arm go over to the left side... bull is now 5 yards away from Evan, 8 from me and I remember in that split second thinking of how I am not supposed to take a shot with someone so close. Something inside me ignored that thought and unloaded 3, 12 gauge slugs. One of which grazed the bull on the right shoulder which probably explains the nice bruise on the lower part of my bicep, proper shouldering of the 12gauge was not a split second thought. The other 2 shots hit below the head and snout and knock the bull down to his knees in the very spot that Evan just vacated a half second earlier. If those slugs didn't get there right at that second to slow the bull down, I have little doubt that Evan would have a hoof or a horn in him at that point and I would have been next. Evan still isn't in the clear but the bull dropping allows him 10 or 15 yards of space. I jump or dive or fall to the right as this thing is coming at us like a freight train. I dropped my gun in the melee 1 yard back toward the bull and 2 yards from the bull. The bull is shaking its head, huffing, I could see mucus coming out of its snout with each huff, it turns its head to the left and stares at me. It was gathering itself, as I was gathering myself. I lunged for the 12 gauge, my belly on the ground, and my feet in the air over a small log that I fell or dove over. I rocked back and got my feet on the ground and my hand searched my front blaze pocket for another slug while I stared at the massive bull, I chambered the slug with that bull looking me in the eye, now I was his target as Evan was 10 or 15 yards away (he actually was out of my view at that point). The bull’s eyes blinking and its thoughts seemingly starting to clear, very much alive. Shell chambered, gun raised at the 1000lb bull 6 to 8 feet away, right between the eyes. I am shaking now, not in the event itself, but at my keyboard 5000 miles away and 2 days removed. The whole thing lasted 3? 5? seconds, not much more, but I am not sure. Amazing. Happy to be alive. I don't know about the analogy to chattering like teenage girls, but we did talk at a hundred miles an hour for at least 20 minutes no less than 10min of which (every other word) was an expletive.

I amazed myself and feel very proud that I stood my ground and got those three shots off.

Lots of lessons learned along the way, some very important ones the hard way. Match the gun to the biggest possible threat being the most important. DocCherry and Evan are amazingly helpful and knowledgable. Evan glossed over a horriffic hike out ... jason had a touch of the flu and I was basically useless once the adrenaline burned up all of what energy I had left after fighting (and thinking i was winning) a battle with a cold which may be walking pneumonia now. Crazy stuff but we lived to write about it. I tell the story to people and the adrenaline starts pumping, the story starts and stops, I stutter and struggle to find the words.

We survey the scene afterwards and note that Evan's hat was 10 yards behind the bull up the cutout trail. I joked that it would have been cool if the bull had stepped on it as a sign of time and distance. One of evans bullets hit a tree at the front edge of the "corral", but we really had no way to know if it was one of the first three or last 2 that he loaded from his chest pocket at 15 yards backin the 4th and 5th seconds. And like evan said, the bull only seemed to get mad at the 150gr slugs.

I am tired of writing and obviously starting to ramble. Not sure if the whole thing rambles or not, as I have edited it back and forth more than any paper or report in recent memory. tonight I will try to post some pictures and look for other clues like the hat and the tree I mentioned. Audio would have been amazing to have, video might keep me up an night.

-ed

 

[EvBouret]

Its funny how we both have different recollections of the ordeal. I am certain though that I took one shot, then followed up and pumped 3 more into him before he turned and charged. I didn't get any shot off during the charge as I was already out of bullets. One of the three follow up shots hit the tree, but it looked like it exited and the bull was directly on the other side, so I'm sure I got some penetration.

Thanks again Ed...send me some pics too...

 

[sactosteeler]

I don't think they are really all that different. You are probably right about the 3 shots, but it seemed like you where moving toward me... maybe I just saw a stutter step. The bull probably knows but he is dead and we are not. It was all a blur. We are talking about 5 to 15 seconds... 1 mississippi, 2 mississippi, 3 mississippi, 4 mississippi, 5 mississippi...... CRAZY BRAH!! that monster only had to cover 20 yards and he was faster than I ever imagined. We can write a book and no one but you and I will really know what that felt like.

That was a hunt of a lifetime, I think I will just be thankful for it and thankful for getting through it.

I will get a disk out to you with all the pictures and videos. Jason would appreciate if I mentioned one more time that I think i broke my right thumb when i fell/dove/jumped right. probably not, but still swollen up and the whole palm is one big bruise now. Getting xrays this afternoon and going ask the doctor if he would be concerned about the more than a dozen or so gashes and scrapes that didn't get cleaned up till noon the next day.

 

[EvBouret]

you shouldnt have to worry about the scratches, just keep them covered with neosporin...or even better bactroban (prescription strength). The only thing you'd have to worry about is staph and lepto. Chances are you dont have lepto because you didn't get in the river too much. As long as you keep ointment on them you shouldnt get staph.

 

[Rick]

If you are going to stick with your .30-30, you may want to consider using the 170 gr Nosler Partition loads from Federal - you'll get better penetration and probably lose fewer animals. Personally, I get pretty upset when I wound something and it gets away to suffer.

Congrats on surviving that exciting encounter! I sure would have to sit down for a while and recover once the shooting was done.

 

[Glass eye]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (EvBouret @ Mar 4 2008, 01:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

The only thing you'd have to worry about is staph and lepto. Chances are you dont have lepto because you didn't get in the river too much.[/b]

What is lepto ?

 

[Glass eye]

sactosteeler
Did you guys get a chance to turkey hunt ?

 

[bryanhardie]

Congrats! I tried hunting cows once but got run off by an angry rancher and the sheriff. I must be doing something wrong.

 

[sactosteeler]

yes on the turkeys... got only 1 (wasn't me)... saw tons of turkey on friday (day before opener on the west side of mauna kia) then none on satuday, 2 or sunday, killed 1 on monday.

 

[EvBouret]

lepto=leptospirosis

its some sort of bacteria that you really dont want to get. It is in all the rivers in hawaii im pretty certain. Spread by animal feces and urine? You can also contract it from field dressing animals with wounds on your hands. It's pretty rare though.

Wikipedia:
The infection is commonly transmitted to humans by allowing fresh water that has been contaminated by animal urine to come in contact with unhealed breaks in the skin, eyes or with the mucous membranes. In humans, leptospiral infection causes a wide range of symptoms, and some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. Leptospirosis is a biphasic disease that begins with flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, myalgias, intense headache). The first phase resolves and the patient is asymptomatic briefly before the second phase begins that is characterized by meningitis, liver damage (causing jaundice), and renal failure. Because of the wide range of symptoms the infection is often wrongly diagnosed. This leads to a lower registered number of cases than there really are. Symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice, red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and/or a rash. The symptoms in humans appear after a 4-14 day incubation period.

 

[doccherry]

I'm going in after bulls a week from Saturday, an overnighter with a buddy of mine. He was planning to bring his bow but I emailed him your story, Evan. He's a lever action guy and owns a 30/30, but he's decided [at my insistence] to use my 45/70 maxed out with Barnes X Bullets. I'll either bring my .458 Win Mag or .300 Win Mag, both max loads with Barnes X Bullets.

Ed---When I chatted with you guys at the check station after our hunt, I was only half teasing Shaun about having life insurance when you go in after the bulls. I think you'll agree now that I wasn't being entirely flippant when I made the comment. I think you'll find, however, after you've calmed down a bit and reflect back upon the lessons you just learned the hard way, that hunting dangerous game becomes an addiction of sorts and that you'll be ready to do it again someday, this time using a heavy rifle and staying hidden after the first shot and waiting as much as an hour before following up.

Evan---You've really matured as a hunter, perhaps a bit more abruptly than you would have liked. Reflect upon all that you learned from this hunt. If you don't make the same mistakes again, the chances of a bad encounter like the one you just went through become remote.

And both you guys should hold your heads high. You did well under fire, even though you may have been scared crapless.

I'll let you know how I do on the 15th and 16th.

 

[cam188]

Great story congrats. Big livestock can be some scary creatures glad you are OK.

Keep at it now you know what to be prepared for.

 

[Nic Barca]

Wow, what an adventure! Evan, I was gonna offer you my 12 gauge... you can have it if you want but it only holds those two rounds; one in the magazine, one in the chamber. I think a gun smith would be needed to construct the missing part, but you'ld know more about that sort of stuff than I do. It's the piece that regulates only one bullet from coming out of the chamber each time you pump. I'ld like to get back over there but my last three pay checks went directly into rent for the new place. I'll need a month to save up anything.

More better you just get a 30-06 bolt action or something more useful. Jon says they would hunt them with 30-06 and 300 mag when they did cattle eradications. When I ran this by him, first thing he asked was if you were using heavy bullets, as if this sort of thing would be surprizing if you were. 30-30 on a big bull is like a .22 mag on a big boar; better to shoot for the head. Randy hunted the bison with the 30-30 but he always did head shots as well.

Stay alive, hunting buddy. I'ld be broken up if anything happened to you out there. ...god knows I'm always asking for it but you're supposed to be the cautious one, hahaha, what happened?

 

[doccherry]

Nic:

A month to save up for a trip to the Big Island, huh bruddah? OK, you've got a deal! How about coming over in April or May and you and Evan and me and maybe a buddy of mine make it an overnighter for bulls? By then we'll have a whole camp stashed away in the bushes and all you and Evan will have to carry is .... me! I'm gonna get one of those little above ground rickshaw deals that are connected to poles that the porters carry on their shoulders in all the old Tarzan movies. Evan could shoulder the poles in front and you could shoulder the poles in back and my buddy could fan the flies away from my face and feed me grapes while we hike along the trail to the Wailuku River.

The only thing missing would be the scantily clad native women who would give me a, umm, uh, foot massage once we get to the river.

In my dreams...

Hope you make it over soon. Stay in touch.

Aloha.

 

[Davidw100]

Wow, great story, I am glad you were ok. Sounds like luck was on your side. Maybe a bit more gun would of done the deal up nice. Great job and good hunting!

 

[Glass eye]

Do you guys know of any meat lockers in Hilo or Kona ?

 

[bpenn]

I've been off this site for a couple months, but had previously eagerly read Ev and Doc's hunting reports for pigs and bulls.

I remember thinking that doc has huge sack going back in there for bulls by himself and your story just confirms that in my mind. Always nice to know someone has your back, but rarely do you actually need it. Bravo to Ev and Sacto for managing to get themselves out of a hairy situation without a scratch...except maybe a broken thumb! (that sucks, hope its not broken)

Congrats guys. I really appreciate you sharing this in so much detail. Simply incredible.

Brad

 

[ozstriker22]

Oh it's been about six months since I've been on JHO. I have had ZERO time for hunting due to a bunch of cr@p going on and I can't access at work so I haven't had the chance.

I AM GLAD I STOPPED BYE! What a great story, guys!

I have promised myself that one of these days, when I have plenty of money and plenty of time off (right), I'm going to go to Hawaii for some Hog hunting, Bull hunting, and fishing for Ono or Wahoo. Don't know how I'll get the meat home but I'll figure SOMETHING out.

Doc, it's great to see you are still on the board. I'm not even close to moving out there - things have not worked out the way I had planned... but it is still a long term goal of mine.

And EV - loved the pics of your bull. Some people like Bear Skin Rugs, I personally would LOVE to have a taxedermied bulls hide with head and horns. That'd be AWESOME! And the bull you shot would be the perfect color - mottled white and brown. I love it!

Jesse