Hilo, HI hunting weekend

[HIhunter]

Well, Thanks to doccherry, I had some good places picked out for my hunt over on the Big Island this weekend. I got up early and headed out to the Laupahoehoe Forest Reserve, seeing some great views on the way across the mountain, and getting to the Reserve just after Sunrise. To my surprise, there was already a truck there when we pulled up, and I thought I saw something through the trees. Shoooots! A blood stained game bag hanging from the trees! The other guy had obviously been there just before first light and bagged a pig right away. A few yards away we found the carcass of a ~40-60 pound pig. Dang, they must be thick in here.

My buddy and I headed into the reserve and spent a full day walking around, sitting above promising valleys, and looking for the pigs. No sightings, although we heard two and saw tons of signs. Plenty turkeys also, so I'll remember that come turkey season. I was disappointed because last time I was in this area, we saw 4 pigs, and were outta there by 10 or so.

We got up again Sunday, but it was pouring rain, and in Hilo that wasn't likely to change. Racked out and spent the day with our families. (Ended up being a beautiful day...)

Monday, we hit it hard one last day, hunting a friend's ranch. Again, tons of signs, but nothing. We were bummed out, but had seen lots of signs, seen some friends, and made some new ones, so it was a good weekend. Then, just as we were leaving a friend called and told us he had caught a pig in a trap on his land, and needed someone to come kill/slaughter it! We headed over to his place, and sure enough, he had caught a nice 80-100 lb Boar. We didn't waste any time, and killed it with one shot to the head. That was a nice pig, plenty fat and gave us lots of good meat, not musky at all. Ended up having a backstrap on the grill last night, tasty! So, even though we didn't end up killing a pig when we were out hunting, we had two good hunting days with friends, and ended up with meat in the freezer! Good enough!

 

[Speckmisser]

At least you got out there, and you definitely have the right attitude.

If it was simple, you may as well be shopping, right? Good luck next trip.

 

[EvBouret]

Glad to hear you got to go out to laupahoehoe, me and bruce were supposed to go on monday but his dog got sick so i headed out alone into the waiakea forest reserve. i ended up shooting a small mouflon with the 30/30. Had about a half curl in his horns.

 

[HIhunter]

Nice work, Ev. I read your posts, looks sweet. If you're in Hilo, send me a message if you want someone to go hunting with. If I can get some flights, I always am up for a trip to Hilo. I'd like to get together with you guys over there and go after those Feral Cattle, too. Anyways, thanks and congrats.

 

[doccherry]

Evan mentions, casually, taking a mouflon ram with his open-sighted 30/30. That is quite a trophy and I've had a really tough time taking 3 of them after 15 hunting trips. And that's using a 7/08 with a 6-12 power scope.

My dog had some digestive problems so I had to take it to the vet. Vet gave it a vaccine for something and dog had allergic reaction to vaccine. That was really hairy. Hopefully dog will be OK now. Anyway, had to bail out at the last moment with Evan but he was cool about it.

While I'm at the vet, a guy comes in with a dog all bandaged up. Yep, pig got it. Another guy had a German shorthair with a broken leg and he hunts pheasant in my "secret" pig hunting area up on Mauna Kea. He had to quit hunting there because the pigs are so thick and they go for his dog.

HIhunter: A trip into the boonies after feral cattle would be really cool. That's a totally different experience and the country in there is pristine. Pigs just look at you, never having seen a human.

Evan: I'm going to try to reserve Laupahoehoe for us this Sunday. Will email you tomorrow with the details so we can try again.

Aloha.

 

[EvBouret]

Sounds good Bruce. Nic and our friend Bass are coming over President's day weekend (Feb 15-18) for a cow hunt. We're planning on hiking in and trying to get one and get out the first day, if not we'll be prepared to spend the night and give ourselves an extra day. Our friend Bass doesn't use a rifle so wanted to try the archery areas one of the days we weren't chasing cows, but I dont have my bow over here. Suprisingly I got like 30 yards from 4 sheep. I could have taken a shot at a single ram earlier but it was about 125 yards away and I was shooting off hand so there was too much counting against me. Like an hour later I spotted some things under a lone ohia tree in the lava flow, I couldn't tell what they were from so far away. I figured they were goats or sheep. I had been seeing a lot of poop pellets in the lava and one that was still wet so I knew they were around somewhere. I crept up behind a big lump in the lava that I figured was about 100 yards away from where the sheep were hanging out. Turns out when I got my shooting rest out and peeked over the lava lump they were right on the other side of it. First a baby popped out to the right of the lump. Then a ewe, then I saw horns peeking over the top. They turned to run and I popped the first ram in the back of the ribs with a steep quartering away shot from about 30 yards or so. He dropped instantly. Im guessing he weighed about 70-80lbs. Right after, another ram this one had twice the horns of the one I had shot. A full curl and then some. I could tell he was an old weathered ram from the look of his coat and the length of his rack. I had my gun cocked, aimed and ready to fire at the ram about 20 yards away before my brain took a hold of my actions. The limit is one goat, one sheep and two pigs per hunter per day, I already had one sheep on the ground so had to pass my shot on a nice trophy mouflon. Didn't bump or hear one pig all day of hunting the flow, and the hapuu forests in the beginning.

 

[Huntr Pat]

Good Job Ev. I hope you and Doc have a great time taking and harvesting a bull/cow maybe a pig or so. Good luck. Keep us updated.
Mahalo.
Pat

 

[Davidw100]

Sounds like you had a good time. Glad to hear that you got some meat anyway. Good luck next time.