The hunt actually started Thursday night. The pig alarm in the back yard went off several times in quick succession. I grabbed my crossbow and light and went out the door into the darkness. I creeped to the farthest corner of the yard and turned on the light. 7 pigs, all about 30 pounds, were rooting around. I'm too old and too much a believer in Karma to shoot the little ones, so I politely asked them to leave and when they ignored me, I threw a rock at the closest and went back to bed. The alarm went off again an hour later so back I went. This time a smallish sow and several teeny piglets were doing their thing. I shouted and they took off. Back to bed.
I left work at 3:00 on Friday and drove up to the dry side of Mauna Kea. As I was tooling along the 4WD Hunter's Road at 3 MPH, listening to the debate, just after Obama made a comment that pissed me off and just when McCain was making a comment that pissed me off, a jet-black, shaggy pig was sauntering through the tall, dry grass 80 yards away. I pulled over, left the engine running so I could hear the candidates tell me why they should be President, got out, walked 10 yards into the grass, and put the crosshairs right behind the shoulder of the pig that was now moving along quickly. At the shot, the pig just kept walking away, showing no sign of being hit. Damn!! An easy shot, really. I went back to the truck, sat down, and got ready to drive on. But it was an easy shot and I shouldn't have missed. I now do this so often that there isn't much Buck Fever and the rifle is dead nuts on so I got out and walked up the hill to where the pig was when I shot. Lung tissue and blood was spattered everywhere. Stevie Wonder could have followed the blood trail from there. I found the pig 50 yards away, a clean double-lung shot. This is the 3rd or 4th time this has happened---a double-lunger and the pig walking slowly away as if nothing had happened. Took the choice cuts and off I went, way back in to the far reaches of Mauna Kea's dry side.
As I drove along, a large sow and 5 or 6 40-pounders bounced across the road and scrambled uphill. They joined another group of 7 or 8 hogs, 2 of which were good-sized boars. The limit is 1 pig per day [the reg's say 1 pig per year but the handout that Fish and Wildlife gave me says clearly that the limit is 1 per day and the officers told me the reg's are a misprint] so the boars were safe.
15 minutes later, 7 adult mouflon sheep galloped uphill and away, stopping to watch me from a distance of 300 yards. One was a huge, full-curl ram. I got out, rested my rifle on a tree branch, tried to figure out where the bullet would hit at that range, and the ram started walking away. I took a snapshot but knew the second the rifle went "Boom" that my shot was high. The sheep scampered uphill into the thick brush and that was that. My shooting sometimes reminds me of that honored college, "Ol' Miss."
On the way back in, I saw a dozen flocks of wild turkeys and several flocks of chuckars. When I finally got to the lookout point where I could glass down onto the tall grassy areas of the public part of Mauna Kea and the green, cattle-cropped lush grasslands of the private Parker Ranch, things really got interesting. From one single vantage point, using binoculars, I saw over 30 pigs in several separate groups and 4 large solitary boars. All but 6 or 7 were on the Parker side. I drove on to a hidden valley and since it was getting dark, parked, laid out a simple dinner, and watched the stars overhead. After I went to sleep, I heard pigs squealing in the distance and heard the sound of hoofs cloppitying along the rocky trail right next to my truck.
I froze that night. It was really tough because I brought a light sleeping bag and the temps plummeted. At first light, I regrouped, grabbed my rifle, and headed out. I hunted hard for an hour and even though pig poop and pig beds and pig tracks were everywhere, I saw nothing. I drove back down the road a short distance and began to glass the grassy areas below. The grass is like a super-sized wild oat familiar to California hunters, 2 to 3 feet tall and really thick. Pigs are hard to see. In the first 15 minutes of glassing, I saw another 25 pigs, maybe more, and most of them were on the public side. I shouldered my Alice pack and headed downhill, dropping 1000 feet in elevation until I got to the fence separating public land from the Parker Ranch. I began hunting along the fenceline. Shortly, I bumped into 2 smallish hogs and set up a stalk. They soon joined a dozen other hogs, all of them less than 30 pounds. I let them go. I saw a huge boar behind me and set up a stalk. When I got to where the boar was, he wasn't. I have no idea where he went. They sometimes simply lie down in the darkness of a thick bush and hold tight.
I headed uphill and saw several more pigs, but they were all sows with little ones. By now, after hiking for 5 hours at 7000 feet with an ankle cast inside my boot, I was pooped and getting a bit stiff and sore. Half way up the hill, two huge boars burst from beneath a scrubby tree and took off. They disappeared into a brushy arroyo and I never could find them. I saw some more little pigs but that was it. At one point, I heard rustling in a bush and slowly stalked over to it. A beautiful male ringneck shot out and glided downhill into a ravine.
I got to my truck and glassed way out onto the short green grassland of Parker Ranch. In 5 minutes, I saw another 25+ pigs, some of them undoubtedly the same pigs I saw the evening before. Small flocks of turkeys were everywhere. I drove back slowly, flushing hundreds of quail, more chukars, but no pigs close to the road. I did see 2 groups of pigs 500 yards away, uphill, but I was too tired to go after them. I called it a day and headed home.
The two photos that follow are the pig I shot and then a view looking out toward Maui. The mountain rising up above the clouds is on Maui. Although it looks attached to the Big Island, it is separated by a 20-mile strait the is deadly at times, really rough seas.
That's it. I've never seen so many pigs in my life on a single hunt. The pig I shot is about #40 since I began hunting on the Big Island 30 months ago.
Aloha for now.
I left work at 3:00 on Friday and drove up to the dry side of Mauna Kea. As I was tooling along the 4WD Hunter's Road at 3 MPH, listening to the debate, just after Obama made a comment that pissed me off and just when McCain was making a comment that pissed me off, a jet-black, shaggy pig was sauntering through the tall, dry grass 80 yards away. I pulled over, left the engine running so I could hear the candidates tell me why they should be President, got out, walked 10 yards into the grass, and put the crosshairs right behind the shoulder of the pig that was now moving along quickly. At the shot, the pig just kept walking away, showing no sign of being hit. Damn!! An easy shot, really. I went back to the truck, sat down, and got ready to drive on. But it was an easy shot and I shouldn't have missed. I now do this so often that there isn't much Buck Fever and the rifle is dead nuts on so I got out and walked up the hill to where the pig was when I shot. Lung tissue and blood was spattered everywhere. Stevie Wonder could have followed the blood trail from there. I found the pig 50 yards away, a clean double-lung shot. This is the 3rd or 4th time this has happened---a double-lunger and the pig walking slowly away as if nothing had happened. Took the choice cuts and off I went, way back in to the far reaches of Mauna Kea's dry side.
As I drove along, a large sow and 5 or 6 40-pounders bounced across the road and scrambled uphill. They joined another group of 7 or 8 hogs, 2 of which were good-sized boars. The limit is 1 pig per day [the reg's say 1 pig per year but the handout that Fish and Wildlife gave me says clearly that the limit is 1 per day and the officers told me the reg's are a misprint] so the boars were safe.
15 minutes later, 7 adult mouflon sheep galloped uphill and away, stopping to watch me from a distance of 300 yards. One was a huge, full-curl ram. I got out, rested my rifle on a tree branch, tried to figure out where the bullet would hit at that range, and the ram started walking away. I took a snapshot but knew the second the rifle went "Boom" that my shot was high. The sheep scampered uphill into the thick brush and that was that. My shooting sometimes reminds me of that honored college, "Ol' Miss."
On the way back in, I saw a dozen flocks of wild turkeys and several flocks of chuckars. When I finally got to the lookout point where I could glass down onto the tall grassy areas of the public part of Mauna Kea and the green, cattle-cropped lush grasslands of the private Parker Ranch, things really got interesting. From one single vantage point, using binoculars, I saw over 30 pigs in several separate groups and 4 large solitary boars. All but 6 or 7 were on the Parker side. I drove on to a hidden valley and since it was getting dark, parked, laid out a simple dinner, and watched the stars overhead. After I went to sleep, I heard pigs squealing in the distance and heard the sound of hoofs cloppitying along the rocky trail right next to my truck.
I froze that night. It was really tough because I brought a light sleeping bag and the temps plummeted. At first light, I regrouped, grabbed my rifle, and headed out. I hunted hard for an hour and even though pig poop and pig beds and pig tracks were everywhere, I saw nothing. I drove back down the road a short distance and began to glass the grassy areas below. The grass is like a super-sized wild oat familiar to California hunters, 2 to 3 feet tall and really thick. Pigs are hard to see. In the first 15 minutes of glassing, I saw another 25 pigs, maybe more, and most of them were on the public side. I shouldered my Alice pack and headed downhill, dropping 1000 feet in elevation until I got to the fence separating public land from the Parker Ranch. I began hunting along the fenceline. Shortly, I bumped into 2 smallish hogs and set up a stalk. They soon joined a dozen other hogs, all of them less than 30 pounds. I let them go. I saw a huge boar behind me and set up a stalk. When I got to where the boar was, he wasn't. I have no idea where he went. They sometimes simply lie down in the darkness of a thick bush and hold tight.
I headed uphill and saw several more pigs, but they were all sows with little ones. By now, after hiking for 5 hours at 7000 feet with an ankle cast inside my boot, I was pooped and getting a bit stiff and sore. Half way up the hill, two huge boars burst from beneath a scrubby tree and took off. They disappeared into a brushy arroyo and I never could find them. I saw some more little pigs but that was it. At one point, I heard rustling in a bush and slowly stalked over to it. A beautiful male ringneck shot out and glided downhill into a ravine.
I got to my truck and glassed way out onto the short green grassland of Parker Ranch. In 5 minutes, I saw another 25+ pigs, some of them undoubtedly the same pigs I saw the evening before. Small flocks of turkeys were everywhere. I drove back slowly, flushing hundreds of quail, more chukars, but no pigs close to the road. I did see 2 groups of pigs 500 yards away, uphill, but I was too tired to go after them. I called it a day and headed home.
The two photos that follow are the pig I shot and then a view looking out toward Maui. The mountain rising up above the clouds is on Maui. Although it looks attached to the Big Island, it is separated by a 20-mile strait the is deadly at times, really rough seas.
That's it. I've never seen so many pigs in my life on a single hunt. The pig I shot is about #40 since I began hunting on the Big Island 30 months ago.
Aloha for now.
