Pig hunt turned into a Mouflon sheep hunt

[doccherry]

Photos and pix to follow. It's almost 11:00 PM here on the Big Island and I'm pooped. Took my visiting Bro in Law up to Mauna Kea for a pig hunt. Decided to go up high to show him the view from the Top of the World. Found sheep tracks. He shot video of the whole deal. Got two nice Mouflons, a ram and a ewe. Tried to get back down to 7000 feet before dark to get a boar but darkness set in. Great video of the stalk and the shots [three shots, one botched, two connected, 300 Win Mag, no wounded, both hits dropped on the spot]. Man, I am pooped!!

This is a pig forum but the hunt was for pigs. I'll post photos and specifics after a good night's sleep. Oh, by the way, did go pig hunting Sat or Sun [forget which] just up the road. Pigs, pigs, pigs. Never saw more pigs in my life. More on that later.

Goodnight all. I'm pooped.

 

[DEERSLAM]

 

[Speckmisser]

Sounds like a great tale is in the offing...

Can't wait! Pass the popcorn, Mike.

 

[doccherry]

OK, here we go. I'll start with the pig hunt from a few days ago. A friend called and told me that his neighbor, who has several acres of macadamia nuts, is up to his nutz in pigs. They come in at dusk and eat all the nuts that have fallen to the ground. Will we please come over and clobber them?

We showed up an hour before dark, me with my crossbow and my friend with his .22 mag with a projected red dot laser sight [I don't like those things at all for hunting]. We walked along the lava rock wall and immediately spotted a couple of pigs 30 yards away. I signalled to my friend and he hunched over, sneaked behind the wall, poked his head up, took aim, and the big pig sauntered behind some black lava leaving only a sliver of his back exposed. I saw the red dot on the pig's back but it was an iffy shot at best so my friend backed off. The second pig turned and followed the first pig. The red dot jiggled and bounced around on its upper back and then "BAAAMMM!!" The pig scooted off into the grass. I went over and looked for blood but found none. With pigs, particularly using a light rifle, lack of blood is not necessarily an indication of a miss. Anyway, no pig.

We saw several more little black pig bears moving through the high grass but couldn't get a shot. We walked over to a grove of coffee trees, maybe 1/2 an acre in all, and busted another herd. They took off but we didn't get a shot. 2 or 3 more scooted alongside the lava rock wall but a house was only 200 yards away and the angle, if a ricochet occured, would send a bullet toward the house, so my friend held off. We heard another commotion in the coffee trees and more pigs were feeding. By the way, the soil was 12 inches of soft, roto-tilled black dirt, like what you'd see on a farm in Iowa, all tilled up by the pigs. We stalked the pigs in the coffee but the wind turned on us and the pigs thundered off. I saw some more pigs in small openings in the grass but they were too far away for my crossbow. It was dark now and time to quit. We walked through the macadamia trees on our way to the gate and busted more pigs, but we couldn't draw a bead because of darkness. Final score, pigs everything and hunters nothing.

Yesterday afternoon I took my Bro in Law from CA up to Mauna Kea to look for trophy boars. Got up there at 5:00 and drove along the Hunter's Road. Saw a nice herd of Mouflons in the archery area and they just walked slowly along the road. Saw ringneck pheasants, Kalij pheasants, francolin, hundreds of quail, and several flocks of turkeys on the way to the rifle area. We scouted my favorite pig places in the rifle area but didn't find anything, probably because darkness was another two hours away. Took him up the Skyline Road, climbing almost 4000 feet from the pig area, up to above timberline. The mountains are all volcanic, cinder, rock, gravel---most the color of Mars. It is a real lunar landscape up there. In the photo, the color you see is actual. Really impressive. My Bro in Law shot video of the cloud cover down below, with the gigantic Mauna Loa in the background and Hualalai Mtn just peaking up through the clouds. It was a spectacular vista looking off to the South and Southeast. We saw a dozen large flocks of chukar, their calls drifting down the hillsides. It was remarkable seeing so many gamebirds and such a variety of them. I found some sheep tracks on the dusty road and then looked up to see a band of Mouflons up above the road, moving quickly downhill. I trotted back to the truck, grabbed my rifle, gave my Bro the lowdown, and then loaded the rifle as I scooted up the road. I came to a few small bushes and sneaked behind them. Oddly, the sheep had not hightailed it [as they usually do] but were milling around 100 yards away. I found a nice ram and took a snapshot. Nada. Pilot error, my screwup. Took two more really quick shots and both sheep, a young ram and a really fat ewe, took nosedives. The nice thing about using a .300 Win Mag on something flimsey like a sheep is that they drop on the spot. Got the whole thing on video and it looks really good. That .300 Win is like shooting a .22 for me, I've shot it so much, but looking at the video, my shoulder really took a walloping. Didn't even feel it at the time. We dragged both sheep back up to the road, which was tough because we were at almost 11,000 feet and the drag was 100 yards over rocks at a 45 degree angle.

Walked back to the truck, drove to the sheep, quickly field dressed them, and then took off downhill, trying to get back to the pig area before it was too dark to hunt. Didn't even come close. Jumped another herd of Mouflons and watched them scurry across the headlights. No pigs this time.

Both sheep were decent sized, the ram about 90 pounds and the ewe around 80 pounds. The horns on the ram were small, nothing like the full-curl, thick-bodied ram I shot at first and missed. It probably weighed about 140 pounds.[attachment=42411:attachment][attachment=42411:attachment]

Let me tell you, sheep hunting up there in the high country, above treeline, where you could swear you were on Mars, is quite addicting. And, by the way, we covered a lot of territory and didn't see a soul, not a human or a vehicle of any kind. We checked the sign-in, sign-out sheet at the checkstation and we were the only hunters on the entire mountain. Remember, this is public property that is open all the time and all these animals and nobody but me and my Bro in Law. This high sheep country is only 2 hours from my home in Kailua Kona and is something I can do after work. WOW! I have to pinch myself sometimes.

Tomorrow early AM we're going out in my boat. The ono are in now and it's time to stock up on that firm, white wahoo meat. My Bro in Law is a diver, so I hope to show him a tiger shark or two. They're really quite impressive when you see them from 10 feet away, from the safety of a boat. If you're in the water with them, well, that's a different story.

Look at the color of the rocks and soil in the photo. Looks like Mars, doesn't it?

Aloha for now.

 

[doccherry]

No idea why the photo was duplicated in the post above. Must have pushed the wrong button. Sorry.


Figured out the problem and now, hopefully, there is only one photo.

 

[Surfswest]

I gotta say that everytime I see that you have posted another thread on here, my heart starts racing and I am on the edge of my seat reading it. The adventures you go on and the opportunities you have to hunt so many different types of game just amaze me.

Congrats on the sheep and good luck with the ono!!!! Just stay safe so all of us who are hunting and fishing here on the mainland can continue to drool over all your hunting stories and pictures.

Surfswest

 

[Speckmisser]

Another great tale from Paradise, Doc! Nicely done, as always!

 

[Kentuck]

Well done, Doc. I will definately have to make it there someday.

 

[THE ROMAN ARCHER]

Nice photo Doc, your living the good life over thier for sure! another great read and big island hunting adventure, and i bet those sheep are

tasty! and you are a tease, its public land and nobody but you guy's hunting it, HOW NICE! someday I will swim over for a hunt, until then Doc, keep on posting my friend, ALOHA!........tra

 

[DEERSLAM]

Great story as usual and nice sheep...congrats

 

[dogtrader2005]

Great job guys.

 

[bighog]

Glad to have you back in action...congrats on the sheep hunt

 

[deadducks]

Man you tell some great stories.

Good job and enjoy the eats.

 

[larrysogla]

Doc, you are for sure messing up my 'puter keyboard.....I am drooling all over the place reading your amazing, amazing hunts on PUBLIC LAND....with all these super abundant numbers of game and fowl just within easy shotgun or rifle range......That is just soooooooo sweeeeeet. Thank you Doc from the bottom of my heart for giving us so much entertaining stories from your Island Paradise. God Bless, always and 'Nuff said.
atriotic-waving-flag:

 

[MCR]

you are truly a lucky and blessed man to have such hunting right at your fingertips and from the sound of it all to yourself as well. thank you for sharing such a great hunting story with us!