Pig Hunt turned into an easy cow hunt

[Nic Barca]

I haven't been hunting much in the last few weeks, or at least haven't been catching anything when I did go. But this time, I got my room mate tony to come along with me as we walked the Morita Camp trail. So far all me and tony get is cows every time we go. This time we had our hearts set on getting a pig. I kept reasuring him we would get one, after all, there's way more of them and they aren't as smart as cows.

So on Sunday morning at dawn, we started our way in and after two hours of hiking we made it to the stream. Only thing was as we approached the edge of the grassy ravine I spotted a golden brown cow off to the left feeding in the grass. Another which I assumed was a bull, was making a lot of noise to the right slightly downwind. I thought we had better get one of the ones on the upwind side before the other one spookes them all. The stalk was rediculously easy and I'm almost ashamed to show the video that I filmed. The cows were just on the other side of the stream in the open grass, we had plenty of bushes to stalk to within 20 yards, and the stream surely covered up any noise we made during the stalk.

My friend Tony is just starting hunting and was using my 12 guage with slugs. I wanted him to get his first animal whether it was a pig or a cow, so he was up. He stalked to nearly the edge of the bushes, steadied the gun on the side of a tree. The targetted cow, what looked to be a medium sized bull, meanwhile had it's head in the other direction. This was almost too easy. Tony motioned to me that there were 4 but I wasn't comprehending anything that he was saying, as I'm sure he wasn't catching any of the advice I was wispering. He aimed... BOOM! a perfect shot to the lungs, or so it appeared as the cow hobbled up the valley. I ran 15 feet to the left and readied my gun and camera on the three other cows running up the river. Then the cow we shot hobbled out from behind a gorse bush across the river from us, turned and looked right at us. The shot looked to be placed perfect but the wound wasn't bleeding. She flinched as though to signal a mock charge. I said "watch it." to Tony as he chambered the next round, aimed and fired. The bullet tore through her neck and she collapsed roling once almost into the stream. We gave a few yips and yeehees and a high five. It was the closest to the car that we could get a cow.

As we approached the downed animal, all be dammed. it wasn't a bull but a cow. I guess they all have horns. She had utters too. She looked to be about 700 or 800 pounds and sported a five inch wide track. I can't wait to see a bull with a 7" track. We took a few pictures, ate a snack and then got to work in an attempt to beat the flies.

Here's something interesting. The first shot hit a ball joint in the front shoulder completely shattering the joint but also completely stopping the 12 gauge slug before it could reach the lungs. The second shot didn't hit any bone but instead looks to have maybe caught the jugular. I'm very surprized she dropped so quickly afterwords, nearly instantaneously even though no vertebrae wer hit. I'm fairly confident now that if no major bones are hit, my guns should do the trick with the lungs. Something I was a little unsure of after doc's bull.

Now I should say here that the first couple cows I caught, we did not clean properly. Those times, I was expecting more meat and was a bit scared to really dig in. But this time was different. I made somewhat of an "s" pattern to get all the back leg meat, miss the whole stomach and again get the meat from the front shoulder and neck. The slabs that I got from the back leg were enormous and next thing we knew, my heavy duty cotton meat bag was almost full with 100 pounds of meat. I had the Alice pack that Doc had given me and my friend only had a small day pack. Some of the meat had to go, so we tried making a fire to cook some. That didn't work. Everything was a little too wet and wasn't giving a strong flame. So next we tried burning meat its self for fuel, which had worked once before with spoiled goat meat. I went to the flie infested cow and cut off a lower leg to burn, but that didn't want to catch either. I think I fitted about 60 pounds in my ALICE pack (filled to the brim) and Tony's day pack fitted another 20 pounds. I carried it the first half and Tony carried it the second making it to the car in about three hours of power-hiking. I tell you what though, after carrying the alice pack, the small bag felt empty.

So now I'm trying to give away 80 pounds of meat little by little. I'ld say I've managed to get rid of 20 so far. We are planning to marinate a bunch and have a barbeque sometime soon too. Doc, your right. Morita Camp trail is not so bad of a hike. ...so long as you don't go past the river, haha. I'll post pics in minute. We didn't see any pigs on our pig hunt but lots of track.

 

[Nic Barca]

 

[Uncle Ji]

Aloha Nic, congrats on a successful hunt. Just curious, what slug load were you using? Have you tried the Winchester/BRI sabot slug loads? Their hard cast hourglass shape is supposed to penetrate and stay together better than the standard Foster type slugs. Another option are the German made RWS Brenekke 1-3/8 ounce 3" slugs which have been used with success on Cape Buffalo. Depending on the make you can get aftermarket rifled slug barrels for shotguns turning it into a 73 caliber rifle, a BIG boomer with a easy 100 yard range. I got one for my Winchester 1300 12 gauge pump and she shoots into a 4" circle 100 yards.
I'm still working on loads for my 45-70 "Smelly Nelly" both 405 and 450 grain loads which should be great fun on Waiakea Vancouver bulls. Can't wait to do a hunt with you and Bruce hopefully in the near future.
Can't wait to see pics and video!

PS Do you member talking story with me in the Ulua fishing forum about gill net laying in the old days a couple years ago? I beleieve you needed info for a report.

 

[Uncle Ji]

EXTREMELY COOL pics, mahalo Nic!

Here's Misha & Smell Nelly (Misha is the cat though she is smelly too), and no I didn't shoot the cat though she does tempt me at times.

 

[Wild1]

Well done boyz. Enjoyed the story and the pictures. One thing: are you saying that in the islands the cows are smarter than the pigs....? On the mainland, my experience is the opposite. In my experience, the cows are fairly dumb and the pigs are on par with dogs as far as intelligence - which is fairly bright for an animal. Interesting....

 

[scott0san]

WOW!!! sounds like a fun day, but if an easy hunt ends in a 3hr power march carrying 80 lbs of meat I can see why you were after something a little smaller like pig.

 

[Uncle Ji]

When I lived on the Big Island 25 years ago we used to hunt the Greenwell ranch above Kealakekua and the wild pigs were always seen intermingled with the semi-wild cattle. The pigs were smarter but the cattle had much better eye sight so the pigs hanged with the cattle using them as an early warning system, and I beleive the pig's superior sense of smell helped the cattle out too sort of a symbiosis.

I'm wondering if you may be interpretting the pigs poor eyesight with lesser of intelligence.

PS That background especially in the bottom pic is amazingly cool, expecting to see and orc or a hobbit pop out from behind the rocks above.

 

[Nic Barca]

Uncle Ji, you shouldn't had shown me that gun. Your just making me jelouse. ...or maybe that was your intent, haha. Nah, they were just plain old 2 3/4 inch rifled slugs of various makers. I should be using the twelve with 3" slugs but J-Hara's doesn't seem to carry 3 inch slugs. My shotguns have smooth bores as well. My guns seem to work fine though. Now I know, don't hit any bones. Doc's 45-70 never even hit any bones and still stopped on the skin on the opposite side. It did however hit meat in the front leg.

Wild1, Doc Cherry though them to be on par with Elk in warryness. They likely are even smarter. Pigs... pigs are dumb unless hunted hard. The pigs out there usually stare at you for a moment before running. I don't think they've even seen a human before that deep in the forest. The guys at Hakalau National Wildlife refuge confirmed that the cows have rediculously good hearing and eyesight. Pasture cows might be dumb (although still posess incredibly good senses IMO) but these cattle have been wild for 200 years and are real smart. I was stalking one before and as I was moving over the crest of a hill, all I saw was one eye and half of a white face 40 yards away. How he seen me was a miracle. I looked away for a second, looked back and he had vanished without a sound.

 

[Wild1]

Nic, could it be a possibility that it's not "intelligence" , but a matter of eyesight....? Maybe, just maybe, the pigs stare for a bit because they're trying to figure out what they're looking at because it's not clear. And the cows react faster because they can see you clearly. I'm pretty sure all animals become more wary the harder they're hunted (I know it's true of almost all the species in Africa), but I'm not sure it's about the level of intelligence. so the cows have great hearing and great eyesight, but I'm not sure that has anything to do with intelligence. Again, I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure pigs a lot smarter than cows.

 

[Uncle Ji]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nic Barca @ Mar 14 2007, 05:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Doc Cherry though them to be on par with Elk in warryness. They likely are even smarter. Pigs... pigs are dumb unless hunted hard. The pigs out there usually stare at you for a moment before running. I don't think they've even seen a human before that deep in the forest. The guys at Hakalau National Wildlife refuge confirmed that the cows have rediculously good hearing and eyesight.[/b]

Good point Nic, like comparing Wild Turkey to domestic. Those pigs and cattle on Greenwell Ranch both were pressured so learned to rely on eachothers senses, and yes those cattle were very difficult to get within 200 yards of. I feel pigs overthink sometimes before reacting staring at movement before deciding on what to do relying on their sense of smell a tad too much. I do not find even pressured pigs difficult to stalk when the wind is right.

 

[DEERSLAM]

Congrats

There's some fine eatin!

 

[doccherry]

Nic:

Well done!! I looked at your photos and can't wait until I get back in there again. The Morita Camp Trail is a lot easier than going upriver, at least when it's fairly dry. If I recall, it took us about 4 1/2 hours to get to Morita Camp going upriver [without me, you would have made it in 2 or 3 hours] and only 2 hours and 20 minutes going on the Morita Camp Trail. But I'll tell you, 100 pounds of meat on this old back? Yikes!! How about instead of bull hunting we go mouse hunting? That's a load I can pack as long as the mouse isn't trophy-sized.

If that cow weighed 700-800 pounds, how large would you guess the bull with 7" hooves weighed? 1200-1500 pounds? What a trophy that would be.

Now, can you tell me how to hunt the Powerline Road? I may want to try it this weekend.

Congrats, my fleet-of-foot friend, and congrats to your roomie. Great photos and great story.

 

[Uncle Ji]

Don't judge an animal just by it's reaction time. My Lucille is extremely intelligent easy to train, and very curious. My wife taught her to sit in a matter of minutes (actually Lucille was training her to feed her by sitting). She went into my garage one day and openned my tool box and pulled out each tool and placed them on the floor all out of curiosity as there was no scent of food on tool box or contents. She is always inquisitive but also has a sense of humor. When recovering from back surgery to relax I would sit and read in my back yard. Lucille would slowly sneak up behind me and quickly grab the velcro which held my back-brace on, yank it off, then run like hell, she'd always try this but if I saw her coming she'd stop and wait for me to turn back around. Very intelligent and kolohe (rascal) piggy my Lucille.

Here's a video of Lucille sitting for a banana


I just can't image any bovine having the IQ of a pig.

 

[Wild1]

That's what I'm talking about. I've never seen a cow trained to "sit" or anything else.

 

[Nic Barca]

Wild1, I think pigs can see me just fine at 30 yards. They just don't see many people out there and are wondering what you are for a second before running. Pigs of the lowlands can be quite smart over here. No Doc, I'm not talking about Big Island Pigs, but Kauai pigs, which are hunted a lot, are pretty smart in my experience. I would have to assume Oahu pigs are even smarter.

I've also seen pigs and cows hang out together to combine their senses. Also seen pigs and wild chickens, and pigs and kalij pheasant team up to combine their senses. About the smartness of these wild cows... well, you know how good of hearing and sight a pasture cow has, right? Well these cows run as soon as they sense you. I'm sure their sense of smell is not bad either. Whether they pay attention to it like a pig would is not something I know yet. Similarly, I think pigs can see fine but just don't pay attention to it. Sort of like how when we're sitting at our desk, we aren't really paying attenion to what's 100 feet away (assuming we can see that far), but we can if we wanted. And I've had pigs spot me at long distances before while moving so I know it's not beyond their capability.

 

[Nic Barca]

Doc, your only allowed to hunt the makai side of the powerline road. That being said, at the very end of the road is a grassy area with some sheep and a lot of pigs. But when you first start on the trail, you walk through a'a lava until you get to a point where you can glass a large area to the east if it's not cloudy. I once spotted a sheep from there but never found it when I stalked. Just after that, down a hill is a patch of ohia with grass. There's some pig sign in there and when I still hunted it before it the clouds I was lucky enough to come across a herd of sheep and got that first ewe of mine. But that was dog luck. A mile down the road is the first kipuka with tall trees. There's a good amount of pigs in there. Past that is more pahoehoe lava fields with some vegetation in them and kipukas scatered about which surely have pigs in them. The whole area from there to the end is like that; same age pahoehoe lava with small scattered ohia and other vegetation and very open with large kipukas scattered about, a couple of which the trail passes through. I'll send you a map throught he email. The trail ends at a 1980's lava flow and so does the hunting area. Go on the week days if you can. The area gets a lot of hunters along the road during the weekends. Either that or get to the end before daylight and I can just about assure there will be pigs. Especially if you reach the grass, travel downhill to the bottom corner where there are some great pig trails leading into the forest and catch them with the mountain wind still blowing.

 

[dw33]

Good story and pics. Wish I could hunt wild cattle.

 

[Nic Barca]

BYW, the wind will be blowing from the mountains to the see early in the morning and will switch sometime I'm guessing around mid to late morning. You might want to try walking out to the edges of the forest to the east. They probably would receive less hunting pressure and while walking in the lava, you could listen for pigs in the forest. I sent you a map in Email. It shows mile markers, an ald satelite image the trails and hunting areas. The road is right on the boundary line even though they never lined up on the GIS Map.

 

[Wild1]

There is no way a pig can see you "just fine" at thirty yards. They can see an outline of you and that's about it. For all intents and purposes, pigs are blind. They can see outlines, but very little, if any, details. That's why mother nature gave them good hearing and great smell - they had to have some defense. That's also the reason why, in areas of heavy pressure, pigs have gone nocturnal - it doesn't matter much because they can't see any worse than during the day.

 

[Nic Barca]

If that were true, you would be ignoring the fact that pigs do in fact spot people from long distances, not on a regular basis but on occasion. With smart pigs, it does happen. Thirty yards is not far at all. I don't know what pigs see, whether they see a blur or whatever but if your not in camo and you are moving (key word: MOVING), they can spot something of you if they look. I just don't think they look, just like how we can hear and smell a lot of things but don't really key in to every detail most of the time unless we concentrate on it... or maybe I should say that: I don't think pigs are concentrating on their sight, but they do have it. I'm not saying pigs have good eyesight. Most of the time it's poor for sure, but sometimes they see you from far away and I'm sure those pigs that stare at me for a minute are not looking at a blur. I was closer than that. Perhaps they were considering whether to charge or run. I'm sure they could see me fine at thirty yards. A kid walking through the woods with and orange vest and blue jeens. I'ld stand out. I'm not gonna even take a crack at what pigs can see at night. I'ld guess you could walk right up and grab one if they didn't smell or hear you first, haha.