Thursday after teaching, I went up to Mauna Kea, on the dry side, to try for Mouflon sheep. Headed up the Skyline Trail in 4WD low, creeping up through the rocks and the deep, powdery soil. Stopped a few times to glass, but nada. Just at dark, two boars trotted across the road at the 9000 foot-plus level and began feeding in the dry grass 30 yards away. I took a quick shot [my scope was set at 9X and I really couldn't see much but a blur]. The pig dropped like it had been hit across the noggin with a Louisville Slugger and the other pig took off. I began to walk up on him and suddenly he jumped up and ran into the brush. I thought that I must have stunned him with a shot that hit close to the central nervous system somewhere. I went back to the truck and got my headlamp out and sat down for 15 minutes. By now it was getting too dark to walk through the lava rocks without a light. I went to where he was when I shot and there was no blood. I wasn't the least bit confident of finding anything but what the heck, so I followed his route of travel through the grass but again, no blood. I was about to write it off and suddenly my light fell on a black object lying next to a large bush. It was the boar, deader than a cast iron frying pan. I tossed a few rocks at him just to be sure and then walked up to him. The bullet had hit him in a raking motion, striking the near side between the ham and shoulder and exiting the far side through the right lung. I dragged him back to the truck and gutted him. The liver and the right lung were blasted to jelly and there was a lot of other internal damage. I have no idea whatsoever how he managed to jump up after lying down "dead" for 5 seconds and then take off full-speed and run 20 yards. These critters can be really tough. I then had the job of hoisting him up into the bed of the pickup and into the 160 quart cooler. That was quite a project. Got home at 8:30 PM and left him in the cooler surrounded by Blue Ice. The photo is this morning when I butchered him. Notice the huge shoulders and head and the small hams [he had been field dressed and a lot of skin/tissue removed from the ham area]. Unlike the pigs at Laupahoehoe, this was a typical razorback with 4" bristles along the back. It had virtually no fat, unlike Laupahoehoe pigs, and was solid muscle. Reminds me of the pigs in California, the ones that have to really work and fight for a living.
I'm become rather tired of hogs, for now, anyway. Since December of 2005, a period of 13 months, I've taken 16 with rifle and bow. Time to try for Mouflon sheep and go on a wild bull hunt with Nic Barca. That's next Saturday and I'm really looking forward to it. Nic is less than 1/2 my age. Hope I can keep up with him.
Aloha for now.
Pigs at 9000+ feet? Never woulda thought it.
I'm become rather tired of hogs, for now, anyway. Since December of 2005, a period of 13 months, I've taken 16 with rifle and bow. Time to try for Mouflon sheep and go on a wild bull hunt with Nic Barca. That's next Saturday and I'm really looking forward to it. Nic is less than 1/2 my age. Hope I can keep up with him.
Aloha for now.
Pigs at 9000+ feet? Never woulda thought it.
