Hawaii Hunting

[aftriathlete]

Been posting in the DIY Lanai Axis Deer thread over Archery, but figured I'd start my own thread since I'm actually not hunting archery (yet), I'm not doing DIY Lanai Axis (right now), and I'm gearing up for more than just Axis out here (pigs, goats, spearfishing).

New hunter this last season, hunted whitetail in PA. Long-time tactical shooter. Based out of Oahu.

I was too late in the game this year for the Lanai state hunt draw, but thankfully I'm a HI resident now, which brings the Pineapple Bros (the official guide on Lanai) into reasonable price territory. I was personally on the fence about using a guide, just in general, I've always felt like it takes away a little of the sporting aspect of the hunt, the research, the prep work, the beating the bushes in the months leading up to opening day, and all that stuff. But the logistics of hunting Lanai are really difficult, so I figured I would go guided this first time to get the lay of the land, get my eyes on the island myself, and learn tips and tricks for DIY later. So 21 Sep I'll be rifle hunting the private area on Lanai that only Pineapple Bros has access to, but while there I am going to try to scope out the other two "private" hunting areas that you can get permits to through the island of Lanai recreation folks.

Still moving my family into our new house here, so I haven't been able to get out to the mountains here yet to look for pigs and goats, but I'm pretty confident in the prospect for success on goats. Pigs will be harder to find, and best lead I have is on an archery only GMU, so I plan to pick up a bow in the next couple months for that and just for archery hunting in general.

Have only gone out with a three-prong so far to try to get on some local fish, but my spear gun and all my gear arrived last week so hopefully I'll be able to get out on some upcoming weekends to find the fish. I figure fishing exploits here are fair game for this forum too, so I'll try to post up on that.

Open to discussion or questions or whatever, it seems like HI can be tough for people to figure out how to hunt, but I think I'm getting a handle on it all. Thanks for the help to everyone that has already traded messages with me to get me up to speed as well.

 

[jbosk15808]

Hey I'm new to the forum but from Maui and live on Oahu now. Just got into hunting last month on my first Lanai hunt(2nd weekend of this years public hunt). I lived in the Midwest( UP Michigan and Wisconsin) for about 11 years and wish I started hunting back then.

Stoked on your upcoming hunt with Pineapple Bros. I would be curious what you find out about the other private hunts are like on Lanai also. From what my uncles told me last month, they were expecting to see a lot more animals on the public side then what we saw. They were thinking the private land is probably where all the deer went since it was so dry on the public side. We still saw deer but not the herds they were expecting. Anyways good luck!

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

There's great hunting in HI. Wild goat, wild boar (plus the gnarly Polynesion), axis deer, Vancouver cattle and turkey all are to be had.

 

[aftriathlete]

Hey I'm new to the forum but from Maui and live on Oahu now. Just got into hunting last month on my first Lanai hunt(2nd weekend of this years public hunt). I lived in the Midwest( UP Michigan and Wisconsin) for about 11 years and wish I started hunting back then.

Stoked on your upcoming hunt with Pineapple Bros. I would be curious what you find out about the other private hunts are like on Lanai also. From what my uncles told me last month, they were expecting to see a lot more animals on the public side then what we saw. They were thinking the private land is probably where all the deer went since it was so dry on the public side. We still saw deer but not the herds they were expecting. Anyways good luck!

I heard from one forum member that hunts Lanai frequently, including this year, that apparently numbers are down this year. Speculating, but probably some combination of overhunting to some degree with the pretty liberal tag policy this past year, plus the drought affecting Lanai among other islands, including Oahu. Info I got was that the deer were already super stressed by both of those factors when some unseasonably bad weather came through this past winter and a lot of the deer just couldn't take another hardship. I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to access those two other private Lanai areas when I'm out there next month, I kind of expect that I won't be able to, but I'll do my best to recon them. Plenty of reason to think they have moved from public to private at least to some extent.

There's great hunting in HI. Wild goat, wild boar (plus the gnarly Polynesion), axis deer, Vancouver cattle and turkey all are to be had.

Interesting you mention Vancouver cattle, I was hoping I was wrong that all Vancouver bull hunting was turned off like it appears to be on the DLNR website, but it seems like that's the case. I don't have all the historical background, but I think hunting these "scrub" cattle was legal in HI until just maybe two years ago, not sure why the change at the state level. I reached out to one guide company to see if guides are still authorized to hunt them, didn't get a reply, so I don't assume the best from that. I'd LOVE to go over to Big Island and get a bull, getting all that meat home would be such a great problem to have. But I'm with you on the HI being a pretty good state for hunting, I'm going to try to get some mouflon sheep my next trip out to Lanai when I try my first DIY early next year.

 

[bojangles808]

If you spearfish please make sure you dive with a partner (Google shallow water blackout). It is a very dangerouse activity even for experienced divers.
Regarding hunting its pretty poor in Hawaii unless you have access to a ranch or large parcel of private which is usually reserved for close family friends or ranch workers. Since you can hunt year-round in HI the public areas get heavily pressured non stop 365 days a year, there's no secrets. droughts been brutal too last couple years pretty much statewide. The public land on Oahu gets pounded by pig hunters running dogs all night and the goats on the westside get shot at by helicopters due to eradication efforts. A lot of the public Maui areas are still closed from the huge storm last December, are locked in by private or don't even have game. None have deer too it's kind of funny how there's a huge deer problem yet none of the hunting areas are in deer habitat. Kauai has some areas for goats but it's steep and wet and hot. Big island has more expansive areas but they've done aerial eradication and shot a lot of sheep. what public areas that do have game get pounded from presuure. On Lanai and Molokai they have been hit hard by drought and same thing, shot at and pressured yearround. On the lanai state hunt the logistics are a huge hassle and the animals have been pounded from the weather and liberal tag numbers (each hunter can get 7 tags total) last two years where they've been hunted non stop from may-october. The doe ewe meats hunts preceding that also haven't helped and there's a decent amount of poaching going on too with guys shooting more bucks rams than they should. They know where the safe areas are and don't come back once they start getting pressured hearing gunshots. The drought also had the deer and sheep malnourished and when we had that giant storm last December they had no fat and they found a lot of animals dead on the public side. Seen a lot of really good hunters on social media grumbling about the states mismanagement and just how poor the state hunt has gotten. state isn't even giving them a break they are going back to seperate feb -june deer hunt and July - oct sheep hunt starting in 2023 with the same liberal tag numbers. There was a window last year where they decreased number of hunters per hunter which drastically cut draw odds after they gave it a year off do to COVID but if you didn't get a trophy buck or ram then it's probably going to be a long time before the herd health improves. They went back the same high quantity of hunters per hunt pre covid this year and now we're paying the price for it.
Lanai private areas you can pay an access fee are still hunted yearround by the locals so you might have an area to yourself for the day but finding anything decent is a huge ask. I wouldn't even bother trying to "check them out" as the deer here aren't really patternable it's more of a hoping to be in the right place at the right time type of hunt. Driving around and scouting the areas when someone else has paid a fee to be in there is poor form imo you might not even be allowed so check on that.
So yea I get that it sounds exciting but the reality is unless you are going guided with a reputable outfitter or become best friends with a ranch owner you are probably wasting your time and money. I find myself saving up and accumulating points to hunt the mainland as i find it not worth it here anymore. Hopefully it changes in the future but I'm not expecting it. Good luck.

 

[jbosk15808]

If you spearfish please make sure you dive with a partner (Google shallow water blackout). It is a very dangerouse activity even for experienced divers.
Regarding hunting its pretty poor in Hawaii unless you have access to a ranch or large parcel of private which is usually reserved for close family friends or ranch workers. Since you can hunt year-round in HI the public areas get heavily pressured non stop 365 days a year, there's no secrets. droughts been brutal too last couple years pretty much statewide. The public land on Oahu gets pounded by pig hunters running dogs all night and the goats on the westside get shot at by helicopters due to eradication efforts. A lot of the public Maui areas are still closed from the huge storm last December, are locked in by private or don't even have game. None have deer too it's kind of funny how there's a huge deer problem yet none of the hunting areas are in deer habitat. Kauai has some areas for goats but it's steep and wet and hot. Big island has more expansive areas but they've done aerial eradication and shot a lot of sheep. what public areas that do have game get pounded from presuure. On Lanai and Molokai they have been hit hard by drought and same thing, shot at and pressured yearround. On the lanai state hunt the logistics are a huge hassle and the animals have been pounded from the weather and liberal tag numbers (each hunter can get 7 tags total) last two years where they've been hunted non stop from may-october. The doe ewe meats hunts preceding that also haven't helped and there's a decent amount of poaching going on too with guys shooting more bucks rams than they should. They know where the safe areas are and don't come back once they start getting pressured hearing gunshots. The drought also had the deer and sheep malnourished and when we had that giant storm last December they had no fat and they found a lot of animals dead on the public side. Seen a lot of really good hunters on social media grumbling about the states mismanagement and just how poor the state hunt has gotten. state isn't even giving them a break they are going back to seperate feb -june deer hunt and July - oct sheep hunt starting in 2023 with the same liberal tag numbers. There was a window last year where they decreased number of hunters per hunter which drastically cut draw odds after they gave it a year off do to COVID but if you didn't get a trophy buck or ram then it's probably going to be a long time before the herd health improves. They went back the same high quantity of hunters per hunt pre covid this year and now we're paying the price for it.
Lanai private areas you can pay an access fee are still hunted yearround by the locals so you might have an area to yourself for the day but finding anything decent is a huge ask. I wouldn't even bother trying to "check them out" as the deer here aren't really patternable it's more of a hoping to be in the right place at the right time type of hunt. Driving around and scouting the areas when someone else has paid a fee to be in there is poor form imo you might not even be allowed so check on that.
So yea I get that it sounds exciting but the reality is unless you are going guided with a reputable outfitter or become best friends with a ranch owner you are probably wasting your time and money. I find myself saving up and accumulating points to hunt the mainland as i find it not worth it here anymore. Hopefully it changes in the future but I'm not expecting it. Good luck.

I heard theories about the management being influenced by Lanai's owner to get rid of the animals so they stop wrecking havoc on his properties. Just theories..but I could see it given what he stay doing to everything else on the island

 

[aftriathlete]

If you spearfish please make sure you dive with a partner (Google shallow water blackout). It is a very dangerouse activity even for experienced divers.
Regarding hunting its pretty poor in Hawaii unless you have access to a ranch or large parcel of private which is usually reserved for close family friends or ranch workers. Since you can hunt year-round in HI the public areas get heavily pressured non stop 365 days a year, there's no secrets. droughts been brutal too last couple years pretty much statewide. The public land on Oahu gets pounded by pig hunters running dogs all night and the goats on the westside get shot at by helicopters due to eradication efforts. A lot of the public Maui areas are still closed from the huge storm last December, are locked in by private or don't even have game. None have deer too it's kind of funny how there's a huge deer problem yet none of the hunting areas are in deer habitat. Kauai has some areas for goats but it's steep and wet and hot. Big island has more expansive areas but they've done aerial eradication and shot a lot of sheep. what public areas that do have game get pounded from presuure. On Lanai and Molokai they have been hit hard by drought and same thing, shot at and pressured yearround. On the lanai state hunt the logistics are a huge hassle and the animals have been pounded from the weather and liberal tag numbers (each hunter can get 7 tags total) last two years where they've been hunted non stop from may-october. The doe ewe meats hunts preceding that also haven't helped and there's a decent amount of poaching going on too with guys shooting more bucks rams than they should. They know where the safe areas are and don't come back once they start getting pressured hearing gunshots. The drought also had the deer and sheep malnourished and when we had that giant storm last December they had no fat and they found a lot of animals dead on the public side. Seen a lot of really good hunters on social media grumbling about the states mismanagement and just how poor the state hunt has gotten. state isn't even giving them a break they are going back to seperate feb -june deer hunt and July - oct sheep hunt starting in 2023 with the same liberal tag numbers. There was a window last year where they decreased number of hunters per hunter which drastically cut draw odds after they gave it a year off do to COVID but if you didn't get a trophy buck or ram then it's probably going to be a long time before the herd health improves. They went back the same high quantity of hunters per hunt pre covid this year and now we're paying the price for it.
Lanai private areas you can pay an access fee are still hunted yearround by the locals so you might have an area to yourself for the day but finding anything decent is a huge ask. I wouldn't even bother trying to "check them out" as the deer here aren't really patternable it's more of a hoping to be in the right place at the right time type of hunt. Driving around and scouting the areas when someone else has paid a fee to be in there is poor form imo you might not even be allowed so check on that.
So yea I get that it sounds exciting but the reality is unless you are going guided with a reputable outfitter or become best friends with a ranch owner you are probably wasting your time and money. I find myself saving up and accumulating points to hunt the mainland as i find it not worth it here anymore. Hopefully it changes in the future but I'm not expecting it. Good luck.

Yep, I'm with you on the shallow water blackout. I don't intend to spearfish alone out here, I'm actively searching for a buddy. Joined a FB group for that purpose as well.

On that point, and on your other points too, I got some feedback from a local spearfisher last week that the local waters are overfished in the last two years. The two factors of everyone having extra time to kill in the last two years due to covid shutdowns, plus the increasing expenses of everything, have driven people out into the water to try to bring home some fish, and I've gathered the same can be said for increased pressure on all the land game as well. I think pig hunting will be the most difficult nut to crack here, given the advantage the guys running dogs at night have over someone like me going out and stomping through the woods during the day. Broad generality, but I'm getting the feeling that most "game" species here in Hawaii are not managed like they are welcome game here as most are non-native, so the state of Hawaii isn't really interested in conservation of them as a resource. It's a shame really, seems like it would be a huge hit to the Lanai economy if the axis hunt goes away. That's a tough one though, because I do also see the perspective of the state that these non-native species aren't supposed to be here and aren't good for the local ecosystem, but selfishly from a hunter's perspective I'd love to see them all stick around and be conserved.

Got an email back from an outfitter on Big Island I contacted last week, they said they are able to do Vancouver bull hunts on private land over there, no idea on price or success rates though. That would be fun to go and fill the freezer though. Maybe next year, we'll see how all the other irons I have in the fire go first with the axis hunt coming up, fishing, Oahu goats, and hopefully pigs.

 

[aftriathlete]

I'm about 10 days out from flying out to Lanai for my 1-day axis hunt. Haven't heard any updates in the last couple weeks from anyone that's been there lately regarding numbers or quality of the hunt, so I don't have any new info to share on that. One thing I've been debating lately is if I should take up the outfitter on using their Kimber 6.5 CM that they'll let me shoot as just part of what I'm paying them instead of bringing my Tikka 6.5 CM. I've been really excited to get out and hunt with it since I got it back in the spring, but I currently have precisely zero options to go check my zero with this rifle at the range here in Oahu as the only public range is closed for rifle indefinitely at the moment. I'm looking into joining a Rod&Gun club, but I just missed their monthly meeting so no option to join that until a month from now, so probably going to take them up on the offer to use their rifle. Will save me bringing my rifle case out there with me anyway. Got my permit to hunt the big mountain range here in Oahu on the west side, so I'm going to head out there with my rifle and "check my zero" next Saturday on some goats. Got lots of new gear I want to field test anyway before the Lanai hunt. Pigs can be taken in that area as well, but the chance of pigs roaming around the goat mountains is slim to nil. Guess I'm "I'm willing to go on a local day hunt with this rifle on some goats" level concerned about my zero, I zeroed before putting the rifle in a case back in June before the move where it has stayed ever since, but I'm not willing to trust it without checking my zero for the Lanai hunt given the financial and time commitment. I did find some good looking recipes for goat though! Last weekend's attempt to spearfish was a swing and a miss -- beach I went to with the family for what I heard was good spearfishing potential had terrible water viz, only 2-3 feet, so fishing was out of the question. Haven't found a buddy yet anyway, so not pushing the spearfishing stuff very hard yet.

 

[jbosk15808]

I'm about 10 days out from flying out to Lanai for my 1-day axis hunt. Haven't heard any updates in the last couple weeks from anyone that's been there lately regarding numbers or quality of the hunt, so I don't have any new info to share on that. One thing I've been debating lately is if I should take up the outfitter on using their Kimber 6.5 CM that they'll let me shoot as just part of what I'm paying them instead of bringing my Tikka 6.5 CM. I've been really excited to get out and hunt with it since I got it back in the spring, but I currently have precisely zero options to go check my zero with this rifle at the range here in Oahu as the only public range is closed for rifle indefinitely at the moment. I'm looking into joining a Rod&Gun club, but I just missed their monthly meeting so no option to join that until a month from now, so probably going to take them up on the offer to use their rifle. Will save me bringing my rifle case out there with me anyway. Got my permit back from the local DNLR rep to hunt in Waianae Kae Forest Reserve (the big mountain range here in Oahu on the west side), so I'm going to head out there with my rifle and "check my zero" next Saturday on some goats. Got lots of new gear I want to field test anyway before the Lanai hunt. Pigs can be taken in that area as well, but the chance of pigs roaming around the goat mountains is slim to nil. Guess I'm "I'm willing to go on a local day hunt with this rifle on some goats" level concerned about my zero, I zeroed before putting the rifle in a case back in June before the move where it has stayed ever since, but I'm not willing to trust it without checking my zero for the Lanai hunt given the financial and time commitment. I did find some good looking recipes for goat though! Last weekend's attempt to spearfish was a swing and a miss -- beach I went to with the family for what I heard was good spearfishing potential had terrible water viz, only 2-3 feet, so fishing was out of the question. Haven't found a buddy yet anyway, so not pushing the spearfishing stuff very hard yet.

Theres a range on Lanai thats not far from the airport that is usually pretty. But if your only there for one day might not be worth it if it takes away from hunt time.

 

[Rknight]

Grew up on Oahu and spearfished all over the island, growing up we had a lot of pig hunting but axis was still a rich man game on lanai and Maui. Lots of goat and pig hunting on big island and good bird hunting. Great fishing and diving all over

On Oahu Hana Pa’a and Maui Skin Diver are the best shops to go to for gear and to get input on what’s going on. Oahu has some excellent hunting if you put in the work. I grew up in Halawa Valley. Make sure people know where you’re going and when you expect to be back. If you are military shoot me a pm and I can give you some primo o’io and ulua spots that not many people know about. Great for fly fishing, spear fishing only if you have some stones on you because it’s a pretty sharky area but worth it

 

[aftriathlete]

I hit the Oahu west side mountains for goats yesterday with another Rokslider, Kevlar88, and we were working on first-hand knowledge provided by another Rokslider JLMUELZ. So it was a Rokslide collaborative hunt. Boy, when people say the goat terrain here is extreme, they are NOT kidding. We had a spot on the map to try to be at by sunrise, didn't make it there in time as we were beating some bush at first and that spot was a climb over about a mile from sea level to 1600 feet elevation (we ended up 1.5 miles from the truck and 2100 feet, so it was STEEP). Two young local guys were on their way down by the time we got there with a goat in their pack that they had just taken in that exact spot where the goats were crossing up into the higher, nastier valleys at first light. So we spent the day from about 8 AM til around noon admiring a couple different groups from about 100-150 yards of probably 100 total goats in 3 different valleys/ravines uphill from that point that were just hanging out in absolutely unrecoverable terrain. Eventually found a spot where I had a 110 yard shot on a billy at 50 deg downward angle, and the terrain appeared difficult between it and I but it looked like I could get down to it. Set up seated on a rock, elbows on my knees, took the shot with my Tikka 6.5 CM and the goat dropped where it stood. I then spent the next hour trying to find a way to get down to it, probing down into the ravine and back up again in a couple different spots, but could not get around the cliff halfway between the goat and I that I couldn't see from my shooting vantage due to the terrain and vegetation. We talked about it for a while and entertained going all the way back to the truck to try to see if we could come back up into the valley from the bottom, but that was asking for an additional 3 mile round trip to try to get back into a valley that we don't know was accessible from the bottom either as the view of the terrain down valley from above looked as bad as up where we were. So honestly a fun, beautiful, super challenging hunt that ended with a goat down, but I could not recover it. Still feel terrible for wasting an animal like that, and I know that some may read this and question how impassable the terrain was, but it was dangerous and I wasn't willing to lose my life for 20 lbs of goat meat that is open season for hunting here. But man I do feel terrible about it. Big lessons learned today, including bring twice as much water as you think you need here, and the wounded/unrecoverable animal lesson that will if nothing else make me think about the terrain even harder next time and the prospects of harvesting the animal if I'm gonna take the shot. Super happy with the gear I've added lately, Schnee's Beartooth boots were simply worth their weight in gold especially considering how sharp the rocks are here. Kuiu Tiburon pants, lightweight merino long-sleeve, and the new boonie were perfect as well. Maven RF was awesome and the glass quality is good enough that I never needed to go to my binoculars.

Beautiful. Hard as any hunt or hike I've ever been on in my life. Fun. My goat is down there, hard to make out in that second pic.

 

[jbosk15808]

Nice! looks like the section you got permit for is different than the one I got unless I am missing something. I'm thinking about checking it out next week sometime since I will be working on that side of the island for the week.

 

[aftriathlete]

Nice! looks like the section you got permit for is different than the one I got unless I am missing something. I'm thinking about checking it out next week sometime since I will be working on that side of the island for the week.

No permit required, just had to request the gate code from the DLNR guy. It was cool man, I enjoyed it up there, the harder the effort the more satisfying it is to me.

Flying to Lanai in the AM for the hunt on Wednesday, pretty damn stoked, been thinking about this hunt for a couple years now!

 

[jbosk15808]

Makua Keaau Forest Reserve/Unit B. No permit required, just had to request the gate code from the DLNR guy. It was cool man, I enjoyed it up there, the harder the effort the more satisfying it is to me.

Flying to Lanai in the AM for the hunt in Wednesday, pretty damn stoked, been thinking about this hunt for a couple years now!

Good luck!

 

[Solenya]

Had some friends hunt goats and axis deer there. Looked like a great time.

 

[IDspud]

If you get good at spearing there, you'll be good anywhere. Those islands are rough unless you're a pretty good diver. Every time I spear there I miss my dumb Californian fish. I remember having to dive past 80' just to shoot the one tiny fish I got in Maui.

Lost more than one friend to SWB. Make sure your dive buddy knows what they're doing and you practice one up one down. A buddy does you no good unless he is actively watching you. A friend of mine had an LMC and still ended up in the hospital almost dying and his friend was close enough to grab him when he came up.

 

[aftriathlete]

Back from Lanai. I've texted this story to buddies already in bits and pieces so I'll try best to put it together coherently here. Maybe someone will get some information or enjoyment out of this, but it's going to be long.

Arrived Tuesday morning, got situated with the little old lady I was renting a room and truck from. There's a whole economy here around visiting hunters. Had the opportunity to go see Bob the Butcher, and man what an interesting guy. I intended to just discuss the plan for the meat I was hoping to bring to him, and he sat with me for 45 min, made me a sandwich because he was making him and his family sandwiches anyway, offered me fresh pineapple and drinks, just a super cool dude. Bob shared some interesting thoughts that caged my expectations for the hunt, among which being the fact that he's leaving Lanai for good in December and his business will be taken over by a young guy he's apprenticing. He said he's leaving in so many words because the hunt in Lanai has been ruined and the big buck days are over. He said there are plenty of deer, but the big thick beam bucks will never walk the island again as it's been so grossly mismanaged by the company that runs the island plus 6 years of drought which has wiped out an entire generation of big bucks, and now there are none of them left to breed. The buck to doe ratio is 1:83, so spikes are getting to breed without even having to fight for it. He said 5-10 years ago the big 30" bucks were 220 lbs on the hoof, and now the biggest bucks, if one can be found at 30", are 170-175 lbs. The company that runs the island apparently still does nighttime eradication operations, and they're just killing bucks. Joe Rogan's 2019 buck skull was sitting there, and he said Joe hasn't shot a buck that big since. It was actually good, honest, on the ground in Lanai information that I appreciated hearing, and it made me confident I'd not walk away from this hunt empty handed but to lower my expectations for a truly big buck.

Left Bob's with the guide, an honestly super cool dude that's been guiding this hunt on Lanai for 32 years now. Dude's a legend in this game. He took me to the range so I could shoot the loaner rifle I'd be shooting. Not the Kimber 6.5 CM I was told, but a Tikka .308 with a Swaro Z5 3.5-18 scope shooting 178 grain ELD-Xs. Took 3 shots total -- one at a steel at 400 yards, and hit. Pushed it out to the steel at 500, hit both shots, so that was that, I know any issue I have tomorrow is me and not the rifle.

Rally time for the hunt tomorrow is 5:30. The guide's concern is, because Lanai actually got 4 days of rain last week, the most significant rainfall for years here, the deer are feeding hard at night and bedding super early the last few days because there's fresh green stuff to eat. So not sure what to expect for the morning hunt window.

 

[aftriathlete]

Picked up at 5:30, started the morning at a glassing spot in the company's private area that the guide works every day, and there were deer everywhere. At first light the guide could see deer I simply couldn’t see after doing this for 32 years. I've never seen an axis deer buck in real life, so the medium sized buck he's telling me he's able to see just blended into the waist-to-chest high scrub for me. He tried to get me to take a pre-sunrise shot at a medium size buck I never did see, then it moved on and no opportunities in that spot. Moved to a different spot nearby to glass around 7 AM, and could see this whole big valley of the guide company’s land. One big buck amongst literally hundreds of deer that he can see far away with his spotting scope. He shows it to me, and it's legit. It's the one big buck out here. So we jump back in the truck and rip over to a spot to park to try to get closer to the buck before it bedded. By the time we got over there it had disappeared, so we were too late. We didn't have high ground now, and we couldn't see any deer in near where the buck was last seen, so we backed out and planned to come back to this spot this afternoon to try to find the buck in the evening.

Then the rest of the morning was about just putting one in the truck, meat for the freezer, so we wound up in a spot to take about a 525 yard shot at about 1115 on a decent doe, the shot hit the neck right where I was aiming and didn't drift left like we thought the wind would push. Turns out Bob the Butcher loves that shot placement. There was about a 15 yard heavy blood trail and the deer was DOA. Took it to Bob's and we broke for the morning til 330.

Longer shot than I thought I’d take here. But they call the guided area the Serengeti, long shots and rolling hills. The guide said he doesn't let the majority of clients take shots that far, but from what he saw at the range yesterday he was comfortable letting me shoot that far.

Met back up at 330. The wind has picked up from basically light and variable and shifty this morning, which he tells me is a double-edged sword. Good because we actually try to work the downwind, and good because it hides our movement from the deer's ears, but these deer account for their reduced ability to hear in the wind by grouping together and moving together way more closely than they do when it's not windy. Sunset is at 6:24, so only had about 3 hours to hunt the evening. Went back to the good glassing spot where we last saw the buck, could see the whole area, hundreds of deer, but that buck was nowhere to be found. By 415 we had to make a decision as the day was starting to run short. So we decided to put a long stalk on a medium size buck, a really big commitment. They were moving away, and we had to get around them anyway to have a shot without a road behind them. We went after it for a mile, got to 140 yards, and by the time I got eyes on it amongst the couple other smaller bucks that were with this herd, the medium-size buck was on his hind legs with back facing me feeding on a bush. I waited for it to come down and hopefully turn, but one of them barked and the jig was up. The herd took off, bumping every other deer for miles. Now we're in a tight spot. We're far from the truck, and we are on low ground without a good idea of where the deer are. So we trot a mile back to the truck, pound water, and start driving. It's now 5:30. We jet to the other side of the valley to see if we could get a long shot on something in the herd where it pushed to as there's a spot that he thinks I could get a 500 yard shot if we see something good. No shots, everything was 700 yards or more, and we still hadn’t seen that big buck, let alone any big ones.

20 min from sunset now, and the situation is getting grim. The guide gave me the choice between just setting up along the road that he thought some would start crossing around sunset and I could try to pick off something, a small buck or a doe. Or, we could throw a Hail Mary, make a really aggressive move that probably won’t work out, so I chose the Hail Mary move. I figured I'm here for the adventure and I'll never have this good of an opportunity again. So we went back to near the spot we first saw the buck that morning where he thought we would be about 500 yards from some deer but upwind of them, so the game was to find something worth shooting fast enough we could get a long shot off before they winded us. We get to this berm area where I can get prone, a real shitty prone with my feet kinda higher than my head. it’s 5 min til sunset, lots of deer. We can literally see hundreds of deer.

 

[aftriathlete]

And then he spots the buck with his spotter. It's sunset.

We think it’s the one from the morning that we just couldn't see behind vegetation when we were near here looking for it earlier. And if it's not it’s the only big buck of the thousand deer we’ve glassed this last three hours.

Crazy from there. Took the shot right at sunset at 500 yards, we couldn’t tell if we hit it, it just stood there, but everything else ran off. So we assumed I must have hit it. The light is so low now, I had such a hard time finding it in the scope for the shot to begin with that after the shot I'm not on target any more, and I can't find it fast enough to take a follow-up shot before it disappears. He didn't see what it did when it disappeared because his eyes were off it as he was trying to talk me back onto it. We guessed it presumably laid down but we aren’t sure, and it’s after sunset now. We were losing light fast, so decision time. MOVE. We had to push straight to it to find it before dark, couldn’t wait to wait and see and let it bleed.

Then we bumped it and chased it, bumped it and chased it, trying to stay close so we wouldn’t lose it in the dark. Thought 3 or 4 times it was lost, like the despair of shit, it's lost out here. Then it would bump and run and we could see it to chase it again. I took 3 more hasty shots standing as it was running away to try to get another round in it til I finally got another one in its butt and it went down for good at 30 min past sunset. It was legitimately night at this point. We had pursued it 9 tenths of a mile from where I took the first shot. When we walked up on it and it was agonal breathing, it breathed out one last time and we stood quietly looking at it for a minute, breathing hard and in disbelief. The guide said to me, "I hope you recognize what you have here." My initial 500 yard shot was a gut shot, through and through, exit wound looked much like the entry wound so if the ELD-X expanded at all it didn't expand much, but it didn't hit any bone and these aren't huge thick animals.

This is not official in any way, but Bob sees or at least knows about all the big bucks here. He said this is the biggest buck taken on Lanai in the last 6 months, and a close second to the biggest all year from when the state season opened. The guide conceded this is the biggest buck he's seen "in a long time."

I got scoped, you can see the bloody knot above my eye, that was from attempting to find the buck in the scope for another frantic shot with basically no light so I was desperate, shooting standing, straining to see through the scope, eye right up on it. So the last half mile I'm running after this thing I'm wiping blood out of me shooting eye too. Just a crazy, intense experience. 3 or 4 times I went through the cycle of hope, despair, adrenaline. To see it laying there, I couldn't muster much to say.

TLDR -- Axis deer hunting in Lanai may have changed, and the big thick-beamed bucks of yesteryear might be gone for now. But there are still some good ones out there if you can find them and if you can get to them amidst all the other deer, and for sure still plenty of deer around. Still plenty of adventure to be had here in paradise. I feel incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to hunt the land I did with a guide that knew the land and the deer that well, it feels like a once in a lifetime experience, and to have a wife that actually urged me to do it is incredible as well.

I didn't plan on taxidermy, just thought I'd get a euro mount if I got something decent. But I doubt I'll ever get a Hawaii axis bigger than this, this is my BOAL, so I'm looking for a place for a pedestal mount...

 

[jbosk15808]

Congrats man, thats awesome!