Just wanted to share my hunt in Hawaii with you all. MY hunt turned out quite different then Derek's. For starters I only started to hunt on March 20th and that was only for a half day. My entire trip was modified from day one and shorten by a little more the two weeks on the end of my trip. The Corona Vires changed everything, one couple changed plans and didn't go with us at all like planed. It didn't bother me that Mike wasn't going to be hunting with me. But his wife was suppose to be hanging with my wife doing things. So I ended up going sight seeing and doing somethings with her before I got to go out hunting. And I was glad I did do that with her, because with in a few days of our arrival on the Big Island, they started closing all state parks and things of interest down.
During that sight seeing we stopped at a farmers Market in Hilo, and we bought some oranges and stuff from a vendor. I got talking and before I left his stand, he was going to check with a friend of his if I could hunt some turkey on his property. A day and a half later I was hunting turkeys on private land for free. Turned out this friend was the Chief manager of some macadamia nut tree farms. They do not like turkeys or any live stock under there trees leaving there fecal matter around. When I got there they were working trimming in this one area, so I was told to hunt in one section that they were not. When I was driving in I spotted the main group of turkeys, three strutters and there hens in the unite they were working. So I had to drive past them and went up into the far corner from that unite. The land I was hunting was on the South end, of the Big island, and it turned out to be very windy that day. I mean thirty mile a hour gust kind of winds, you could not hear anything. I heard my first gobble a little before noon and by 12:15 I had call him in and turkey number one was on the ground. Started to rain lightly now so I figured I would go to the maintenance building and talk to workers. Besides they wanted the turkey so I figured I could get it cleaned and get it in there refrigerator before there lunch break was over. It also gave me a chance again to thank them one more time for the privilege to hunt on there property. By this time they had finished working in that unite I seen that main flock of turkey in when I drove in, so they said I could hunt them also now. The wind was still blowing and light rain but it took me a while to locate the flock. On my first set up on them I was unable to convince the toms to leave there hens and they moved away. So I worked my way around them to the other side and this time when they got close I convinced one Tom to break off and check me out. It was 4:10 Pm by that time and the Chief Manager came looking for me to come lock the gate for the day. He also wanted me to give him a ride over to the other ranch so he could show me another location I could hunt. So he showed me another nut tree farm he said I could hunt that place also and I didn't need to lock the gate when finished. So I thanked him again and went home.
So I got back to our place in Kona and told my wife of the great place I got to hunt, and shared my stories. She asked me if I was going back to shoot a third turkey. I said I didn't think so that I still was thinking of trying to find one on Public ground. I had tryed hunting a total of a day and half on public ground so far. I had seen one hen and the only toms I had seen or heard was from a hill top that were on the Parker Ranch that was private land. I had one more day to hunt because we canceled everything and had plans on coming back early.
So after a lot of thinking I decided I was going back to the private land. Part of my decision was made up of because my wife was also going to be accompanying me again. She went with me the one other full day hunting on public land and I knew this nut tree farm the walking would be much easer for her. This also was only the second time she had every been turkey hunting with me. And I was hopeing to get onto some turkeys for her to hear what its like to have a Tom come gobbleing in. We got there at first light and heard no gobbles, so we started to run and gun. First birds to respond was two long beards and four hens, we quickly set up in wind a break. And they came but passed to far out of range, we got around them two more time and the same thing happened. By that time she was getting tired so I said we will just go back to the same spot we started from and site and call softly. Well we couldn't call softly because it was thirty plus winds again today but made the best. After sitting maybe half hr I happen to look to my left side and hear is five long beards in one big rumble. But they run off fighting so after a bit i did a fighting pur and called one back in and shot it, thas was right about noon. When we were walking out I spotted what I think was the two long beards we were chasing all morning. But they did not have there hens with them, but they were headed where I had call to them first that morning. So form me shooting two of my birds at noon and Derek shooting his birds around that same time is when the gobblers are loosing there hens. Just good little things to consider when hunting in Hawaii. I seen a lot of people signing out at that time of day, when they should have been hunting.
So not sure if I will ever have the opportunity to go back to hawaii some day or not. But if I do I know I will be asking if I can hunt some private ground again. It wasn't public ground but it was a blast.
I will try send some pictures from my phone.
