I’m not the best story teller but I hope you can follow the rollercoaster ride.
Arrived in HI late Saturday 3/2. And HI requires you to register your gun within 48 hours of landing but can only be done M-F during normal business hours. So to play by the rules and not hunt until I register my gun, I did not hunt Sunday. Made a trip to the local police station to register on Monday morning, but had family events in the PM. So now I have been on the island for 2 full days and haven’t hit it yet.
Was able to hunt for 2 hours Tuesday AM. Struck a bird at what I will call spot A with about an hour to go. He was up the mountain from me so I hauled my fat butt up the mountain after him only for him to disappear. Might have spooked him but not sure. But I had some intel for the next day.
Wednesday AM back at the same spot and now I can hunt mostly all day. Worked that mountain for 6 hours and not a peep. So now it’s 1PM and all I have to show for about 8 hours of hunting is 1 distant gobble. But with some intel from Scott (aka 4seasons) I went to spot B that afternoon. Was only planning on hunting until 3:30 or so since I had to be back in town before dark. Well about 2:30 or so, I had 4 birds gobbling in various directions. Ended up setting up on the closest one. He was not gobbling a lot but he was getting closer. At about 100 yards was the last I heard him and I decided to shut up as well. Sat for awhile and the next thing I hear is a gobble at 100 yards but slightly off to the left of where I last heard him. So I’m thinking he’s moving, right? I get up and start sliding to the left as well. I get about 30 steps or so to the left and I hear a gobble from the spot I just left. Turns out the gobble on the left was another bird and I just walked away from maybe killing the first one. So I did a little soft calling and now he had me pin pointed and would not commit to where I shifted. Eventually he got tired of waiting for the “hen” to come to him and walked off. By this time it was 3:30 and I had to leave. About 20 minutes later I’m on the road and get a text from my wife saying I didn’t need to come back to town so I did a 180 and went back to find that bird. Got on him again, or at least I think it was him, and here we go again. He behaved the same way. Gobble, shut up for 10 minutes, gobble, shut up for 10 minutes, etc. But he was getting closer. About this time I was getting short on daylight so to speed things up and called more than I normally would have. Problem with that is he was able to pinpoint me and ended up standing behind a bush at 40 yards or so and gobbled frequently for 10 minutes. And just as he did a few hours earlier, he got tired of waiting for the “hen” to come to him and walked off as it got dark. In retrospect I probably overcalled this second time but it was getting dark and I could not the next day. But at least I knew where he hung out.
Friday AM, I am back at spot B at sunrise. He’s gobbling hard on the roost right where I left him Wednesday PM. I’ll just cut to the chase. He did it again, walked to within 40 yards, gobbled a time or two and walked off. No shot opportunity. This day I can only hunt until 1PM so I take off to chase other birds I had heard on the roost that morning but nothing ever came of it. On my way back out at 1 PM, I make a few calls in his home turf. Nothing. When I get to the parking spot, I stop and talk to a couple of locals going in to do some sheep hunting. They recommend a spot about 3 miles up the mountain. We had a real good conversation in general and exchanged phone numbers with the possibility of hooking up some day in the future. At the very least I made a new friend, Jordan. As I am driving back to the family, I’m torn between hunting a bird that is cagey but I know where he hangs out, or starting with a new spot on Saturday. I decide to walk away from that the cagey one.
Saturday. (Oh by the way, I have a plane to catch Saturday night. The tag soup outcome is becoming a real possibility.) I have to be back in town no later than 1:30. So now I am hunting new spot C. Get there at sunrise and not a peep. No time to feel sorry for myself so I start running and gunning trying to strike a bird. Was just cruising up and along the mountain road. About an hour into the morning, I finally got one to respond but he is way off to the north. As I work towards him I get a gobble to my south. So now I am square between 2 gobbling birds and you can imagine how that lifted my spirits. And they are both getting closer. So I set up along this dirt road, as the vegetation off the road is a bit thick. I’m thinking if they are coming, they will use the road. The north bird eventually shuts up but the south bird is about 70 yards out, gobbling regularly and ON HIS WAY. Well what was also on his way on the road was the game warden in his pickup truck. The bird bailed and I’m left with my gun in my lap as he drove by. We waved at each other as he passed. He had not idea what had just happened and continued north a short way and parked. I sat there for 15 minutes or so hoping that bird would gobble once the dust settled but no luck. I get up and walk up the road to talk with the GW, just to give that bird a little more time to settle down. Had a good conversation about a bunch of things but eventually we said our goodbyes and I returned to where I last heard that bird. Found his track in the dirt road and saw which direction he left the road. I walked off to the west, sat down and did a little soft calling. Maybe 30 minutes later I hear a gobble. Was it him? Who knows but this one did not seem to be too excited so I am thinking not. Or maybe he rounded up a hen and is just giving me a courtesy gobble. Either way, it’s now 10 AM and I’m running out of time. I go off towards him with the intent of getting inside his comfort zone. Like I said, I am running out of time. I make it to short rocky ridge, peep over it and there he is within range in full strut. And he does have a hen. So between the hen distracting him and enough cover, I stand up, poke my gun through a bush, and end it. After 23 hours of hunting and 5 close encounters, I ended up killing a bird that I did not call in.
The real cool part of the hunt is I was at about 8000 feet elevation. To the west I could see the Pacific Ocean about 25 miles away. To the east is the summit of Mauna Kea at nearly 14,000 feet ASL. Not many places like that in the world.
But there’s more to tell. Now I have to take care of business with the bird, meet the family for a whale watching tour at 1:30, then catch a plane Saturday night. As I am driving into town, I call Jordan (the local I met the day before) told him what happened and asked him if he wanted 2 turkey breasts. He accepted, but told me he was busy until 4:00. No problem. I pull into the local Walmart, but a Styrofoam cooler and a bag of ice, then proceed to process the turkey in the parking lot of Walmart. How redneck is that!!! But at least I was a courteous redneck and did it at the farthest possible spot from the store. Just about when I’m done, this woman walks up and starts a conversation over the business at hand and was genuinely curious about the whole thing. She asked what I do with the meat, feathers, etc. and by this time the breast meat was on ice and the tail, spurs beard were getting salted to make the trip home. And I am just looking for a dumpster for the carcass. But she starts marveling at the colors on breast feathers and asked if she could have some. To make earrings. I told her to take all she wanted and after some back and forth I convince her that I have no need for any of it and that she would actually be doing me a favor to take the whole carcass. She opens her car door, pulls out a plastic trash bag, opens it up and I drop it in. Just like that. Now she’s worried about breaking any laws hauling around a turkey carcass. I assure her that there is nothing wrong and even give her the leg tag. She offered to send me a free pair of earrings to show her thanks but I passed. She was a nice enough lady but my instincts told me to not share my name, address, etc.
Meet up with the family about 1:30, take a cold shower at the public beach (we had checked out of our Air BnB), do the whale watch thing, drop off the breast meat at Jordan’s house, hang out for a while then head to the airport.
I can’t make this up.
Will add pictures in a bit
Forum Board
