Selected for wild Axis Hunt on the Hawaiian island of Lanai

[Ranger91298]

So we are officially back from our hunting trip on the island of Lanai. I flew over Wednesday afternoon and was greeted by the folks that I was staying with and renting the truck from. After a quick 10 minute tour of the town I was off to meet up with my guide Alec from the Castle and Cooke LLC for my hunt on private land. We went to the range to ensure that both my rifles were sighted in. From the range you could see some mature Axis Bucks on the mountain side over a mile away. Alec informed me that we would be hunting that location in the morning. He had a guided hunt earlier in the week where they got into a group of five mature bucks in that very location but the hunter was unable to hit one of them. As we returned to his office he briefed me on the habits and characteristics of the Axis Deer. The biggest lesson from the conversation is that the Axis Deer tend to eat a lot of food and that in turns pushes their lungs further up into their chest cavity. He said that you needed to aim for the middle of the shoulder itself to ensure you hit the lungs. He said that if you hit the deer like you would a Mule Deer/Whitetail Deer behind the shoulders it would end up being a gut shot and the animal would be able to run afterwards.

As we all get I was very excited that night with the anticipation for the next morning. We met up at 430 am to head out to the hunting area. Just as it was starting to get light out we headed through the gate and started walking up the road. He told me that once one Axis Deer is alerted it will let out a series of “barks” which will in turn alert all the other deer in the area thus making the hunt that much harder. Sure enough first thing we got busted by our first “bark”. All the deer stopped immediately and started looking around so we just backed against the tall grass and waited for things to settle down. From our location we were able to see deer everywhere but nothing worthy of shooting. We walked a quarter mile further down the road and there was a huge buck up on the hill walking through the tall grass. I could get a glimpse of him every few seconds but no real shot presented itself.  After a short walk further we could see another mature buck standing under a tree feeding a couple hundred yards away. He gradually started walking in a direction to get a shot off. The first shot missed as well as the second. I had only 4 shells in my rifle to begin with so I was now down to 2. We rushed up the mountain to see if we could catch up with the herd again but we saw a herd across the canyon from us. The deer were at 170 yards and I had a choice of two bucks. The one buck was wide with solid #2’s and the other was missing one #2 but was really tall. I opted to shoot the tall buck. I took the shot across the canyon and was sure I heard the bullet hit it’s target but the buck was not laying there. The herd only moved about fifty yards and the wide buck with solid #2’s walked out. Alec said I was free to shoot it but it would cost me extra of course. I had already got the OK from Household 6 to shoot 2 bucks if I wanted to. I was now down to 1 bullet in my rifle but decided against shooting the animals as I still did not know if the other buck was hit and if so whether he was wounded/dead. We had to walk approximately a mile around the canyon. Once we got up to the area the buck was standing in and there was no blood. After about 20 minutes of looking Alec found him up against a tree about 70 yards from where he was standing with the bullet hole directly through the shoulder where I was told to shoot. Alec was excited about the length of the main beams that ended up measuring out at 34” which are hard to come by. After taking some photos Alec went back to the truck about 2 miles away and took a few of the back roads to come pick the buck up. He quickly de-boned the buck and we were off.

I had told Alec that I wanted to shoot a second buck that was wide with the solid #2’s. After looking over a few buck’s we found a group of about 40 Axis Deer out feeding and hour before sun-down. That is when we saw the buck that I was looking for. He walked out at 270 yards. We watched him feed through a bunch of tall grass until he finally presented a shot. I was resting the rifle on my backpack and took the shot with that beautiful sound of “smack” at the end of it. The deer all took off with my buck walking into a patch of brush and not coming out. We waited 30 minutes as Alec suggested since he said it looked as though my shot was a little far back. As we started to approach he was ensuring that I was staying alert in the even the buck was still alive. Sure enough we got about 70 yards away and the buck took off. I took a shot at him running which grazed his neck. I took a third shot as he was running away over a hundred yards away which sent him to the ground. As we approached he was still moving so I shot him in the neck.

So after an exciting Thursday I woke up early Friday morning to go scout out an area in the public hunting land for our Saturday/Sunday hunt. I saw numerous Axis Deer and huge bands of Mouflon Sheep. I took a picture of one really mature buck that was pushing 32”; which is exceptional for the public land hunts. I also took a picture of a few other Axis Bucks that were out that morning. The public has not been able to hunt the mature Mouflon Rams for the last three years due to the low numbers. Only Ewe’s and what they call “Moo-Moo’s” have been able to be hunted. “Moo-moo’s” are those rams that have a defect with the growth of their horns. The Rams antlers grow so close to their skull that they actually grow back into their face and often times killing them. The word on the street is that they are opening up the Ram’s this year but you have to first harvest a Ewe to get your tag for the Ram. Let me tell you on Friday I saw at a minimum of 40 fully grown mature Rams; if not more. I will post pictures of those shortly. So after an exciting day of scouting and looking for locations to start the hunt I headed off to the airport to pick up my wife and son.  After I picked them up I took them to get their tags and then out to the hunting area to get them familiar with the area. As we showed up to the spot I had picked up for the following morning I was greeted with two other rigs parked there scouting the same area out. I quickly showed them the area and then told them we were going to get up early to beat them to the spot.

We woke up at 3:00 a.m. the following morning and were out the door at 3:50 a.m. Can you believe we were not the first there as those guys that were scouting the night before beat us there. I drove down the road a few corners and parked to wait for sunrise. Just before shooting light we stepped off from the truck. We walked for a few miles and NOTHING… there were shots coming from the group that was in the spot we originally wanted. I think there were like eight shots but they were clearly all misses. As we were about to head into a draw I looked further down the draw and there was three Axis deer standing there watching us. I called my son up to try and get a shot. As soon as he took a step they took off around the ridge and out of sight. We quickly ran to the top of the ridge to look down the draw on the other side and we saw nothing. I knew by this point that those deer had stopped at the bottom of the ridge. I sent my wife and son down to a rock outcropping and to keep an eye out as I had a feeling the buck was down there. I headed back to the same spot we saw them to try and push them back their direction. I didn’t see anything and met back up with them. My wife said she had seen the buck moving down below and he disappeared behind a rock but did not see him appear after that. The wind was blowing uphill towards us so I knew we would be able to sneak up on them. Next thing I know my wife was like “Scott” so I turned to see three deer booking it out of the country. The big buck made the fatal mistake of stopping so I put a shot through both shoulders and down he went. I wanted my son to shoot him but he had no chance and I was not going to let him get away. He was running in the direction of another hunter and would have surely been shot by him. It turns out that my son and I walked right past him and my wife saw him stand up 20 yards away. When she called for me is when they took off. We took some pictures and then I made him into a backpack and headed up the hill. We went out later that night and saw a couple of does but did not have a shot at them.

The following morning we got up early again to head to the same location. We walked like five miles but didn’t see anything but we did manage to find two mature Mouflon Sheep skulls intact. I picked them up and we carried them back to the truck. By this time it was late morning on Sunday and I had walked the heck out of my wife and son. By this point I could clearly see that my son was losing some morale because he had been busting his arss for two days and had no opportunity to shoot at an animal. I asked my wife what she thought about doing the $500 meat hunt for my son on the private property. She had no issues with it so we paid for it but never told him about it. After a few failed stalks we were able to get him close enough to a buck and he did not disappoint. This was his first actual hunt and he came back with a solid 18” buck in velvet. By far the best hunt of the trip and of my life. I cannot tell a lie but I teared up from it. So we came back to the island with 4 deer; all bucks and 3 coolers full of meat. Sorry for the long story but I figured some of you could might not mind to feed the addiction in between seasons back stateside.

[Ranger91298]

Here is my first buck with 34" main beams...


Here is the second buck w/28" main beams w/ those distinguished #2's


This is buck #3 that we got on public land w/27" main beams

[Ranger91298]

And finally my son's buck...



This is the buck I saw the day before the public land hunt opened up...

[carpsniperg2]

That is just great! That was one heck of a write up and thanks for taking the time to share it! You guys have a lot of great meat now and you got some great animals as well!!! Congrats to you and your son on some fine animals!!!

Make sure you post those mouflan pics I am a sucker for sheep hunting and they are on my hit list!

[Ranger91298]

Some Axis bucks on the ridgeline...


Here are a few Mouflon Rams that I saw


And more....


This is by far my favorite ram... wide & lots of mass.....EASY EASY EVERYONE!!!

[jstone]

Great story good job to you and your family. So how about with a bow? Would it be worth trying?

[Gringo31]

 

[Huntboy]

Congrats to you and the boy. Thanks for the story and pic's. Looks like your having fun.

[NWBREW]

Congrats to you and your son. Outstanding. Very nice write up as well. Thanks for sharing.

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

I know a guy out there and got to see those animals first hand two years ago.  The Polynesian culture is awesome to learn about.  I can't wait to get the opportunity to hunt out there.  Alot of the locals hunt archery.

[Holg3107]

great write up!!!

[carpsniperg2]

Yeah that wide ram is very cool! I would love to shoot one like that. He might not out score the others because his tips don't curl back around as well, but I would still be happy with him. The other 2 on the right are prefect mature rams.

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

    Those rams are huge!!!  I couldn't believe it when I saw them.  I said to my friend that's a trophy right?!?!  And he said o yeah those are the big boys!