Deer in Paradise

[X13]

Aloha,

Hawaii in pictures. Some touristy, some deer hunting, all part of an amazing adventure. Highly recommend the trip, ask any questions you may have! Letting the photos tell the story for the moment because jet lag is kicking my ass, lol.


Flying in!

Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle

Green Sand Beach

Black Sand Beach

Hopping over to Molokai

 

[X13]

Glassing at dawn

Buck down

Cant beat the scenery

Looking for deer #2

Changing locations: Into the jungle

Screenshot from a video of goats before lead starting flying

Young billy goat down!

 

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They filmed jurassic park here for a reason... waiting for a buck to move into a clearing. For reference those small looking bright green bushes are 8-10 feet tall

Buck #2 down! Perfect shot at 237 yards

One last trigger pull and the coolers are full

Getting an AirBnb with a big freezer is a must

Off to Oahu

Diamondhead viewed from the ocean

 

[X13]

Kualoa Ranch

Sunset on Waikiki

Back in the lower 48 mostly intact

120 lbs of meat and a hide made the 5,000 mile trip home


EDIT: I've now got some sleep... so this trip was our rescheduled honeymoon from April of last year. Hawaii is now accepting tourists with strict testing requirments, make sure to sort that out before you go. We spent a few days on the Big Island, a few days hunting on Molokai, and a week on Oahu at a friend's house. The whole trip was amazing but the hunting trip was a way better experience than I could've imagined. We hunted with a couple of local guides (info in a post below) who took great care of us. I wouldn't recommend trying Molokai DIY, not super friendly to non-residents unless you're with a local. Game animals are everywhere and it's the good old days of hunting there right now. The deer on the island outnumber humans by 10 to 1.

The hunt is whatever you want it to be: front country out of a jeep, back country out of a backpack, in the plains that look like eastern MT, or in the tropical rain forest. The terrain varies like nothing I have ever seen before.

The hiking isnt easy and the animals are pretty wary from near daily hunting pressure. Getting within 500 yards wasn't a problem but closing the distance was tougher than expected. Bow hunting that country would be extremely difficult. One new thing for me was spooking hundreds of deer at a time because when one goes, they all go!

From a success standpoint it felt a lot like a pronghorn hunt, not much doubt you will get an animal but if want a trophy or something off the beaten path you will work for it. For example I shot my buck at 9am on the 1st morning, a "management buck". He was in a group of a dozen other bucks in various stages of antler growth. We probably saw 30 bucks in 2 hours hunting in some plains, breaks, kind of country about a mile from the road.

My wife's buck was shot on the far end of the island in the jungle, miles from a road, after a 1000 ft climb, in the ruins of an ancient hawaiian village. Hard to beat that story....

 

[rtraverdavis]

Um, sign me up!
Awesome photo journal of your trip. Sure looked fun. Is axis meat as good as they say?

 

[mxracer317]

Who was the outfitter? Did they process and ship the meat back for you? I’m headed to Maui in June and plan on doing an Axis hunt.

 

[X13]

Um, sign me up!
Awesome photo journal of your trip. Sure looked fun. Is axis meat as good as they say?

I highly recommend the trip, it was a blast!

We've only made one meal out of it so far and it was great! The meat very much reminds me of that of a young whitetail doe, light in color and mild in taste

 

[X13]

Who was the outfitter? Did they process and ship the meat back for you? I’m headed to Maui in June and plan on doing an Axis hunt.

K.K.K Outdoors (Brian) and SlydahG Outdoors (Greg). Both a couple of locals with guide licenses that I found through social media that do hunts on the side but are trying to scale up their businesses.

Greg is featured prominently on the GoHawaii tourism site and runs the Halawa Valley Cultural Waterfall Hike which is an absolute must if visiting Molokai. It is the most authentic Hawaiian experience you will ever have the opportunity to be a part of as a tourist.

All the meat, heads, and hide came back with us on the plane. The only right way to do it in my opinion. We mailed home a few USPS flat rate boxes of gear, clothes, and souvenirs to make space and brought the soft coolers pictured above with us. Each one holds about 40lbs +/-. While I could've taken the cooler bags as carry ons (the yellow one is even personal item size) I didn't want to risk having anything thaw or leak in the passenger compartment. I purchased two 20 gallon sterilite containers and put a cooler bag wrapped in clothes in each one. The blue suitcase pictured held the 3rd cooler bag and hide and another suitcase (not pictured) held all of the heads, boots, and clothes.



Packing light initally is important as is knowing your airlines baggage requirements and restrictions. This is absolutely something that needs to be planned out ahead of time. If you shoot a giant buck, getting the antlers home intact will be a challenge.

Including the cost of shipping gear and the extra baggage fees it only cost us about $150 total to get everything home.

 

[MarvB]

What airline did you fly? And what was your beg/end airports just out of curiosity?

 

[RobertD]

What an awesome trip. Your description of the terrain alone makes it sound worth it. Love the photo of you guys with the axis doe.

 

[marshman]

Great story, sounds like you made great memories on your honeymoon!
Nice animals.

 

[X13]

What airline did you fly? And what was your beg/end airports just out of curiosity?

We flew American on the way in from EWR to KOA, the Mokulele Airlines between islands, and United back to EWR. No issues with any airlines.

Mokulele was a different kind of experience. No TSA, no security, 8-10 seats per plane, and close enough to the pilot to hit him with a spitball. Loved it

 

[duckhunt]

Awsome trip

 

[coleslaw]

The islands are so cool and they vary so much with regards to the micro climates that they hold. Went to Maui last year right before everything was shut down. We actually went to Lanai for a day and rented a jeep at one point and it honestly felt like we had the whole island to ourselves. We were even able to find a secluded beach- We were literally the only ones on the beach.

The amount of game on Lanai was crazy. I wouldn't doubt they outnumber people 10-1 on that island either. Turkeys, goats, deer, quail etc.
Would definitely want to look into an outfitter. Every island has its own laws and regulations and is not so "outsider" friendly sometimes.

I seriously want to bring my bow and a cooler next time we go so that I can chase goats on the east end of Maui. It's good to know they are opening back up a bit... it's got me thinking lol
Thanks for sharing!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Great trip. Congratulations on your animals. I love Hawaii. I have been several times and seen most of the sights. Next trips is going to include some type of hunting.

 

[X13]

Great trip. Congratulations on your animals. I love Hawaii. I have been several times and seen most of the sights. Next trips is going to include some type of hunting.

As it should, I saw legal game animals on public land on every island we visited! If I ever have the opportunity to go back I'll have a bow with me

 

[Slate]

Awesome trip congrats and thanks for sharing

 

[Jason73]

I think your wife is quite the trophy!! I would give anything to have mine inspired to travel and hunt the great outdoors. Sorry, just a bit jealous. Awesome story, thanks for sharing!!

 

[Gunner46]

Yeah, Hawaii is absolutely a behind the scenes hunting treasure, completely not understood by stateside 'Howlies'. ! Pigs, Axis, Mouflon, Spanish Goats, Sitka Deer, Turkeys. They do tend to pack the lighter side of rifles though. A 270, or a 7mm/08 is considered all that's necessary weapons, at least with the guys I hunted with, on several trips.

 

[Art Vandeley]

I wish I had seen this earlier. I just got back fro, Maui last night. I had looked into axis deer hunting on Maui but the guided route was expensive. I‘ll be back next spring and look those guys up. Looks awesome, love those islands