Howzit everybody. I used to hang out around here a long time ago but haven't been here lately. Figured I would share some pictures and a story of this cow I caught on Sunday. There is a "feral and trespass cattle hunt" that has been going on in the Hilo watershed for the last 11 months. Hilo is on the east side of the big island here in Hawaii.
Well, I went up for the third time, this time ready for action. The other two trips were just exploratory. Also brought along a classmate but he's just starting out at hunting and I'm trying to get him off on the right foot. We hiked in the dark with a lightning storm to the south. The day was beautiful and we hunted up the Wailuku river after hiking in on the Morita Camp Trail. At first, we saw no cows along the river although there was much fresh sign. Then we did some target practice above a huge dry waterfall before starting our way back. Never made it even half way back while walking through the forest when I noticed a white face looking at me through the sticks 20 yard to my right. I motioned over my friend and handed him the video camera. We blew the camera job and never pushed the record button, or perhaps pushed it one too many times. It was my friend's first time filming and I'm not too hard on him because I have done the same thing twice before. I made a shot to the head and through the smoke I saw the cow fall. We put two more shots into him as we were approaching just to be safe. The young bull is estimated in the 500 to 700 pound range and taken in the late morning. We took as much meat as we could given the conditions (pretty muchall of it) and even took the hide to tan. The colors were striking and the fur was incredibly soft. On the four mile hike out, lightning storms approached and eventually were cracking some bolts overhead. We took turns wearing the hide as a cape as it's weight was better ditributed that way. The hide is being salted right now and the hair is not slipping. Hopefully the sun will be shining tomorrow morning to help dry it out better. As for cow hunting: brah, cows are a trip. They"™re like ghosts of the forest. We had a herd spot us as we were peaking up over a hill and when we weren"™t looking they apparently ran off into the forest without even making a sound. To us it seemed like they had vanished because we had only looked away for a few seconds. I guess that"™s all it took. They do have a weekness though in that they stare at you for a moment before running. Otherwise, excellent senses and they are quite on the hook even when moving fast through thick forest.Our shoulders are still very sore from carrying all that meat. I cooked some up tonight and it's good stuff. Has afaint hintof musky gameyness to it similar to a rank pig but not nearly as strong.
Head shot with the 20 guage is what dropped him.
Here's my friend.
And me.
Thank you Cow.
Big Island Feral Cattle. Success!
