Muzzleloader season at Pu'u WaaWaa has been open for a weekend or two, but Id completely forgot to check when the dates were after they were announced earlier this year.
Today, my dad, my daughter, myself, and a couple of buddies had planned to run over there after work....so about 2:00ish, for an evening run.
all went well with getting loaded and getting on the road, but we ran into some vehicle issues which took a while to remedy. Thus our little band (my dad, daughter and myself) got there a while after Vince and Nate, so I just stopped at the entry to the area Vince and Nater were going to hunt to give Nate his muzzy, which I was supposed to have sighted and returned a year ago......
Having arrived and checked in late, we ended up going to a different spot than Nate and Vince. Still, not 5 mins into the drive In we spotted a small herd coming up out of a low spot between two flows.
My dad and daughter decided to stay on the road, instead of risking life and limb to follow me across the A'a lava to check the draw for more goats. Ive long since learned that there's really no way to be sneaky (for ME to be sneaky) moving across broken A'a, so I just walked straight at the goats....with them watching me the whole time.
I got to within a couple of hundred yards of them, but reached the edge of the draw before getting into comfortable range.
On the opposite edge of the draw amongst a pile of rocks, I spotted another small herd milling and eathing. I lazered these at just over 120yds, which Is plenty close enough and being at the edge of a sheer drop with but one big rock between me and them.....as close as i was going to get.
I considered shooting the billy in the herd first, but decided to take a slightly closer and larger nanny instead.
I set up the bipod on the rock with one leg fully extended and the other retracted, lined up the shot, broke the trigger, and got a face full of smoke since the wind was straight on.
Since I knew i wasnt going to be able to see when I fired I watched to see if the nanny I shot at went running off down the draw or up the sides with the other goats. As it would happen, she did not.
Neither did the billy, he just walked over, looked in a hole (which is usually a sign you dumped the goat you were shooting at), and then wandered away slowly enough for me to reload my rifle.
After setting up for a shot on him I decided to pass, simply because I didn't want to burn both of the tags I bought in the first 15mins, and also didn't want to deal with 2 full-grown goats in the first 15 mins.
After that we drove down farther to a spot I usually walk, and took a short hike so my dad and daughter could see more of the area. My daughter also wanted to get a "real" goat, as the one that was in pieces wasnt a "real" goat....Im gonna get murdered, but im going looking for a baby goat tomorrow.......
I got a text on the way down from Vince and Nate with a picture of the billy the double-teamed lol (course when we met up later I got the pleasure of quartering it out).
anyway fun day, two goats in the fridge, and my dad and daughter got to see some of the sights on the Big Island that no one, besides ranchers and hunters usually ever do.
The unlucky goat
The tacticoolmuzzy
The rest.....
Today, my dad, my daughter, myself, and a couple of buddies had planned to run over there after work....so about 2:00ish, for an evening run.
all went well with getting loaded and getting on the road, but we ran into some vehicle issues which took a while to remedy. Thus our little band (my dad, daughter and myself) got there a while after Vince and Nate, so I just stopped at the entry to the area Vince and Nater were going to hunt to give Nate his muzzy, which I was supposed to have sighted and returned a year ago......
Having arrived and checked in late, we ended up going to a different spot than Nate and Vince. Still, not 5 mins into the drive In we spotted a small herd coming up out of a low spot between two flows.
My dad and daughter decided to stay on the road, instead of risking life and limb to follow me across the A'a lava to check the draw for more goats. Ive long since learned that there's really no way to be sneaky (for ME to be sneaky) moving across broken A'a, so I just walked straight at the goats....with them watching me the whole time.
I got to within a couple of hundred yards of them, but reached the edge of the draw before getting into comfortable range.
On the opposite edge of the draw amongst a pile of rocks, I spotted another small herd milling and eathing. I lazered these at just over 120yds, which Is plenty close enough and being at the edge of a sheer drop with but one big rock between me and them.....as close as i was going to get.
I considered shooting the billy in the herd first, but decided to take a slightly closer and larger nanny instead.
I set up the bipod on the rock with one leg fully extended and the other retracted, lined up the shot, broke the trigger, and got a face full of smoke since the wind was straight on.
Since I knew i wasnt going to be able to see when I fired I watched to see if the nanny I shot at went running off down the draw or up the sides with the other goats. As it would happen, she did not.
Neither did the billy, he just walked over, looked in a hole (which is usually a sign you dumped the goat you were shooting at), and then wandered away slowly enough for me to reload my rifle.
After setting up for a shot on him I decided to pass, simply because I didn't want to burn both of the tags I bought in the first 15mins, and also didn't want to deal with 2 full-grown goats in the first 15 mins.
After that we drove down farther to a spot I usually walk, and took a short hike so my dad and daughter could see more of the area. My daughter also wanted to get a "real" goat, as the one that was in pieces wasnt a "real" goat....Im gonna get murdered, but im going looking for a baby goat tomorrow.......
I got a text on the way down from Vince and Nate with a picture of the billy the double-teamed lol (course when we met up later I got the pleasure of quartering it out).
anyway fun day, two goats in the fridge, and my dad and daughter got to see some of the sights on the Big Island that no one, besides ranchers and hunters usually ever do.
The unlucky goat
The tacticoolmuzzy
The rest.....
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