Kauai Hawaii Feral Goats

[Gentleman4]

Hey everyone, I wanted to circle back and give an after action report.

I had a good morning of hunting and was into goats and pigs all morning. Unfortunately, I did not ever get a shot at anything I wanted to release an arrow on. I glassed up somewhere around 40-50 goats and a dozen pigs. I passsed a kid goat af 35 yards and hesitated and missed a chance at a nanny at 37. I had three small billies at 70 yards but they were moving away and the terrain didn’t set up for a stalk. I also had a small pig come through at 40 but offer a shot. I did also get to admire a truly big billy at about 300 yards. He just wasn’t in a reachable spot.

That being said, the hunt was an amazing experience. I got to hike and hunt some true trophy country and saw a lot of animals. I also felt like had I been able to get out another morning, I likely would have ended up loosing an arrow. I will add the the Waimea Canyon is some legit terrain. It is very steep and hard to avoid getting cliffed out. It is also very unstable. Even the larger rocks were unstable and I ended up in two mini rock slides and with a few bruises and scrapes.

That being said, particularly with Southwest entering the Hawaii flight market (and their two free checked bags), the affordable license, and lots of game, I will definitely be packing my bow on all future Hawaii trips.

@shannerdrake did you ever go back? Looking to plan a similar trip, would love to hear more about it. Thank you for your time

 

[shannerdrake]

@shannerdrake did you ever go back? Looking to plan a similar trip, would love to hear more about it. Thank you for your time

I never did. For whatever reason,
I’ve been bit with the Carribean bug and it’s the only place I visit now. All things being equal, it’s about half the cost of Hawaii but definitely does not have the hunting opportunities.

There was a DNR officer named Lindsey who worked out of the Lihu’e office. It would be worth calling him if he’s still there.

I have not stayed up on the rules but when I went you could bow hunt year round in Waimea canyon. It is an extremely popular hiking area so go early in the morning and make the effort to get down from the road. I’d say shoot to be midway between the road and the river. Be advised it is steep country and i know from experience, don’t trust the lava rock for hand holds. I was scaling a pretty gnarly section on all fours and pulled a lava rock the size of an ottoman off the wall and we took a heck of a tumble. Despite being too large to get my arms around it probably only weighed 60-80lbs.

Work on voice calling mimicking barnyard goats. It sounds crazy but they are vocal and I was able to locate a bunch just goat calling with my mouth.

Good luck!