By Dan Larsson
Enoch and his first goat from a distance of 275 yards with the 6mm ARC.
Since my first experience in 2019, I have wanted to hunt goats with my son, Enoch. Spending this time with him is extraordinary, and my heart longs for it constantly. He was seven years old during my first Maui trip and is now 12. He loves swimming, snorkeling, and the ocean. As I write this, he is headed downstairs, with his mother to do just that.
Yesterday, he and I got up at 3 o'clock in the morning and headed for the mountain. It is a day I will never forget. We arrived at the edge of the public hunting area just at first shooting light. Would you know it? We snuck up to the edge of the little basin, and there was a herd of goats. We were hoping there would be Axis deer, but we had no luck there.
Goat Valley.
He bellied in behind the 6mm ARC and trained the scope on the herd of goats. We picked out the largest billy and waited for a broadside shot. When the opportunity came, he was ready and took the shot. He told me later that the rifle's light trigger surprised him. The goat was 275 yards away and he made a perfect top-of-the-heart shot. It ran uphill, and then wobbled down till it crashed into a bush. We circled the lava point and found his first Hawaiian feral goat. He was happy, and I was as proud as could be. What a blessing to spend this time with him. Hornady's 103gr ELD-X had whistled straight through, and he expired in seconds. Enoch pulled him out of the bush, and we took pictures. I was so proud. He is quite an experienced marksman and hunter for his age. He constantly defends our house from the rodents who wish to stay warm inside and eat our food. He is my man-child.
We butchered the meat, cut the skull cap out, and hiked to the jeep. From there, I pointed out the spot below us where we had left his mother at the hotel 29 miles away. We then drove to the end of the road and hiked toward the goat bedding area. We could see goats and horns as soon as we could see the ridge across the valley. We made slow steady movements as we hiked and found a bush to sit under while we glassed them around 400 yards. A pair of bike riders came up the road behind us and spooked the goats out of sight. This helped us as the goats were no longer watching where we had to approach. We scooted across to the ridge. We snuck up alongside the old stone fence and over to the edge of the next ravine. Enoch spotted the first goat, then a few more stood and began playing and feeding. It was 165 yards. I told him to hold dead on when he took the shot. We figured a black billy was the largest, and he waited for a good shot. It stepped in front of a bush, and dropped when he shot. I figured it would hit 2 inches above where he aimed, and he spun it at the top of his lungs.
Enoch and his second goat from a distance of 165 yards.
I told him I was going down the hill to see if I could get one of the other goats we had first seen. I snuck low and watched the goats I could see until I reached a spot 175 yards above where they were going through to the next ridge. We had seen a nice billy with sweeping horns longer than the rest in the herd. I glassed each goat and saw the bigger guy go through a clearing. Marking his position, I raised my ancient rifle and set the iron sights on the spot.
This Savage 99 is chambered in 22 Hi-Power. I had made the cartridges by necking down 30-30 brass to .22 caliber. The bullets were in special order from Buffalo Arms as this original high velocity 22 was designed to use a .228 bullet instead of the .224 the industry settled on later. What a cool gun! It is a takedown model with a forend that detaches; the barrel spins a quarter turn and pulls out the front of the action. I later took it apart and packed it in my pack for the hike out.
When the big billy hit an opening, I centered the bead on his chest and pulled the trigger. He jumped and ran downhill like he was hit. I was elated. I hiked down to look for him. I couldn't find anything. I watched another nice billy run-off. The herd went across the ravine bottom and out of sight. I didn't see my billy again. After looking for 15 minutes, I decided to look at the bottom of the ravine. Wounded animals usually go downhill and will bed up if they haven't died yet. He was there just above the cliff. I finished him off with one more shot. He fell and his horn hung up. This kept him from falling over the cliff. He began kicking and was about to roll. I quickly ran down and grabbed his horn to stabilize him.
What a goat! He would measure around 22 inches wide. I took pictures, butchered him, and headed to where Enoch was looking for his goat. It can be challenging if you haven't searched for animals in broken terrain after a long shot. We hiked back to the shot's position and took some excellent landmarks before heading to where the goat should be. After checking several bushes, just uphill from the one unique tree, back and forth over 100 yards, we finally found him lying between a couple of rocks. The flies were having a heyday. Some details will fade as the memory grows, but we will both remember the flies. Enoch packed his goat horns out and I took the meat.
As we came around the hill to where the gate and jeep came into sight, Enoch said, "Finally!" He is quite the kid and my favorite hunting companion.
Gear and Goats
Enoch was shooting a Mini Howa in 6mm ARC. The 103gr Hornady ELD-X ammunition worked amazingly well on all four goats we harvested with them. Only one of them stopped in the animal and had fully opened. We topped this rifle with a prototype scope Skinner Sights is considering offering in a 3-18x 30mm scope. My father, Andy, owner of Skinner Sights, lets me test his products in the field. He knows I am particular about and hard on gear. More on this subject to come.
My Savage 99, chambered in .22 Savage Hi-Power, is known in the metric parts of the world as the 5.6x52mmR. It was the first U.S.A. commercially offered .22 caliber high-velocity hunting cartridge in 1912. They advertised this caliber and rifle for hunting Tigers and smaller game. The .22 Hornet was not introduced until 1930. My rifle was manufactured in 1913. One Hundred and Eleven (111) years later, it harvested a goat on Maui. Oh, to know the stories it could tell.
To bring your gun to Hawaii, you must show the firearm/s at the police department and pay them to take your fingerprints. Call the police department months in advance to ask all the pertinent questions. Some police departments can be a few months out for appointments.
Current state of Hawaiian goats
In 2019, I spoke with the Maui biologist about hunting goats in one of the public hunting areas. He told me not to bother. They had recently used a helicopter to eradicate the goats from that portion of the island. This is the solution when they become too numerous. A couple of years ago, I hunted the big island of Hawaii. The biologist there told me not to hunt in my favorite hunting area on the island. They deemed the sheep and goats there a menace to a bird species and had exacted the same eradication. The locals I have spoken to on Maui, and the YouTube videos I have found indicate that most locals hunt the nannies for meat. I saw 3 times as many goats this year as I did in 2019 and 2/3rds of them were billys. I have no qualms about harvesting several billys to help keep them from being eradicated by helicopter. The limit is 2 per day with a hunting license.
Side note: When you are researching your DIY hunt in Hawaii, pay careful attention to the hunting area, dates of the bird seasons, and weapons restrictions. The other thing to know is that public hunting areas have no public access due to land ownership and the need for public right-of-way.
Do-It-Yourself meat and trophy care
I gave some of the meat away, and I am taking some of the meat home. I plan to make knife handles out of my horns. Enoch plans to hang his own plaques and cover the skull caps with leather.
We bought a cooler to put the meat in and used the hotel ice to keep it cold for four days. I finally relented and decided to give most of it away before it went sour. In 2019, we church-hopped until I found a man in need of the meat and made it a gift to him. Today, I asked the hotel staff if they knew anyone who wanted clean, deboned, and washed goat meat. One of the bell staff lit up and was ecstatic. He said he and a buddy love goat sausage and would gladly have it. I gave him about 30 lbs of meat. The front desk attendant puts the rest of the meat in the hotel freezer for me to pick up just before we head for the airport. If we were returning capes, I would put them in a couple of heavy-duty plastic bags and have them frozen. If it is well frozen, I will double-bag it, wrap it in clothes, and put it in the center of my checked luggage. It will still be mostly frozen when I get home. If your bag leaks, they will throw it away.
I cut all my horns off the skulls. They still have the skull liner bone in them and will need to be boiled or cut out later. Enoch's goat horns are on cut-out skull plates. I brought a Havalon saw and cut them down behind the horns and over through the top of the eye sockets. You can't transport brain tissue. The skull plates were then cleaned as well as possible of all tissue and brain matter with a knife and the brain membrane was pulled off the inner skull. At the hotel, I carefully (over the trash can) poured Borax all over the skull caps and down into the skill horn liners. I will repeat this every day until we leave. They are currently outside on the deck, where they can also dry. I will bag them up and put them in my checked luggage.
Easy as pie, right? Good luck with your DIY Hawaii hunt!
