Hawaii Pheasant Hunting Video

Here are some hi-lights from my pheasant hunting trip in Hawaii (Dec. 2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyOF4yuOgF4

Hawaii Pheasant Hunt - Dec. 2010

Ever since I moved to Hawaii, I've been hoping for an opportunity to go hunting...especially bird hunting. This weekend, my opportunity finally came. I made a new friend at work named Mike who is also an avid bird hunter. He invited me to go along with him this past Saturday.


This is "Jake," an 8 year old German Shorthair Pointer, and Mike's hunting partner. He's got one heck of a nose. He probably doesn't move like he did when he was younger, but he hunted hard. He always stayed close and locked down like a statue on numerous points throughout the morning.

Here's the road leading into the hunting area.

The hunting area is high up on the ridges in the mountains. Alot of the ridges are flat topped like plateaus and covered with waist high grass.

There are ocean views all around.

The mountains are steep and one side of the meadows we hunted were cliffs that drop off the edge down to the shoreline below. It was quite a sight.

There are several different game birds to hunt: Ring neck pheasant, Erkel's Francolin, Gray Francolin and quail. We didn't get into any francolin, but boy did we find the pheasant. We probably saw at least 20. Didn't see any quail either.

I don't have a license yet so Mike did all the shooting. I carried a camera and shot video of the hunt.

Mike shot a hen early on. When we were looking for it, Jake locked up in a hard point. We stomped around for almost 4 minutes and never flushed anything. It was tempting to give up but Jake wouldn't break point. I've seen this scenario enough times to know that you've gotta trust your dog. His nose won't lie to him. I've seen dogs point a spot where a bird had previously been, but they usually won't stay committed to that spot for very long. They creep on the point after you've stomped around a bit and once they figure out nothing is there they'll go on. Not this time though. Jake locked up hard and I watched him creep and lock down, creep and lock down...he was zeroing in on a bird. I was pretty sure we had a bird that was refusing to fly. Finally Jake dove in and caught a live Rooster Pheasant!! It was an amazing thing to see. That bird was buried deep in the grass and couldn't fly if he'd wanted to. If it weren't for Jake we would've walked right by that bird. The rooster I'm holding above is the one Jake caught.

Here's the rooster Mike shot to make his limit of 3 birds. It was flying right over the edge of the cliff when Mike shot him. He landed right on a ledge. 5 feet more and he'd have flown right over the edge and we would've lost it.

Most of the birds are release birds and they have numbered bands on their legs.

I was glad to finally get to take the jeep up in the hills hunting.

Old Jake was tuckered out by the end of the morning. He hunted hard. What a day. We had a great time. It was one of the most unique hunts I've ever been on. It was sortof a dream come true to get to hunt in hawaii. The pictures and video I shot were as rewarding as having shot birds myself.

Hock's Connecticut Buck

A guy I met in Diesel school in Connecticut last month killed this whitetail buck on an archery hunt this weekend.

George's Archery Buck

My brother-in-law George harvested this nice Whitetail last month with his bow in Kansas.

Stephen's Oryx Hunt 2010

My buddy Stephen shot this nice bull Oryx a couple weeks ago on Ft. Bliss north of El Paso. It measured like 38 inches. Nice shot bro!

Backpacking the AT

Work brought me to Connecticut for three weeks of training this month. The famous "Appalachian Trail" happens to pass through the northwest corner of Conn. It was too close not to take advantage of it. I spent 2 nights on the trail and hiked almost 17 miles. It was a blast!

On Friday afternoon I drove two hours to a trailhead. Hit the trail at about 4 in the afternoon. Only had a quarter mile to go to get to the Mt. Algo Shelter to crash for the night.

Here's where the trail meets and crosses the road

The trail is marked with "blazes." A blaze is a white stripe of paint 2" wide and 6" tall.

A double blaze tells you the trail is changing direction. The top blaze tells you which way the trail is turning.

Blue blazes indicate a side trial, usually leading to a camping area or a shelter. So this tree tells you that the trail continues straight ahead and there is also a side trail leading off to the right to a shelter.

Below is a blue blazed trail.

See the grey squirrel?

Stopped at Thayer's Brook to take a few pics. Wore orange since it is deer season.

Lunch break by a creek headed south on Day 2.
Crossed over into New York for about a mile and a half. Now I can say that the only time I ever went to New York I walked there. Ha Ha
At one point the trail dropped out onto this pavement. It follewed the road about 3/4 of a mile to a stop sign then headed into the woods again.


I saw lots of old rock walls which I think were fences aorund peoples properties...maybe 200 years ago or more. Really cool.

Rental truck I drove to trail.

There are supposed to be something like 250 "shelters" or "lean-to's" along the entire AT. I stayed at two of them: The Mt. Algo Shelter and the Ten Mile River Shelter. They're great because they block any wind, keep you dry and mean that you dodn't have to set up a tent.

This green shack is a "Privy". At most shelters there will be a self composting privy.

Hang your food from these to keep mice from eating it at night.

Lots of pegs to hang packs. Most shelters can house at least 6 people. I shared the Mt. Algo shelter with two other guys. They were thru hikers, which means they were doing the entire trail. They'd been on the trail since May.

There was an old well at the Ten Mile River Shelter. I used the old pump and drew water to fill my bottles. It was really cool.

I had the Ten Mile River Shelter all to myself. A boyscout troop camped beside the shelter. Troop 135. I enjoyed hanging out with the boys and their trop leaders. The boys nicknamed my "Awesome Hiker Dude." They were funny.

Here's a view from up high looking down on the Housatonic River valley south of Kent, Conn.

Highest point of the section I hiked. 1250ft.

On my last day I hiked back up to the high point I mentioned earlier...it's like a 1000ft climb in about a mile. It just about did me in. I sat down for a much needed breather and took in the view.

I couldn't have timed this trip any better. The color change of the fall leaves was at it peak the weekend I hiked. The colors were out of this world!