Pheasant Hunt - Jan 8 2010

The week before we headed to New Mexico for the holidays I submitted my paperwork to get a Hawaii Hunter's Safety exemption number. In Hawaii, everyone, regardless of age, is required to have passed a hunter's safety course before buying a hunting license. I had to prove I'd passed a course in NM. The night we got back to the island my paperwork with my exemption number was sitting in the mailbox like a late Christmas present. I bought my license online that very night.



Mike and I went hunting Saturday the 8th. Department of Land and Nat. Resources (DLNR) had released more pheasant that week so we knew hunting would be good.

With all the rain the grass just keeps getting taller each week. It's over 6 feet in some places. Having a good dog is essential to finding birds (alive or dead).

We hunted for about 12 hours that day. We got three birds before noon up in the high meadows on top of the ridges. In the afternoon we hunted some more difficult terrain off the edges of the ridges where the birds scatter to. The hillsides, like the one above, are steep, rocky and hard walking.

There were some nice shady places to take a break. And the view was awesome!

Here's one of the rooster's I shot. Notice the band on it's leg. DLNR bands all the birds they release. I was excited to collect my first bands. Bands are a trophy for waterfowlers because they are somewhat rare to get. All the birds we harvested were banded, so it's not that rare, but they're still exciting to get.

Here's another rooster I shot. Never would have found it without Mike's dog Jake.

We harvested 4 rooster pheasant and 2 hen pheasant. Didn't get any francolin. I did get to hear the call of an Erckel's Francolin for the first time. It's like a cackling laugh as if they're watching you from the next ridge mocking you.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DAY:

• First thing that morning we had half a dozen pheasant flush and missed every single one. Humbling way to start out!



• A rooster flushed right in front of me after all our misses. I lined that one out and put him down hard. My first bird in Hawaii!



• We hunted along the cliff edges and the birds kept flying over the cliffs. Mike shot a rooster that flew over the cliff. Too steep to go get it. Bummer.



• After lunch, Jake flushed a rooster up the hill behind me. It flew overhead and I knocked it down.



• We shot one bird that took us over 20 minutes to find, even with the dog, because the grass was so tall and thick. You can't see your boots when you're walking through it!



• Near the end of the day we walked through some grass that was two feet overhead. I realized I couldn't hear Jake's bell (he wears a bell on his collar so we can keep track of where he is in deep grass). I found him nearby and realized he'd been on point. There was a rooster deep in that grass. We finally got him to fly. He came out flying straight up and then turned sideways. We both shot it.



• The grand finale' was a hen that Mike shot. It was almost dark and we were headed back up to the jeep. Jake pointed and Mike flushed a hen. He made about a 30 yard shot on it to end the day and make our limit.