I am very lucky to live in Hawaii because we have a large population of free-range Axis deer in Maui. As with any other state, it is not what you know, but rather who you know when it comes to getting access to hunt in prime areas. This is even more so on an island where all of the public land is open to tourists, leaving very little land to hunt on.
Fortunately for me, my wife works for a man who is part owner of a great ranch in southern Maui. In 2015, I was invited to hunt on the ranch and was joined by her boss, Kimo. Hunter safety and a license are required, and hunting is year-round. Axis bucks shed their antlers year-round, so you can find them in velvet, hard horn, and shed at the same time any time of year. Although we saw several great Axis bucks, we didn’t get the green light from Rodney, the owner of Maui Hunting Safari, to shoot. Rodney said we could do much better. I couldn’t wait to see “better” because we saw some really big bucks. We ended up watching the sunset over the Pacific without firing a shot. For the next two years, I dreamed of returning to the ranch and getting another chance to harvest a nice buck.
In June of 2017, I got the call I had been waiting for. Kimo made arrangements with Rodney so that my wife, Diane, and I could go back out to the ranch to hunt. I had a good feeling that this time Rodney would give me the green light to shoot. As a bonus, we got to meet Rodney’s wife, Dawn, and his daughter, Emily, who was the 2016 SCI and Cabela’s Young Hunter of the Year. She is the real deal, and it is good to see young hunters out in the field, especially young female hunters. We were very excited and could hardly wait to get there.
We arrived at the ranch well before sunrise and hiked out in the dark until Rodney told us we were on a ridge overlooking a big flat where he had been seeing a lot of deer. We were treated to a beautiful sunrise overlooking the ocean. What a sight that was. Just as we had enough light, we could see movement below us on the flat. We started glassing, and Rodney asked me if I could make out which were does or bucks. As the sun continued to rise, I could see a really nice buck surrounded by does about 170 yards away. Rodney was also looking at the buck and told me he was a shooter. There was no need to hurry as the deer had no idea we were above them on the ridge. As the sun broke over the horizon behind us, I could clearly pick out the buck among the does. He was feeding on grass and slowly separated himself from the group. I took a couple of deep breaths and got steady with my .270 on my Bog-Pod. Rodney told me to take the buck when I was ready. I felt really good about the shot, and Rodney and Diane both said it was a really good hit. The buck went into the only clump of trees on that part of the flat and did not come out. We could see a full 360 degrees around the clump of trees, and I was confident that he was down. We wanted to be sure, so we waited about 30 minutes since we would lose sight of the clump of trees when we dropped off the ridge. That was a very long half hour since I was so excited to see my buck.
As we climbed out of the bottom and walked up to the trees, I saw Rodney smile and then he said, “Congratulations!” This turned out to be a once-in-a-lifetime buck for me. He measured 146 7/8", which was a true trophy. That was a real bonus since Axis meat is as good as it gets. I would have been happy with any of the several big bucks I saw on that ranch, and I was very grateful. We are very fortunate to live and hunt in Hawaii, and I am grateful to Rodney, Dawn, and Emily for making us feel so welcome and to Kimo for the great opportunity.
Login