Just returned from one of the coolest hunts ever. I booked this hunt with Patrick Fisher of Hawaii Safaris. I hunted with Steve Gelakoski, Pat's man on Lanai. I really didn't want to go to Hawaii but now I want to go back. Steve was a great guy to hunt with and he scouts year round and knows where the sheep are. I can't say enough good things about this outfit.

Nice ram. I drew a Mouflon tag for Lanai when I was stationed there. But, the ship got a last minute tasking and I missed out on the hunt. Shot a lot of hogs and goats the 3 years I was there but that was the only sheep tag I ever drew.

Nice trophy!

Nice ram! I'll be hunting with Pat's outfit on Friday for a Black Hawaiian Sheep on The Big Island this coming Friday.

Congrats!

JA,

Beautiful Ram!!!! I have talked with Pat and would like to do this hunt. I would take the wife and do some vacationing as well. tell a bit about the hunt and how you got there. Was there flights between where you hunted and your original arrival. Any info appreciated.

Hawkeye

That's the best mouflon I have seen come out of HI since the ass-backward gov't eradicated all the pure strain sheep off of Hawai'i island to make way for the Volcanoes National Park.

Certainly the best ram I have ever seen come off of Lana'i.

Congrats!

Great ram! Congratulations

Gorgeous ram!

We flew into Oahu and spent the night. The next morning we flew Go Mukalele to Lanai. Steve picked us up at the airport and took us to the game department to get our permit then off to the rifle range.

I rented a rifle from Pat to make everything easier. It was a Remington 700 in .270 Win with a Trijicon scope. This rifle was a tack driver so we didn't spend long at the range.

The area we hunted was both beautiful and rugged. We probably saw between 50 and 60 sheep that day with at least half a dozen nice rams. I took my ram pretty early and it only took a couple of hours to recover him. Steve said it was the easiest hunt he had had in a long time.

We continued to hunt for cull rams and I missed one across a canyon. Maybe just as well because it would have taken me two days to make it across to get the meat. I did take a abnormal horned ram after noon in a lava field. We were able to get it back to the truck whole.

Locals get the meat from these hunts but you can ship it home if you want to. We stayed on Lanai for five days just looking around and fishing. There is a ferry that goes to Maui and back so we spent a day there too.

When it was time to head back to Oahu Go Mukalele became no go Mukalele and we had to fly out on Island air. But other than that everything went smoothly. We stayed at Hotel Lanai but if I go back Steve has a rental that I will use. There are also a couple of resorts on the island.

Hope this information helps. Jim

Beautiful Ram! That would make for a great shoulder mount!


Any photos from the fishing expeditions?

Great ram JA.

We vacationed on Lanai last year and saw some Mouflans one evening when we were returning from a day at one of the beaches. I was able to get a few pictures of them which only increased my desire to hunt them.

I exchanged a couple of e-mails and had one phone conversation with Patrick, but nothing was ever finalized.

I don't fully understand the Hawaii F&G regulations on hunting rams. How does Patrick hunt trophy rams, and licensed hunters from the draw can only hunt ewes and cull rams?

I would go back to Lanai in a second to vacation and hunt there.

Since Lanai is privately owned for the most part, the land owner, Castle & Cook, controls the trophy hunting. They have their own game dept. From what I understand, Pat pays a fee for each trophy hunt. I had to go to their office and present my Hawaii hunting license with Pat's representative. I then received a permit to trophy hunt in an assigned unit. Pat has to be bonded and insured to operate there along with Steve, who I hunted with. The game department manages for trophy animals and a healthy herd. I think the State draw hunts are used to keep game numbers from increasing beyond carrying capacity. Whatever they are doing it sure seems to work.