Folks,

BD contacted me in February asking about a turkey hunt in Hawaii. I work with Hawaii Safaris so I made a request for a turkey for BD and his son. Below is a report of his hunt.

Mark

Guide - Matt Bowman. Matt has lived on the island about 10 years. Originally from Alabama. He primarily captains a charter boat in the nearby harbour. Sweet Sadie Sportfishing. Next time i would do a charter as well, but decided not to on this trip. Matt was pretty booked up for fishing. Matt seems to have some pretty exclusive permissions on a number of the cattle ranches here that have turkeys on them. He also does some feral pig and goat hunting when requested.

Matt had newer rental shotguns there for us and everything was ready to go. He packed us some lunch, snacks and drinks for the day.

We hunted one ranch. I think it was about 2000 acres of high country grass land. There were bands of trees along roads and paths and a few bluffs spotted throughout that the birds would roost in at night. Not typical forest area, but that didn’t seem to affect the birds. Very hilly terrain. We met Matt close to the ranch at 5:30 am. It was about an hour drive from our place at Kailua Kona (Big Island). From there we pulled into the ranch and started our hunt on Matt’s side by side UTV. At first light we sat at a vantage point to watch for the birds. In doing so, we actually spooked a group of birds that were roosted right above where we were watching from.

Eventually we travelled through the property and spotted several birds. Once we located a nice Tom from a far we walked into calling range. There Is a lot of undulated terrain here, to getting into calling position in this rather open country was not difficult, but be prepared to hike some steep stuff. The wind was howling there as it usually does up in this high country, so we had to be within 100yrds for the birds to hear us. There were 2 nice Toms in this group and after only a few calls one appeared on top of the ridge about 60 yards in front of us. He came another 10 or 15 yards closer and held up there. My son made a great shot on him and he went right down.

There was a white/ghostly colored hen in this group and I didn’t think much of it at first, but later Matt had said that is the only one he has ever seen on the island, so he was actually pretty excited. I had just assumed that it was something of a cross breed with a domestic bird.

After this we spotted a number of other jakes and hens and one nice tom on the Neighbors side. We decided to head to another part of the ranch. This area was much lower in elevation and the climate difference was apparent. The grass was brown and dry. We were only about a mile from where we had just shot a bird in the tall lush green grass a few minutes prior.

We spotted a number of birds here too but many were jakes or hens except for 2 Toms that were on a neighbors property. They would not come to our side so off we went to the high country again. It wasn’t long and we drove right on by a group close to the trail with 4 mature birds in it and a few hens. We back tracked on foot and once we were on the ridge with 50 yards Matt let out a couple calls and I could hardly get ready fast enough as they were all coming on a dead run. Had to make a point blank head shot on one of the Toms and we were all done by 10:30 that morning.

Matt had taken 6 birds on the ranch in a 2 day stint earlier that year and said that our 2 birds were going to be the last 2 he would take there this year. I can’t speak for the other ranches that he hunts. He made it sounds like it was a bit more challenging as many of the other ranches had more hunting pressure, but still successful.

Matt cleaned up our birds back at the truck. We took one to cook while we were there and the other was gladly taken by a ranch hand. Matt was very professional and polite. He certainly had a good relationship with the ranch and we even ran into the owner of the ranch that day and had a quick chat with him. I had booked 2 days for this hunt. It obviously wasn’t needed, but everything went according to plan this time. It was exactly what I was hoping for as a hunt on Hawaii. My son was super happy.

Do’s & Don’ts

-Do bring rain gear and some warmer under layers. It is cool up this high and the almost constant wind makes it even colder. Pack gloves as well and be prepared for any type of weather.
-Do wear hiking/ hunting boots. There is some steep terrain and where there are Lava rocks it is rough. No country for running shoes.
-Do bring binoculars. I didn’t bring any, but they are handy for spotting the birds out in the grazing areas and determining if it is a Tom or Jake from afar.
-Don’t bother bringing you own gun. Mats rentals are Benelli’s that are set up for turkey hunting (holo sight and pistol grip) Archery hunting would be no issue if someone wanted to do that.
-Don’t bring your own calls or decoys. Matt is fully set up and an experienced caller.

Earlier in the season, Matt had a client that wanted to hunt turkey in the morning and then fish in the afternoon. This would have been a great combo to do. This time of year there are blue marlin coming through but the spearfish were what a lot of guys were catching when we were there. They shot 2 birds by 10 am and released a marlin that afternoon.

Love Hawaii. It had been 11 years since we were there last, but it won’t be 11 before we go back..

SEE MY AD FOR THIS ONE

Mark