The 50th state offers much more than sun, beaches and waves
By Gary Kramer
The pointer and German shorthair ranged far and wide in the brush and grass-covered landscape, covering a tremendous amount of ground with each sweep. The rolling hills were bisected with long narrow valleys and deep draws. Fifteen minutes from the vehicle, the dogs disappeared over a hill and into a long valley. When they didn't come out the other side, Patrick Fisher pointed toward the draw and said, "We need to get down there right away. I think the dogs are on point." My daughter Kelly and I quickened the pace through the dense grass and scattered shrubs, mindful of the uneven footing over the lava rocks.
Patrick spotted the dogs first--both solid as statues, one backing the other at the bottom of a draw. Patrick motioned me in behind the lead dog. As I stepped next to the pointer, a close-flushing rooster catapulted from the tall grass. For a moment I was oblivious to my surroundings--my only focus was the rooster in front of me.
Just as the bird cleared the grass, a second cock flushed from the same spot. I shouldered my 20-gauge over/under, found a target, pulled the trigger and the bird folded in a spray of feathers. Before I could find a second target, there was another shotgun blast and out of the corner of my eye I watched the second rooster catch a full load of No. 6s and fall out of sight into the draw.
Kelly and I congratulated each other on our shooting skill while Mea, the German shorthair, found the first pheasant and delivered it to Patrick. We walked to where the second bird dropped and a few minutes later Mea pulled the bird out from under a patch of brush. Upon closer inspection we agreed--the rooster looked and acted like a South Dakota ringneck but a glance toward the blue Pacific below and snow-capped Mauna Kea behind us verified we were miles from Dakota cornfields--we were hunting pheasants in Hawaii.
HAWAIIAN HABITAT
The Hawaiian Islands are synonymous with sparkling white sand beaches, tropical rain forests, live volcanoes and the tourist attractions of Waikiki. For these reasons and more, Hawaii is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. However, for all the reasons Hawaii is considered the ultimate vacation spot, upland bird shooting is seldom considered. The truth is, the Hawaiian Islands offer some of the most unique bird hunting in North America.
Ranging in size from tiny Lanai, whose land mass is only 90,000 acres, to the "Big Island" of Hawaii, which covers an area the size of Connecticut, Hawaii consists of six major islands. Each island has a wide variety of habitats ranging from tropical rain forests and rolling grasslands to acacia thorn forests and lava slopes. This diversity of habitat, stretching from sea level to 13,796 feet at the top of Mauna Kea, provides habitat for 15 species of upland game birds.
In the late 1700s when Captain Cook first set foot on the Hawaiian Islands, there were no upland game birds. Ring-necked pheasants were the first introductions with birds from Asia liberated as early as 1875. Ringnecks found the Islands to their liking and through subsequent liberations spread to all six islands. Today, the ringneck is Hawaii's most widespread game bird and inhabits dry cactus and mesquite habitats near sea level to forested grasslands at 7,000 feet.
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Other successful introductions include chukar, found on Hawaii, Maui and Lanai; California quail, whose largest populations are on Molokai and Hawaii; Gambel's quail on Lanai; mourning doves on Hawaii and wild turkeys on Lanai, Molokai and Hawaii. Other more exotic species include gray francolin from Asia, black and Erkel's francolin from Africa, green pheasants from Japan, Kalij pheasants from Tibet, Japanese quail, African sandgrouse and two species of Asian doves.
All six islands allow bird hunting from the first Saturday in November through Martin Luther King Day in January. Hunting in Hawaii is permitted only on Saturdays, Sundays and state holidays. The weekend-only hunting law is antiquated and has been challenged several times without success. An exception to the weekend/holiday-only rule occurs on the Big Island where hunting is permitted on Wednesdays as well, and on all hunting preserves where shooting is permitted seven days per week during a September to March season.
Last January, Kelly and I spent a week on the island of Hawaii hunting upland birds. It was the tail end of Kelly's winter break from college and when I asked her if she was interested in a few days bird hunting mixed with the sun, sand and aloha atmosphere of Hawaii, she jumped at the chance.
The first pair of pheasants was in the bag, so we headed cross-country toward a cattle trough where Patrick had seen good numbers of Erkel's francolin going to water the past few mornings. The habitat was a mixture of scattered shrubs, lava rock and open grassland. The vegetation and the sight of the dogs working the area reminded me of gray partridge hunting in southwest Idaho.
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