It's been over twenty years now since Hawaiian Homes reclaimed the land that they used to lease to the state for public hunting on Maui. The Kahikinui Game Management Area was usually referred to by hunters as Polipoli. If you took Waipoli Road up past Polipoli Springs State Park and around to the backside of Haleakala there was a hunters cabin at the end of the road. From there it was an hour hike across a volcanic tundra and then two hours downhill through a beautiful rain forest to get to the grasslands surrounding Puu Pane hill. Countless Spanish goats and wild pigs abound in the idyllic hunting terrain. Those were the good old days...
At one hundred yards, I begin a belly crawl. Up ahead, a pack of jet-black goats gather around a grass covered lava knoll. The biggest billy centers the bunch, as if he's been elected king of the hill.
Easing across the lime green landscape, low-level shrubs shield my methodical catlike advance. Trade winds in my face, Maui sun at my back, spot and stalk hunting conditions don't get much better than this.
At forty yards, I rise to my knees and nock an arrow. Considering the abundance of game, I'm fortunate not to get busted. I might be able to sneak forward another eight yards, but opt to cash-in now.
Suddenly, my target animal stands up and stretches, his long black hair shuddering as he hunches his back. Just as he takes a step down from the panoramic mound, an orange Easton spears him from the rear and blows through his brisket.
As if a hand grenade got tossed in their trench, startled goats scramble left-and-right! A rust colored billy erupts from a lava rift and then stops broadside from me just fifteen yards away. Lucky for him that he sported horns a little short... his fate saved for another day.
Puu Pane hill, Polipoli, Maui.
This one was wicked... a 42 yard broadside shot. The arrow flew a little left and low of where I aimed (which was the mid-level ribcage lung area). Nevertheless, the Rocky Mountain 3-blade arrowhead simultaneously skewered both forelegs and the heart.
The billy goat bucked like a bronco and then flopped like a fish out of water. In about five seconds the commotion was over and a deadly calm filled the air. This is the bloody samurai scenario that I walked up on. 5-star on a Nugent scale.
It was my 35th birthday during the summer 1993 and I was working on the cruise ship which was docked in port at Kahului harbor on the island of Maui. I had lunch off so I took a rent-a-car up to Polipoli Springs which is located above upper Kula and the Ulupalakua Ranch. It's a pristine forest area with some Chinese Fir trees that top two-hundred feet. When I discovered that I forgot to bring my hunting hat I knew that this would be my lucky day! I snuck up close on some wild pigs and shtoook >>>======> the fattest one. In this picture I'm packing a napsack full of deboned meat as I make my way back through the towering trees. Unfortunately, many of these magnificent fir trees were lost in recent forest fires.
Anyhow, I had stalked to within 27-yards of this goat which was quartered away as it fed across a dew wet lava creek. I drew back, anchored, aimed between my 20 and 30 yard sight pins, and let fly. The slow arrow lobbed into the air, and then plunked down low slicing a rib as it penetrated only three or four inches in tight behind the goat's foreleg. Basically, the arrowhead stuck smack dab in the middle of the heart. A 4-blade Rocky Mountain Razorhead was now occupying the space dead center within this poor animal's primary blood pumping organ...
The young billy goat bucked off its hind legs as it kicked backwards like a bronco. A high pressure stream of blood shot ten feet straight up into the air. It was as if I had put my thumb over the end of a garden hose trying to stifle the water flow, yet allowing a fine stream to jet out. The streak of blood spray wavered like a magic wand for 3 or 4 seconds as the billy goat bolted away... Then, as if I removed my thumb constricting the flow, every last drop of blood within this animal's body blast into the air in one final expulsive cannon burst as the goat collapsed stone dead mid-creek. I couldn't believe what I had just witnessed. It was like watching the final scene of an old samurai film as the swordsman lops off his enemy's head... a fountain of liquid red cast high into the sky.
