Yes Al, it is a chital (axis) deer from Hawaii. BTW, I just met up with a fellow Aussie toady. He told me about all the different deer there including the Chitals. I'm so jealous!
Here is an old story that I dug up.
In Hawaii, my friends and I regard the axis deer as one of the hardest critters to harvest spot and stalk. My first spot and stalk axis was taken when I was 16, but I shot him with a .308. My first compound harvest came '03, but it was always a dream to harvest a free range axis deer with a stickbow, from the ground!
It was 4:00 am in the morning and our four wheel drive truck had spun out twice already on the rain drenched muddy road. It was not a typical morning in Hawaii to say the least. At 4:30 we parked the truck. It was wet, windy and freezing cold! We both geared up and began our trek to one of our favorite hunting spots. On a nice dry day, it would take us about two hours to the hunting area. We didn't know how long it would take us that morning. After a 10 minute walk, mud clung to our shoes adding extra unwanted weight. We trudged 1 hour though the ankle deep mud. Boy did the day start off miserable! Our full packs didn't make things any easier. By the time we reached the hunting area, 3 hours had passed. We were cold, tired and drenched from head to toe, but there was no turning back now. With all odds against us, we refueled ourselves with snacks and fluids and began our hunt at daybreak. While crossing the first ridge, we caught a glimpse of axis deer walking through a dry river bed below us. There was no way that we could cut them off, so we decided to lay off and let them pass, hoping that we could catch them later in their beds. After crossing two more ridges, we spotted another herd. The wind was in our favor, so we decided to put a stalk. We dropped our packs and adjusted our knee pads for a long crawl. They were about 100 yards away from us and feeding away like it was no one's business. At about 50 yards I singled out a buck. He was feeding away from the herd and he seemed very preoccupied with the grass that he was eating. I crawled to 40 yards. I was trembling like crazy. My mouth was dry and I was short of breath. I sat down and tried to re-group. I had to constantly talk to myself over and over again. "Relax, relax, relax", I told myself. All I could see was his ivory tips swaying back and forth. Talk about adrenaline pumping! I finally made my way to 30 yards. With his head down feeding, I drew my thunderhorn to full draw and released the arrow. My heart sank. My arrow flew right over his back! I sat there and felt like crying. It was a trophy buck, a stalk of a lifetime, and I had nothing to show for it except a disgusted look on my face. I went back to find my friend and my pack. I found him and he asked what happened. After I ran out of excuses, we were on our way again. It was about 10:30am and we made our way over two other gulches. At the top of one plateau, we came across another herd. This time the deer were bedded. We planned the stock and crawled our way to the bedded deer. Taking the path of least resistance, we crawled on the existing deer trail. The animals were all bedded in a small pocket surrounded by Kiawe trees. We finally made it safely to a huge boulder that provided us with cover. I was after another huge buck. He was only 25 yards away but I had no shot. We couldn't move either. I was pinned down behind that boulder. There were at least 10 deer around us. Focusing on the buck, I decided to sit and wait until it stood or moved to give me a shot. Luck needed to be on our side, we were so close that if the wind just swirled a little, it would be game over. After about 15 min, the buck's sixth sense kicked in. He got up and slowly walked away to my left. It was just way too thick to shoot. I couldn't risk the shot. His movement caught the attention of a few other deer. Off to the right, another axis buck got out of his bed and started to walk towards a clearing. I was going to get a second chance. He made it to the clearing which was little over 25 yards away. Once again I came to full draw, picked a spot (white one of course! LOL)! and let her rip. I was so focused, I saw the yellow and white feathers spin beautifully to and through the buck. The four blade Muzzy passed though that deer with no problem! He immediately bolted, but dropped, tumbled and flipped less than 75 yards away. I felt like screaming and jumping for joy, but I knew better because not all the deer had spooked. We waited until all the deer moved on before approaching my downed deer. I hugged my friend as if I'd won the lottery. Although I missed the trophy buck, I had just harvested my dream animal with my longbow. It was now my friend's turn. I'm saving that story for another day. Needless to say we didn't get back home til ten that night! This was one of my greatest hunts of all time. I had fulfilled one of my greatest dreams as a kid hunting in Hawaii.
Aloha!
Ryan
Topic: Ryan 'S2' Sanpei up top...... (Read 725 times)
