First off not many members on Tradgang know me because I have stayed relatively quiet. My name is Steve and I am a commercial fisherman on the central coast of California and I want start by thanking everyone on this site for their input and helping me acheive goals faster than I could have by myself. A couple weeks ago i flew to the Big Island of Hawaii with my brother to visit my mom and brought my longbow in hopes of hunting goats. I could go on forever with this story but ill spare you all and get to the point. The first day was a scouting mission (which means I didnt get close enough
) and learned that we had our hands full with the terrain. You can forget about being sneaky on lava rock... besides not having much cover, it is louder than dry autumn leaves.
We hiked south along the coastline about a mile reaching a small hill that would potentially be a great spot to sit and glass the area. Eager to get up and see the area, I climbed the hill too fast. My heart sank as I watched a big herd of goats spring from there beds and tear off over a field of lava, up a mountainside and disappear. There beds were on the ocean side of what almost looked like a big crater in the hill. A truly amazing sight. (sorry no action shots this time, all were shot after the fact for the story)
We left for the morning and returned in the afternoon hoping to catch them before bedding down for the night. Halfway there my brother and I glassed over the hill only to find the goats were already there... and laying down on our side giving us no chance to stalk without being seen. We sat there for the rest of the evening watching humpback whales breaching not 200-300 yards off the beach and soaking in the sunset. A Beautiful day I was thankful to share with a brother.
We got up early the next morning and hiked to the bedding ground before daylight. I circled wide to the other side of the hill and got into position behind some lava rock and waited for my brother to spook the goats over to me. As daylight came I waited anxiously for the goats. Minutes later I heard what sounded like thunder rolling my way. The Goats were coming! Trying to calm my nerves I got into shooting position. Goats started rolling over the hill at 15-20 paces. Picking a spot on the first goat that paused I let and arrow fly... and missed!!! My shot was low and sparks bursted from the rock as my arrow skipped away.