Hawaii is not often thought of as a world-class hunting destination, but this island state does have quite a bit of hunting - more, probably, than the typical Hunting Report subscriber realizes. Big game species available run the gamut from mouflon sheep to goats, boar and axis deer. As for hunting territory, all of the islands have places to hunt, though to date most of the activity has taken place on Molokai, Maui, Lanai and the Big Island. In all, there are about 20 registered guides in Hawaii, though only half of them guide full-time. Of these, Eugene Yap is certainly the most familiar to Hunting Report subscribers, who have filed literally scores of reports on him over the years, all of them positive. In this report, I could have elected to tell you about a number of other outfitters, but decided instead to focus on two who have good success rates, reasonable trophy expectations and very attractive prices. They are: Gary Onuma of Lanai Company Game Management and Eugene Ramos of Hawaii Hunting Tours.
Onuma manages the hunting program for the Lanai Company, a subsidiary of Dole Foods, which owns the entire 141-square-mile island of Lanai and leases roughly one-third of it to the state for an unguided draw hunt for mouflon and deer, about which I will have more to say in a moment. The private hunt program on the other two-thirds of the island is for axis deer only. The standard axis-only hunt is a three-day affair that costs $750 plus lodging and involves only one day in the field. The day before the hunt is used for airport pick-up, sighting-in rifles (yours or their free loaner) at the range and hotel check-in. The post-hunt day is devoted to getting you off the island and back to Honolulu, or wherever you choose to go.
The hunt itself is for up to three deer, one of which may be a buck. Hunting begins at 4 a.m. and can continue until sundown. Terrain is varied among gentle pasture, dry oceanside mesquite groves and wet mountainous forests. Hunters........(continued)
