By Dan Larsson
Successful hunting brings about the urge to share. Upon receiving my trophy photo, my father commented that it looked like I was hunting on the moon’s surface. What do you know, I was hunting moon goats.
The top of Maui is nothing but the lonely remnants of a volcano. Hawaii is such an exciting mix of ecological zones. I had driven our rental jeep above the forests and climbed above the scrub brush. The loose sand and lava rock are as slippery as snot. Every step takes twice as much effort as you slide six inches down the mountain. Even so, you go where the game is to be a successful hunter.
There are goats farther down the mountain, but I enjoy hunting them on the very top of the peaks. I was an hour late after a two-hour drive, and it had been light long enough the goats were headed off for some final browsing before bedding. Just outside the public hunting area, I saw skylined figures. Throwing the binos up, Yep, a herd of goats. On the North side of the knob, there were a couple of black billys in the hunting area and feeding farther into my huntable area.
I drove up to the gate at the end of the road and started hoofing it uphill. That didn’t last long. This slip-and-slide stuff is no fun. Huffing and puffing, I would take 20 steps and stop to catch my breath. The air at 8,000 feet is slightly different from my Montana home elevation of 3,400 feet above sea level. A medium billy jumped up and stared at me for seconds before taking off. It took 20 minutes or so to reach the top. As quietly and quickly as possible, I made for a small point in the saddle where the goats had been. Nothing. I sat down to rest and look around the barren landscape.
I glanced behind me almost immediately, and a billy appeared from the ridge. Pressing the button on the rangefinder, it read 238 yards. Perfect, a dead-on hold. I had sighted the 103gr Eld-x bullets 2 inches high at 100 yards. I pulled the bipod legs down and settled onto the lava chunks. My elbows ground into the sharp grit as I aimed. Waiting for the goat to stop, I pulled the trigger. Boom! As the recoil settled, I found him in the scope. He was walloped. He ran down and died on the public hunting boundary line. Perfect.
Two more goats came out of the crevice at the sound of the shot. A bit farther, but only a little 275 yards. I worked the bolt and settled on this billy. He had a more extended horn, but...he was missing his right horn. I took the shot. He briefly ran behind a knob, and then I watched him for 100+ yards until he was out of sight. I never miss (especially at this distance), but it isn’t true. I have no idea what happened.
After I descended and butchered the first goat, I climbed up and followed where the second goat had been. Nothing. No blood. No goat. Nothing but lava rocks and sand. I went to the top and rested for a bit. I sent Jay and Dad a text message and got the moon text message. Huh, it does look like the moon.
I chose a little Howa mini rifle I love for this hunt because it is light and easy to shoot. A few days before leaving for Hawaii, I put one of Dad’s prototype 3-18x Skinner scopes on it and sighted it in. The zero was still on after three plane flights and a bumpy Jeep ride. It's always a good sign.
Hornady set me up with a bunch of their 6mm ARC 103gr hunting loads. I usually load my ammo, but it can be not easy to find components these days, and a hunter doesn’t always have time. One thing I love about Hornady is their availability. Everywhere I go, there seems to be more loaded Hornady ammunition on the shelf than any other brand. Hornady has proven themselves over and over in target shooting and hunting.
This little 103gr .243 bullet has a ballistic coefficient of .512. That is phenomenal for such a small bullet! Extremely-Low-Drag is right. Hornady used Doppler radar to find that plastic bullet tips could melt and designed a polymer tip to keep its shape at ultra-high speeds. The 6mm ARC is the baby brother of the 6.5 Grendel. My buddy and I constantly discuss and test all manner of bullets. One of his observations is that a lead core bullet does its best work impacting under 2,900 fps. That isn’t a problem with the ARC. This ammunition averaged 2,690fps out of my rifle, and the advertised B.C. was right on. I plugged the data into my phone and hit steel out to 720 yards. This is the perfect cartridge for the size of these feral Pacific goats. I hit the first goat right behind the shoulder, and the bullet exited the far side. I couldn’t have asked for better bullet performance. Thanks, Hornady!
Every day around noon, a cloud comes off the ocean and mists over the mountains. I saw it coming and hurried down off the top, stashing the meat in the shade of a tree. When I returned, 50 yellow jackets claimed my goat meat. That was a fun match of wills.
I was confident I had missed the 2nd goat and decided to keep hunting. This public hunting area has a two-goat-per-day bag limit. I hurried over the hill and found an area where the goats liked to bed. Sure enough, 50-odd goats were there but spooked. Most of them were leaving the little ravine as I spotted a one-horned goat with some good length on his left horn. Interesting. Doppelganger goat. That’ll work. I followed him down the hill and shot from 100 yards as he quartered away. Whoo-hoo! Goat down.
I found the bullet as I quartered his meat. It had opened beautifully and had shed the lead core. Upon examination, this billy (yes, all male goats share the same name, William) had a bullet graze mark on his front leg. Bingo! He had run around the point of the mountain, cut through the saddle, and headed for the bedding ground. I ended up killing the same goat I had shot at earlier that day. I couldn’t be happier about that. How did I miss the 1st time? Who knows. Sometimes, a slam dunk shot doesn’t pan out. Why? Who knows.
Tomorrow, my 12-year-old son, Enoch, is going hunting with me. It is his turn to get his goat. Yes, all pun intended. Catch you later.
— Dan