Hawaii Feral Goats and Wahoo
Most people don’t think of hunting when they think of Hawaii, but the episode starts off with Steve and Cal doing just that. They’re hunting for feral goats on the big island in Hawaii. There are no bag limits, and really no regulations. That feels like the hunter’s dream right there. As they often do in MeatEater, they show don’t mind showing mistakes and failures that happen along the way, and Steve starts off with two of them. If you’ve hunted before, especially archery hunted, you know that missed opportunities and things going wrong is the way of things. As far as bow hunting goes though, they’re stalking through some really tall grass. It’s thicker than sage brush, but quieter and softer. As I was watching, I kept thinking, man, I wish I could crawl along like that where I hunt, but I guess that’s what makes the Hawaii hunt special.
Another real to life hunting moment is when Steve doesn’t get a good hit on a goat, and then has to track it, find it, and finish it off. One thing to note is that Steve isn’t a bow hunter primarily, and it showed. His shot form wasn’t great. When you take a bow shot, you should try to not move after you release the arrow. You’ll be more accurate that way. He kind of jerked on his shot from what I saw, and I’d attribute that in part to the bad hit.
Then they go out fishing. It looks like a regular commercial style fishing rig on the ocean, like lots of people get charters for when visiting Hawaii. It looked like a lot of fun, but it wasn’t as exotic as hunting goats in Hawaii.
One thing I noticed is that they skin a lot of the fish. They also cut out the pin bones I was able to see from their fillet job, a technique that I really like, especially when preparing fish for picky people. This is more necessary on larger or ocean fish, where the bones are bigger and its a lot more dangerous if someone accidentally eats one, but I still end up doing it 75% of the time, even on fish that don’t necessarily “need” it.
Spearfishing the Big Island
The guys go spear fishing with Kimi Werner, who is a national champion spearfisher-woman.
They use a three prong fishing spear for starters, and its pretty simple to learn from the looks of things.
One of the things that Kimi points out is hunting angles and cover, and that the hunting instincts translate really well into spear fishing instincts for the most part. It’s about trying to minimize your impact and presence in order to get in and have success.
Spearfishing 5′ Hawaiian Sling Pole Spear
South Carolina Turkeys
MeatEater makes turkey hunting look easy. Maybe I just hunt difficult areas, but its never as easy as they make it seem. Granted, Steve is hunting with a turkey master, someone who was a turkey biologist, and worked his whole life hunting turkeys, and then spent the last month scouting the turkeys, but still, most people don’t have those connections. Robert Abernathy is the turkey pro. The show talks about the decoy that Robert made by gluing turkey feathers to a decoy. I’ve never had much luck with decoys out chasing gobblers, but It certainly produces good results for him.
New Mexico Archery Elk
I’ve been in elk heaven once. I was in the high mountains of Utah with a family member, helping them pack out the bull they just shot. I was in a bowl, and the elk were loud and responsive. You didn’t even have to do a good bugle. I just would let out a shrill shriek with my mouth. It didn’t sound at all like a bugle, but they would respond even to that. It was beautiful, and fun, and took me from a hunter who thought elk were cool, to an elk fanatic.
Steve experiences his own elk heaven in New Mexico. It is another one of those absurd scenarios that I feel like you only see on tv. All the stars align, and they align over and over and over again. He’s hunting with a bow, and has bull after bull in bow range. It look easy on TV, but I’ve been in that situation. It’s challenging, and nerve racking, especially when you have one of the biggest animals in north America coming right towards you. It’s exhilarating, exciting, and is the ultimate thrill. The show doesn’t quite do it justice, even though Steve says over and over that it’s really incredible.
Rinella and Jason Phelps have success, and give some decent elk hunting tips. Having so many opportunities provides opportunities to showcase what to do, and what not to do. It’s just a fun episode. It also showcases Phelps aluminum elk bugle. Most people run a plastic bugle, but it seems like that aluminum would just be a lot more durable.
Phelps Renegade Elk Bugle
New Mexico Ibex
Ibex were introduced to New Mexico in small numbers, and have both survived and thrived. They’re not native to the United States, and there aren’t a lot of them here. It’s unique, and kind of smaller, like a lot of desert game (I’m thinking cous deer and javelinas as well). These little critters are a lot like a combination between a mountain goat and a desert big horn sheep. They look like a lot of fun, and I want to hunt one.
Steve goes off chasing them up and down the New Mexico cliffs and mountains. The episode showcases the raw realities of hunting- gear failures, missed shots, disappointment, nerves, and fun. More than any of the other episodes in Season 10 part 2, this episode really captures that real authentic hunting feel that MeatEater has developed the reputation for showcasing.
From a survival standpoint (this is a prepping and emergency preparedness website), it was really cool to see a camp with both big game hunting, and small game hunting. If you were subsistence hunting, small game hunting is simpler, but only really provides you with a small amount of food. Big game is much less reliable, but when you’re successful, you’ve got meat for days, if not weeks. If you’re able to have a survival team, and have multiple hunters, it would be good to be able to have people hunting both big game and small game.
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