Bowhunting WAAAY out West Kauai Hawaii

[Stay Sharp]

In mid February Im taking my wife to Hawaii for a week. Im not really a beach guy so Im going to be doing some bowhunting while there. I'm still uncertain as to exactly which islands I want to hunt and what species aside from pigs (staying on Kauai but may island hop for other species) but Im going to make some new arrows and perhaps a different broadhead for this trip. I'll take the longbow and that setup is already sound and ready but I'll also take my Bowtech RPM 360 (set at 60 lbs) so Im going to make some heavy arrows ( around 10 grain per pound for 600 gr) arrows. Ive Already ordered some 100 grain brass inserts.


Ive contacted as many guides/outfitters I could find with internet searches as well as contacting some locals with pig problems. We will be staying on the SE coast of Kauai using the Kauai Marriott Lihue as home base. Sadly it looks as though the Axis deer will be in very early velvet development at that time of year so they may be off the table.


Lots of prep work to do.

Since I'm not yet certain exactly what island and what species I will be hunting and because that species list could include Vancouver bulls (Largest species on the islands) which are essentially huge feral cattle that have gone wild. I'm building a new set of heavy arrows with the emphasis on maximizing penetration so I'm building a heavy aluminum arrow with a high Front Of Center (FOC) Here are the components I'll be using.

Because I want a lot of weight up front, I want to minimize weight on the back of the arrow and because I have a low brace height on my bow I don't have room for long fletching so my choices are feathers, Blazers or Easton BTV

I plan to use 4 fletch for this build so the weight will add up. Here are the weights.

 

[Stay Sharp]

Feathers are the obvious choice, not only for the least weight but they do a great job of steering arrows. Time to get to work.

To maximize clearance I did not fletch them at 90 degrees.

To maximize spin I used a lot of twist.

 

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Perfect fit for this rest but there is a good chance I will be switching rests to a drop away rest I have been designing and prototyping on for the last year. If I dont have production parts available, I will use 3D printed prototype parts.

The front end of the arrow will be a dual shaft. The 2315 arrow will be footed by gluing 4 1/2" of 2117 aluminum arrow inside the 2315. The insert for the arrow will be in the 2117 and will end flush with the outer shaft. That adds a great deal of strength as Aluminum arrows will break at the back of the insert.

For the broadhead I'll be trying both Wensel Woodsman and Snuffer. They are similar but the Snuffer is a larger diameter head. Both heads are the same weight (125 grains). a 5mm washer between the end of the shaft and the back of the broadhead to spread the load over the end pf the shaft.

 

[Stay Sharp]

The total build weight is 605 grains.

Then it was time to paper tune to position the rest for this large arrow to get good arrow flight.

I shot the completed arrow through my chronograph and the speed is 236 FPS. The energy output from my 64 lbs. draw weight will be 75 Ft/lbs of Kinetic Energy and .6343 slugs of Momentum.

To verify good arrow flight and rest timing and clearance, I recorded a few shots at 15 yards. Here are the results.

[video=youtube_share;WlnfRsfvn0I]https://youtu.be/WlnfRsfvn0I[/video]

Next will be finishing the rest of the arrows and then testing the two broadheads for flight. More to follow.

 

[Ikeepitcold]

Nice work. Keep us posted on your hunt.

 

[Maxhunter]

Looks good keep us updated on your results on the hunt.

 

[Stay Sharp]

Checking arrow flex, fletching clearance and rest drop.

[video=youtube;KpsBvvCZHLY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpsBvvCZHLY[/video]

 

[Chase0621]

axis deer would be a awesome animal to hunt. My buddy did it when we were stationed out there and got a pretty nice deer. He also said it tasted really good too. Good luck with your hunt!

I'm sure you know this already but the island of Lanai and Maui are the primary islands to hunt axis deer.

Axis deer are hunted March through October on Maui, Lanai and Molokai. Hunts start at $1,950 and are guided 1x1. There is a $500 trophy fee for bucks that have 27-inch or bigger main beams.
For a Spanish goat, the hunt costs $900. For a trophy Polynesian boar, the hunt costs $800. A sheep hunt (mouflon or black Hawaiian) costs $1,250 with a $250 trophy fee for a ram with 30-inch horns.
A hunt for Vancouver bulls, the wild cattle of the Big Island, costs $1,950. There is a $550 trophy fee for bulls with a combined horn length of 30 inches or more.
The season for upland birds runs October through February. A half-day guided hunt costs $400. Turkey hunting (Rio Grandes) runs from March 1 to mid-April. A one-day hunt costs $650.

 

[Stay Sharp]

Today I mounted a couple of the Wensel Woodsman and a couple Snuffers to see if there is a difference in flight. I would really like to use the larger diameter Snuffers.

Not exactly Hawaii but you do what you have to do.

I shot both heads from 10 to 40 yards and was pleased that both heads fly the same and have the same impact point. With my whitetail arrows I had roon in my sight housing for 5 pins from 20 to 60 yards. With these heavy arrows I will only have room for 20 through 50 yards.

 

[Stay Sharp]

Arrow Build update. I've been having a problem with exploding nocks. The reason may be bad plastic or the extreme forces trying to get this arrow moving from a dead stop out of a speed bow. Whatever the reason, the nocks seem to split right down the center line leaving 2 halves on each side of the nock groove. This could lead to an expensive dry fire so instead of using the tapered end of the shaft and standard nocks and glue to attach them I cutting the backs of the arrows off (removing the swagged taper) and installing uni-bushings with lighted nocks. There is an increase in weight to the back end but not splitting nocks is priceless and now I can spin/rotate the nocks and I can use lighted nocks so the advantages outweigh the negatives

The small additional weight on the back end will be offset by the fact that I am replacing the 45 grain aluminum broadhead adapters with 100 grain steel adapters to reduce the risk of breakage at the stress points should I hit a hard object.

This boosts the total broadhead weight to 234 grains

The new total arrow weight is now 691 grains.

I shot the new arrows through my chronograph and the speed is now 221.3 feet per second. The Kinetic Energy is 75 ft/lbs and the Momentum is .68 slug. This is an improvement from the prior arrow build with the added bonus of improving the FOC from 19% to 19.7%. When the temps climb above zero I will sight from 20 to 50 yards but in the meantime I took some slow motion footage of rest drop and fletching clearance.

[video=youtube;QDCsIhNAT2E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDCsIhNAT2E[/video]

 

[Stay Sharp]

With the bitter cold, I went to the local archery shop to shoot indoors today so I could film slow motion footage of these 691 grain arrows with lighted nocks so I could evaluate arrow flight. Here is the footage at 30 and 40 yards.

[video=youtube_share;t7in_1FXl1Y]https://youtu.be/t7in_1FXl1Y[/video]

 

[Stay Sharp]

40 yards

[video=youtube_share;KRhRZwad4u4]https://youtu.be/KRhRZwad4u4[/video]

 

[Stay Sharp]

Shooting again today at 45 yards with a different camera angle. The camera is just off to the left of the bow to capture arrow flex. This camera position makes it appear the arrows are flying tail right (they are not) Its just the camera angle so the archer's paradox can be viewed.

[video=youtube_share;Hr8uD4BdyYE]https://youtu.be/Hr8uD4BdyYE[/video]

 

[DanPickar]

Nice to see your passion for your setup! I've hunted Kauai a few times. Take your bow in to Na'pali coast on the other side of the island. It's an overnight hike but an epic place to hunt and arrow goats. Some of my buddies hunt pigs on Kalaheo but they've started to charge now. huntfishkauai.com They are great guys and know their stuff. A good option if you want to go fishing too. Vancouver bulls are pretty sparse on Kauai, I've only seen a few and they only live in a couple canyons.

 

[Stay Sharp]

The back ends of the arrows are all set

So it was time to focus on sharpening the front ends.

Here is a video of the process used to get them hunt ready.

[video=youtube;pI-wCgP_Z0U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI-wCgP_Z0U[/video]

 

[Stay Sharp]

Here is how the broadheads are made.

[video=youtube;Z9_2embxs4I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9_2embxs4I[/video]

 

[Stay Sharp]

My bow has to travel about 4,000 thousands miles on trucks and planes to get to Hawaii and the current padding in the case sorely lacking for the rigors of such a trip.

A little foam and double sided tape later.

 

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The broadheads also need safe passage so a rubber padded box is in order.

 

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The quiver is set.

The knife is a whole other story. The L39 knife has a good story to tell but that is for another time. I used a knife sharpening guide Im developing to put an edge on it.

Im still rethinking the location and mounting of the Ultimate predator camera on the bow. I think it can be improved upon.

 

[Stay Sharp]

I really like the Ultimate Predator Adventure cam for all the features (far better than Go-Pro in my opinion due to things like the ability to zoom, no fish eye , better low light filming) and last year I designed a bow mount and made one on my 3D printer. The 3D printed mount was sound but the supplied housing for the cam allowed too much swing and flex upon release of an arrow. While capturing slow motion footage of the new arrow rest, it was easy to see just how much the camera moved upon release and why the footage I was getting was too blurry to be a value in regards to arrow impacts.

My first printed mount also stuck out to far to the side of the bow so when laying the bow on its side, the camera took all the load. The plan is to design and make a better mount that eliminates the supplied housing and to move the cam from below the sight bar to above the sight bar with a single piece housing bolted right to the sight bracket.

Looking forward to seeing if this mount will improve stability upon arrow release.