On September 24th, I went on a hunting trip into the Na' Pali Coast. I was all by myself and had gotten a late start at 8:00am. This was also my third trip into the coast. So far I had gotten two goats on each trip and one big goat on each trip. By big, I mean a nanny with 10 inches long horns and a billy with a 15-inch spread on the horns. I'm 16 years old and shoot a PS Bandit with 40# draw and 24-inch draw length. It had been really dry over here for over a week so the grasses on the hills were grey in color. It looked so barren to me. On my other trips it had been green and lush. I also hadn't seen any goats yet. I eventually got to Hanakoa valley which is 6 miles in and had only heard a few goat calls. So I kept on hiking into “Seven-mile Valley”. It was strange in the way that there were no goats anywhere. They're usually spying on you from on top the valley rims. I hiked a little farther. Not seeing any goats from the trail, I decided to climb up a ridge to get a good view of the valleys below me. It took me a few minutes to get to a high place on the ridge. Still I saw nothing. Then I started thinking I could hear things. As the sound grew louder, I recognized the sound of leaves being rustled and sticks snapping. Soon it was right below me and started catching glimpses of goats threw the kukui nut trees. I stood there for a while watching to see if there are any big ones but I only saw small goats. By now it was about 11:00 and I had to make some kind of move on them. I quickly ran down the ridge to the trail and hiked to the valley that they were in. I positioned myself in front of them and waited for them to come to me. Well, I blew it. I was spotted and the herd was alerted by one of the goats. Then I made an uphill shot over a goat’s back (I was shooting really junk that day) and lost my best arrow. Then I fooled around a bunch chasing the spooked herd. Then noticed that an O.K. size billy was lagging behind so I positioned myself to cut it off and did. It popped up over the hill and I arrowed it at 20 yards. It had curly horns but turned out to be a nanny. It had a 10-inch spread. While I was cleaning it, a big goat was spying on me from on top the valley rim. It looked good size. A little over 15 inch horns, I'd say. So after I got done clean my nanny, I hiked up that same ridge that I saw the goat on. This is also the same one I had climbed up earlier. I was walking up it and was weaving around bushes when I suddenly happened upon three goats grazing. I instantly jumped down behind a bush and nocked an arrow. I guess I wasn't fast enough because when I got up to shoot they were gone. So I started walking uphill to find them. It was like a maze of bushes and there was no sign of the goat I had seen. I kept walking and heard a bush shake off to my left and there was the biggest goat I had ever seen! Or at least the biggest I had seen up close. It was probably about 20 feet away and running away from me down into the valley. His horns looked like they were as wide as he was long. I was exaggerating at first. A small nanny popped out of the bush right behind him. I lost sight of the big goat right off the bat so I started walking down along the rim looking for him. I found the three smaller goats and could have killed one but I had my heart set on that big billy. After looking around, I was pretty sure that the big billy had gone up the rim instead of down. It took me a while but I eventually spotted him below and a little ahead of me. The other big billy I had seen while cleaning my goat was near the larger goat but wasn't nearly as big. I ran along the other side of the ridge until I felt confidant that I was near him. I was about to take a peek to see where he was when he popped up on the main goat trail right in front of me. Now this main goat trail isn't like a worn out trail going through some trees. This was a road! It was around six feet wide and was reduced to bare dirt with foot prints all over it. I could always see it from the hiking trail but had never been up to it before. The goat was just walking on it all alone. I was so close to him but he was walking away from me with its big horns sticking out to the sides. I waited for it to get about thirty yards away where it was obscured from my view. Then I ran up to it until I could see it again and sat behind something. Again, it was really close. He was about 30 feet from me but it still was walking away. I gave a bleat to get it to stop and hoped that it would turn broadside. It did stop but just turned his head, looked at me, and then gave a threat call to me. Then he again started walking casually up the trail. I waited and watched for a while until he finally turned broadside at nearly 30 yards. I had an arrow already nocked and figured that this was my chance. I drew back and set my third pin on his vitals. I held it there and thought that I better not try a thirty yard shot. I wasn't that good of a shot back then. I had a lot of torque and didn't want to ruin my chances. I undrew my bow and waited for him to go around this big tree. Once he had gone out of my view I again ran up to where he was until I could see him. Then I stopped and knelt out in the open. He was about 30 feet away again and I had an arrow nocked. I bleated a bunch of times but he never gave me any attention. I sat there again watching him walk farther away from me. Finally he went broadside at about 25 yards. I figured that I could handle that distance so I drew back again and placed the second pin on the vitals. Now, as I mentioned before, I wasn't sooting well that day. I released the arrow and watched it fly at the goat who had stopped and was looking at me. When I let go he turned his head and was about to run when the arrow cracked him right in the jaw. It made a loud "SMACK!" when it hit him and I yelled out a loud swear word. I watched the goat run away and out of my view. I was really bummed for a minute. I was thinking that I just ruined this goat and that it would starve to death somewhere. But then another thought made its way into my mind. Maybe I hit it in the neck. After all, the arrow did look like it hit a little far back. I started to feel confident that I might have a chance. By now it was around 3:00. I walked past where I hit it and found large blotches of blood on the ground. Then I heard the goat moaning. It sounded like he was ticked off. It was also behind a large tree so I couldn't see it. I made my way around the big tree expecting to see my goat standing up where I could make a better shot. But instead, I couldn’t see it. But I could still hear it. Then I saw a grassy bush shake and I saw his feet stick up into the air. I'm all stoked now and I was thinking that I got it when it roles and falls right off the rim. I ran over to it and saw it tumbling violently down the valley side. I lost sight of it once it reached the trees but heard it stop. I then climbed down into the valley. I could still hear the goat but its cries were getting softer. I got down to where I could see it and then I heard something below me. It was another really big goat but with slightly smaller horns. I tried to spook by yelling at it but it just stared at me for a while, giving me threats. It eventually left and I continued the climb to my goat. When I got to him, he was still alive so I finished him off with my knife. His horns were Massive and he was by far the biggest goat I had ever seen. As it turned out, the arrow had cut the windpipe and a few small blood vessels and had cut both sides of the jaw breaking it in two places. It also had cracked a horn when he rolled down the hill. I'd guess his weight was about 125 lb. I couldn't even pick him up. After that, it was a big hassle. I got sick, threw up twice, and had to stay the night. It was the coldest night in along time but a fire kept me warm. I cooked up some of the goat meat too. It was ono. I hiked out in the mourning and my mom turned out to be worried sick. A couple of weeks after this happened, I had a major operation for a Patent Ductus. I haven't been back to the Na' Pali since. All I got left of the goats are their horns hanging in my living room and his cape. I never got a picture of the big goat. I was going to mount it but decided I made too many mistakes and to make things worse, while I was in the hospital, my little dog went into my house and chewed a nice piece off from under the nose. Oh well. I'd like to say thanks to Van, Quinton, Elliot, and Mike for letting me and Daniel Saylor go hunting with them on the other trips. And I plan to go again within the next three weeks. Maybe I'll get a bigger one next time.

Got a good story you'd like to share? Click here.