They also contribute to solving an at least $1 million annual burden on Maui’s environment and broader food system: Inflated deer populations are destroying watersheds, eating away farmers’ crops and stealing cattle forage. Axis deer are abundant across Hawaii, especially on Maui and Molokai, where they are both an invasive species and important source of food for certain communities. Helmer rarely buys any meat at all from a store. They harvest hundreds of pounds of meat from these deer each year, feeding their families and communities. “If you go up and use that other gun, we’re done.”įor these camouflaged folk, hunting and fishing is as ordinary as grocery shopping and serves the same function. “If you use that air rifle, they’re not going to get spooked,” Helmer said before he left. Father and son push in the opposite direction, into an overgrown gulch and upward into the southern hills. Helmer splits off, following the basin-like topography from north to south, hoping the deer catch wind of him and flee toward Betts and Fisher. Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat/2022įisher and his father Hunter Betts, 37, make a whispered plan with their friend and hunting partner Troy Helmer, 60, after the first kill. Father and son duo Hunter Betts, 37, and Fisher Betts, 10, hunt together to feed their family and bond. The suppressed rifle is silent enough to prevent startling more than 200 other deer grazing the hillside, but powerful enough to down the spotted ungulate. It’s his first deer of the day, shot from fewer than 100 yards from where his dad parked their truck. The trigger was squeezed by 10-year-old Fisher Betts. To hear more, subscribe to Stemming The Tide on your favorite podcast app.ĪUWAHI, MAUI – The first doe dies before the sun ascends over the hills of southern Maui.Īnd, with a thwack of metal on flesh, the deer scampers before hitting the ground behind a tree. Audio: Listen to the accompanying podcast for this article.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |