Ezo-Jika (Sika) Hunting In Hokkaido, Japan

I was finally able to schedule time to go to Hokkaido this year for another Ezo-Jika (Sika) stag hunt. Hokkaido is the northernmost inhabited island in Japan and ius know for it's giant brown bears "Hi-Guma", and huge Ezo-Jika (called Sika in the US and NZ). We went very late this year, missing the rut & post-rut by more than a month. I still was successful in taking two nice stags, one around 130kg and then the monster pictured here, at about 150kg!!!

Picture below is the SK-1 with my new friend and top quality guide, Eric Rose. I had the pleasure of hunting with Eric for 2 days and he took me to some of the land that he has negotiated access and hunting rights to. If it were not for his very well established network of land owners and ranchers, I would have never been able to get anywhere near this area which turned out to be some of the wildest country I have been to in all of Japan, and by the way, home to some massive stags!
The Trip: Imagine the opening scene from the Beverly Hillbillies...that was me with three members of my hunting club, loading our gear into a Pajero for the long haul to Hokkaido. One of my buddies, MW, has been with me on all of my previous Hokkaido hunts and we hunt together almost every weekend. He has killed more deer in our area that anyone I know, averaging over a hundred a year! The other two guys, TK and MK were both on a hunt with me for the first time, and only one had ever been to Hokkaido. As it turns out I was 17 years younger than then next youngest guy, and 28 years younger than the oldest...you can do the math and see who would be doing all the work!
A four hour highway ride got us to the ferry terminal in Oarai where we boarded and were off to Hokkaido. 19 1/2 hours later we made it to Hokkaido Tomokamai port, then had a 6 hour drive to Hiroo to check into our Ryokan (a small hotel that caters to hunters and timber workers).
Day one was pretty much uneventful due to the fact that there was almost no game in our planned area due to the heavier snow that we predicted. Mid afternoon saw us traveling down to Erimo Misaki where the snow was gone but the cold (-12C.) and high winds made scouting tough. Late in the afternoon we stumbled across 3 deer feeding in a deep ravine. A closer look revealed 2 small stags and one large stag. One shot later and the large one was down, but it took an hour to dress him and carry him out of the ravine. Picture the scene with the first-timer snapping photos and the oldest member struggling with his over sized pants, and me elbow deep field dressing. I knew it! He turned out to be the biggest stag I have ever taken so I was quite excited!
The next day we got completely skunked, seeing but a handful of hinds, and no significant stags. MW took a nice Ezo-Kitsune though (Hokkaido Fox). That night my buddy Eric drove down from Kushiro and picked me up and took me back up to Kushiro. (Thank you again to Eric and his family for letting me crash at their place!!!!). Morning came way too soon and at was a 'brisk' -13C. when we loaded up the truck and headed for the hills. We drove to some of the ranches he has rights to and glassed a whole lot of terrain. We saw some very big stags, but were unable to get into a suitable location for a stalk. The day was filled with some amazing animals in some awe-inspiring terrain, but no deer on the meat hook that night. I also got to meet some of Eric's rancher buddies, and helped out with preparing antlers from a previous hunt, and I even learned a few new tricks in skull preparation.
Day 2 of Kushiro hunting has us setting out on foot to hike, glass, and stalk. The plan was to hike into a deep winding river valley and work our way up the river bottom and on the highland pastures from the bottom corner of a block of land to the opposite corner where we would end up at another ranch for a ride back. Little did I know that this would be a 7+ hour effort, and the block of land looks to be about 10km x 12 km on Google Earth, with no roads in it! We hiked up and down frozen slopes, scrambled across slippery banks along the river, rappelled slopes using Kuma-Zasa as improvised rope, trudged through 2 foot deep Kuma-Zasa grass bent down by the weight of a few inches of snow, crunched through snow and ice that cracked so loudly that we were sure every deer in the county had heard us, had only one boot go through the ice (knee deep only!).. We spotted some very nice stags sunning but were unable to get close enough for a shot. At one field we unexpectedly jumped three huge stags and I missed 2 snap-shots. This was enough to get me down, but Eric kept pushing through, confident we would be successful! We also stumbled on a nice stag that had expired overnight. A close examination showed no injury from hunters, but rather a poorly healed broken rear leg, and clear signs of a horrific wild dog attack overnight. That certainly did not help our hunting either!
We ended up at the other ranch, exhausted but totally satisfied with such an amazing hike, the sight of some great stags, and the beauty of Hokkaido at it's wildest. Eric still had a few more rabbits up his sleeve though-When talking to the rancher, he recalled seeing a great stag coming to one of his remote fields "every afternoon at 3:00pm"..."sure" I thought, but it was certainly worth a try.
We carpooled back to Eric's hunting rig and drove toward the area the rancher recommended. We 'decided' that the deer lived in the mountains to the west and would come down from them to the field so we would need to hurry to get in place to ambush them as they got near the fields. Not a good plan...as we approached three stags were a few km to the south working their way north (coming from the exact opposite way they were 'supposed' to). Change of plans: We regrouped and 'decided' they would travel north, cross a public road into a pasture, continue on across that pasture then a set of railroad tracks, then to the field they were supposedly going to. We ran 800m down the tracks to set up an ambush when they made it over the tracks. The deer decided otherwise and traveled west with no intention of crossing the road, pasture, or tracks! We ran back, drove a few km further west to get ahead of them and finally picked out a single track dirt trail that was not in use that we might be able to swiftly stalk down toward the deer. A very quick but stealth stalk ensued, crouching, duck walking, and then crawling toward where the deer were likely to head, then there was nothing! I looked everywhere and could not see the deer! Miles of open terrain and I lost them in just a few minutes! "Wait! That looks like antlers!" They were right in front of me in a depression in the land that was not visible from a distance, slowly and cautiously grazing westward at about 50 meters from me. Every time I saw their antlers all drop to graze, I slinked along trying to be invisible behind just a thin strip of uncut meadow grass. I stopped and took a good USMC kneeling firing position and held fast. The next minute seemed like 10 minutes but they traveled the next 3 meters westward and began to emerge from the depression. The biggest stag was a little spooked, sniffing the air, and I decided I could wait no further. I squeezed off one round and he crumpled. He tired to stand once and fell back down for good. This monster was down! My Savage Arms single-shot, bolt action 12 gauge, with Federal Premium Vital-Shok 3 inch magnums with Barnes Expander bullets was certainly worth the 680 Yen (over $8.00)!
Eric and I took some time to marvel at the magnificent stag, took a round of pictures to preserve the memory of this fine animal and this fantastic hunting experience, and then got to work dressing him out and ready for transport.
That night I had to return to Hiroo and we departed the following morning for Gotemba once again. That 19 hour ferry ride and 9 hours of driving that I dreaded, was barely enough to help me recover from the extreme effort that Eric and I went through on the trail, but was a great way to end a hunt, with time to re-live every aspect and detail of the entire hunt. This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
I wish I was a better writer and could explain better how memorable this entire hunt was!
I am already dreaming of Hokkaido next year!!!!
See you in the Yama!
SK-1 OUT!!!

Got him!

Well, the naysayers are quiet tonight! I get a lot of strange looks and head shaking when the Japanese hunters realize I spend way too much time in the woods, studying tracks, trying to pattern the game, and sitting in my blinds and tree stand. It payed off this afternoon with this monster 9 or 10 year old buck that I was able to locate about 50 meters from where I sat last week. I am sure he is the one I saw on my way out of ther woods last week. Sure as clockwork, he rolled in about 45 minutes before sunset. After 2 long minutes of him freezing behind a clump of small trees, and me frozen behind the bush, he made the mistake of taking a step forward. I had his shoulder in my scope the entire time, waiting for him to give me the clear shot. That 20cm step was all it took. He dropped in his tracks and was dead before I made the slow and cautious 30 meter walk to him.
He got some revenge though, as my lower back is killing me from hoisting him into my "monster kei truck" by myself.
I am off to my buddy's garage to do kaitai (butchering) in a few minutes, after I eat my dinner but I was so excited I had to share the pictures below!

See you in the yama!

SK-1 OUT!

Hunting Season 2008: "the first 2 weeks"

Hello all!

Hunting season snuck up on me this year! I was spending a lot of time with our move into our new house, and several trips to the states, so I was not as ready for the season as I would have liked to be. "All is well that ends well" is a quote that definitely describes the first 2 weeks of this hunting season:

13 Nov: took a power walk in the woods to check my still five different hunting blinds from last year, cleared the dry leaves and trimmed a few branches, and fortunately saw a lot of fresh tracks. Scouted an area I have been meaning to set my tree stand in, and made a plan to hang it on the 14th.

14 Nov: went with the wife and daughter to hang my stand and realized that there was a major horse riding event on opening day just 150 meters from my stand! Normally I hunt on the weekdays so the horse stable is closed. Looks like no tree stand for opening day!

15 Nov: Opening day came and went with me only getting 2 hours in the afternoon in my blind.

16 Nov: 3:30pm a nice 5 1/2 year old "Ma-Jika" (Original Japanese Sika Deer) made the fatal mistake of strolling across the creek about 40 meters east of my stand. One slow and easy shot stopped him in his tracks! Fresh meat in the freezer!

17 Nov: 4:00pm I spotted a monster Nihon Jika (modern Japanese Sika Deer) about 85 meters west of my stand. With the sun setting behind him I kept losing him in the glare and he appeared to turn around and walk away. About 10 minutes later he reappeared on the top of the slope almost directly across the creek from my stand! I instantly recognized him as one of the two brothers that had eluded me all last season! After a few anxious moments and several false starts toward the creek, he made the mistake of thinking it was all clear...1 carefully placed hydra-shok hollow point ended his journey. Now the hard part began..after field dressing him, and saving the heart in a bag for the BBQ later, I needed to call one of my hunting buddies to drag him up out of the creek bed. I sat in the dark for about an hour before my friend to arrive then we did the double drag up the hill and another 150 meters to the nearest trail my mini kei truck can negotiate. This was a very late night with us not finishing kaitai (butchering) this huge deer and packing the meat for freezing nut it was well worth it! Since I took a high neck shot, not a scrap of meat was wasted! BTW, he will make a nice trophy as soon as I finish my garage!

18 Nov: The family and I traveled to all our neighbors' homes delivering fresh venison to all! Everyone was please with our gift, but I was but I was the happiest seeing all this meet help out so many people!

19 Nov: Another afternoon in the lowest blind along the creek, less than 200 meters below where I took the huge buck 2 days earlier, a huge buck appeared from my blind spot on the left and had already crossed the creek and was on my side! A closer look indicated that he was definitely a shooter about 4 1/2 years old so I loaded a round in the chamber and shouldered my gun. After about 5 minutes of him meandering around behind some thick brush, he started toward the scrub oak stand behind me and stepped into a shooting lane I had cleared 2 years back. Big mistake! He joined his older brother in my freezer. The perfect broadside shot exploded his heart but ruined very little meat, ribs on one side and a small piece of shoulder on the other.

20-28 Nov: 2 dozen hours in the woods and only spotted a dozen deer. Since it is either sex season, any of them could have been shot but I do not want to waste any meat, and am very cautious about killing a doe that may have a fawn with her.

29 Nov: Hunted with the local hunting association for one of 5 group hunts we will have this year. 18 members, 4 missed shots by other hunters, and I closed the day with a single neck shot and put a nice 4 1/2 year old Ma-Jika on the butcher block. After the meat was divided up everyone got a few kilos, that's it.

30 Nov: I thought I had figured out the pattern of a big buck that has been spotted several times in a lower area of our range, between t creek beds. I sat in my stand until sunset and saw absolutely no animals except one crow headed home. I packed my gear and trekked back to my truck. While I was driving home, on a tiny trail about 150 meters from my stand location, a horse jumped in front of my truck and then jumped into the brush! Well, that's my story!!! Actually, it was a huge bodied, heavy racked buck with a super dark coat. He scared the life out of me! I set my mind on it and I will be hunting for him specifically until the last day of the season! It is an obsession!

I'll keep you posted!

See you in the Yama!

SK-1 OUT!

Holidays with NAS-1

Welcome back from the holidays! What a hectic holiday season it has been! I hope everyone had memorable and safe holidays and that everyone managed to make it to the woods, even if only for a day.
My son, "NAS-1", came to visit for the holidays. Even with all the holiday shopping, traveling and visiting with family, we still made it into the woods a few days. With no significant snowfall yet, and temps below zero C. we have not had any good wild boar (inoshishi) yet, but deer (shika) hunting has been very good though. NAS-1 and I had a few uneventful days in the field going over track recognition, hunting safety, and firearm safety. These were great days, hanging out together!
On Sunday 30 Dec 07 NAS-1 joined me on a group hunt on the foothills of Mount Fuji. We found a nice fresh boar track in the morning but it gave our group the slip. I will be looking for him the rest of the season. In the afternoon hunt, we sat on a hill overlooking a bend in a creek and the edge between the pines and hardwoods. My partners jumped a deer about a mile below us along the creek and thought it had ran out where we had no hunters. I heard some motion in the thick brush below us and moved uphill about 10 meters to see if I could listen better. White Antlers! That is all I saw swaggering between the bushes approaching the treeline. I signalled to NAS-1 and took up a kneeling shooting position. When I pulled up my gun, all I saw was bushes with white antlers sticking out. Talk about buck fever all over again! I knew I had only a tiny space between the trees to get a clear shot on this big buck, but only if he continued walking in the same direction, and did not see or smell us. I saw his shoulder come into clear view about 70 meters below me and I let a slug rip. The bullet penetrated about 1cm in front of his right shoulder and exited about 1 cm into his left shoulder. He dropped in his tracks (thanks to Federal Premium Vital Shok 12ga 3" Magnum!).
NAS-1 saw his first monster buck taken, and first ever Sika taken. He then helped out field dressing, and later, butchering this fine animal. Check out the photos of us with this monster Sika.
I think NAS is hooked and he is already planning his next visit!
Well, it is back to work for me on Monday so I better sign out now.
See you in the woods!
SK-1 OUT!

Hunting Update 2007:

Thanksgiving weekend was a great time in the mountains! The weather was great and SK-1 put three nice Sika deer in the freezer:

Thanksgiving Day 22 Nov 2007: SK-1,2,&3 enjoyed an awesome traditional Thanksgiving feast with friends. We all gathered at Jon & Noriko's place for a truly family-style event. Many of the younger folks from our jobs attended too, but they left early. We hung out with the "older" folks until late in the evening enjoying the friendship, conversation, and great food! Today was a great day!

Friday 23 Nov 2007: SK-1 and Guest Hunter. Jarrod Agent, headed to the mountain with high hopes, but this quickly faded with little to no game moving. 15 minutes before quitting time a monster buck made the mistake of showing himself and that was the last mistake he ever made! Standing broadside at about 20 meters through thick underbrush, the bullet found a path straight through. Check out the photo of this fine animal we were able to take. Ole' Jarrod sure knows his way around the mountain. He can not only shoot, but he can track, field dress, and butcher with the best of them. It was a pleasure to have him along and that buck will make a one-of-a-kind trophy for him when he returns to the states!

Saturday 24 Nov 2007: KS-1 took to the mountain early enough to spot a very nice "Ma-Jika" (Original Japanese Sika) with a cute, well-balanced, "basket" style set of antlers. A well placed shot from about 60 meters put him down instantly. The antlers are very small compared to the modern Japanese Sika but his 4 year old body will feed us well. I also made some venison chops and we will be trying out a new European recipe with them later this month!

Sunday 25 Nov 2007: Today was the Tamaho Bunkai Makigari (Tamaho Hunting Club Group Hunt). We had 18 members show up and hunted a very large tract of land on a fairly steep mountainside. At the morning hunt our members took one nice buck and seven management deer (this year the government wants us to reduce the doe population so they set a target of one doe per person per day).
In the afternoon hunt the drivers only stirred up 4 deer (two small does and a 3 year old buck) and SK-1 was able to connect from his blind with a bullet through 50 meters of light brush. Our freezer is now full!
After butchering all nine of the deer taken, it was good to get home in time for a late dinner with SK-2 and get some rest before going back to the office on Monday.

It was a good weekend!

SK-1 OUT

Hunting Update 18 Nov 06

Cold weather is upon us! It was freezing in the mountain today! It stayed at zero most of the day but the storm clouds whipped by overhead and the wind had everyone feeling quite cold!

I made a late start but still made it in time for the day's first makigari (group hunt). We had 9 members of the 52 club today, not a bad turnout. We did a drive for shika and only flushed two, both bucks. Takenobu missed 2 shots.

We had the first mountain lunch with a huge camp fire, that helped warm us from the cold, and brought back lost of great memories of hunting in the mountain!

We had a long afternoon hunt to no avail and broke company at 3 pm. I headed straight to the river to my second ground blind.

I sat down about 3:25, after rushing to my spot. I finally settled in and slowed down just in time for the wind to stop and the sun to come out! I was checking my watch, counting down the minutes to last legal shooting time and about 15 minutes before sunset, I heard the familiar sounds of a deer casually making it's way down the creek bed. Since the wind had stopped there was just a slight downward breeze so the wind was in my favor. As the deer approached I was a bit confused: He had the dark brown and black markings of a mature buck but he had only ipon-zuno (spikes). I studied him and realized he is probably a 3 year spike, which should probably be taken as a management deer. He had no idea I was watching him and he mulled about for about 7 or 8 minutes, working his way downstream. I Had a dozen opportunities to take this deer but I enjoyed watching him too much. I was worn out from yesterday's deer, hauling it out of the woods and butchering it. The spike started to smell something that concerned him and raised his nose several times sniffing deeply. Suddenly he froze and looked up river. I thought (hoped) that is was another deer coming to join him. It turned out that he had caught my scent (or the campfire I stood next to at lunch). He thought about it and sniffed a few times then bolted up the opposite bank to the pine forest above. Maybe he will grow out of those spikes in a few years and we will meet again...

SK-1 OUT

Hunting Update 17 Nov 07

The first 4 days of hunting season have been very busy! Here is what's been happening:

Thursday 15 Nov 07: At sunrise I went to the mountain to meet up with the other members of the 52 Club. Since it was a workday, only Toshirou and Takenobu were able to make it. Yoshinoiri showed up late and we began the first Makigarai (group hunt) of the season. We did a slow, quiet drive and pushed 2 groups of deer but since we only had one stander, Yoshinori, they all got away. I had chores at home so went home for lunch and stacked firewood.

In the afternoon, I headed to one of my favorite creeks and walked about 1,500meters up the creek to check out the trails and animal traffic. My new Muck Co boots worked great! I was happy to find all kinds of traffic in this area. Since the weather is still warm, I had incorrectly assumed the deer would still be at lower elevations. I hastily cleared up 2 ground blinds for use the next day.

Friday 16 Nov 07: I couldn't go to the mountain this morning, I wanted to stay home and have breakfast with SK-2 & SK-3. Had some great home cooked chow and then headed to the yama. I checked my 2 new ground blinds, and lightly trimmed some shooting lanes, then headed home for lunch.

On my way to my blind, I jumped 3 large does who quickly ran across the creek and up the hill on the opposite side. They taunted me with barking warnings until I was out of earshot. I thought they may have spoiled the hunt, but committed to be in my blind for the last 2 hours of light. I went through all the phases of sitting in a blind, restlessly excited, then meticulously scanning every object in view, then day dreaming, then feeling sleepy, then dozing off, and finally scared to death when I was awoken by something crashing down the opposite side of the river bed.

A monster buck was but 30 meters to my front/left when he froze, knowing something was wrong. I froze too, knowing I could not make a move without him seeing & hearing me. I immediately recognized him as one of a pair of huge bucks that regularly traverse this creek bed with an even bigger buck. After a tense standoff, he made the mistake of taking 2 steps forward, blocking me from his view behind a stand of saplings. I quietly pulled my gun to my shoulder and sighted in on where his shoulder would appear if he took another step or two. He did. I squeezed the trigger. The sound of my shotgun echoed through the river valley and the big buck just ran forward about 30 meters. He stopped and was looking around. I silently chastised myself for missing a basic shot like this. I drew on him again and mentally rechecked all parts of my shooting position and squeezed another round off. He sprinted up the river and disappeared around the first bend. The crashing noise he made as he broke through the brush was quickly replaced with the ringing of the 12 gauge, 3 inch magnum loads I just shot. I knew for sure I had missed both shots.

I secured my weapon and set out to take a look at the places he was standing to see where my bullet had impacted (above or below him). I scolded myself for not re-zeroing my gun after returning from hunting in Hokkaido a week earlier. I searched the site, digging through the heavy leaf litter and could not find an impact. Nightfall arrived as I was following his trail. After about 50 meters and lost it in a maze of deer tracks, leaves, and the quick darkness that sinks into this river basin so quickly. I crawled on my hands and knees to see if I could spot one tiny drop of blood, to no avail. I blew it! Probably the biggest deer anyone in our club would get this year just ran off! I headed home to my family, having succumb to "Buck Fever".

Saturday 17 Sep 07: I could not sleep most of the night, replaying the nightmare over and over in my head. When the alarm went off, I had a pounding headache and slept in. I finally got up and had an idea. First, I would go back to the river and research my mistake in the sunlight, then I would sight in my gun again. I couldn't believe I had made the mistakes of an amateur!

I parked my truck and donned my field gear, (wishfully thinking, "just in case I jump a deer"). I went to the last point where I saw the buck and began following the trail again. Instead of focusing on every footprint in the leaves, I focused on the direction and speed he had run. I thought out loud that if (key word "IF") one of my bullets had connected, he would have run downhill, not uphill. I took the trail headed downhill and 30 meters later, there was the buck, where he had laid all night. Luckily a cold front had just come in and the temperature was hovering around zero degrees Celsius.

The first bullet had been a lung shot and the second a heart shot. He had expired 10 seconds after he left my sight. I commenced to field dress him, then drag him out of the river basin and to a trail. Luckily I have a tiny 4X4 and 150 meters of rappelling rope so I was able to drag him with the truck up the hill. After I put him in the transport bag, I had to haul him on to the top of my engine compartment (for the short ride home). Dressed out he still topped 100KG and has a beautiful set of antlers. His rack turned out to be about 10cm bigger than the monster I took in the same location on opening day 2006! I butchered him that night and he is already being distributed to family and friends. I also save the skull for a mount.

Lesson Learned: I underestimated my first shot and rushed for a second shot. I should have watched a little longer and I would have seen he was mortally wounded. At least he was not left in the bush, as that would be a waste!