Seventy years ago, a kindly man took a teenager under his wing and introduced him to hunting. I have adopted that lifestyle ever since, pursuing game animals large and small in the five states in which I resided. Over time, I developed a partiality to hunting upland game birds over pointing dogs.
It was the variety and abundance of huntable bird populations, along with some of the friendliest people on Earth that brought me to the Island of Hawaii 25 years ago. Where else could a hunter approach a locked-up gundog, not knowing whether the critter under his nose was a 3-ounce Japanese quail, a 20-pound Rio Grande turkey, or any one of the 14 other feathered flyers on the island’s game bird list? For me, these were the best of times. Where have they gone?
Early signs of diminished game bird populations were apparent in the reduced numbers seen feeding along the sides of rural roadways. A former harbinger of seasonal hunting success – the count of game bird roadkill observed along high-speed sections of Saddle Road – was virtually zero. Now halfway through the 2017-2018 season, many hunters have given up for lack of any measure of harvest success.
There has been an ebb and flow of game bird abundance over the years, which most believed to be driven by the amount, distribution, and timing of rainfall. In years when the mountain was green in the spring, good hunting usually followed in the fall. In the past two years however, there has been a very noticeable decline in Big Island game bird populations, and it’s unlikely it is drought-related. There appears to have been more than adequate precipitation. In many locations the brush is hip-deep, impenetrable by birds, dogs and humans.
Over the past several years, fireweed (Senecio madagascariensis) has all but covered the western slopes of Maunakea, and is now found on the eastern side of the mountain. A 2013 release of a biological control agent, the Madagascan fireweed moth (Secusio extensa), does not appear to have been effective in halting its spread. Hunters traveling fireweed-infested roads experience blizzards of blowing seed pods, resulting in clogged radiators and overheated engines.
In a December 2016 meeting with representatives of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the writer stated he found evidence of fireweed in the crops of Erckel’s francolins and ring-necked pheasants. A 2005 UH-Manoa report indicated poultry were the second most susceptible animal group to the adverse effects of fireweed’s pyrrolizidine alkaloid poisoning. DLNR indicated it would look into the possibility of fireweed poisoning. I don’t know if any subsequent follow-up activity occurred.
In his classic 1933 publication, Game Management, Aldo Leopold related a 1928 episode in Georgia in which fire ants destroyed over 12 percent of quail nests by invading the eggs as they pipped. Fire ants constitute another widespread and as yet uncontrolled species that has invaded the island over the past few years. Could this noxious insect have some bearing on Hawaii Island’s game bird decline? It would appear to be worth a cursory review.
It has also been suggested that unusually heavy spring precipitation may have played a part in the spread of a fatal disease among newly hatched chicks, although there is no known factual evidence to support the speculation one way or the other.
Whether either or any of the potentially adverse causes described is related to the observed decline in game bird abundance remains unknown. What is known is that something is inhibiting their production, and it is not limited to any one species. It is also clear that DLNR, the department assigned the statutory duty to “manage and administer the wildlife and wildlife resources of the state” and to “gather and compile information and statistics concerning the area, location, character, and increase and decrease of wildlife in the State” [HRS §183D], is the agency responsible for addressing the problem.
In the past, DLNR and hunting community volunteers conducted bird population surveys prior to each hunting season. Traveling assigned and consistent routes, observers recorded game birds seen by number and specie. Game bird counts subsequently fell into disuse under waning DLNR leadership and interest. Were they continued, declining abundance trends may have been detected at an earlier date.
Over the past 30 years, DLNR’s priorities have increasingly focused on native species protection. Some believe there has been a virtual exclusion of attention to game animals, except as targets for eradication and control. The Hawaii State Constitution states “all public natural resources are held in trust by the State for the benefit of the people.” It does not differentiate between native and introduced species, an arbitrary distinction employed by many when discussing wildlife. DLNR’s statutory responsibility to manage and administer wildlife resources is also clearly stated. There is no modifier preceding wildlife, indicating its application is to all wildlife, including game animals.
The described public resource decline may provide an indication of things to come. Left unaddressed, game bird hunting in Hawaii could become an activity of the past; fondly recalled by only a few.
But that doesn’t mean hunters have to sit idly by and watch their prerogative to a chosen lifestyle disappear. They need to get involved and demand Hawaii’s game resources be managed in accordance with constitutional and statutory mandates, under a plan that incorporates elements essential for resource sustainability, and to which they have input and oversight. We need to work together to find where all the island’s game birds have gone, and what needs to be done to bring them back.
Richard Hoeflinger is a Hawaii Island hunter and gundog trainer.
