Department of Land and Natural Resources

DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES
News Release

DAVID Y. IGE GOVERNOR

SUZANNE D. CASE CHAIRPERSON

For Immediate News Release March 13, 2018

DLNR ANNOUNCES GOAT HUNTING TO OPEN ON KAUA‘I

HONOLULU — The Department of Land and Natural Resources is pleased to announce the opening of archery, muzzleloader, and regular rifle hunting seasons for feral goats on the island of Kaua‘i.  Pursuant to Title 13, Chapter 123 “Rules Regulating Game Mammal Hunting,” the following rules and conditions will be in effect for the hunt:

2018 KAUA‘I GOAT HUNTING SEASON
Hunting Season	Fees		Unit(s) Open to Hunting	Season Duration	Bag Limits
	Resident	Non-Res.
Archery Season	$5.00	$25.00	Units F	July 1st through August 27, 2018; Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday & State Holidays	Two goats and one pig per archer per hunting day
			Unit K	July 1st through August 26, 2018; Saturday, Sunday & State Holidays
			Unit A	June 2-3, 2018 (One Weekend Only)	Two goats per tag issued and one pig per archer per hunting day
			Units G	Year-round; Daily	No limit; goat and pig Permit Required
Youth, Senior Citizens, and disabled hunters Muzzleloaders Only season	$5.00	$25.00	Unit A	June 9-10, 2018 (One Weekend Only)	One goat per tag issued and one pig per hunter per hunting day
Regular Rifle and Muzzleloader Season	$15.00	$30.00	Units A Muzzleloader Only	June 16th to August 26, 2017; Saturday and Sunday only (Two weekends/hunter)	Two goats per permit-tag; Two permits issued/ hunter
			Units B	May 4th to August 27, 2018: Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday (Two slots/hunter)	Two goats per permit-tag; Two permits issued/hunter

Payments via mail must be in the form of a personal check or a money order. No cash will be accepted through the mail.  All qualified applicants will be issued permits and all application fees and tag fees are non-refundable.

ARCHERY ONLY SEASON:  Kaua‘i archers must present their 2018-19 Hawai‘i Hunting License in order to obtain their permits starting Monday, June 25, 2018 in the Lihue DOFAW office at 3060 ‘Eiwa St., Room 306.  Another person may pick up your permit, but must present your license.  Neighbor island archers may pick up an application form now at the DOFAW office on their island and mail the address on the application.  Specific instructions are on the application form.  Validated archery permits will be mailed to each hunter after application has been received.  Unit F and K bow hunters must sign-in and sign-out at either the Waimea Heights, Mango Tree or the Koke‘e Hunter Checking Station.  Unit G bow hunters must obtain a Unit G-Archery Pass from the Lihu‘e DOFAW office.  Each pass is good for three (3) consecutive days and is free of charge. 

Unit A Archery Season: Kaua‘i archers must present their valid Hawai‘i Hunting License in order to obtain their permits starting Tuesday, May 1, 2018 in the Lihu‘e DOFAW office at 3060 ‘Eiwa St., Room 306.  Another person may pick up your permit, but must present your license.  Neighbor island archers may pick up an application form now at the DOFAW office on their island and mail it to the Lihu‘e DOFAW office.  The Unit A archery hunt is one weekend only, on June 2-3, 2018.

Unit A Youth, Senior Citizen and disabled hunter muzzleload only season: Hunters must present their valid Hawai‘i Hunting License in order to obtain their permits starting Tuesday, May 1, 2018 in the Lihu‘e DOFAW office at 3060 ‘Eiwa St., Room 306.  Another person may pick up your permit, but must present your license.  Neighbor island hunters may pick up an application form now at the DOFAW office on their island and mail it to the Lihu‘e DOFAW office.  The Unit A Youth, Senior Citizen and disabled hunter muzzleload only season is one weekend only, June 9-10, 2018.

Unit A Muzzleloader Season:  Muzzleload hunters will be assigned two weekends in the Unit A hunting area through public lottery. Applications for the Muzzleload season are in conjunction with the rifle season applications. The season duration is June 17^th to August 27^th on Saturday and Sunday only. The deadline for submitting applications for the muzzleloader hunt is 4:00 p.m., Friday, April 13, 2018. Specific information may be obtained on the application form.

Hunters are allowed limited access through the corn fields to access Hunting Unit A using the “water tank valley” access road or the Polihale road junction below Mana Ridge.  Hunters must first sign-in at the Polihale Beach, Polihale road junction or Mana Tunnels hunter checking station and sign-out after hunting.  Hunters are advised to keep their firearms cased and unloaded while driving through the corn fields.  Unit A is open to muzzleload firearms only.  For more information on the access, please call the Kaua‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) office at 274-3433.

REGULAR RIFLE SEASON: Applications for the 2018 Kaua‘i Goat Rifle season in Unit B are now available at all participating hunting license vendors on Kaua‘i and all DOFAW offices.  Each Hawai‘i resident hunter will be charged $15.00 which includes processing the lottery application and rifle tag ($30.00 for non-resident hunter).  A maximum of eight (8) hunters may apply together as a hunting group (no exceptions).  Rifle hunters will be assigned two weeks.  The season duration is May 4^th to August 27^th on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Specific information may be obtained on the application form.  Hunters will have the option of using a conventional rifle, muzzleloader rifle, shotgun, handgun or archery equipment on their assigned hunting week, but may carry only one means of take while actually hunting.   The deadline for submitting applications for the regular rifle hunt is 4:00 p.m., Friday, April 13, 2018.  The public drawing to assign hunting dates will be held in the Lihu‘e State Office Building Conference Room at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 2018. 

All hunters who participate in the rifle, muzzleload or archery seasons must have a valid 2017-18 Hawai‘i State hunting license on their person while they are hunting during the period from May 4, 2018 to June 30, 2018 and their 2018-19 hunting license if hunting after June 30, 2018.  Hunters will also be allowed to take pigs on their assigned hunting weekend and the bag limit will be one pig per hunter per day.  Permit-tags are non-transferable between hunters.  Hunters must immediately tag their animal upon taking it.  Boning of game will be permitted, but the unskinned tail must be left attached to the carcass.  Each firearm hunter is required to wear a blaze-orange shirt or vest, sign-in and out at a hunter checking station, observe legal hunting hours and safety zones and the lawful carriage of firearms during the goat hunting season.  Hunters are reminded to review Title 13, Chapter 123 “Rules Regulating Game Mammal Hunting,” prior to hunting. 

These are the numbers for the DOFAW offices on each island:

Kaua‘i              274-3433         O‘ahu              587-0166         Kamuela          887-6063

Maui                984-8100         Moloka‘i           553-4515         Lana‘i              565-7916           

Hilo                  974-4221

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Media contact:

Deborah Ward
DLNR Communications Specialist
Phone: (808) 587-0320