2018 Mouflon Sheep Hunting Season on Lana‘i Announced

Applications for the 2018 Lana‘i mouflon sheep hunting season, together with instruction sheets, will be available at all Department of Land and Natural Resource (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife offices statewide beginning Monday, Mar. 19. Applicants may also apply online.

A $10 application fee will be assessed for each person applying for the hunt. The fee must accompany each application for the hunt at the time of filing in order to be processed. A tag fee of $20 for Hawai‘i residents and $125 for non-residents will be assessed per sheep tag at the time of check in. No fee will be assessed for the non-typical ram tag. Hunter are asked to pay close attention to the hunt instruction sheet and addendum for any changes to the application process.

Per the Rules Regulating Game Mammal Hunting under state law, the following special conditions and procedures will be in effect during the upcoming season.

The 2018 Lana‘i mouflon sheep season will consist of four hunts:
1. The Archery only hunt will be held over eight consecutive days, beginning Jul. 28 and ending on Aug. 4.
2. The Youth hunt will be conducted for one weekend (Saturday and Sunday), Aug. 11 and 12.
3. The Muzzleloader hunt will be conducted for one weekend (Saturday and Sunday), Aug. 18 and 19.
4. The General Rifle hunt will be held over nine consecutive weekends (Saturday and Sunday), beginning on Aug. 25 and ending on Oct. 21.

Hunter assistants will only be allowed to accompany hunters who are senior citizens (age 65 or older) or disabled.

The bag limit for the 2018 Lana‘i mouflon sheep season will be three mouflon sheep (one either sex, one ewe and one non-typical ram) per hunter per authorized hunt. Hunters will be required to purchase an either sex tag and have the option of purchasing a ewe tag. A non-typical ram tag will be issued at no charge. All heads of non-typical rams (polled, deformed, mu‘umu‘u) must be disposed of at the Lana‘i hunter check station. DLNR personnel have the final say on non-typical ram designations.

There will be no lottery drawing of permits conducted for the Archery Only hunt and no limit on the number of archers who will be allowed to participate. However, interested archers must apply for the hunt by applying for a permit. Hunters participating in the Archery Only hunt will be allowed to apply for and participate in either the Muzzleloader hunt or the General Rifle hunt lotteries. Archery hunters may check in on the Friday preceding the first day of the hunt or daily throughout the hunt period during the check station hours listed below to validate permits and receive their tags.

• Friday, Jul. 27, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
• Saturday, Jul. 28, to Saturday, Aug. 4, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

All archery hunters must report their take or their intent to hunt the next day providing their tags remain unfilled. Upon completion, archers must return their application cards to the Lana‘i hunter check station documenting, if applicable, the number of animals taken including sex and unit harvested.

MOUFLON HUNTING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH HUNTERS:

• Youth hunters must be 15 years of age or younger, possess a valid 2018-19 State of Hawai‘i hunting license and be accompanied by a non-hunting adult (18 years of age or older) who also possesses a valid 2018-19 State of Hawai‘i hunting license. Only the youth hunter will be required to submit an application. A permit will be issued to the adult at the time of hunter check in.
  Youth hunters will be issued tags at the time of hunter check in. Tags are valid only for the type of hunt applied for.
• A total of 175 youth hunters will be drawn for the weekend. If the total application of youth hunters exceeds 175, a lottery will be conducted to establish going and standby positions.
• Youth hunters will be limited to carry one type of hunting equipment while in the hunting area. Blaze orange is required for all youth hunters and accompanying adults.
  One adult may accompany one youth for this hunt.
• Youth hunters will also be allowed to apply for and participate in the archery only hunt and either the muzzleloader hunt or general rifle hunt. Youth hunters must submit a separate application for each hunt.

Participation in the Muzzleloader hunt may be assigned by lottery if application levels exceed the allotted number of hunters allowed in the hunting area. The General Rifle hunt will be assigned by lottery drawing Interested hunters may apply for either the Muzzleloader hunt lottery or the General Rifle hunt lottery, but may not apply for both.

Applications for all hunts may be submitted in-person or mailed, to the Maui Division of Forestry and Wildlife office, 1955 Main Street, Room 301, Wailuku HI 96793. Lana‘i residents only are to mail or deliver their applications to the Lana‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife Office at 917 Fraser Avenue, P.O. Box 630661, Lana‘i City, HI 96763.

To apply online for this hunt, visit https://hunthawaii.ehawaii.gov. The deadline for submitting applications will be 4 p.m. on Friday, Apr. 20. Interested hunters are encouraged to submit their application well before the application deadline to insure proper processing.

The public drawing to assign a going status, and if necessary, to establish stand-by positions for the Youth hunt and Muzzleloader hunt lottery may be held on Friday, Jun. 1, at 11 a.m. at the Maui Economic Organization (MEO) facility on the island of Maui. The Lana‘i resident general rifle public drawing will be held at 9 a.m. at the same location. At 12 noon, a public drawing to assign a going status, and if necessary, to establish stand-by positions for the General Rifle hunt lottery will be held. Hunters who have been assigned a stand-by number, will be allowed to replace no-show hunters that do not check in on their assigned hunting date.

All eligible Youth, Muzzleloader and General Rifle participants must check in at the Forestry and Wildlife office in Lana‘i City to validate permits and receive their tags either on the Friday preceding their assigned hunting date, or on Saturday during the check station hours stated below.

• Fridays: 12 noon to 8 p.m.
• Saturdays: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Stand-by hunters must be present at the Lana‘i City, Division of Forestry and Wildlife office at 6 p.m. on the Friday prior to their assigned hunting date to be eligible to replace no-show hunters. Once each hunter fills their bag limit for the hunt applied for, they will not be eligible to participate for the remainder of the 2018 Lana‘i Mouflon Sheep season. Both Hunting Unit 1 and 2 will be open to Archery, Youth, Muzzleloader and General Rifle hunts. Unit 3 will be open to Archery hunters only.

Fore more information, call the Hawai‘i Island Division of Forestry and Wildlife office in Hilo at (808) 974-4221.