Threat of Axis Deer on the Big Island

[Midnight Rambler]

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Originally posted by Big_Island

This video is about a month old and was just posted to youtube. It is a must watch for anyone unsure about what we will be faced with in only a few short decades, probably less as I feel the deer numbers are very underestimated. Their trails above Pohala were heavily traveled and were not created by a few, more like a few hundred. I feel they are already established here.

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How are you sure they are deer trails? There are any, many pig and presumably goat trails as well. I wouldn't be surprised if there are mouflon too since they are in the upper part of Kau forest reserve (though they probably wouldn't cross the wet middle part) and all through Kahuku.

Likewise with North Kohala; it's questionable if they're there at all. There have only been a few reported sightings and I expect that those are of mouflon, which even some biologists have mistaken for deer. Females, without horns/antlers, do look somewhat similar, but don't have the spots that deer have (lambs sometimes do though, which makes it even more confusing).