“The Hawaiian Islands are brand new. So what you have here is the most beautiful and the most rugged terrain on the planet.”
“The areas that we work in, it’ll destroy any type of gear you put there. Everything has thorns. The weeds have thorns. The trees have thorns.
The leaves on the weeds have thorns. You’re walking over jagged lava rock. You’re walking in thick brush that is ripping at every inch of your body.”
“Over the last 100 plus years, axis deer have been introduced to several of the Hawaiian Islands. They were introduced to Maui in the late ’60s, early ’70s.
And being one of the only species on the planet that can breed year round, and having perfect conditions to do so with no predators, they quickly became a population that was out of control.”
“Maui Nui was formed to help balance axis deer populations for the good of our environment, communities, and food systems. And that was commercial harvesting — that was making sure every animal could turn into food.
So our collective impact is probably upwards of 200,000 deer.”
“If there were 200,000 deer on this island right now, this would be red dirt. Even just 1,000 deer is tens of thousands of pounds of food that would otherwise not be food, and be causing damage to communities and creating runoff onto reefs.
Every single deer matters.”
“We take extraordinary pride in turning that animal into food — and that food being something unique and special and exceptional for both our community and for our customers.”
“We have to move 40 plus miles a night. We’ll climb at least 7,000 vertical feet across four or five different climate zones, and that would be easy enough during the day — but we do it all at night. Everything gets exponentially harder in the dark, but that’s what we have to do in order to harvest these animals.”
“Axis deer are primarily nocturnal. The vast majority of the day they’re going to spend in dense, bedded areas that we wouldn’t be able to harvest in.
We start our work when everybody goes to sleep. And as soon as the whole world turns off is when we turn on. Let’s go.”
“You’ve got to be hungry for the work that we do. You’ve got to be willing to put in the hours, put in the hard work — pretty much embrace the suck.”
“There is no quit in us. I think the Ranger has the toughest job, as our people, every single night.”
“The Ranger’s role in our operation has completely replaced all of our light duty vehicles. We had the first one on the first day, and I was like, ‘This is going to replace our trucks.’ And it has. We use these Rangers for literally everything — for transport, for heavy hauling, for roving, for harvesters. We use it for everything.”
“Pickup truck — you’ve got to stay on the road. The Ranger, you can take it all over. We’re able to go into areas that we normally wouldn’t try to.
And the confidence it gives everyone who drives them here makes all the difference for us. A vehicle that can get to each deer has been an absolute game changer.”
“Being able to get to a 200 plus pound animal instead of having to carry it sometimes 300, 400 yards completely changes the outcome of the evening.”
“The less you’ve got to pack, the better — so you don’t have to do as much work, physical work. The wear and tear on the vehicles versus the wear and tear on our crew members is very important, because the Rangers are taking that brute force.”
“The vast majority of our staff are Native Hawaiians. They come from and want to care for this place. And I think the dedication to this place and the true impact they’re having on its longevity and health — both the community and the place itself — makes for extraordinary commitment to what we do.”
“The Holo ʻAi Program was created to share some of this abundance and resource with community, which is critically important to us. Twice a month — which ends up being about 10, 12% of total supply — gets pivoted to supporting community in these great little one pound packs of ground venison that’s easy for community to use and easy for them to pick up.”
“I think we are a couple months away from a million meals served to community — which, 18 years ago, when it was me in a beat up pickup truck, was not ever even a thought.”
“For our community, we are willing to do anything. For us, it’s one of our funner nights. It’s our bonding time, knowing that we’re doing stuff for the community.
They get free food, and we love doing it, so it’s a win win on both sides.”
“We’re really proud of the program as a whole and all of the people that have come to help build it.”
“Our team is definitely tough. The people that are the toughest, the people that you respect the most, the people that are most resilient — are the people that never quit.”
