We head to Oʻahu in the midst of the most consequential decade in Hawaiian history, with Axis deer grazing at the edge of the frame throughout.
In Part 1, we traveled with a tiny Axis deer herd from the Upper Ganges of India to the West End of Molokaʻi.
This time, we crossed a much smaller ocean gap. The Kaiwi Channel. Just 26 miles from Molokaʻi to Oʻahu.
With Honolulu’s long-gone herds, we thought this one would be a quick little chapter. We were wrong.
We promised you Axis deer running loose on Lēʻahi, Diamond Head, and we get there. But first we double back to update a few things from last episode, nerd out on what makes an Axis deer such a dramatic mismatch for these islands, and then head to Oʻahu in the midst of the most consequential decade in Hawaiian history, with Axis deer grazing at the edge of the frame throughout.
One more thing: our show notes are now living documents. If you know more than we do—about old guns, old stamps, or deer crashing through the roofs of Ford Model Ts—send ’em in. We'll keep updating.
Here it is: History of Hawaiʻi's Deer: A Mini Series, Part 2. (Read on for full show notes below.)
Episode Notes:
1. If you missed it: Hawaiʻi’s Deer History, A Mini Series: Part 1.
2. In 1898 California, hunters primarily relied on lever-action rifles and break-action or early pump-action shotguns. A popular firearm at that time included the Winchester Model 1885 Single Shot Rifle (Mahalo Luke S. for the viewer note). The late 1890s saw the height of lever-action dominance, transitioning from black powder to early smokeless powder cartridges, like the Winchester Model 1894, which was a classic deer rifle, heavily chambered in the revolutionary new smokeless powder rounds, and became the most successful commercial firearm in history.
3. Mid-19th Century, gun prices varied—from the $16 M1841 “Mississippi” rifle, to the $25 Colt 1851 Navy revolver. On 1850s prices: "$25 then ≈ ~$1,000 today" uses CPI (consumer-price inflation, ~40× since 1850) Measured in days of labor, though, a gun was far more out of reach for a makaʻāinana living largely outside the cash economy.
4. PBS SoCal, "How the Gun Market Was Won" lays out how Colt pioneered assembly-line production with interchangeable parts, turning firearms into a mass-produced good used widely.
5. 1852 Haw. Sess. Laws 19: "Act to Prevent the Carrying of Deadly Weapons" (Kingdom of Hawaiʻi). The operative text reads: "Any person not authorized by law, who shall carry, or be found armed with, any bowie-knife, sword-cane, pistol, air-gun, slung-shot or other deadly weapon, shall be liable to a fine…" The good-cause determination was left to the District Magistrate. It also allowed arrest without warrant.
6. In 1897, a group of Honolulu businessmen (including Judge Alfred S. Hartwell, Alfred W. Carter, and A. D. McClellan) purchased 70,000 acres from the trustees of the Bishop Estate and leased another 30,000 acres from the Hawaiian government. Molokai Ranch was formed. In 1897–98, they incorporated a sister operation, the American Sugar Company, Limited, to turn the dry west-Molokaʻi plains into a sugar plantation which failed by 1900.
7. 1900, Feb 20. 8000 DEER SKINS. The Hawaiian Star.
8. A small fraction of the articles written about deer hunting on Molokaʻi from 1900 into the 1920’s: 1900, successful hunt in Waikolu gulch. 1900, Honolulu hunters say deer disappearing on Molokaʻi after paid cull. 1901, Davey and three men sail to Molokaʻi to hunt deer, could barely find any, Davey says, “some person(s) have been guilty of a great sin by killing, or driving the deer from this part of the country, there are hundreds of wealthy men that would willingly travel thousands of miles and gladly pay for the privilege of hunting upon the island. If Molokai were kept as a hunting ground for tourists it would pay better than sugar.” 1902, Hunters stay in Maunahui house (ranger cabin in the current forest reserve)—say not many deer, they shoot 30 in 10 days. 1902, large deer herds mauka of Kaunakakai. 1904, deer hunters stay at ranch house, hunt at “3,000 ft near [Kamakou],” find more in Waikolu along with goats, pigs, and great flocks of wild pigeons that live in a rookery in one of the gulches. 1902, Dr. King hunts from the Munro’s “mountain house.” 1905, Honolulu banker (Spalding) stays in Meyer’s Maunahui mountain house, says deer are plentiful: 15 day hunt, killed 19 deer, 2 of the finest bucks seen on the island in years—one antler measured over 3 feet across. 1908, senators hunt. 1912, hunting on the ranch, closed deer season. 1913, Secretary of the Territory Mott-Smith and Senator Judd grumble that they ate a lot of goat meat because George Cooke trains deer to stay away while charging $5.50 per shooting permit. 1915, Honolulu women hunt deer on Molokaʻi. 1915, land owners sell hunting rights to hunting enthusiasts for $150/yr or $5k today. 1917, Oʻahu banker sees large herd. 1918, City attorney hunts deer on Molokaʻi and will only shoot the big bucks, “for we believe in helping the sport by untermination.” 1918, banker and attorney hunt on Molokaʻi up in Maunahui. Davis states, “deer are numerous, big and fat,” up to 300 lbs. 1925, hunting at 40 mph from the car, a Ford Model T that tops out at 45 mph. 1923, Molokaʻi described as an Oʻahu hunter’s dream, “Sportsmen who slept at home last night take wings today, bag a deer and return to Honolulu before the sun sets.” 1923, army airmen fly deer back from Cookes on the wing of their plane.
9. 1894 article detailing the damage to Molokaʻi forests. Ka Leo o ka Lahui. Kepakemapa 24, 1894.
10. Goats were introduced by Cook in 1778 and Vancouver in the early 1790s. They were moved to Molokaʻi by 1858, and probably much earlier than that.
11. In 1898-1900, an 8-mile forest fence was built by the American Sugar Company, across the upper lands of Molokaʻi. “It is proper here to recall that at the time of the building of the Molokai Ranch Forest fence, from 1898 to 1900, considerable money was spent by the Molokai Ranch Company in killing off the deer and in getting out wild cattle that were at large in the woods.” Cooke, George. Moolelo O Molokai: a Ranch Story of Molokai 1949. Pg. 62. One epithet from 1896 describes the cows as, na bipi noho kuahiwi o Maunahui, the mountain-dwelling cows of Maunahui.
12. Correction of Rumen sample date—year was not 1974, but 1978, collected by Swedberg. Samples included in: Anderson, S. B. (2003) Introduced Axis deer (Axis axis) on Maui, Hawaii: History, Current Status, Home Range, Grouping Patterns, and a Species Account. [Doctoral dissertation, UC Davis]. (see page 125 for Molokaʻi sample.)
13. Black tail deer were introduced to Kauaʻi in 1961 via the Honolulu Star Bulletin.
14. Year-round spermatogenesis info: Testicular morphology and sperm content relative to age, antler status and season in axis deer stags (Axis axis). Animal Reproduction Science (2002). Supporting study: Umapathy et al. (2007), semen characteristics across seasons + AI. Theriogenology. PMID 17383719.
15. Melatonin info: Loudon, A.S.I. & Curlewis, J.D. (1988). Cycles of antler and testicular growth in an aseasonal tropical deer (Axis axis). Journal of Reproduction and Fertility, 83(2), 729-738. PMID 3411563.Melatonin implants had no effect; authors concluded “little or no seasonal photoperiodic entrainment.”
16. Correction: Axis deer females can reach reproductive maturity as early as 9 months under optimal conditions: Ahrestani, F.S. (2021). Axis axis (Artiodactyla: Cervidae). Mammalian Species, 53(1004), 51-63.
17. Differentiating alarm calls from partner species: Newton, P.N. (1989). Associations between Langur Monkeys (Presbytis entellus) and Chital Deer (Axis axis): Chance Encounters or a Mutualism? Ethology, 83(2), 89-120. (Kanha Tiger Reserve.)
18. Deer lack upper incisors and instead have a hard, cartilaginous dental pad, sometimes called a browsing pad. They do have lower front teeth, and they use this pad in conjunction with their lower incisors to tear off vegetation.
19. Hawaiʻi’s native plant species have greatly reduced defenses against ungulate browsing relative to continental plant species that evolved with cervids and other herbivorous mammals.
20. The Kaiwi channel is a deep 26-mile-long open-ocean strait separating the islands of Oʻahu and Molokaʻi.
21. Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole gifts a deer to Queen Liliʻuokalani, sending it from Kaunakakai Molokaʻi to Oʻahu in 1892. Hawaii State Archives, Photograph Collection, M93.01-6-66-577.
22. Philately. More on Hawaiian Kingdom postmarks.
23. After the failed 1895 Wilcox Rebellion, Queen Liliʻuokalani was arrested after guns were found buried in her garden: 1895, Jan 16. LILIUOKALANI, The Ex-Queen of Hawaii Now a Prisoner. The Hawaiian Star. The Queen was then imprisoned for eight months in ʻIolani Palace and then held under house arrest at Washington Place. Once released, she sailed for the U.S. in December 1896. She based herself in Washington, D.C. and spent the next year-plus as Hawaiʻi's lobbyist-in-exile against annexation, meeting officials, working the press, and in June 1897 filing a formal protest with President McKinley against the pending annexation treaty. Her effort ran alongside the Kūʻē Petitions, the anti-annexation petitions bearing more than 21,000 Native Hawaiian signatures (more than half of the 39,000 native Hawaiians and mixed-blood persons reported by the Hawaiian Commission census for the same year), collected in under three weeks with volunteers traveling by foot, horseback, train, and inter-island steamship, then carried to the Senate by a Hui Aloha ʻĀina delegation in late 1897. McKinley’s annexation treaty never reached the two-thirds of the Senate needed, but Congress went around it, annexing Hawaiʻi by the Newlands Resolution on July 7, 1898.
24. Between the years of 1892-1898 (the postmark range for the deer letter), Prince Kūhiō (age 21-27) was in the English-language papers over 500 times. In terms of sports, he was very active in amateur leagues for baseball, cycling, football, track and field, tennis, sitting on athletic committees and owning the baseball field. He was also regularly entered in weekend regattas including miniature yacht racing (Hui Moku Liʻiliʻi of which he was President), rowing, canoe racing, tub racing, and even Japanese fishing boat racing. He regularly attended horse derbies, royal lūʻau and official celebrations of State. He was in and out of court for land disputes and his involvement in the 1895 Wilcox Rebellion, imprisoned for a year, quietly married Elizabeth Kahanu Kaʻauwai, performed public violin solos, and was arrested multiple times for affray.
25. Henry Waterhouse was born in Tasmania in 1845; at age 5, his family moved to Hawaiʻi. He was a businessman, operating Henry Waterhouse Trust Company, real estate and investment firm; he was also managing partner of John T Waterhouse, a general mercantile business. He served in the House of Representatives (1876) and House of Nobles (1887-1888) during the Hawaiian Kingdom. Waterhouse was one of the thirteen members of the Committee of Safety that carried out the January 1893 overthrow. He then became a Senator in the Republic of Hawaiʻi.
26. In 1889, the Oahu Railway & Land Company (OR&L pg. 150) was established by Benjamin F. Dillingham to serve the transportation needs of developing sugar plantations on Oʻahu. The first railroad run from Honolulu to Pearl River Lagoon was made in September 1889, followed by the opening of the first section to Aiea. In January 1890, traffic to Pearl City began and Hawaii’s first planned city and suburban development was achieved in Mānana, which became known as “Pearl City.”
27. 1896, Dec 30. Deer. The Hawaiian Star. “Senator Henry Waterhouse and his friends enjoyed a lively deer chase at the Peninsula yesterday. His four deer, which have been penned up there broke loose on Christmas day. Yesterday Mr. Waterhouse and a party of friends succeeded in corralling them after a chase of many miles. He has now presented them to Minister Damon, who will place them on his [Moanalua] estate.”
28. Samuel Mills Damon was born in 1845 in Honolulu, the son of Missionaries, Reverend Samuel Chenery Damon and Julia Mills. He became a banker and developer and later served as a trustee for Princess Bernice Pauahi’s estate. The princess passed away in 1884, and Damon inherited her land in Moanalua, some of which he cleared for Moanalua Gardens in 1898. (via Liliʻuokalani Trust)
29. Moanalua deer herd articles: 1906, Deer at Damon Estate, originally Damon released 1 buck, 2 does; 1909, Deer shot on Damon Estate; 8 deer at the time; 1927, Deer smashes a ford; 1935, Prince Fushimi of Japan shoots buck on Damon Estate authorized hunt; 1947, Deer at Pearl Harbor; 1958, car accident Moanalua highway; 1962, Cab driver, Samuel Kaaouahi, bangs a deer on Moanalua Hwy near Red Hill.
30. The Prince’s Waikīkī deer herd was well-known as early as 1900, even sparking satire in the papers (this article erroneously attributes the herd to Kūhiō’s brother, David Kawānanakoa, and that they were sourced from Maui.) Several articles report on the deer at large in Honolulu; in 1907 as far away as Niu valley; another 1907 article reporting dogs getting into their pen and attacking them; a 1910 article asking anyone who knew the whereabouts of five missing deer to call the Kapiʻolani Estate at telephone #1381; and yet another in 1911 in which deer are still at large and worrying townfolk.
31. 1913, 4 Nov. DEER AT LARGE TOO MUCH FOR KAIMUKI TOWN. Honolulu Star Bulletin.16 deer forage along the lower slopes of Diamond head, around Kapiolani park. Territorial forester Ralph Hosmer was asked if they should be left at large: “The board of agriculture and forestry regards deer as in the category of goats because they destroy the undergrowth that protects our hills and allows the forested slopes to gather moisture. Should these deer go into the hills they might become a source of serious menace to the forests of Oʻahu.”
32. 1915 map of Waikīkī with Deer Park noted at the far right of Kapiʻolani Park (Race Track and Polo Field.)
33. Prince Kūhiō feeding his Galapagos giant tortoise, Jumbo, in Waikīkī. Jumbo and his mate Alice(who was moved to the grounds of the ‘Iolani Palace) were brought to Hawai’i in the 1840’s and were once owned by Queen Kapiʻolani’s first husband, Chief Bennett Nāmākēhā. Along with Axis deer, Jumbo was among the earliest animals to be showcased at Kapiʻolani Park and later, the Honolulu Zoo.
34. 1916, Jan 31. ELK LUAU IS HELD IN KAPIOLANI PARK. Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
35. 1927, Feb 15. HERE’S A NEW WAY TO KILL DEER. Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Deer lands on roof of Ford in Moanalua.
36. 1919, Oct 1. Honoluluans Go After Molokai Deer Game. Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Molokaʻi begins to be dubbed the “Deer Isle.”
37. 1909 Territorial Legislative Session: house journal and senate journal.
38. 1909, Apr 6. DEER OF MOLOKAI ONLY MATTER HOUSE HAD TO QUARREL OVER YESTERDAY. The Hawaiian Gazette.
39. Image of the 1909 Territorial House of Representatives. Members of the house were identified in article from the Pacific Commercial Advertiser: Joel Kanekau Nakaleka from Hālawa, Molokaʻi (second row, far left); Moses Pake Waiwaiʻole (second row, third from the left) Henry Moses Kaniho from Kohala, Hawaiʻi (third row, far right); Edward Douthitt of Honolulu (front row, third from the left).
40. 1909, Apr 3. TO PROTECT DEER IN SPITE OF OUTLANDERS. The Hawaiian Star. “Douthitt spoke emphatically for the close season for deer, showing how every state in the Union and every government in the civilized world protected deer.”
41. 1909, Apr 16. Deer Protection Bill Is Passed Over The Veto. The Hawaiian Star. Territorial Governor Frear’s veto message: “I have carefully considered this Bill and have heard much for and against it—by those who desire a close season for the huntsman’s sport and those who either as owners of forest lands or otherwise interested in the preservation of forests desire protection from the depredations of the deer…The preservation of forests on [Molokaʻi] is a matter of the greatest importance to agricultural and grazing interests, both large and small. The evidence is overwhelming that the deer have destroyed much of those forests. Owners and lessees of various tracts of land have gone to the expense of killing off most of the deer and constructing fences to protect the forests. Huntsman for sport did not keep the deer from multiplying in ruinous numbers. It does not seem right that deer should be protected during part of the year for the benefit of sportsmen to the detriment of others…”
42. 1913, Feb 17. RETURNS TO WAR ON MOLOKAI DEER. Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Elected two years ago, almost Cooke (https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/george-paul-cooke/)’s first legislative move, after selecting his desk and taking his seat, was to introduce a bill to repeal the deer protection law. He, too, would not be denied, and, after terrific struggles on the floor of the house, the measure passed and went to the senate, where the old, more conservative and sensible solons put it out of misery and again saved the day for all deer.”
43. 1992, Dec 20. AXIS DEER HUNTING SEASON PLANNED FOR MOLOKAI. Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
44. Kapiʻolani Park is Hawaiʻi's first and oldest public park, dedicated June 11, 1877 and named for Queen Kapiʻolani, consort of King Kalākaua. Kalākaua created it in the 1870s to give Honolulu a permanent horse-racing course on the dry plain at the foot of Lēʻahi, Diamond Head in Waikīkī. It was developed by the Kapiʻolani Park Association, a group of businessmen led by Archibald Scott Cleghorn (Princess Kaʻiulani's father) on a cheap long-term lease. Early image of Kapiʻolani Park by Jack London.
Separate from the park was the private Kapiʻolani Estate, which included the coconut groves of Uluniu, King Kalākaua and Queen Kapiʻolani's Waikīkī lands where they lived. Kūhiō made his home, Pualeilani, there (it fronted today’s Kūhiō Beach Park).
45. Battle of Diamond Head: 1895, Jan 7. BLOODLESS NO MORE: Fatal Encounter Between Natives and Government Men at Waikiki. The Daily Bulletin. See also: 1895, Jan 16: METHOD OF LANDING GUNS. The Pacific Commercial Advertiser.
46. Committee of Safety “baseball cards” via the Hawaiʻi State Archives.
47. The Hawaiian League, the Honolulu Rifles & the Committee of Safety. These were the interlocking instruments of white-business political power in Hawaiʻi from 1887 to 1893. The Hawaiian League was a secret society formed in January 1887 and included over 400 members. It was an overwhelmingly white organization, later also known as the Annexation Club. Its aim was to break the power of the Hawaiian monarchy. Its muscle was the Honolulu Rifles, a volunteer militia of about 200 armed men under annexationist Volney Ashford. In June 1887 the League used the Rifles to force King Kalākaua at gunpoint to sign the Bayonet Constitution, which gutted the monarchy's authority and imposed property-and-income voting requirements that stripped most Native Hawaiians and Asian residents of the vote while entrenching wealthy foreigners.
Six years later, that same Annexation Club network reconstituted itself, as a group of thirteen, into the Committee of Safety (formally the "Citizens' Committee of Public Safety") that overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani in January 1893 and installed the Provisional Government. The same faction that forced the Bayonet Constitution on the king in 1887 came back to abolish the monarchy outright in 1893, a political brain (the League/Annexation Club) with an armed wing (the Rifles), operating across both coups. (wikipedia link)
48. U.S. President Harrison’s 15 Feb 1893 message to the Senate regarding Hawaiian annexation.
49. President Cleveland’s 18 Dec 1893 message to the Senate and House regarding Hawaiian annexation.
50. The Blount Report. More details on Blount correspondence. The report concluded the landing of the USS Boston was not genuinely needed to protect Americans and had improperly aided the coup, labeling the action an act of war.
51. The Wilcox Rebellion (or Counter-Revolution of 1895) took place between January 6-9 of 1895, two years after the overthrow. Royalists mounted a last armed attempt to topple the Republic of Hawaiʻi and restore Queen Liliʻuokalani. Led by Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox. The Rebellion was composed of three short squirmishes: The Battle of Diamond Head (between Henry Bertelmannʻs house and Kapiʻolani Park), The Battle of Mōʻiliʻili, and the Battle of Mānoa. Republic forces and police put it down in days and over 400 Royalists were arrested.
52. Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole was born to David Kahalepouli Piʻikoi and Victoria Kinoiki Kekaulike on 26 March 1871. He was a hānai (an adopted child) of King Kalākaua and Queen Kapiʻolani (Kūhiōʻs maternal aunt).
53. Correction: Kūhiō was not a senator. After the overthrow, Prince Kūhiō became a statesman working within the American system to effect change. Elected in 1902, he became Hawaiʻi's Delegate to the U.S. Congress, a seat he held from March 4, 1903 until his death in 1922, winning ten straight elections. Because Hawaiʻi was a territory, not a state, it sent a single non-voting Delegate. Kūhiō could introduce legislation, work and vote in committee, and debate on the House floor, but he could never cast a vote on a bill's final passage. He held Hawaiʻi's voice in Congress, with no vote to back it, which makes what he accomplished all the more striking.
Working inside the American system, he built the county form of local government that still structures Hawaiʻi today, and staffed its new civil-service posts with Hawaiian appointees, marrying the patronage machine of 19th-century American politics to the older Hawaiian chiefly practice of entrusting authority to loyal retainers. He was, in effect, governing like an aliʻi within a republic, which is why he came to be called "Ke Aliʻi Makaʻāinana," the Citizen Prince. He paired that with a deliberate cultural revival: reorganizing the Royal Order of Kamehameha I in 1903 and founding the first Hawaiian Civic Club in 1918, institutions that kept Hawaiian identity and leadership visible under a foreign government.
His defining legacy is the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1921, his campaign to "rehabilitate the race," in his words, by placing Hawaiians "back upon the soil." It was a real, lasting victory for his people, achieved by compromise inside a system that never fully served them, and never gave him a vote. (wikipedia link)
54. Kūhiō is imprisoned: 1895, May 22. “PRINCE CUPID.” Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Via the Hawaiʻi State Archives Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole exhibition (https://ags.hawaii.gov/archives/online-exhibitions/jonah-kuhio-kalanianaole-exhibition/): after the January 1895 uprising, the 24-year-old Kūhiō, along with more than four hundred others, was imprisoned, convicted by military tribunal of misprision of treason, and sentenced to hard labor for the term of one year, plus a $1,000 fine.
Prince Kūhiō in his striped prison uniform.
55. Kūhiō injures players playing football, 1894.
56. Pīpī holo kaʻao is a saying used at the end of tales, from the word in our ʻōlelo—pīpī, or sprinkled. A bit of the tale has been sprinkled and the rest of the story runs on.