Danton Na'one has tried to share with his children the lessons of land and sea that have passed through generations of Na'one men.

He's taken them to the river where he learned to catch crab, but it's barren now. So are the Hale'iwa dive spots where he used to fish, collect lobster and gather limu.

All the 51-year-old 'Aiea resident has left to share, he said, is how to track and hunt the wild pigs that help to feed his family.

"This is all I have to pass down," he said. "It's not for everybody, but to each his own, right? And now they're trying to take this from us, too."

Last week, the state Senate adopted an amended version of HCR 60, a resolution that calls for the state's trails and access program to convene a series of discussions on the safe use of hunting dogs on trails that cross public areas.

The resolution specifically calls for discussion between representatives from the Honolulu Police Department, Citizens for Safe Hiking, the O'ahu Pig Hunters Association, the Hawaiian Humane Society, the Hawai'i Hunting Association, the Hawai'i Rifle Association, the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club and "other interested stakeholder groups."

HCR 60 was introduced at the urging of Citizens for Safe Hiking and others concerned about potentially dangerous interactions between hunting dogs and hikers, especially hikers with pets of their own.

While the resolution simply calls for a discussion of relevant issues, Na'one, a member of the O'ahu Pig Hunters Association, and other local pig hunters say the proposed committee is stacked against them and fear that these discussions are the first step in an orchestrated effort to ban their dogs from public trails.

"I would think that as intelligent adults, we could work this out on our own," Na'one said. "My understanding is that they're bringing us together to resolve this issue, but we were never notified. We had to find out through the grapevine and the committee, to me, seems off-balance in their favor."

Fueling Na'one's suspicion is the fact that public testimony on the resolution posted on the state Legislature's Web site included numerous entries from those in support of the resolution, but only one from a pig hunter. Na'one said that he, his son and several other hunters each submitted testimony that was not posted on the site.

'A VERY SCARY THING'

When Sherry Broder's son Eric graduated from college in Las Vegas, Broder and her husband, University of Hawai'i law professor Jon Van Dyke, assumed care of his pet pig Gonzo Picasso.

They settled the 4-year-old Vietnamese pot-bellied pig into their Tantalus property in an enclosure protected by 4-foot-high fencing.

On April 1, 2007, a pack of hunting dogs climbed the fencing and mauled Gonzo to death.

It was not the first time unsupervised hunting dogs had found their way to the property. Broder and Van Dyke live near the expansive Honolulu-Mauka Trail System, which traverses an official pig-hunting area at several points. At the time of the attack, Van Dyke told The Advertiser that he had had to chase pigs from his property three times in three weeks.

"Dogs don't know what is private property and what isn't, and there's no way to teach them," Broder said. "Feral pigs are the same. I think it's irresponsible for (the state Department of Land and Natural Resources) to permit hunting dogs on trails near residential communities."

Broder said she's encountered hunting dogs while hiking along the trails near her home.

"It's a very scary thing," she said. "Most are pitbulls, part-pitbulls, Rottweilers or ridgebacks. They can be very sweet dogs or they can be very aggressive.

"Honolulu is a very crowded place," she said. "A lot of people like to hike here on weekends and there are tourists who want to go on trails or ride their bikes. Having dogs that are trained to kill pigs on these trails is potentially hazardous."

Susan Brant of Kapahulu cited the publicized killing of another pet pig — a blind, black-and-white pig named Keller who was attacked by dogs and stabbed to death by a pig hunter in the front yard of the animal sanctuary where it lived — as further evidence that "something needs to be done" about hunting dogs.

Brant, who testified in support of HCR 60, said she thinks a dialogue between hunters and hikers would be a productive first step in addressing the situation.

"Hunters seem to be afraid that hunting will go away, and I can't say that we don't want that, but we understand that they have their rights, too," she said. "If we can get them to talk, we'll understand them better and they'll understand us better."

Linda Vannatta of Citizens for Safe Hiking has been criticized in the past for not talking directly to pig hunters, but she said she looks forward to the opportunity the resolution affords to do so in "a controlled environment where everyone has an equal chance to speak."

Vannatta, who recently adopted a hunting dog left abandoned near the Pali Golf Course, said she favors a Mainland-style schedule of hunting and non-hunting seasons to provide limited but exclusive access to trails for both hunters and hikers.

However, if hunters and hikers do need to share trails, Vannatta said there needs to be greater regulation and enforcement.

"There are 40 (public) trails and 37 of them are open to hunting," she said. "There needs to be more regulation and more clarity of what to do if there's a violation."

Vannatta said she'd also like to see new laws to limit the number of dogs hunters may use and to mandate microchip identification for each hunting dog.

"What (hunters) don't realize is that it's a real bummer for us when we come across a starving dog left behind."

A WAY OF LIFE

Thirteen-year-old Ka'ikena Na'one knows how difficult it is to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

In his written testimony against HCR 60, Ka'ikena wrote: "So many things have been taken away from us. I get sick when I hear the stories my dad tells me about how many crabs, lobsters and fish (were) in the ocean. ... Hunting is the last thing, and one selfish person may take it away, that does not make me happy. Out of their selfishness they may change the lifestyle of many hunters and their families (and) change the lives of Native Hawaiians and Hawaiian culture practitioners."

In his testimony, the Kamehameha Schools student also explains the differences between hunting dogs who understand their place in the pack and house pets whose natural instincts have been confused through domestication; discusses the lengths hunters will go to retrieve lost animals; and emphasizes the good hunters do by controlling feral pig populations.

To Danton Na'one, these are all indications that his son understands and appreciates the lessons he has tried to share through long weekends hunting wild pigs in the mountains.

"You have kids who learn about anatomy from cutting up a frog in a classroom," Na'one said. "My kids can open up a pig and tell you what every organ is. They can survive in the mountains because they know what they can eat and what water not to drink. They can navigate with a compass. The mountain is a classroom for my children, and it's a tragedy that they're trying to take it from us."

Na'one and his family eat everything they hunt and gather. To him, hunting is both life and lifestyle, and he chafes at comparisons between law-abiding hunters and rogue hunters who have recently made headlines for illegal attacks on household pets.

"Some hunters don't abide by the law, but you can't punish us across the board," he said. "These incidents where hunters have gone onto someone's property and killed their animals, we don't consider them hunters. That's not hunting."

Na'one is also angered by the numerous "inaccurate and misleading accusations" levied by hikers against pig hunters.

He said his 10 hunting dogs are all well trained and well cared for, explaining that hunting dogs need to be "superb athletes" that are socialized to work as a pack. He added that dogs who are aggressive to humans or other dogs can't be used on a hunt and are instead relocated to good homes.

"I've worked at the Honolulu Zoo, Hualalai Ranch, Circle Six Ranch, Animal Quarantine Parker Ranch and Meadow Gold Ranch, and I was a professional dog breeder," Na'one said. "Tell me I don't love my dogs."

While Na'one concedes that "bad apples" have tainted public perception of hunters, he thinks hikers also need to acknowledge the contributions hunters make and take responsibility for some of the problems that have occurred between them.

Na'one said problems often occur because hikers don't know or don't acknowledge the etiquette and protocols that hunters observe, such as rerouting or even canceling their hunt to avoid other hunters or hikers.

"A lot of hikers don't have any etiquette or respect," he said. "They'll see us and still walk up all loud and obnoxious, and we'll have to shut down."

Na'one said he'd like to see hikers required to take classes and obtain licenses, just like hunters.

IMAGE PROBLEM

Former state Rep. Oliver Lunasco, president of the O'ahu Pig Hunters Association, said the public's negative perception of hunters — an image he said is created and perpetuated by hikers and the media — has made hunters the scapegoat for many of the problems cited in HCR 60.

Lunasco, who hunts mainly on private properties with permission, said pig hunters are aware of their image problem. In fact, he was elected president of his organization specifically to distance it from irresponsible hunters and to spread the word about what pig hunters do for the community, such as ongoing feral pig control and a new program to help the Honolulu Fire Department in search and rescue missions.

Like Na'one, Lunasco believes that HCR 60 represents the beginning of a coordinated movement to ban hunting dogs from trails and ultimately end pig hunting on O'ahu.

"My concern is that it's getting harder to find hunting areas, and this will eliminate hunting altogether," he said.

"They stacked (the committee) with guys who are against hunting, so where does that leave us? Do we even have a voice? They've got their own agenda, and we're not on it. The train is on the track, and they already know what they're going to do."