Started a new thread so as to include an array of photos of my recent hunt on the south island of NZ with Tim Buma's New Zealand Backcounrty Outfitters.



Soooo...to get you all in the mood, here are several scenics that should start your hearts pumping. These were all taken in the same valley where one of the Lord of the Rings movies was filmed, and we hunted tahr in one of the nearby mountain ranges.



The last one with the outhouse was taken at the hut we stayed in and looks back to the spot where the fortress for the movie had been built and later removed. -TONY

Tim Buma glassing for tahr just below the snowline in NZ's southern Alps.







And this is what he was looking for. -TONY

And...we finally found what we had been looking for in the middle of rock slide. By the time we got in range, he had wandered to the side of precarious side hill and started running along a steep spine. Two shots from my .264 WM put the bull down before it hit a straight-down cliff. If it had made it to the cliff, it might still be falling. As it was, it stopped here. And trust me when I tell you that the camera doesn't show the steepness of the area too well. -TONY

And..the typical "hero" trophy pix with both me and guide Tim Buma. -TONY

Tony,



Outstanding photos, as usual. Nice tahr as well. Give us some more details of the hunt. How many days, techniques, impressions, etc...





-Steve

I always love your excellent photography Tony. I believe I had heard of hunters taking their trophies home with them from NZ, or at least having them in very short order, your experience?

Tony: Outstanding pictures. I had no idea NZ was so beautiful. It reminds me of the sun coming up over the canyons in the Deschutes River drainage. What is the cost of a hunt like that?
Gary T.

Well done mate, great pic's.

Lovely photos,nice one Tony.WOW!

Tony

Looks like a great hunt - stunning photos. Out of curiousity what camera are you using - the results are fantastic.

Covering several replies here in one.

Kevin,

Yup, Tim mentioned that some hunters have taken back horns, etc. but it has to be a bit iffy, IMO. First off, you're supposed to declare any wildlife or parts thereof to customs. Thus, that means the USF&WS gets involved in the inspection process and requires one to fill out the necessary forms, etc. just like we do when bringing game back across the border from Mexico & Canada.

BUT...with hides, they either have to be completely dried thru salting or frozen solid to come in that way. The drying part is difficult over a period of week, or keeping a hide frozen over nearly a day's worth of flying would also be tough.

Then there's the bulk itself. As it was I was near my weight limits for baggage, and carting back the skulls and/or hides for a tahr, stag, chamois and wallaby would have been expensive considering I would have had to pay excess baggage charges to two airlines. So I elected to have Tim's taxidermist in NZ process the stuff and ship thru to my broker in San Francisco. The taxidermist said it normally takes about 30-45 days or so.

Gary,

The NZ counrtyside and mountains of the south island are indeed spectacular. Best of all, there are few people and even fewer cars. When we drove on the roads around the town we stayed in, having more than two other cars within a 1/2 mile of us was rush hour!

The hunt cost will vary, depending on the game you want, and Tim Buma will customize a hunt to your desires. But figure on spending about $5-6,000 for a representative assortment of nice trophies. Best bet is to contact him at timbuma@hotmail.com and let him give you a quote.

MLG,

The photos I uploaded so far were all taken with my Olympus 2.1MP 2100 Ultra Zoom, but I also have four rolls of 35mm slides to get processed. -TONY

Okay guys, first off, thanks for the kudos on the photos. Although I took the ones where I'm not in them, the credit for taking the rest should go to Tim Buma -- my host, guide and new friend. With a bit of direction and camera pre-adjustments, he did very well at capturing some memorable moments.



Steve,



My partner and I spent seven days in NZ and right from the start, Tim and his wife, Vanessa, made us feel welcome and at home. Tim also had Brad Orszaczki -- an Aussie from the Victoria area -- come to NZ to guide my hunting partner, Troy Morzelewski. Like Tim, Brad knew his stuff and how to glass and find game. He wasn't too bad at downing a few Speights with us either.



We arrived on Sun. afternoon, got settled in and began our hunt for tahr on Mon. morn. We had planned to helicopter a tent camp up the mountain and spend a couple days but had to shelve that plan because of predicted storms. So instead, we used the helicopter to get from the valley floor into tahr country. The copter dropped Tim and I off in one drainage and put Brad and Troy in another.



Ready to lift off!











It was some of the steepest and most rugged country I've ever hunted. From there we glassed for a decent bull, and by mid-afternoon, our hunts for tahr were over with two light-maned better than average trophies. Troy's was right at 12.5" and mine was 1/8" short of 12" but had larger bases.



Troy and his trophy tahr.







This photo was taken back at the helicopter base.







After the tahr chase, we headed up the valley about 15-16 miles to a hut, where we were to spend that night. That trip, which was often on an almost non-existent two-track took a couple hours. On the way, we glassed for chamois, forded rivers, checked out the spawning king salmon and enjoyed the mountain scenery in general.













The orange specks in the water are dead salmon.













We settled in the hut and had a bite to eat.

















Then we headed out to rid NZ of some vermin. Here's the results. As shown, the possum color phase in NZ is quite varied.







I renamed this thread to "Outdoor Writer's NZ Hunt Photos - Day 1." Stay tuned for a separate thread titled "Outdoor Writer's NZ Hunt Photos - Day 2-3!" -TONY

That is really beautiful...seems worth the trip just for that scenery! By the way, how do you judge a Tahr? Seems to be a matter of a couple inches either way being important.

Geeezus,superpossums!!!! Man they're big buggers.
The ones in Oz are only half that size.
What do the Kiwis feed them????

Boghossian,



You're right; there isn't a a whole lot of difference in measurement between most tahr. If I recall, the SCI scoring system records the length and circumference around the base of each horn, than totals the four figures for the final score. Because my bases were a bit bigger around than those on Troy's tahr, mine would probably score higher even though the horn lengths were a tiny bit less.



All that said, though, neither of us are "book" hunters; we strive to take nice representative heads of a species, score be damned. In the area we hunted, Tim considers any tahr with horns over 11 1/2" as very representative of a mature bull.



When we visited O'Rourke's, the taxidermist Tim uses for his mounts and to process stuff for his hunters, we got to see what is supposedly the world-record tahr. It has horns over 16"!!



While there, we also saw the supposed world-record stag, which was a real bruiser with two monster club-like drop tines. The antlers had actually been sawn off the skull, though, and I can't recall whether it had been killed by a hunter or was merely being raised on a ranch where they simply removed the antlers as they do in the USA with elk so they can sell them to the Asians.



Shaun,



I guess the feed in that valley is possum-friendly. They were indeed stout. Actually, several of the ones we killed that evening are missing in the photo, as are a couple hares. As we shot them, we tossed them up on the rack on top of the vehicle, and some fell through the rails never to be seen again as we traveled the rough road. -TONY

Shaun - New Zealand possums spend 90% of their waking time on the ground , whereas Aussie possums spend 10% of their waking time on the ground . Ours are basicaly tree nesters , although many never live in trees at all , under rocks , in rabbit burrows , under buildings , in haysheds etc . The available feed is much greater and of far higher food value than scungy old gum leaves , also the climate means that percy possum needs to lay down a hefty layer of body fat for the winter . Their fur coats also tend to be very thick and luxurious , especially the further south , and colder , you go . Possums in Northland in the subtropical top of the North Island tend to be scungy like your ones , they dont need a thick coat .
There is a small but growing fur industry based on the possum , plucked fur is worth about $70 a kg , but you need about 10 - 15 possums to get a kg of fur, so it isnt an easy task . Leather goods are popular , coats and hats and gloves are the main ones .
You can have all our possums back any time you want , they destroy our native forests with browsing the new leaf growth , they carry bovine tuberculosis and spread it to cattle , and they are a damn aussie overstayer into the bargain ... Having said that , possum shooting is great fun and any night shooting is a whole new experience .

I see where Tim has listed another hunt on Ebay under Hunt New Zealand's Top Rated Game. Red Stag, Tahr. This is the same hunt my partner bid on and won a few weeks back. It's quite a deal if you compare it to the prices most of NZ's outfitters are charging. -TONY

Outdoor Writer



great pictures. I hope you had a fantastic trip.



What caliber did you use for the hunt in NZ?



I will go to NZ, it's just a matter of time





Fantastic



Cheers

/ JOHAN

Wendell,

Your trip was very much like my partner's and mine. We never did much of anything but drive to the hunting areas and shoot stuff the whole time we were there. Only saw Christchurch coming and going to the airport, where I did my shopping for my wife and granddaughter.

We did visit a taxidermy shop in one little town to drop off horns and capes, and a gun shop in another little town to stock up on .22 and shotgun ammo. That was it, other than the little convenience store in Methven.

But like you, we went there to hunt, not sightsee.

I'll have to check out a map to see where you were on the South Island. When we were on top after tahr, we could see both oceans on either side of the island, though. It was quite a sight from way up there.

Look forward to seeing your photos and hearing about your hunt when you get a chance to post it here.

Johann,

I used my 40-yr. old Mod. 70 .264 Win. mag. As it has done for me in the past, it did the job on all of the big game I shot in NZ. I even nailed a couple wallabys with it one evening.

This is a photo of the only bullet I recovered. It was a front-to-back shot on the tahr. It started out as a 140gr. Winchester factory load PowerPoint.



If you're really serious about a trip to NZ, check out the link for Tim's Ebay auction. I did a LOT of price comparison before committing to a hunt with him and NO ONE even comes close to his prices for what he offers. Heck, most of the outfits charge as much just to hunt either a stag or a tahr. -TONY

The saga of my New Zealand hunt is continued in the Outdoor Writer's NZ Hunt Photos - Day 2-3thread in this section. -TONY

Tony

Soo one should be very well dressed a 6,5X65, 270win 7X64 or 7mm mag. I guess the shots can be long

The barrel on your rifle must be quite worn since it's used for soo many animals over the years

Did you do any bird hunting? is 12ga or 20ga popular?

Could you PM me the contact info for Tim ?

Cheers
/ JOHAN

Johann,
Any of those cartridges will work just fine on all the big game in NZ. As you well know, the secret to killing something is bullet placement, so pick a rifle that is accurate and that you shoot well.

Troy used a custom Christensen Arms rifle with a carbon fiber barrel. It's chambered for the 7mm Rem mag. and I believe he shoots 160-gr. handloads but don't recall what bullet he uses.

Or...I'm sure Tim would let you use one of his so you don't have to lug your own. In fact, he's now the proud owner of a brandy new Rem. 700 Titanium in 7mm SAUM, topped with a VX-II Leupold 4-12x40 that I carted to NZ, and he also has a 7mm/08.

We did hunt both turkey and waterfowl -- ducks, Canada geese and black swans -- which I'll cover in later reports. Not sure what the preferred gauge is, but we used 12 ga

Re. barrel

That Mod. 70 has been my savior over the years. I bought it new in 1965, complete with a Leupold 2-9X scope, and although I have owned many other rifles over the years, the .264 was always my mainstay because it fit me and I shot it well.

I've lost count of the whitetail, blacktail, mule and Coues deer it's killed, though I know it's close to three dozen. And there's at least a dozen javelina. I can more easily keep track of some of the other stuff such as three caribou species, about 10 of my 13 elk, six pronghorns, a BC moose, a mix of exotic sheep, goats and hogs, several coyotes and bobcats, one of four black bears, 11 of my 12 African trophies last June and the most recent hunt in NZ. If you haven't seen it yet, the Outdoor Writer's Trophy Room thread provides views of many of the above.

I also used that rifle to shoot silhouette matches in the early 1970s. So yeah, it probably has a bit of wear by now. But hey, it still shoots a bullet where I aim it. So what more can I ask for?

That said, the rifle itself looks pretty damn good. After carrying it in a scabbard on horseback for many miles over many years, the original wood stock and blueing became pretty trail-worn. So about 12 years ago I had Robbie Barkkum at Robar, Inc. give it a facelift. He coated the entire action and barrel with a satin-silver NP3 finish and installed a McMillen synthetic stock. Then just prior to my hunt in Africa last year, the original scope went kaput after 38+ years. I replaced it with a VX-III 3.5-10X50 Leupold.

I'm posting Tim's contact info public here in case anyone else needs it. -TONY

New Zealand Back Country Outfitters
E-mail: timbuma@hotmail.com or NZBCOutfitters@xtra.co.nz
Phone: Alpenhorn (03) 302 8779
Fax: (03) 302 8789
Mobile: Tim (025) 888 344
Post Address: P.O. Box 5, Methven, New Zealand 8353
Street Address: 44 Allen Street, Methven

Tony

Thanks for the nice pictures and the information

Cheers
/ JOHAN

Johann,



In case you didn't see the PRIMO NZ Hunt Auction on EBay is a STEAL!!! thread in another section here, it's worth checking out, considering your interest in a NZ hunt. There's probably less than a day left to get a bid in. -TONY

Anybody heard from Tony of late?

I think he went to Africa this year not so long ago?
APB

Tony ,
Great photos of a beautiful part of the world . Have been wanting to hunt tahr in the South Island for 20 years . Have been there twice but without my rifle .
Think you may have tipped me over the edge .
What month did you hunt and how did you find the weather ?

Tim,

I'm here! Haven't been around much lately because I've been snowed under with various projects. Still trying to get my next book done and also adding a 26'x 14' addition to my family room. Reason: My trophies from Africa are now trickling in, but I have no where to put them since my trophy room is filled to overflowing now. So I have four African mounts sitting on the floor with two more due back in a week or two. Thus, after much convincing, I talked my wife into letting me use the new room for my Africa/NZ critter room.

So right now, I'm in the taping/texturing mode on the sheetrock. Probably take me at least another 6 weeks to completion.

Bushchook,

Next time you visit NZ, just do it. Heck, you don't even need a rifle. If you contact Tim for a tahr hunt, I have no doubt he'll let you use one of his.

My partner and I were there in early June before winter had fully set in. The weather was mostly pleasant -- cool in the a.m. but nearly shirt-sleeve in the afternoon down low.

Here's another thread on my hunt in case you didn't see it.

Outdoor Writer's NZ Hunt Photos - Day 2-3


-TONY

Hey Tony a few more and you can make yourself one of these covers.Nearly four grand too,ouch!

http://www.thetinshed.co.nz/Shop/Product.asp?P=100698

gryphon1,

Hmmm....not quite sure my wife would tolerate a possum blanket on the bed even if it was available in the .99 cents store.

I see you're in Australia. One of these days after I get my finances back in order, I'd like to get over there for some hunting. -TONY

Tim,

Check out the new OW's New Room Is Getting There thread I just posted in the Trophy Room section. You'll see where the critters from NZ and my African's ones will proudly hang. -TONY

quote:

Originally posted by Outdoor Writer:
gryphon1,



I see you're in Australia. One of these days after I get my finances back in order, I'd like to get over there for some hunting. -TONY

Tony finances are not a problem here at all for our hunting ie: $40 game stamp for as many sambar as you can take(its not that easy haha) The average cost of around ten days in the bush hunting sambar is only a couple of hundred dollars,though of course it is directly related to how many bottles of "ROYAL SALUTE" one takes