I have hunted the West coast catchment's a few times over the years now and have had some great trips in there.

We like to camp out instead of staying at a hut as it gets you a lot closer to the animal's.
The only down side is its gets a little tuff when the weather turns to shit.

Tenting in the perth river above the snow line in may when it is frezzing cold isn't for the faint harted



You still need to climb a little to get to the thar but bugger all compeared to staying in a hut.

You can see our camp in the top right hand of pic we were spotting thar from camp every mornning



Most of the day is taken up with glassing for thar and picking the biggest bull's and the best way to get to them.



Shooting them is the easy bit recovering them can be a little tricky at times.

This bull wasn't a big one but was a good start



Some of the veiws are to die for it makes the kaimanawas where i mostly hunt look like a mole hill.



Once the novilty wears off
The kias are a pain in the ass most of the time
we lost spoons, cups and other gear to the bloody things



The veiw from camp was a good one
Its not all bad waking up to this every mornning



Frank got himself a nice bull just over 11"s



This is looking back up past camp the goddly river is on the other side of the hill camp is low center




We saw a lot of thar on this trip,
these two thort they were safe untill the 7mm08 smoked the lower one off the hill at 450m
It then fell over 600m before it came to rest in the bottom of a snow shoot



A good bull for me to go on the wall to finish the trip off

Gidday Madness,

Looks like you had a great trip. I have got to get a digital camera. I sell dozens of the things but still don't have one myself.

A good bull you got too. Who is doing the taxidermy mate.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

hi hamish this trip was a few years ago now just thought i post a bit of an essay of the trip.

i had to take dig photo's of the origanls that's why the quality isn't to hot

the head was mounted my a guy called Ray Lane

nice hunt
the mountains are fantastic and that camping looks like fun.
dosent get quite that cold here or as hilly (darwin)
nice story im jelous
greg

great tale mate,old muzzlewump and his other mate might get a bit jealous though cobber with all that free range hunting...hell of a lot different to knocking one over in the pen then going back to the lodge for drinks mate....this sort of hunting is why tahr are revered as a truly great animal to add to the wall and those pen shooting advocates just dont get it mate....a pen thar is not a trophy even if its 14 inches long...whereas any bull tahr taken on his patch is a great one

Since I cant get to where I am meant to be hunting due to the snow closing the roads in the central North island I will respond to Gryphons little jibe in the following way-

I did a search on your name in the Aus/NZ forum and found a distinct lack of actual hunting stories started by you ( actually none - but I didnt open every thread and read them all ).

If you care to do the same for me you will find more than a few hunting reports with photos of hunts in free range farmland , alpine areas , conservation blocks etc.

I dont care if you have a hate on me - thats your problem not mine - but dont slag off people who contribute to this HUNTING forum if you arent prepared to contribute real hunting reports of your endeavours.

Madness - excellant story and pictures , that South Westland country is magnificent when you are in there , but pretty unforgiving if you make a mistake. Thanks for the post .

GREAT PICS! That is some beautiful yet rugged country.

Great photo's from a great spot. You can be thankfully your trip wasn't early june this year as you would still be up there in the snow waiting to get out.
You did the best thing by getting dropped off on the snow line and away from the huts, certainly puts you right in amongst the action.

You should give the East coast a crack one day as you don't have the same issues of getting "stuck" if the weather comes in on you ,plus its a lot dryer. Just as many tahr about to boot.

Gryphons you are either the biggest stirrer this side of the black stump or something way worst.
No doubting those tahr are a wonderful animals

quote:

I did a search on your name in the Aus/NZ forum and found a distinct lack of actual hunting stories started by you ( actually none - but I didnt open every thread and read them all ).

its a shame muzza that you werent a little more adventurous you then might have another look around the net and you will see where i have actually been the recipient of various prizes offered for TRUE HUNTING STORIES WITH PICS you know best of the stories thing...deerhunter is one forum,nitro express is another, aushunt and yet another so do a little more research for yourself cobber and its a matter of "seek and ye shall find" i have also posted numerous deer hunting pics over the years on this forum too...what are you snow blind already?

Gryphon you are either the biggest stirrer this side of the black stump or something way worst.

Probably perceived to be from some views mate but its really a matter of standing up for myself in print when the muzzlewumps of the world attack,they are bad you know as they do come from the land of the Orc`s

Bloody hell Madness, I thought I had it tough hunting Sambar here in the Vic. alps, That looks like some bloody tough country, well done and if I was 30yrs younger I would give it ago myself..good one...

it sure is rugged country
i don't no what it is about it but i prefer to hunt the west coast there are some great little vallys that get very little presure compared to the east coast side

thar meat is great eating and i'd rate it over venison it's a shame so much of it goes to waste on the hill

Madness

Great hunting photos and story. Done the traditional 'Kiwi way' too.

Great countryside and looks like bloody cold camping and too steep for an Aussie flatlander.

I thought Kiwis always hunt in shorts?

nar mate no shorts when hunting up there
i might be mad but i'm not silly

Madness thank you for sharing your hunt with us. I am partial to mountain hunting and the Southern Alps are as beautiful and challenging as they come.

I hope that in the near future I will get my plans together and hunt the Thar. Your report has lit the flame again.


Regards
Aziz

Madness

When hunting in the Southern Alps like in your story, do you always hunt in a group, or at least with one partner? Or do you sometimes hunt alone?

Thanks.

hey nitroX i have always hunted in pairs for safty reasons and two sets of eyes are better than one for spotting thar in the bluffs
it is also good to have someone spot your shots on the long ones

Madness

If I was hunting the SI Alps, I would use a guide for two reasons.

One is to have an experience mountain person for the safety reasons you mention.

The other is time on the ground. Hopefully they would know where reasonable game populations are else several trips might be required for scouting.

Gorgeous landscape. Some day, I hope. Thanks for sharing.