Dates: March 20- April 6/15
Travel Route: Ft.Nelson- Ft.St.John Drive, Ft.St. John to Vancouver Air Canada, Vancouver to Auckland, then Queenstown Air New Zealand
Outfitter: Shaun Allison/Ben Ferguson of Exclusive Adventures New Zealand
PH: Shaun Allison

Hunters: Dad, Owen 14, Mitchell 11
Observer: Mom (Gloria)

Rifles used:
Varmints: Rabbits- Ruger 10/22 in .22LR suppressed with subsonic ammo, Wallabies- Stag Arms AR-15 in .223, both supplied by Shaun.
Big game: My Remington 700 in 7mm STW using 160 gr Accubonds Factory load, Shaun's Tikka in .243 Win

I had wanted to go to NZ for a long time, found EANZ on the Kuiu website, and began asking questions in Nov. 2013.
I asked Shaun about setting up a trip where my wife and two boys could enjoy hunting and non-hunting activities with me for approx. a week, and then once they were on the plane home, Shaun and I would head to the mountains for a week.
Shaun was very professional and prompt, in answering questions and coming up with options of what we could do, prior to nailing down the details.
The plan was to hunt Red stag for me, an Arapawa ram for my youngest boy, Feral goat for my oldest boy. Varmint shooting( rabbits, wallabies), Oxbow lodge activities, and hiking were all on the menu as well. Tahr and Chamois were the mountain quarry. I was interested in a Fallow Deer if we had the time.

The dates chosen lined up with our Spring break from school, and the roar, but not the prime time for Tahr and Chamois. I was fine with having to work harder for mountain game, without having the prime winter coat.

Travel to NZ was straight forward, being calm and polite with airline employees having troubles with check in systems involving firearms got me extra baggage fees waived twice! Being not as calm, but firm and polite, and copies of airline policy for travel with firearms, got an airline employee and her supervisor to phone NZ police and admit they were wrong and I was correct. The young lady and her supervisor were convinced that the bolt for the rifle had to be in a separate location from the locked rifle case.

Also with an early flight into the country,allow several hours before your connecting flight. Police have to be called to airport for the firearms licence. Between the 45 min to get them there, paperwork and getting there customs, and boot inspection, were missed our connecting flight to Queenstown. We thought 1 hour and 30 min was enough. Got re-booked on next flight, no charge.

Despite these glitches, Air New Zealand is the nicest airline I've flown on to date! Made a 13.5 hour overnight flight Vancouver to Auckland in economy almost fun.

We arrived in Queenstown on March 23rd and went to our Hotel, Crowne Plaza, right across from Lake Wakatipu.



Wandered around town, took gondola up the mountain to enjoy the view and nice weather sunny and 25C. Skyline Luge rides were fun. Kiwi bird Sanctuary at foot of hill was also a nice walk through. Take away from Fergburger and back to the hotel to eat and fall asleep watching Discovery channel.

Shaun met us just before noon on the 24th, drove to Oxbow lodge at Wanaka, stopping for lunch along the way. We checked in, drove out to check zero on my rifle and got the boys to shoot Shaun's Tikka 7mm-08. Back to the lodge and out for a rabbit shoot before supper and bed.



25th
Up early looking for free range stags in mountains near Lake Hawea, didn't find what we were looking for. Did find some Rams for Mitchell to look at later in the afternoon closer to the lake and we were able to get in on one.






26th
Both boys were not feeling well last night, so they stayed at the lodge with my wife, Gloria. Shaun and I left early to go looking for stags on a large fenced property. Lots of walking and looking over the stags we could find, before we found one that was in the silver category.



Back to the lodge in the early afternoon, the boys felt better, and we went looking for a goat for Owen. Didn't take long spotting from valley floor to find some partway up the mountain. A sweaty hike and some cat and mouse with the goat, led to a happy son.



27th
NASA weather balloon launch delayed our getaway for a drive to Mt. Aspiring park and a hike towards the Rob Roy Glacier.



We were back in time to do a late hunt for fallow deer. This large fenced property had big stags roaring at each other from all over. Very cool to listen and watch as we tried to locate a fallow buck. Found a black one, fed over a ridge and took a long time to relocate. Losing daylight, we made a move down the valley out of sight and as we were doubling back out of his sight line, two more fallow bucks moved out of the bush on the hillside above us. Shaun judged the lead one as a better buck that the black one, so once he gave me a shot I took it. Rangefinders with angle compensation are very important in this country, without it, I would not have had the success I did in shooting at such extreme up and downhill angles.



28th
Jetboat ride on Clutha river, drive to Hunter hills after lunch. Stopped at a stop to look for fossils, found some shells and shark's teeth, approx. 25 million years old.



Up into high country for wallabies on an late afternoon/ evening hunt. Very cool being up high as the clouds roll in below you. We got around a dozen wallabies, small targets amongst the tussock and sawgrass.




29th
Archery and clay shooting before finishing packing up Gloria and the boys, and driving them to Queenstown for their flight home.


Shaun and I picked up and remaining supplies we needed for the mountains. Back to lodge to go over gear and try and sleep.

30th
Early drive to West coast to meet chopper pilot at base.
Short flight into a basin and we set up camp. Checked gear and snacks for the day and set out before noon. Plan was to try and find Tahr and Chamois if possible before incoming bad weather. Beautiful hike, mixed bag of near the coast weather, sun, cloud, drizzle. Back to camp by dusk.




Outdoor Gourmet dehydrated meal Beef Bourginon, probably the best dehy meal I've ever tasted.

31st.
Mission today was to be up early, pound back breakfast and walk up other fork in valley to ridge line by sunrise. Look for Tahr coming out of thick stuff to feed. Kind of surreal to be high up for sunrise, but it was an awesome sweaty hike.



Peaking over the ridge, we spotted multiple bulls, nannies and kids.Spotting in amongst low cloud and more hiking up the ridge line got us in position on a mature bull. Long prone shots on a steep down hill angle, rolled him on the second hit.





I learned how to use crampons and an ice axe, on the descent down to locate the Tahr. Made that terrain far safer to traverse down and back up. Once we had the Tahr located, pictures done, and caped out, we headed back up to where we dumped most of our gear and ate the best grilled cheese sandwiches I've ever had!



The balance of the day we continued on another big loop looking for Chamois, visibility was reduced due to more cloud today than yesterday. Back to camp by dusk, and we called for chopper to pick us up in the morning.

April 1st
Breakfast and packed up, chopper here half hour early. Back to base, Settled chopper bill in Franz Joseph Glacier, drove back to lodge in Wanaka. Dried out gear, washed some gear and showered up. Mid afternoon at chopper pad in Wanaka airport, short flight into valley and set up camp. Found Chamois high and low on our scouting hike. Found a very large female just above camp, but we were after a buck.
Back to camp by dusk.



April 2nd
Plan was for very early start,pound back breakfast, and headlamp hike up to ridge top for sunrise and glass. Much cooler and windier, this was some of the crappy weather we were trying to avoid on the West coast.



Managed to locate a buck in the open on a large shelf. He fed over the edge before we got into shooting position. Laid on the ridge top waiting for a possible shot for over an hour, glad for every ounce of warm wind proof clothing I had on.



We moved further down ridge line and then downhill to see if we could locate him in, and if he was accessible. We managed to relocate him and get within shooting distance, although a very steep downhill shot.


Once he was down, we moved down to lay hands on him, only to find we ran out of safe real estate. He was 80 yards below us and there was no safe way to walk down to him. We discussed our options, and called the chopper to try and pick us and the Chamois off the mountainside. It was still very windy, were weren't sure if this would work. A larger chopper was coming out of an adjoining valley, and had room for us. They managed to scoop up us, the Chamois, and scoot over to out camp, which we quickly broke down, and jammed into the chopper. I wish I had a GoPro to film the whole thing, as it happened very quickly. Once back in Wanaka, we sorted out our gear, and drove out to a nearby mountainside to try and take a decent picture. Couldn't really do the Chamois justice, as the terrain they live in is amazingly steep.

Sore muscles were eased by takeaway burgers and fries, followed by beers in the hot tub at Oxbow lodge.

April 3rd
Slipped into Wanaka for a fishing licence ,walked along Clutha river below the lodge and tried for trout. Hooked one, 12-14 in, acrobatically spit hook, so no pics.


Also saw rabbit damage up close, more rabbit pellets than grass on the ground.

Engagement party for youngest Daughter of Lloyd and Jules Ferguson. I did my best to mingle and represent Canada well, being one of the last to go to bed. Some country music got played, I gave two stepping lessons, wearing Crocs seemed to interfere, but no one complained. I had a blast!

April 4th
Bit of a sleep in today.PSP ( 12" jetboats with 400hp, 600 hp or 1000+ hp engines)circuit race on Oxbow lodge property. Watched some of the prelims from sponsor tent, before going out to shoot rabbits. Suppressed Ruger 10/22 and subsonic ammo is the way to go, no hearing protection needed. The damage rabbits do to pastures, makes for treacherous walking in hilly terrain.
Caught the finals, and had many laughs over supper with the Ferguson family and guests.


April 5th
Packing up, sad to leave such a beautiful country filled with warm, welcoming people, but happy to be heading home to my family.
All good things must come to an end.
Flights home were fine, overnight in Ft. St.John, Flew home to Fort Nelson on the 6th.

I can't thank Shaun Allison enough for the way our family adventure was planned and executed. Lloyd And Jules Ferguson have a beautiful home and property with the Oxbow Lodge, and are excellent hosts. Jules has a passion and talent for cooking exceptional meals.
I would love to visit NZ again, see more of the country, and try for Tahr and Chamois again in May or June, for a different mountain hunt.
I can definitely recommend EANZ and Shaun,for an excellent trip on the South Island.

Broken pics will take you to Photobucket link.
Currently seeking help to fix problem.

Got the help I needed, thanks.

Thanks for posting, looks like a great trip. those boys looked like they had check of a time!

Well done, to you, your wife, and the boys.

Looks like fun trip,with some fine trophies taken. Brilliant photos,what camera do you use?

Our cameras used were a Nikon D300 with 18-200VR lens and an Olympus Stylus tough TG-3.
Shaun's camera was a newer compact Sony with a small zoom lens, 24MB, maybe the 5000 or 6000 series.
I should have had the TG-3 in my pocket when the Keas were dive bombing me, and then landed next to me.

Nice report mate. Looks like you had a ton of fun

Love to do something similar.

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Looks like an awesome holiday with family and great trophies! Well done.
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Thanks for posting. Nice pictures. Looks like a great trip.

nice write up and pics

Fantastic report and trip. Thank you for sharing!


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Wow, what a great trip and trophies! Fine looking animals, everyone.

A fellow n his wife came to visit me about five yrs ago from over there. Since then they've sent a yearly calendar so I had a good idea what the country looked like. But, you sure showed a bunch of sharp angles in this batch that are not shown on ad type pics. Appreciate seeing what it's really like on foot where the action is.

At first I was going comment how much the area looked like around Vancouver, but, the steepness and more rocks changed that tune.
I can see Colorado sure don't have any lock on rocks, nor rocky mtns either one.

Congrats on a fantastic trip. Hope you can go again soon. Thanks much for sharing with us.
George

Nice photos and obviously a great trip. Been there many times and will be back.

Looks as though you and your family had a great trip as the scenery is spectacular. We are booked with Gary Herbert for June 2016. Nice red stag, what did he score? I ask due to the fact that I/we are booked and want something similar up to approx. 360. My focus animal is the Tahr. I have a mountain goat, full mount, and want a full mount Tahr to place on high wall next to my goat. Again, great adventure. MTG

Outstanding!

MTG

The red stag scored approx. 350, silver medal. 10 pts x 11 pts.
Tahr in June should have a damn fine coat on it!