I've had some Mates from Sweden here over the last few weeks. I first hunted with them about 4 years ago on their first visit, and then again when I hunted in Sweden a year later.
Their big goal for this trip was a bull tahr, so I arranged to take them on a bit of an adventure To a spot not many people visit. I havn't quite cracked an easy route to this spot and knew it would be a test, so contacted Tim who had been there before with me With Gryph a couple of years ago, to see if he was keen to help, as I felt I needed someone else who knew what they were in for. We drove down and picked up Emil And Mathias from Christchurch, Got them sorted with rifles and headed off for the west coast.
A member of the Kiwi forum helped us out big time by letting us sight in at his place. Forum's are great when you need help. Then we were off again, His last words of, we've had 200mm of rain, the rivers will be dodgy didn't really sink in.
Soon enough we had to face the river and it was a close run thing. I could see it was up from last time, but it didn't look that bad. we linked up, me breaking the water at the top, then Emil, all 6 foot 5 and 115 kg holding me up, then Tim and finally the other giant, Mathias anchoring the group.
20 minutes of totally fear inducing fight later we crawled out on the far bank, exhausted. It had been too much, we made it but just, thankfully we had a crew who didn't panic. After a calm down, we shouldered packs and started the climb At 6pm we called a halt, we had been climbing steadily for many hours and the crew were done for the day. This was the only piece of flat ground we had encountered, and there was water nearby. I didn't dare ask the guys to push on for another hour. It was lucky I didn't as we never found another flat spot next day where we could have camped.
We set up the tents and got a fire going to dry our clothes.




It was taking longer than I wanted, and the guys had just never struck anything like this. We had a couple of talks about whether to continue or not. The guys reckoned that if they had of known before they started, they wouldn't have, but we were into it now. they had never seen forest like this and it was pretty intimidating, but weighing on everyones mind was the river that had to be crossed again, and no one wanted to head down while it was still high.

Next day we climbed for a further 5 hours until we broke out onto our little flat campsite. We had a bite to eat and set up the tent then started cutting a track through the scrub for the last 200 meters to get to the tops.

The cloud beat us.





Mathias had a running shot at a bull in the mist, but missed.

Next day we climbed back up with the intent of putting in a big effort as the forecast was for further, sustained rain coming in late the next evening.
We decided tomorrow was for getting down and across the river.
Tim wanted to explore, so I took the guys for a walkabout. We found a couple of Chamois, and as we wanted meat, the guys took one each.



We then wandered around into another watershed. Way down below We spotted two bulls, one was, i'm sure, an absolute monster. We just didn't have the time or legs left to go after him and return though, so we took some photos and video.



Reluctantly we returned the way we had come to sit in wait for the evening...... You guessed it, just as we approached the magic hour the cloud rolled in. We set our selves up over prime spots, but talk about frustrating, the cloud was so thick that we could hear the Tahr eating all around us, the squeeeeek squeak as they pulled the tussock and the munching as they chewed, yet we could not pick them in the poor light. Mathias tried stalking in but they somehow were onto us and just kept moving and whistling away form us, out of site.

We had 5 minutes of shooting light left. Emil asked what to do? We reckoned to go after one. He crept down the valley but the same thing again. Finally he just up and sprinted around the hill and out of our sight into the fog. A second later we heard a shot ring out, followed by a gurgle and a series of thuds. As Emil ran a bull stopped to look back and a shot to its neck at 25 meters or less and he had his trophy.



This was a fine bull with one horn broomed back just over 12 inches, and the other just under 13.

Reluctantly we hurried off the hill, eat, slept and got away early for the 9 hours down and out and across that damned river!

The guys came north with me, and we took a week to recover such was the toll it took. All of us ended up with some sort of flu or illness, we had worn ourselves so thin.

We did a bit of hunting though and the guys got a fallow buck each.





Then with 10 days left, they decided they needed to have another crack at a bull Tahr for Mathias
We poured over maps and I showed them a spot I'd seen some promising bulls earlier this year, and how to hunt it best. They were off. I could not go with work building up, but waited with baited breath towards the end, hoping they had some luck and wanting to hear from them. Finally I got an email.

quote:

Hi Craig!


Regarding the hunt.... It was a really successful hunt for Mattias, he got a good bull Chamois 10.5" but futhermore he got a 14" Bull Tahr aswell, high up in ------ creek. We havent got it professionally measured yet, but it really is a fantastic head that makes my Tahr looks small!

We send you some photos when we have a better computer.

Cheers!
//Emil & Mattias

Hi Craig!

Wow - awesome mate!!! That big bull is a ripper!!! Great report as always!!

Great hunts !! Kiwis are tough !!!

That Chammy is a beauty! Well done.

Great report Shanks . Well done to the hunters.

Sounds like a great hunt.

Sorta makes me think it'd be better thinking back on it, sitting in the den with a few friends - the fire going and drinking scotch and reminiscing ......

Some amazing trophies and fair payback for effort by the sounds.

blacks

quote:

Originally posted by Bren7X64:
Sounds like a great hunt.

Sorta makes me think it'd be better thinking back on it, sitting in the den with a few friends - the fire going and drinking scotch and reminiscing ......

Yeah absolutely! They will probably never wish to do something like that again, but will always be able to remember that they did it. And you quickly forget how bad the bad bits are..... I'm already planning on heading back.

quote:

Originally posted by blacks:
Some amazing trophies and fair payback for effort by the sounds.

blacks

Yeah. I don't know that they realise just how good they are though. They are better than once in a lifetime .

Great stuff. well done!

quote:

Originally posted by shankspony:

quote:

Originally posted by Bren7X64:
Sounds like a great hunt.

Sorta makes me think it'd be better thinking back on it, sitting in the den with a few friends - the fire going and drinking scotch and reminiscing ......

Yeah absolutely! They will probably never wish to do something like that again, but will always be able to remember that they did it. And you quickly forget how bad the bad bits are..... I'm already planning on heading back.

Bit like being selected for SAS. Proud they've done it, but not something you want to do every week.

Effort repaid.

Good report and pics. Your mates sure scored some great trophy's. Not to mention memories.

Once again a great story, Craig, with great pics and, finally, the big heads.

With luck I will be making my third trip over for tahr within the month, if my mate can manage to get away from work. It looks like he can even get back on to the same station we hunted last year, which has huts and reasonable access for a LandCruiser.

Cheers
- Paul

Just WOW. I need to get off my tail and get my license here and plan my NZ hunt.

Geezuz Shanks I only just found this thread today. Well done to the boys in their quest for trophies...it seems from the post that they werent impressed with the farking Goblin bush either haha I know I wasn't on that climb in or out but I`m so glad to have done it though. Great report.

Cheers Gryph, Your one of the few who knows how tough that hill is to climb.
I'm determined to find an easier route.

I remember all very well,nine hours up to base camp ...seven hours down to the river,sort of says it all!
And to have a chopper shooter come over our camp at daybreak next morning,lazy fat bastard!

Serious.

Yep, but not so serious as chasing man eaters in the dark.

I cant wait to read the full story on that one.

Amazing. I've talked about doing a DIY Tahr hunt in NZ with a friend over there. Looks a hell of a lot tougher than it originally sounded! Well done!

You should do it. They are a great animal to hunt.
Not all hunts are as tough as this, its just this spot is somewhere I know I wont meet other hunters, and that appeals to me.

quote:

Originally posted by shankspony:
You should do it. They are a great animal to hunt.
Not all hunts are as tough as this, its just this spot is somewhere I know I wont meet other hunters, and that appeals to me.

I think I'm going to try for next May and just do it. I also like the areas where you won't run into other hunters and love "DIY" hunts. Thanks for the great report!

Great pics and story too. This is a prime example of well EARNED trophies.
They're real beauties!
George

quote:

Originally posted by Greg Brownlee:

quote:

Originally posted by shankspony:
You should do it. They are a great animal to hunt.
Not all hunts are as tough as this, its just this spot is somewhere I know I wont meet other hunters, and that appeals to me.

I think I'm going to try for next May and just do it. I also like the areas where you won't run into other hunters and love "DIY" hunts. Thanks for the great report!

Well if you want any advice, feel free to ask, I always admire guys who will come and try for themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by shankspony:

quote:

Originally posted by Greg Brownlee:

quote:

Originally posted by shankspony:
You should do it. They are a great animal to hunt.
Not all hunts are as tough as this, its just this spot is somewhere I know I wont meet other hunters, and that appeals to me.

I think I'm going to try for next May and just do it. I also like the areas where you won't run into other hunters and love "DIY" hunts. Thanks for the great report!

Well if you want any advice, feel free to ask, I always admire guys who will come and try for themselves.

Really appreciate that, and I absolutely will take you up on that when plans are finalized.

Greg

GB just make sure that you take a head net with you for the millions of sandflies down on the rivers...otherwise you will go nuts haha