Always looking for something to do (hunt) in the spring so New Zealand fit the bill perfectly. Since it seemed like a great place to do other things besides hunting, I decided to take mom and dad along on this one. My brother would also fly in from Madrid to join us. After the hunting was over we would do some sightseeing and drive all around the South Island.

After researching a few names, I decided to book with the one that seemed to always be coming to the top of the list, Gerald and Sue Telford. (Thank you to the AR members who gave me suggestions) Everything went very smoothly, and would recommend them to anyone who wants to have a good time hunting on the south island. Gerald has access to a lot of great country and we would quickly see that the areas held lots of game.

The plan was for me to take the tahr and chamois and dad would shoot a stag and a fallow deer.


Tahr-
I thought this might be the hardest one to get. He ended up being about the easiest. The rut was in full effect and this bull was way down low next to the farms. Right on the fence line to be exact! This guy took 4 solid shots before he went down. They are tougher than I thought.





Fallow Deer
Saw this guy a couple times while glassing for stag. The stag we were looking for gave us the slip and this guy decided to show up. Wrong place, wrong time... for him.





Red Stag
Lots of stags all around. Hard to keep track which ones were "inside the fence" and which were "outside the fence" This guy was all alone a good ways up the mountain. Made a stalk on him and dad made a great shot.




Chamois
This one ended up being the biggest challenge. We got it done in a day, so really wasn't too difficult but the terrain was pretty steep. As you can see from my face I took a bit of a tumble during the recovery. One slip on a wet rock and a combination of everything being wet from the rain the night before, to the steep angle of the mountain, to the rain coat around my waist, made for a nice roll down the mountain. Luckily nothing broken, just some cuts and bruises.





Overall had a great time in New Zealand. A truly wonderful place. A place that I am highly recommending to all my friends. The hunting is great, but the countryside is beautiful just on its own. Green grass and water everywhere. Two lane highways with almost no traffic across the entire island. Food was actually very good. I'm definitely missing the pies (similar to pot pies). It rained a lot while we were there so a few sightseeing plans had to be cancelled. We did get a break in the weather towards the end and were able to take a modified tour of Milford Sound area via helicopter. That was awesome. I highly recommend it! As you'll see in the video my mom enjoyed it as well haha

https://vimeo.com/135500342

Definitely an awesome hunt with some awesome people. Did Sue fly you to Milford Sound?

We did the helicopter tour with Southern Lakes Helicopters (departed from Te Anau). Original plan was to tour Doubtful Sound by helicopter and Milford by car/boat.

Ah cool...she took us in her Cessna but I heard she was learning to fly helicopter. It's such a beautiful place!

Thats a lovely movie account of your family hunt. Congratulations on your success and some fine shooting. The region you hunted in is one of the prettiest in all of NZ and you certainly picked one of our finest outfitters. Gerald and Sue are in the top tier of outfitters available in NZ and on a personal level among the most welcoming people you could hope to meet.
I hope your mum enjoyed her helicopter tour. I really laughed watching her reaction to the flight.
Thankyou for visiting our country and bringing your family to enjoy a hunting vacation.

An excellent family adventure that yielded some great trophies and lifetime memories. Well done. And I always enjoy your videos. Great editing and composition.

thanks guys, I appreciate it. Heading out today to BC for sheep. Will report back in a few weeks!

Loved the movie. Congrats on some fantastic animals. Scenery is amazing. Are these all free range trophies? I'm really wanting to do a free range stag hunt.

Thanks for the write up Bobby, been having nightmares with computers,still struggling with an as yet undetected line speed issue..
End of winter for us here in NZ, another big dump of snow has painted the mountains white yet again, cold, clear and calm this morning.
Be a month yet before I venture out onto the hills fora post winter check on animals, they'll have wintered just fine.
All the best with your next hunt.

What an awesome time. Congrats!!

Beautiful pictures, Bobby. That definitely looked like a tough chamois hunt.

Great trophies - congrats.

Outstanding! Sorry I missed this earlier! Congrats!