With my semester in NZ fast nearing its end, it was time for a long planned tahr trip. Organized through another forum, the plan was to helicopter into the Southern Alps for 5 days of hunting. Mountain hunting is absolutely my favorite kind, so I was obviously pumped.

I left with another guy from University at 3:00 AM on Wednesday morning and did the 4 hour drive to Christchurch. We met up with the rest of the group, 12 kiwis, 2 brits, and me, the lone yankee.


The helicopter came in, and started shuttling people into the mountains. The group would be at 3 different huts:


The scenery from the pickup was absolutely beautiful, and a gave me an idea what I was going to be up against:


My turn to fly:


From the air:








We landed outside the hut, at 900 meters above sea level:


The hut, where 6 of us would stay for the next five days:


We broke up into two groups of three, and headed up different rivers into separate valleys. It took us three hours to cover less than 2 miles, a testament to the difficulty of hiking along glacier rivers filled with rocks and covered in snow.

Glassing




We spotted a bull tahr after a bit of glassing. Center of the picture, do you see him?


We (Nathan and I) decided to have a go at him, so we crossed the river and started to hike up the opposing mountain. There was only one way to approach him, and unfortunately he winded us and buggered off. Hunting here is not for the faint hearted, steep, slippery and covered in loose rocks:








After the failed attempt we headed back to the hut just as it started to rain. It rained through the night and continued raining throughout the following day. Thursday morning we planned on heading up the main valley as a group, and then breaking off as we came across different areas worth exploring. At a bivy, we took a break and glassed the mountain behind the biv. There were 5+ tahr on the mountain, including a few bulls. Despite wearing gaiters, my feet had been soaked in a river crossing. Freezing feet aren’t fun, so I decided to wring out my socks in the biv. The other 5 guys were looking up the mountain, when something moving behind them caught my eye. A chamois was trying to sneak down the riverbed behind us! I ran out with one boot on and a sock in my hand, grabbed my borrowed rifle and lined up. After not the best shooting, this was the end result:


The biv I was sitting in is in the background:


As the expression goes, its better to be lucky than good, and I was pleased to shoot my first chamois, and a very nice one at that. I butchered him and headed back to the hut. Two of the other hunters tried to stalk the group of tahr on the mountain, but weren’t able to get into a shooting position.

The really sh!t weather started soon after we made it back. That night we had thunder and lightening, rain, freezing rain, snow, hail and sleet. The weather report over the mountain radio repeatedly warned of gale force winds. The precipitation continued through the night, and although it wasn’t weather you could hunt in, I needed to take a walk. Another guy and I went out Friday afternoon. The river that had been less than knee high was almost waist deep. It was not a pleasant crossing, and the fast current almost knocked me over. We headed up the valley, and the weather only worsened. We were cold from the crossing, and as we gained altitude it we moved into freezing rain and snow. Tahr hunting is not for the rational or faint hearted individual:




We spotted a few tahr up high, seemingly unbothered by the weather. There was no way to get to them, so we headed back to the hut. The bad weather continued into Saturday, and we didn’t leave the hut.







Our helicopter pickup was scheduled for 1pm Sunday, and it didn’t look like we would be able to get out. Luckily the weather cleared just long enough for us to get picked up. We all met back at the vehicles and after swapping stories and looking at the few animals shot, headed up. The problem was that all the rain washed out the road. The 4wds could get through, but my friend who I drove up with had to leave his little car behind to be retrieved after the road is repaired. It could be a while:



One driver had a screw up farther down the road:



We took the bus back to school. Unfortunately we only got 1.5 days hunting in, but that’s the way it goes in the mountains sometimes. Fortunately, the total trip cost (flight, food, gas, bus etc.) cost me less than $300 US. I didn’t get the bull tahr I wanted, so I guess I will have to try to make another trip out before I leave…

Hope you enjoyed the report,
Alex

Great report, and congrats on your chamois, dude!

Great adventure.....and such a deal! Nice chamois.

Worth it for the pictures alone! Nice chamois too.

great pics and a great trip, too bad about the weather.

Beautiful scenery and beautiful chamois! Would like to go there myself.

Great report.

You will always look at that Chamois and remember the hunt and what you had to endure.

Good job.

Well done Alex. Congrats on an excellent Chamois and as Wendell said, you'll always remember that difficult hunt everytime you look at your Chamois. I hope your able to do a shoulder mount.
Cheers,
David

quote:

Originally posted by L. David Keith:
Well done Alex. Congrats on an excellent Chamois and as Wendell said, you'll always remember that difficult hunt everytime you look at your Chamois. I hope your able to do a shoulder mount.
Cheers,
David

Planning on it, seems like it will work out.

Going tahr hunting next week, my last shot at a bull!

I wish you the best of luck Alex. And yeah, I'd rather be lucky than good
Cheers,
David

Good to see you getting out there.
There was more than one vehicle left up a valley after that rain I can tell you!!!!

Well done mate!

Excellent report and some stunning pictures too.

Oh and lucky? No mate you deserved that nice Chamois

Great report and pictures