JP100
WKR
The years seem to tick by faster and faster and before we knew it Christmas was over and the new year was here. 2017 was a massive year for my guiding and we took some amazing animals. I had done a fair bit of hunting for myself but didn’t pull the trigger on any thing apart from a few meat animals. Maybe I’m getting too fussy…
I had 4 days to myself to see the new year in and I had a few plans I had been tossing up for a while. The weather was not perfect for an Alps crossing I had been planning, so I headed into some more eastern Tahr country for an explore. I had not been in this area for a few years, it always holds reasonable animal numbers but does attract a lot of hunters. Finding a mature animal would be difficult so I had planned to cover as much country as I could and mapped out 3 saddles to go through, all over 1800m. Was going to be a few big days!
After dropping the family off at the airport and a short drive up the river bed I was soon off into the mountains into a strong head wind. Todays mission was make the head of the valley and glass the surrounding areas. A few hours later and I was trying to set up my tarp in an increasing gale. The head of valley held around 70 Tahr, 40 odd nannies and young, a mob of young bulls and one mature bull who was left to grow a bit older and wiser.
I had a rather long night under my tarp, in an effort to save weight I had ditched my sleeping bag and had a small bivvy bag and half a foam mat, despite it being ‘summer’ it was rather chilly and the increasing wind and rain had kept me busy trying to stop my tarp from leaving the country.
My Camp the morning after, rocks were needed!
I woke to steady rain and more wind. No new animals were spotted and camp was quickly packed up and the slow march to my first saddle began. I was soon huddling under a rock, with five keas for company, looking into a new valley. The rain was steady and at 1800m the wind was cold. Making my way down the valley I saw around 40 nannies and kids, and passed around 20 carcasses. Evidence of the hunting pressure this area gets at times. Its always a bit disappointing to see that mainly young bulls have been shot and not nannies. In this type of country Tahr numbers can get very high and shooting young bulls does nothing to help this issue. I left most of my gear in a much appreciated bivvy and headed down into some gorges after lunch. Two young nannies contributed some back straps to my dehy meals and a couple more bulls were left to grow.
The second valley I hunted
Day 3 and I was slow getting out of bed, it was a white out to the valley floor so there was no real rush. I slowly made my up through the cloud toward a saddle of about 1800m. I passed 4 more dead bulls on the way and few whistles in the fog let me know there were more about. I eventually made it above the cloud and the breath-taking views were worth the wait.
As I crested the saddle I spotted a group of nannies not 300 yards away. I bit of belly crawling and I soon had one lined up. The .300wsm rolled her in her sleep and the rest soon scattered. The day was made up of scrambling around the ridge and glassing as much country as I could. Getting a high vantage point sure helps and I soon had a large number of animals spotted. Most well beyond this hunting trip, but I know knew where two mobs totalling nearly 40 mature bulls were living. Good knowledge for next time!
Nanny Tahr up on the tops
Day 4 was to be my last day in the hills. I was a little disappointed at seeing so many dead bulls but that is the reality of easily accessed public land and I shouldn’t have expected much different. The last of my Tahr meat was taken from under the scrub bushes and the pack loaded up. A 1900m saddle lay between me and truck. Nearly a full 1000m climb from my camp but it was not as steep as yesterdays climb and I had plenty of time to make it back to the truck. The morning was pretty un-eventful, more nanny groups spotted and I was soon cresting the final saddle. The weather had settled down and it was quite hot, I stopped just over the lee of the ridge and started to glass the valley and head basin. Its tough spotting game mid-day, especially in hot summer weather but I soon picked up a bachelor mob of bulls. Seven in total and two looked mature. Finally, some animals I was looking for and they were only about 800 yards away. As I crept over the saddle more of the basin became visible, and as I was hoping there was another group of bulls bedded a bit lower down. Again, mainly young bulls, but there was one bedded about 30 yards away from the rest under rock, who looked a little different. The heat mirage was pretty bad and I was trying to figure him out when he turned is head and it was quite obvious he had only one horn!
I watched him for a while and he had all the signs of a mature bull. One horned bulls are quite rare, I have only seen a couple before and was pretty keen to add one to the collection. These bulls were about 550 yards from where I was. I sat there for quite while trying to think of what to do. It was a rather long shot and I wasn’t happy to take the shot from there, but there was no cover what so ever. I was lying on the skyline in bare scree. To get closer meant sky lining myself and then cover at least 200 yards of scree before I could get to a better shooting position. As I lay there trying to think up a cunning plan the unicorn bull got up for a stretch and began to move off to the nearby tussock slope. A minute later the 10 other bulls joined him. With the bulls now ‘head down, ass up’ I thought I would try my luck for a slow creep across the rocks. Once Tahr start feeding this time of year they are pretty focused on tussock so I hoped that they would keep themselves busy and not see my approach. The 200-yard creep was as test of patience, times like this is about how slow you can move not how fast. Eventually I made it to a small rise in the basin and figured the Tahr would be about 350 yards away. I slowly set up the rifle, binos under the front, hat under the rear and ranged the bulls. 340 odd yards. I had left my pack and spotter behind for the stalk, but could easily make out the one horned bull. He was now bedded down taking in some afternoon heat.
I am quite new to shooting our .300 wsm, we got this rifle for our main ‘client’ gun and have been running Hornady’s 200gn ELD X. I dialed in 3.5 MOA for the range and held off to the left for the slight cross wind. A dry fire to settle the nerves……. At the shot the bull got out of his bed in a hurry and stopped, shaking on his feet 20 yards down the slope. The second shot dropped him in his tracks.
The basin was alive with bulls running and whistling in every direction as I lay there taking it all in. I quietly walked back to my gear and made my way around to the bull.
As I approached him I could soon make out his horn rings, and a quick look revealed a nice mature bull who had broken his left horn off perhaps 5 years previous. I was pretty stoked to say the least.
The old Bull where he lay
After a quick photo and butchery session I was soon loading up my pack for the final leg home. I was pleased to find the first shot had taken the bull through his shoulder and the bullet was just sitting under the skin on the far side of his paunch. The second shot had taken him clean through the neck. Both shots were where I wanted them, and the bullets worked as they should. The second shot was probably not needed but always good to secure an animal when you can, especially when they are in a larger group.
The walk home was pretty uneventful, and the powerade left under the truck seat was a very welcome treat.
Hope everyone has some big plans for 2018 and gets out there after it!
I had 4 days to myself to see the new year in and I had a few plans I had been tossing up for a while. The weather was not perfect for an Alps crossing I had been planning, so I headed into some more eastern Tahr country for an explore. I had not been in this area for a few years, it always holds reasonable animal numbers but does attract a lot of hunters. Finding a mature animal would be difficult so I had planned to cover as much country as I could and mapped out 3 saddles to go through, all over 1800m. Was going to be a few big days!
After dropping the family off at the airport and a short drive up the river bed I was soon off into the mountains into a strong head wind. Todays mission was make the head of the valley and glass the surrounding areas. A few hours later and I was trying to set up my tarp in an increasing gale. The head of valley held around 70 Tahr, 40 odd nannies and young, a mob of young bulls and one mature bull who was left to grow a bit older and wiser.
I had a rather long night under my tarp, in an effort to save weight I had ditched my sleeping bag and had a small bivvy bag and half a foam mat, despite it being ‘summer’ it was rather chilly and the increasing wind and rain had kept me busy trying to stop my tarp from leaving the country.
My Camp the morning after, rocks were needed!
I woke to steady rain and more wind. No new animals were spotted and camp was quickly packed up and the slow march to my first saddle began. I was soon huddling under a rock, with five keas for company, looking into a new valley. The rain was steady and at 1800m the wind was cold. Making my way down the valley I saw around 40 nannies and kids, and passed around 20 carcasses. Evidence of the hunting pressure this area gets at times. Its always a bit disappointing to see that mainly young bulls have been shot and not nannies. In this type of country Tahr numbers can get very high and shooting young bulls does nothing to help this issue. I left most of my gear in a much appreciated bivvy and headed down into some gorges after lunch. Two young nannies contributed some back straps to my dehy meals and a couple more bulls were left to grow.
The second valley I hunted
Day 3 and I was slow getting out of bed, it was a white out to the valley floor so there was no real rush. I slowly made my up through the cloud toward a saddle of about 1800m. I passed 4 more dead bulls on the way and few whistles in the fog let me know there were more about. I eventually made it above the cloud and the breath-taking views were worth the wait.
As I crested the saddle I spotted a group of nannies not 300 yards away. I bit of belly crawling and I soon had one lined up. The .300wsm rolled her in her sleep and the rest soon scattered. The day was made up of scrambling around the ridge and glassing as much country as I could. Getting a high vantage point sure helps and I soon had a large number of animals spotted. Most well beyond this hunting trip, but I know knew where two mobs totalling nearly 40 mature bulls were living. Good knowledge for next time!
Nanny Tahr up on the tops
Day 4 was to be my last day in the hills. I was a little disappointed at seeing so many dead bulls but that is the reality of easily accessed public land and I shouldn’t have expected much different. The last of my Tahr meat was taken from under the scrub bushes and the pack loaded up. A 1900m saddle lay between me and truck. Nearly a full 1000m climb from my camp but it was not as steep as yesterdays climb and I had plenty of time to make it back to the truck. The morning was pretty un-eventful, more nanny groups spotted and I was soon cresting the final saddle. The weather had settled down and it was quite hot, I stopped just over the lee of the ridge and started to glass the valley and head basin. Its tough spotting game mid-day, especially in hot summer weather but I soon picked up a bachelor mob of bulls. Seven in total and two looked mature. Finally, some animals I was looking for and they were only about 800 yards away. As I crept over the saddle more of the basin became visible, and as I was hoping there was another group of bulls bedded a bit lower down. Again, mainly young bulls, but there was one bedded about 30 yards away from the rest under rock, who looked a little different. The heat mirage was pretty bad and I was trying to figure him out when he turned is head and it was quite obvious he had only one horn!
I watched him for a while and he had all the signs of a mature bull. One horned bulls are quite rare, I have only seen a couple before and was pretty keen to add one to the collection. These bulls were about 550 yards from where I was. I sat there for quite while trying to think of what to do. It was a rather long shot and I wasn’t happy to take the shot from there, but there was no cover what so ever. I was lying on the skyline in bare scree. To get closer meant sky lining myself and then cover at least 200 yards of scree before I could get to a better shooting position. As I lay there trying to think up a cunning plan the unicorn bull got up for a stretch and began to move off to the nearby tussock slope. A minute later the 10 other bulls joined him. With the bulls now ‘head down, ass up’ I thought I would try my luck for a slow creep across the rocks. Once Tahr start feeding this time of year they are pretty focused on tussock so I hoped that they would keep themselves busy and not see my approach. The 200-yard creep was as test of patience, times like this is about how slow you can move not how fast. Eventually I made it to a small rise in the basin and figured the Tahr would be about 350 yards away. I slowly set up the rifle, binos under the front, hat under the rear and ranged the bulls. 340 odd yards. I had left my pack and spotter behind for the stalk, but could easily make out the one horned bull. He was now bedded down taking in some afternoon heat.
I am quite new to shooting our .300 wsm, we got this rifle for our main ‘client’ gun and have been running Hornady’s 200gn ELD X. I dialed in 3.5 MOA for the range and held off to the left for the slight cross wind. A dry fire to settle the nerves……. At the shot the bull got out of his bed in a hurry and stopped, shaking on his feet 20 yards down the slope. The second shot dropped him in his tracks.
The basin was alive with bulls running and whistling in every direction as I lay there taking it all in. I quietly walked back to my gear and made my way around to the bull.
As I approached him I could soon make out his horn rings, and a quick look revealed a nice mature bull who had broken his left horn off perhaps 5 years previous. I was pretty stoked to say the least.
The old Bull where he lay
After a quick photo and butchery session I was soon loading up my pack for the final leg home. I was pleased to find the first shot had taken the bull through his shoulder and the bullet was just sitting under the skin on the far side of his paunch. The second shot had taken him clean through the neck. Both shots were where I wanted them, and the bullets worked as they should. The second shot was probably not needed but always good to secure an animal when you can, especially when they are in a larger group.
The walk home was pretty uneventful, and the powerade left under the truck seat was a very welcome treat.
Hope everyone has some big plans for 2018 and gets out there after it!
