New zealand 2023

[Nickziegler]

April 15. After 3 years of waiting for covid delays we were finally heading to the airport to hunt the hills of New zealand with NZ horn and antler safaris. I would be hunting with my dad. Stag and Tahr on my list and stag and arapawa ram on his.

The flights went by smoothly and uneventful. Air NZ was fantastic to fly on. Quick overnight on arrival and we were picked up by Craig our Outfitter on the 18th.

On arrival into the lodge we quickly unloaded and headed to the range to check zeros. Both guns were good to go after the ling flights. Few beer and a good night sleep and we were ready to go for day 1.

DAY 1
stag was on the list for today. Right on arrival into the block we started finding hinds on the fog covered hills. We found a good stag that morning but could never relocate him. He seemed to vanish into the fog. After almost a full day of trying to find that stag we decided to try and go after an arapawa ram for my dad. The guides knew a sunny hillside they liked to spend there days on. We quickly found a group of rams and my dad and his guide Joe were able to sneak to within 300 yds while my guide Hunter and I watched from a far hillside. We were watching the rams in my spotter and heard 2 shots ring out. No rams fell. Clean miss. We quickly circled around to the other side of the hill the rams ran off to and relocated them at 150 yds. And my dad was able to put a good shot on one. The first animal of the trip was down.

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[Nickziegler]

Day 2.
Stag day. The plan for the day was to go out and get my stag and hopefully my dad's as well. I needed to be heading to the west coast the next day with a gap in the weather to fly into the mountains to chase tahr. Upon arriving into the block again we quickly found a new stag that was in a good spot for a stalk. After looking him over in the spotted the plan was for my dad to go after him with his guide Joe and Hunter and I would look for the stag from the first morning. We split and headed to the back of the block. We were finding alot of hinds and some really impressive fallow bucks but no stag. After a few hrs of walking the valley and glassing up into the cuts we decided to circle up top with the 4X4. As soon as we made it to the top we spotted the nice stag from the morning prior. He was with a group of hinds and as soon as he was the UTV he bolted with his hinds down the hill and into the valley below. We quickly made our was around and set up over the valley below as his hinds were walking below in hopes he would follow. Soon he popped into view. Range called out at 350 compensated. Bullet was on the way. Knuckles him Hunter said. He's down!. We made our way down to him and got to lay my hands on my first NZ animal. He was everything I could have hoped for traveling to NZ. My dad also had some good luck on his stalk taking his red stag.

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[Nickziegler]

Day 3-6 Tahr!
The rest of the trip was devoted to hunting probably the most incredible animal I will ever get to hunt. TAHR. Day 3 we made a 7 hr drive to the west coast and overnighter for an early morning helicopter flight into the southern alps in search of tahr. We woke the next morning to fog. Not a great sign in trying to fly out. On arrival at the hanger we loaded our geat into the helicopter and waited for a break in the fog. After about and hour the pilot said get in and let's give this a go. Up we went for one of the most scenic rides I will ever experience. We were set just above the scurb line at about 5000 ft on bench. Hunter and Joe started to set camp and had me glass around a bit to see what I could find. On our flight in we saw several tahr bolting for the scrub line. The NZ government has been doing tahr culls with helicopters so as soon as the tahr here them they are bolting. After about an hour of glassing I looked over and saw Hunter and Joe in excitement waving me over to there glassing knob making a motion of big bull. They had seen a big bull come out of a cut about 200 yds away. We set up my gun in hopes he would step out. After 5 min the decision was made to move up the hill in hopes of finding him again. After moving into a new position the bull popped out again above us. Range called was 400. Steadied my rifle and let a shot ring. Crushed him they both said as the bull cam le tumbling down the mountain in front of us.the retrieval was pretty white knuckles at times but we were able to make our way over to him and find him. He was a beautiful 12 year old 13 inch broomed bull. No damage after the fall. We sat in awe for quite some time before the pack out. The rest of the we spent hiking into new basins doing some scouring for more bulls. The countey was amazing. That night a good meal was had of elk quesidillas and tahr tenderloin and a celebration burboun and sprite. I can't thank the guys enough at NZ horn and antler safaris for an absolute dream hunt.

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[Nickziegler]

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[Nickziegler]

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[Nickziegler]

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[Nickziegler]

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[Curmudgeon]

Thanks for the story on your incredible adventure and congratulations on your trophies. Some beautiful country in your pictures.

 

[Cornhusker]

I just got back the end of March and I believe that we probably tromped many of the same mountains. I will say that you take much better pictures than I do. I rented a camper and drove 1,800 Km on the wrong side of the road which was quite an adventure of its own. Thank you for a great recap and pictures.

 

[Jkr61]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[passinggas33]

Just for my reference, what would those stags score? Did you pay for a certain size class and these fall within it? The reason I ask is that I’m trying to see what kind of animal you get for some of the sizes the outfitters have listed.

 

[Nickziegler]

Just for my reference, what would those stags score? Did you pay for a certain size class and these fall within it? The reason I ask is that I’m trying to see what kind of animal you get for some of the sizes the outfitters have listed.

Guide estimate mine 440. My dad's 390

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[PurpleDriver]

Great write up. Thanks for sharing and congrats on great animals and memories.

 

[CC11]

Sounds like a great time! A stag hunt is on my bucket list for sure, hopefully sooner rather than later

 

[NE Herd Bull]

Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

I just returned from my own NZ adventure.
Absolutely stunning country.
I am now officially addicted to tahr hunting!

Your stag is impressive, and that is a BRUTE of a bull tahr.

 

[Nickziegler]

Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

I just returned from my own NZ adventure.
Absolutely stunning country.
I am now officially addicted to tahr hunting!

Your stag is impressive, and that is a BRUTE of a bull tahr.

How was the tahr hunt. Did you do a helicopter drop off hunt? Some pretty cool county for sure

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[NE Herd Bull]

How was the tahr hunt. Did you do a helicopter drop off hunt? Some pretty cool county for sure

No helicopters for us. We hunted 2 different properties for Tahr. We could navigate sxs at the base of the slopes. Spot and stalk from there.

Had to deal with a lot of fog/clouds, reduced visibility, and wet difficult footing. A lot of UP but the down was twice as hard on my oldish knees and ankles.

As you said, incredible country. I stopped many times a day, looked at the scene around me, and felt incredibly blessed and humbled to be there.

My new found addiction resulted in me being lucky enough to take 3 trophy Tahr on this trip. If I am fortunate enough to go to NZ again someday, I am spending every hunt day on Tahr.

 

[Nickziegler]

Bit of gear advise for anyone looking to hunt NZ. Bring leather boots! I have always work MTN Extremes. Due to NZ requiring boots ti be spotless I bought a pair of crispi colorados. Broke them in and waterproofed 5 times with the crispi spray. My feet were soaked from the mountain grasses on the tahr hunt within 2 hrs.

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[mhammond86]

Looks like a great trip! Congrats!

 

[JP100]

Great photos and an awesome Bull Tahr!
Looks like you lucked out on the weather!
You'll have to come back for a Chamois haha, equally as good as Tahr hunting, if not more challenging