NZ Tahr hunt 2014- Pilgrimage of adventure.

[ozyclint]

gday folks, myself and mate, paul rea just got back from New Zealand. we went for a another backpack hunt in the wild and rugged westland region for tahr. again, all public land by backpack! it was just the pair of us this year since our other companion, mark pitts who i went with last year wasn't able to make it this trip. this was my 4th trip in as many years to this rugged yet beautiful part of new zealand in pursuit of the game animals that inhabit these high places.

it has become an all consuming pursuit for us and somewhat of a pilgrimage each may.

"The mountains song
is not heard by all
but the lure is strong
who hear it's call."

pretty much sums it up for me.

the traditional "ready to go" photo. i'm on the left paul on the right.
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we went into a different valley this year as we were primarily targeting tahr on this hunt. we didn't see any chamois this year where we went, while paul glassed a red deer hind and yearling on a river flat from the tops. the kings of the mountain world were our focus.
brew yourself a coffee and get set for some backcountry adventure bowhunting.
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i'll intial the pics. credit where it's due.

 

[JWP58]

Man NZ is on my bucket list. Even if I don't get to hunt, I've got to see it. (but of course if I'm there, might as well hunt right?)

Thank you for taking the time to share your pics (hope theres more to come!)

 

[ozyclint]

oh, there's more to come but it's past my bedtime...........

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

Love these NZ hunts! You guys do a good job of telling the story with great pics as well. Looking forward to the rest!

 

[orionsbrother]

Really want to hunt NZ some day. Looking forward to the story and more pics. I'm thinking that the intermission is getting lengthy.

 

[ozyclint]

we left the road end at midday on the 1st day and arrived at the 1st hut at 5pm. NZ has arguably the best public backcountry hut system in the world. they are used by hunters, hikers and government staff who maintain the trails and the huts themselves. the 2nd day involved a bit of elevation gain on the trail to get around a gorge in the river. after another days hike we arrived at the 2nd hut along this trail. we spent a comfortable night here before heading off trail, fording the river the next day and making our way up to the high country via a side creek.
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a welcome sight for anyone in the in the bush-
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here's a pic of the river after we crossed. painfully cold, straight off the snow!
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[ozyclint]

here's paul fording the river. we kept our boots dry since we were headed up to the snow for a week or more and wet boots equals cold feet!
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after perhaps a couple of hours of hiking up the creek, nearing the bushline, we chanced upon a couple of younger bulls. here's one of them.
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[ozyclint]

here's your typical westland 'creek bed'-
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from whence we came-
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up above the bush now. heading up to find a camp somewhere- (i'm center frame)
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myself again, bottom center frame.
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[ozyclint]

we bumped into this lot before making camp on flatter ground just beyond the ridge behind them.
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needless to say we were all smiles with anticipation in camp that night.

 

[Shrek]

Thank you for sharing your adventure. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[Warren1726]

Looks awesome! I'll trade ya a whitetail hunt.

 

[ozyclint]

sorry for the delay guys. life gets in the way sometimes. death of a grandmother, losing my job because of employer going broke and having a house built= little time for anything.

we made a comfortable camp. handy water sources close by.
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1st day of hunting i when high above camp for a look over into the next valley. i was getting towards a saddle and just as i was about to crest it a bull and some nanny busted at from behind a big boulder infront of me. full stride in the snow. a magnificent sight! only 10 yards away!! tahr tracks everywhere.
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bull tahr tracks. they are not happy unless at least one toe is hanging over a 1000ft drop. tahr- "i think i'll walk along the very edge of this ridge and look down a 1000ft drop just because i can" you just have to admire their surefootedness. they never cease to amaze.
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unhuntable country full of tahr. haven't worked out how to abseil into range yet.
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the quick way down the other side!
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[ozyclint]

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aussie guy + crampons = "i'm going to walk up frozen streams just because i can and because i never get to do this at home" i love crampons!
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[Mtnboy]

Looks like an awesome trip!

Thanks for sharing

 

[jwb300]

Great Pics - thanks for posting

 

[ozyclint]

let's play spot the wandering bull tahr.
he's there somewhere.
yep, that dot center frame is a bull crossing the big snow field. you can see the trail he's following too.
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[Jager]

Great stuff mate, that water looks positively freezing.

I remember diving into a NZ West Coast stream for a tub before heading high for 7 days, as I dived in my knee scraped across a rock, that graze combined with the freezing water, was a unique experience. Ha ha

Keep the pics coming.

 

[ssliger]

Please keep the pics and story coming, it's just beautiful there.

 

[OBP]

Great looking trip and pictures!

 

[ozyclint]

after a few days of exploring we found a good area which held good numbers.
paul had a stalk on a group but didn't have any luck and i left him to try again on them and moved along the ridge a bit. in a brief break in the fog i glassed a bachelor herd down a gully. i could see 4 bulls at first and was lucky enough to witness a fight between two of them before i set off down the steep slope towards them.
with the fog cover and some convieniently placed house sized boulders it was easy to get into about 35m of the closest bull. i watched him for about ten minutes and he wasn't moving into a better position for me so i figured i'd have to move around the boulder into the gully to get closer. a younger bull came into view now just when i didn't need more eyes, ears and noses. then more bulls appeared, they were everywhere. suddenly i was amongst the mother lode. i was high on the stink of tahr!
i was very carefully getting closer to the bull when the younger one caught my movement and bolted up out of the gully and whistled, stopping at about 30m. thinking it was over i decided to take the rushed shot at him as he was the only one i could see. not suprisingly it missed. then the bigger bull ran in front of me and stopped for a brief moment at close range. another 'quick, hurry up and shoot him before he's gone' shot and another arrow disappeared down the mountainside without doing any harm. i couldn't help but curse myself for blowing a golden chance at a trophy i've spent over 40 days over 4 years in the mountains trying to attain. 'never give in' is a good motto to follow though. as luck would have it they just joined the bulls in the group below them and started feeding again. i managed to get in on them again and ran out of cover at about 25 meters. i was perched on a ledge looking down at a mob of bulls numbering, on a rough count, about 12 animals.
this time the ball was in my court. i had time to shoot a proper shot. as i slowly stood up and peered over and got set, 3 bulls came into view on a small flat below me. i picked the closest one, which was quartering away (as if by some devine intervention) and went through my shot sequence. the arrow blew through him right where i where looking, though he did move slightly at the shot. still the intial reaction was- 'i just killed are tahr!' i firmly believed he'd soon be dead. at the shot tahr went everywhere but not real far. the bull disappeared behind a boulder and didn't come out the other side, that was a good sign i thought. then i could see the others close by looking in his direction and i took that as meaning he'd gone down or was acting oddly. i let 15 minutes go by and nothing walked out from behind that boulder and the others had calmed down again. i could have taken a shot at two other bulls but i dared not get greedy. after all the effort over the years one bull would be more than enough reward and i didn't want to cause any more chaos, lest it disturb the bull i shot, since i didn't know if he was dead yet.
time was getting away on me and by now it was late afternoon and camp was over an hours hike away. i had to push the other tahr away to go and see if my bull was down. with extreme caution i rounded the boulder. , he wasn't where he should be! my heart sank. where could he have gone to. then i saw some fluffy hair in a small chasm a few meters further on. there he is!!
slowly i peered in there.....and what lay before me was the trophy of my dreams. 40 days in westland is what it took to get that tahr. blood, sweat and unashamedly, tears were shed in those days. i thanked him for the sport and sat for a brief moment as i reflected on what i'd been through in the pursuit of these mountain dwellers. on reflection, i realise now that the pursuit of this tahr and the chamois i was lucky enough to take a couple of years ago have taught me more about myself and my capabilties than i ever thought possible. it has tested me physically and emotionally and friendships have been forged through both shared hardships and triumphs. you'll never know what your capable of if you don't push your limits and get out of your comfort zone.

my long awaited bowhunting goal-
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