tahr and chamois quest 2013

[Mark Pitts]

Sorry this is taking a long time, I have a lot on at the moment.

The next morning I was nursing a back injury that I had from before the trip.
There were Tahr in a few spots above our camp so Clint went for the first hunt of the trip.

CM

CM

CM

CM

CM

CM

CM

CM

 

[Mark Pitts]

We kept climbing the creek It was getting on towards lunch time now and we were not far off the saddle heading over the range.
We crossed the creek and headed up a smaller side creek by this time it was starting to rain, and as Clinton mentioned previously we stumbled upon as good a camp site as your going to get that high on the mountain.
Situated in a tiny bowl next to a creek with a low tussock patch the size of the tent footprint and a wind break from gusts coming up the valley.(which were reported to be coming)The angle wasn't bad either.

After clearing a few rocks we got the tent up by now the rain had turned to sleet and would shortly be snow.
So we settled in for the rest of the day wondering what tomorrow would bring.

As the snow got heavier we had to punch the top of the tent every 15 minutes to shed the snow otherwise we end up with a collapsed tent and bent poles (happened last year) so we kept that up for about 15 hours, the shed snow builds up at both ends of the tent and then you have to be careful that doesn't collapse. Oh the fun of mountain hunting.

Next morning we cleaned the excess snow off and went hunting.

 

[Mark Pitts]

CM

From Clintons lofty perch on top of the range he was able to look to where I was glassing.

CM

CM

At one point during the day , Clint came over the radio rather flustered telling me a Tahr had bedded below me on a small saddle.
I gathered what gear I needed and dropped over into a small steep creek knee/waist deep in snow, When I got to where the Tahr had been he was gone it was just to noisy getting down in the snow.
I climbed back up and saw the Tahr 80 meters away he had crossed where I walked up earlier and headed towards Clintons direction.

In hindsight I would have been better coming down the front of the ridge, but there the breaks when your stalking blind, as we were to find out more and more on this trip terrain just doesn't look the same viewed from afar.

CM


I watched later in the day as Clint put the bull Tahr up from his rocky hiding place Just by the sound of him climbing down in the snow .
The Tahr ran right out the front of the range non stop, it was amazing to watch him move that fast in such fatal terrain, what he did in minutes would have taken us hours.

 

[ozyclint]

that's the tasman sea behind mark in that pic.

i really thought mark was going to get a shot at a bull that day. i was having lunch and periodically looked to see what mark was doing. i couldn't believe it when i saw a tahr bedded just below him. like mark said the terrain looks very different from afar. trying to talk someone in by radio proved difficult because what seemed easy to me probably looked like death to mark.
the shoe was on the other foot later in the trip.

the ease with which that tahr traversed that bowl can not be described. they are the king of the mountain.

 

[Jager]

Good pics boys, such a great country NZ.

 

[Mark Pitts]

CM

A little reminder of why we are doing what we are doing on Clintons bow.

CM

CM

The range where we had some close encounters with Tahr 2 years previous.

Back at camp.
Temps that evening when we were cooking dinner in the tent were 0.8 degrees C (33.44 Fahrenheit) outside the tent and 4 degrees C (39.2 Fahrenheit)
inside.

Our gaitors and boots were frozen rigid in our vestibules.

 

[ozyclint]

i should change my self motivation sticker to- 'if you want to kill the devil, you have to go through hell and back and then through hell again'

 

[G Posik]

Man this is so awesome, thanks for letting us follow along. I love the fact you guys are trad shooters. As a trad shooter myself I enjoy this adventure that much more. Keep it coming.

Glenn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[TEmbry]

This settles it. I MUST make it over for this exact bowhunting experience sooner than later!

 

[Mark Pitts]

Next day was a big day, both of us headed our separate ways again, I was to sidle around the front of the range again but further this time as a recon to check we could make it round to the creek we were going to use to decend the mountain when the time came, and also to look for Chamois.

Clinton was to head farther up the range towards a saddle that dropped into another gnarly catchment.

A little ways around the front I came upon a doe Chamois and her kid basking in the sun, I watched them for a while and decided they were pretty un approachable from my position.
I continued high on the range and dropped over into another gutter where I came upon this guy again soaking up the suns rays.

Again from my position he would have spotted me descending.
As Clinton and I were going to make another camp this way in the days to come I opted not to pressure the animals to much unless a really good opportunity presented itself.

So I continued on sideling, I was on a steep patch of tussock with a bench below me that I couldn't see fully. Suddenly there was a swirl of wind and 10 sets of horns appeared on the shelf below and to the right of my position,
They were alert but not sure why, I stood frozen about 40m away to far for me to do anything but wait.
It took 15-20 minutes for the group to feed off the bench descending as they went but my attention was on a young buck that had walked off to the left still on the bench out of view, I thought to my self this is it I will just stalk down slowly peer over the bench and maybe have the chance at a shot. now all the others were out of sight I knocked an arrow and slowly started heading down.

After only a couple of well placed steps the young buck appeared still out of range and continued feeding across to where the rest had disappeared.
Change of plan, when he was out of sight I made my way down to the bench dropped my pack
(hence, why no photos)and crawled over to the edge of the bench peering over I was greeted with the sight of 14 Chamois all bedded in the sun in various locations within a small area un aware to my presence. Although only 60m away with all them eyes, noses and ears I had no chance of getting closer so I just sat and watched these beautiful creatures for the remainder of the day.
It was interesting watching a rutting buck run around pestering all the does, its unbelievable how they cover the terrain with such ease.

Later on in the day I decided that was that and backed out giving myself enough time to get back to camp.

The next event proved to be quite bizarre.....

Earlier on in the day Clinton had let me know that he spotted 2 bulls above camp.

As I was on my way back I spotted this guy across the bowl above camp where Clinton had said,
I watched for a while and took some photos over the next 30 minutes or so, trying to decide if in the time I had left, I could head round to my right and drop over on top of him ? it would be quite a dangerous climb across the top of the range and time was getting on.

 

[realunlucky]

I love this thread

 

[Mark Pitts]

I decided to show my self and see if he would head back towards Clinton, I was fully expecting to see the reaction we had seen from the previous Tahr. this bull just stayed put and didn't seem bothered about me 100 m away.

He bedded back down and watched me.
Then he got up a while later and slowly made his way down into the gut on the right and below him.

What happened next was a massive surprise....

un beknownst to me Clinton had been on an epic 3 hour stalk culminating in him being 12 meters the other side of the bull but with no shot opportunity.

From what he described this is some of the route the stalk took in with quite a scary ascent up a tight snow filled chute towards the end.
I am sure Clint will recount the details.

The next thing I know Clint's head is poking up and I am frantically trying to signal to him that the bull is 15 meters away below him.
I am going crazy, I should have been taking pictures with both of them in the frame but I was just trying to use my best sign language to alert him to the bulls where abouts.

Suddenly the bull bolted up the other side of the chute giving Clint a brief chance at a 20 m shot but it was not to be as the shaft struck rock.

The bull didn't go far and Clint tried to pursue it but the cliffs became to dangerous.

I was pushing round my side of the bowl hoping to push it back towards Clinton, the bull just kept on getting closer and closer to me he just didn't seem bothered it was like he was testing how far I would go.

As the bull and I kept closing the circle around the bowl my thoughts went from I wonder if I can push it back to Clint , to I wonder if he will keep coming and if I might get a shot ?

After some tricky climbing on my part, as he traversed the terrain with ease, we stood apart at 60m I had an arrow on the string. but at that point it was like he thought your no match for me and just flicked over to the other side of the range where I could not follow.

My heart was racing and as I looked back I thought how am I going to get back.
Its funny when everything is in full swing and the hunt is on you just push on. I was now on a steep slope covered in snow and ice with no crampons...

After some tricky manoeuvres I was back on relatively safer ground and heading back to my pack and then back to camp where I met back with Clinton and we discussed what had just happened .
And talked of tomorrow when we would move camp around the front of the range and hunt chamois.

 

[ozyclint]

mark explained the situation very well.
the red line is the exact route i took to get above the bedded bull. i spotted him bedded up a long way up a mountain behind where that pic was taken. i couldn't believe after all that effort in getting into position that he was still there when i got there. the top of the chute put me right on him. i was at about 15 yards before i could see him and was able to get into about 12 yards by slithering through the tussock on my side on the steep slope. however, unfortunately i couldn't get a shot because of the angle he was bedded at and because i was lying on my left side on a steep slope. this might not sound significant but think about it....i'm a right handed shooter lying in the tussock in the bulls partial view on my left side with a stick bow.....a hopeless position to be in for a shot. i would have had to stand up in full view just to clear the bow let alone draw and shoot. there was no other way to get a shot though other than get in closer and hope he moved down hill a little allowing me to into a better position while he was out of sight. had circumstances been the other way around with me able to lie on my right side i would have been able to simply rise a little out of the tussuck with a canted bow for an undetected 12 yard shot. the mountain was the wrong way around for me.
he did eventually decide to move on and i followed where he went but couldn't relocate him again. as soon as i moved to follow the bull, much to my suprise, i saw mark on the opposite ridge. i'm not sure who was the most stunned. probably mark, he had just been watching a bull tahr and without any warning i pop out from behind it. i looked at mark through my binos hoping he could tell me where the bull had gone and his sign language told me he was still below me. i crept forward looking over a ledge but still couldn't see him. by now mark looked a little flustered. i was close but couldn't see him. suddenly the bull lept forth from somewhere below me and gave a whistle and stopped on a rocky knob about 20 yards away. there was barely enough time to think. he stood just long enough to get away a very rushed snap shot but it fell short. i never shoot well in such quick snap shot situations. i'm a settle for a few seconds kind of guy.
with that he was off up the mountain with mark in pursuit.

it was a shame how it turned out in the end but i was fully content with just having made a great stalk in such difficult terrain. 12 yards from a tahr was an experience i'll never forget. time spent in such close proximity with a tahr without any killing is something only a bowhunter can comprehend.

my trip had been made that afternoon.

 

[ozyclint]

lunch the previous day. taking in the ocean views while in the alpine.

 

[Sunspot]

Tahr is my dream hunt...this is fantastic and thanks for sharing.

 

[realunlucky]

Yea dream hunt for sure

 

[Mike P]

Keep it coming, great read so far

 

[Mark Pitts]

Next day we packed up our snow camp (5th camp)
and headed around the front of the range.
We were heading towards the area Clinton had shot his Chamois last year.

CM
Eagle eye Chamois
This was part of the same mob I was watching on the previous days.

CM

CM

We ended up finding a semi flat spot right on the creek we would be heading out on.

CM
Another example of not so level camp spots.
I had all my gear except my bow crammed under the tent to level it up a bit and this is how I would wake up in the mornings.

 

[Ryan Avery]

Great thread. The pics are Sweet!

 

[Liljozie495]

Fricken awesome thread you guys, that country is amazing looking!