# Hunting > The Magazine >  A dream come true

## hunterAT

Actually my flight back home would have been today. But it has been cancelled for obvious reasons so I am sitting in a Fairlie motel and share the burden that you Kiwis bear. And there is plenty of time to write a report about the past month that I spent hunting in your beautiful backcountry, especially for tahr a dream I have had for more than a decade and that finally came true. I was not after big trophies in particular nor after shooting as many animals as possible. It was all about the adventure and creating memories for a lifetime. Bag a few animals, cherish the trophy no matter the size and supplement the food with the meat.

Day 1 to 3

Travelling half around the globe. Upon arrival to NZ I was blown away by your relaxed mentality. You Kiwis must be the kindest people out there.

Day 4



Headed to the Lake Tekapo area and started hiking in the early afternoon.

After 15-20 km I reached public land at nightfall and set up camp. I actually saw my first tahr close to camp but they were 100 m outside of the public land so I only shot them with the camera.


Day 5

Rain and storm. Hunted around camp for a bit but only saw some birds.

Day 6

Headed further up the valley.




Spotted a nanny and a kid way up the mountain. They were in pretty inaccessible terrain and moving uphill so I didn't even try.

Hiked into a sidevalley in the afternoon and set up camp.


Then I wanted to climb a nearby knob to glass for the evening. On my way I spotted some tahr high up on the mountain and decided to give it a try even though I had hardly any water with me.

At 312m (ballistic range was 277m) I set up for the shot. Actually I shot 4 times but no tahr seemed hit. I climbed up there nevertheless and looked for blood, with some Keas hopping around. With the help of my headlamp I was still climbing along the ridge when it was already dark. But there was no blood to be found. And finally I understood. I had dialed up 4.5 MOA. Wasn't that way too much? I checked with my ballistic data. Indeed 4.5 MOA are required at 377m, not at 277m. Somehow I must have read the wrong line and messed up the chance to fulfill my dream.

Got back to camp late and as dehydrated as I have never been before.

Day 7

From camp I spotted a big bull deep in the valley. He was moving uphill quickly so there was no way to catch up with him. But I decided to try in the afternoon when he might feed downhill.
Headed further into the valley at noon. It was hot so I sat in the shade of a big rock and glassed for hours. Finally I started spotting tahr, nannies, kids and young bulls. I tried to approach a nanny and a kid but they moved into terrain where I would probably not have been able to recover an animal so I let them go.
I was about to head back to camp when a group of 4 young bulls moved downhill. It was very late so I had to hurry up through a patch of tussock like crazy to make it before dark. Finally I spotted them again. It was only 225m so I took the shot quickly. All tahr ran off but mine dropped after 30 m.

That's where they were.


I climbed up there. There he was. My first tahr. That species that I had been dreaming about for more than a decade.


He's 4.5 years old if I have counted correctly (but I'm confident that I have as the annuli are pretty obvious).
Got back to camp in the middle of the night and enjoyed some tasty tahr meat.

To be continued...

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## stug

Nice, well done for getting amongst it. Hopefully you brought some meat out to chew on for the next month. I see that Germany is chartering a flight to get Germans home. 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120...-and-europeans

Might be some help for you

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## Micky Duck

good on you....if you cant get out,sit tight and enjoy the time to relax and reset. fairly is a fairly good place to be stuck,I can think of a lot worse places to be.

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## Trout

Good effort mate,those goats not easy to hunt.Enjoy yr dinner.

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## Mooseman

Good story and well done on your first Tahr they are a challenging species to hunt alright. look forward to the next story.

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## hunterAT

> Nice, well done for getting amongst it. Hopefully you brought some meat out to chew on for the next month. I see that Germany is chartering a flight to get Germans home. 
> 
> https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120...-and-europeans
> 
> Might be some help for you


Thanks, I have already registered for that 2 days ago but haven't heard back yet.

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## ANOTHERHUNTER

Nice work,and thanks for puting your story up. a lot of people ask for advice on this forum , a story is a great way to return the favour.

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## Tentman

All the best mate, great story and good to see people here enjoying our mountains . . .

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## kukuwai

On ya mate looking forward to part two..... stories like this will be few and far between over the next four weeks. 

In my view there is no better country to be in right now !!!

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

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## hunterAT

> good on you....if you cant get out,sit tight and enjoy the time to relax and reset. fairly is a fairly good place to be stuck,I can think of a lot worse places to be.


Fairlie is a lovely place indeed.

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## hunterAT

> Good effort mate,those goats not easy to hunt.Enjoy yr dinner.





> Good story and well done on your first Tahr they are a challenging species to hunt alright. look forward to the next story.


Definately a really hard hunt. I was expecting tahr hunting to be sort of similar to chamois hunting back home, only in bigger country. In fact I found it to be way more challenging. The terrain is brutal and tahr seem to be moving longer distances which makes it harder to plan a stalk.

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## Sparrow

Well Written   @hunterAT   sounds like a great trip . Try to enjoy the extended holiday.  👍

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## hunterAT

> Nice work,and thanks for puting your story up. a lot of people ask for advice on this forum , a story is a great way to return the favour.


I am glad to be able to return a little bit of what I was given.

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## hunterAT

> All the best mate, great story and good to see people here enjoying our mountains . . .


How could one not enjoy these magnificent mountains...  :Have A Nice Day:

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## hunterAT

> In my view there is no better country to be in right now !!!


You might be absolutely right about that.

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## hunterAT

> Well Written   @hunterAT   sounds like a great trip . Try to enjoy the extended holiday.  👍


Thanks, actually I was worried if my writeup was fully understandable.

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## Gibo

Cool story, thanks. What rifle and caliber did you shoot it with?

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## Trout

Not sure where you staying in Fairlie,but theres a walk way in the willows on true left of river which is 100mtrs out of Fairlie on the Geraldine high way you could go for a walk up a bit,na maybe not, somebody else could be walking up there.How long are you in Fairlie for?

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## Rushy

Well done.  Thanks for posting.

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## Shearer

Fantastic effort and a great result. Good to see someone who is willing to put in the physical effort to realise a dream. Not just through a heap of money at it.
Well done and hopefully you (and everyone else stuck here) gets through this alright.

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## craigc

Were more than happy to share our country with people like you. 
I really enjoyed your story and cant wait fir part two. 

:-)

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## hunterAT

> Cool story, thanks. What rifle and caliber did you shoot it with?


It's a Tikka T3x Lite, custum trigger, 7 mm Rem. Mag., Vortex Viper 4-16x50, Vortex bubble, Harris bipod.

Has 0.4 MOA accurancy at 300m.

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## hunterAT

> Not sure where you staying in Fairlie,but theres a walk way in the willows on true left of river which is 100mtrs out of Fairlie on the Geraldine high way you could go for a walk up a bit,na maybe not, somebody else could be walking up there.How long are you in Fairlie for?


Depends on when I get a flight home. A few weeks probably.
I am staying at Mackenzie Motels. Will have a look at that walk if possible, thanks.

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## hunterAT

> Fantastic effort and a great result. Good to see someone who is willing to put in the physical effort to realise a dream. Not just through a heap of money at it.
> Well done and hopefully you (and everyone else stuck here) gets through this alright.


Thanks. In my opinion it's the physical effort that makes thid kind of hunting so rewarding.

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## hunterAT

> Were more than happy to share our country with people like you. 
> I really enjoyed your story and cant wait fir part two. 
> 
> :-)


Happy to hear that  :Have A Nice Day:

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## hunterAT

Day 8

Moved camp a little further upstream. The wind was picking up a lot. Spotted 3 nice bulls in the evening but no way to get there before.

Day 9

Crazily windy in the night. I could hardly sleep as I feared the tent might be teared apart. Rain and storm for most of the day. Had to stay in the tent until the late afternoon. Spotted quite a lot of tahr, including a pretty big bull. Decided to hunt for this one the next day.

Day 10

Hiked upstream in the dark. Just at daylight I heard a tahr's warning call. I looked up and there he was, only a bit more than 200m above me. A big bull for sure. On some rocks I set up for the shot


...while the tahr was watching me. He didn't go far after the shot. When I got up there he was even bigger than expected. Well over 13 inches and 9.5 years. Absolutely stoked.


Day 11

Decided to hike up to the valley head. The main goal was to see and explore the country but I wouldn't say no to a nice tahr.






Actually I saw a lot of tahr. Passed on some young bulls and made 2 unsuccessful stalks at mature ones.

In the evening I spotted another mob of bulls and got within 270m, climbing through extremely steep terrain that gave some awesome view towards camp.


It was pretty windy but I felt confident about the shot. I picked the biggest bull and let the bullet fly. Even though he dropped at the spot it took me 2 hours to find him as he had slid out of view and dropped into a hole after 20m. He was younger than expected (only 4.5 years). But this day had been the most memorable experience of this trip so far so I didn't mind.


Some Keas arrived while I was looking for the tahr.






When I got back to camp I was absolutely bugged. Had been awake for 22 hours on that day, hiking and hunting most of the time.

Day 12



Spent the day around camp. Spotted only few tahr up high. But they were nice bulls.

Day 13

In the morning not a single tahr was to be seen. Then I headed to a hut in the main valley. Rain and storm were going to hit again so I preferred a hut over a tent. Close to the hut I actually met the first people since I had left civilisation.

Day 14

Rain and storm. In the afternoon the weather improved a bit.


I went for a walk and spotted a mob of 10 tahr. Even though I managed to cut the distance to 290m I decided not to shoot. Meanwhile it was raining so heavily that I could hardly see the tahr in the riflescope. Combined with the wind I didn't feel comfortable with the shot.

Day 15

Better weather. Hiked out towards the border of public land and set up camp at my very first campspot. River levels had already dropped a lot so I felt confident to get back to the car the next day.

Day 16

No more rain in the night. But crazily high rivers as it had rained at the main divide. The lower parts of the valley were actually flooded.


But I made it to the car. Met some local hunters on private land. They said that river levels like this were hardly ever seen at this time of the year.

To be continued...

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## Rushy

Mate you have had a blast.

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## kukuwai

Loving the photos 

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## Shearer

> Day 8
> 
> Moved camp a little further upstream. The wind was picking up a lot. Spotted 3 nice bulls in the evening but no way to get there before.
> 
> Day 9
> 
> Crazily windy in the night. I could hardly sleep as I feared the tent might be teared apart. Rain and storm for most of the day. Had to stay in the tent until the late afternoon. Spotted quite a lot of tahr, including a pretty big bull. Decided to hunt for this one the next day.
> 
> Day 10
> ...


Bloody awesome!!!!

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## Trout

> Depends on when I get a flight home. A few weeks probably.
> I am staying at Mackenzie Motels. Will have a look at that walk if possible, thanks.


I just live up the road,if you still in Fairlie after the lock up, go for a walk into the North Opuha.Theres the odd animal around there.About a 15k walk for a return day trip.Theres a little hut in there too.

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## hunterAT

> I just live up the road,if you still in Fairlie after the lock up, go for a walk into the North Opuha.Theres the odd animal around there.About a 15k walk for a return day trip.Theres a little hut in there too.


Been in there just before the shutdown. Will probably be part 5 of the report.  :Have A Nice Day:

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## hunterAT

Day 17

Stayed in Lake Tekapo to relax and clean the gear.

Day 18

Headed towards the Hanmer Springs area to hunt those species I know from home, chamois and red deer.

Started hiking in the afternoon.




Just before dark I spotted 3 chamois way off in the distance.

Day 19



In the morning it was freezing cold. I glassed from camp and spotted a spiker. And the 3 chamois again: 2 young bucks on the opposite mountain, hard to get there. And a slightly bigger buck further in the valley. Seemed like a 4.5-year-old one.

I packed up camp and hiked for another 2km. After setting up camp again I continued glassing. The chamois was nowhere to be seen. But at 4 pm I finally spotted him. It took me about an hour to cut the distance from 900m to 184m. Meanwhile the chamois had bedded down. And he didn't get up anymore...






Was 4.5 years old indeed. Not the biggest buck but my first chamois from the other end of the world.

Day 20

The day was spent around camp without seeing anything but birds.

Day 21

Started hiking very early and reached the head basin at daylight.




Soon a chamois was spotted. Would have been easy to shoot it but it was only a 1.5-year-old buck so I passed up on him.

A while later I spotted 2 more chamois 1km away. They were not too old (seemed like 3.5 years to me), either. But nice bucks anyway. They were moving uphill so it took me 2 hours to catch up with them. When peeking over a knob I had them at 60m, which made for an easy shot. The chamois ran another 10m and tumbled down a cliff. The 2nd one didn't even run off but I felt that one chamois was enough.
Unfortunately my chamois had got stuck at a pretty inaccessible spot in the middle of the cliff. The wise decision would have been to just leave it and not take the considerable risk. But I decided to try at least and after 2 hours of climbing and trying different routes I finally made it. He was older than expected, 5.5 years. Moving the chamois just a little bit made it tumble for another 100m, which helped me to make it down safely.


When hiking towards camp I had another nice chamois at 300m. But I was more than happy with the one I had so I let him walk.
Got back to camp at nightfall.

Day 22

Stayed around camp without seeing any animals.

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## Rushy

Legend

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## ROKTOY

Excellent trip.

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## Micky Duck

man you surely have done the hard yards and deserve all the sucess you have achieved..... hope you have got taxidermist all lined up to clean skulls etc for the trip home????SWedish mate used O'Roukes at pleasant point a couple of years ago and the service was great,led to no hassels at customs etc.

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## trooper90

Epic trip great pics

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## hunterAT

> man you surely have done the hard yards and deserve all the sucess you have achieved..... hope you have got taxidermist all lined up to clean skulls etc for the trip home????SWedish mate used O'Roukes at pleasant point a couple of years ago and the service was great,led to no hassels at customs etc.


Yeah, my choice was O'Rourke, too. Went there twice to drop off the skulls.

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## veitnamcam

What a great report thanks for posting!  :Cool:

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## jakewire

I really enjoyed your report and photos.
How are you getting on with getting home?

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## Trout

Another great read,thanks ago. :Thumbsup:

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## hunterAT

> I really enjoyed your report and photos.
> How are you getting on with getting home?


They are intending to get all Europeans back home within the next 2 weeks.

Thanks for your kind words, everybody  :Have A Nice Day:

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## hunterAT

Day 23

In the morning it was snowing. I packed up camp and hiked out.


Then I headed into another valley that seemed better for deer. Heaps of canada geese in there.

Set up camp and spent the last hour of daylight glassing.


Spotted 2 spikers, 1 hind and 1 fawn.

Day 24

Woke up to a chilly morning. Frozen boots.
Climbed to a saddle and glassed.


While doing so I recieved a message on my Garmin Inreach: my flight back home had been cancelled. This meant I would have to hike out early to book a new flight.

Finally I spotted a deer that moved into one of the highest basins way off in the distance. A pretty decent stag! I had too little food and water with me to make that hike now. So I returned to camp and got what I needed. Then I hiked up the backside of the basin.


It was 3 pm when I reached the ridge and peeked into the basin. No animals were to be seen.
I continued along the ridge and finally spotted a deer. A spiker. But next to him there was another one. The stag. Both were bedded in the tussock. It was 330m but there was such a strong wind up here that I didn't feel comfortable to shoot. So I moved around the basin behind the ridge. That took me 45 minutes but finally I cut the distance to 160m. The stag was still bedded and all I could see was his head. Suddenly he got up and looked straight at me. After the shot he ran off some 30m and stopped. Seemed like he would drop any moment but I put another bullet in him just to be sure.


View back towards chamois country


Got back to camp in the night.

Day 25



Stayed around camp in the morning. Hiked out in the afternoon and got back to the car before dark.
Headed south. Halfway to Christchurch I slept in the car for a few hours.

Day 26

Went to the airport in the morning. It actually took me 7 hours to book a new flight back home.
Then I continued south as I had a few days left. When driving through Fairlie I found a nice motel and stayed there for the night.

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## Scott29er

Made my day- a great write up and well deserved success. Geez , I recognise some of the country that you are covering and I can't wait for lockdown to end... hopefully the 23rd of ....April!

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## ROKTOY

You have definitely made the most of your visit to NZ. Several of your photos have shown areas I know, from a fantastic perspective. Thanks again for sharing your trip with us.

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## Trout

Nice stag AT,you are a fit bugger allrigth.Iv hunted around there a bit,theres are few deer around,if you spend the time. :Thumbsup:

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## hunterAT

Day 27

In the afternoon I was at the car park, intending to head into North Opuha. It was raining but the weather forecast predicted the rain to stop soon so I waited.

Studied the intentions book for a while. Wasn't very encouraging as many (most?) hunters hadn't seen any animals.

Then 4 hunters arrived at the car park and headed in so the hut was already full.

The rain did not stop and fog rolled in. I didn't want to get soaking wet without having a hut to dry and without having a chance to see animals in the fog anyway. So I decided to sleep in the car.

Day 28

Got up early and hiked in in fine weather. Reached public land at daylight. Even before reaching the hut I sat down to glass.


At first I spotted the other hunters that were heading for the eastern portion of the block.

Then I spotted a tahr in the highest basin, some 3 km away. One tahr? I counted more and more every minute. Finally I counted 30 tahr and all of them seemed like bulls.
Also spotted 2 or 3 red deer but they were hinds.

Moved on a bit and kept an eye on the tahr, hoping they wouldn't cross the ridge and enter private land. Also kept an eye on the other hunters. 2 of them had climbed the eastern part of the ridge and it seemed well possible that they were heading towards the tahr now. In that case I was going to head elsewhere.
But the hunters moved on to the east. And the tahr bedded.
So I crossed the valley floor, dropped my camp and headed up the mountain.


Was pretty tough in the high tussock. But at 1:30 pm I finally got within range and set up for the shot.


Picked which seemed like the most mature bull (longest mane, biggest body). 324m. Dialled up 3 MOA and let the bullet fly. The tahr dropped after a few meters. Was only 4.5 years old, though. But it had been a great hunt which was way more important.


The other tahr were still there and stayed around for hours. They hardly cared about my presence. Pretty crazy behaviour. I guess that these tahr usually live on private land and that it was pure luck that I found them on public land.
Would have been easy to shoot some more but I only did with the camera.




When heading down the mountain later in the day there was another tahr at 50 m. Bigger than the one I had shot. Watched him for quite a while and let him walk.

I also had a spiker and a decent 6-point stag at 300m. At first I was unsure whether to shoot or not. When I finally decided to shoot the stag disappeared in the creek bed. Then fog rolled in. Later I actually bumped into both deer twice but in the fog I noticed them too late.

Reached the valley floor in the evening. A wallaby hopped off at 5m without giving me a chance. A bit later 2 more wallabies hopped off. One disappeared in the bush. The other one tried to hide some 20m away but its ears remained visible. I climbed a rock. That way the head and neck were visible and which gave me the unexpected opportunity to harvest another species.


Day 29



Didn't do much as I had shot more than enough anyway.
Headed out in the evening.
After having reached the car I learnt that my new flight had been cancelled, too.
Spent the night in the car.

Day 30

When I dropped off the trophies in Pleasant Point the taxidermist was the first to tell me about the shutdown. I had 1.5 days left.

Headed to Christchurch but no way to get a flight.

Ok, then I'm going to self-isolate in the backcountry and spend the time hunting. No safer place for sure. That was my first thought.
After some online research I found out that backcountry activities are prohibited for very understandable reasons.

Day 31

Went back to the Fairlie motel as I hoped that time would pass easier in the countryside.

Day 32

The day that my flight had been scheduled for. Instead it was the first day of the shutdown. Not the best timing for sure.

Now it's day 39 and I'm still here in Fairlie. Definately a nice place to be under the current circumstances.

Thank you, New Zealand, for allowing me to experience this awesome adventure! I hope life in this beautiful country will be back to normal soon.

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## Rushy

Mate I think you have made more of this opportunity than any other foreign hunter that has visited this forum.  Bloody good on you.

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## Trout

Good hunting AT,nice valleys in there.HC and I walked in there one morning,sat down on the porch of that little hut having a coffee.Well 10 minuts later,about 10 big stags stood up in the dry riverbed bush about 200yds way.Well lessons learnt here,allways have yr rifle at yr side,not 6yds away.Thoses big stags just trooted up into the fog which was near the valley floor.We  were both loss for words at what we just seen.Enjoy your trophys when you get home.
Well have a good trip home mate,we all enjoyed your hunting storys.

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## kukuwai

> Mate I think you have made more of this opportunity than any other foreign hunter that has visited this forum.  Bloody good on you.


I second that 
 @hunterAT your contributions are much appreciated 

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## Tentman

Thanks for a great story, lots of "messages" there to for those who moan about not seeing any game!!

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## Micky Duck

man you surely have made the most of your time here.....AWESOME writeup.... thankyou again for sharing it with us all.

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## viper

Great read, thanks for taking the time to write it up.
Loved  the photo's also, glad you enjoyed our piece of paradise at the bottom of the world and respected it.

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## jakewire

Great write up
I sincerely hope you can get home speedily and stay safe when you get there.

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## hunterAT

All your kind words are much appreciated, thanks!  :Have A Nice Day: 

This trip exceeded my expectations in so many ways.

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## 25 /08 IMP

What an awesome trip report.
Man you covered some ground and got some nice animals.
Well done.

Sent from my CPH1903 using Tapatalk

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## rewa

Your photography is as sharp as your hunting skills, well done you.

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## imaca

You did some huge days there HunterAT, I'm impressed. 
If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? 

I have always wanted to do something similar and this lock down shit has just confirmed in my mind that there is no point in waiting for "later"

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## hunterAT

I'm 26.

Just do it :Thumbsup:

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## Crekyhills

Did you get home alright mate?
Thanks for your great post

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## hunterAT

Yes, thankfully I was able to catch Austria's repatriation flight. Anyhow I am already looking forward to return to NZ one day. :Have A Nice Day: 

Tomorrow is the last day of my home quarantine. Will do some scouting on Saturday. Currently we are a little luckier than you... there's no ban on hunting anymore and deer hunting season will start in 3 weeks.

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## trooper90

Good to hear you got back home ok.  Great timing for your hunting season over there!

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## woods223

Glad to hear you got home ok hunterAT. It was great following your trip and seeing photos,brought back some good memories of my own time spent in some of thos areas. Oh to be 26 again, not 58. Good luck in the future.

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## hunterAT

Finally got the trophies... :Have A Nice Day: 
A great addition to the invaluable experiences I've had in your beautiful country.

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## ROKTOY

That is a cool display, there are some great memories sitting right there.

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## Mr300WSM

Just out of interest who did your euro mounts?

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## hunterAT

O'Rourke in Pleasant Point did them.

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## Mooseman

Great to hear you got back home safely we are in a crazy time with the covid thing at the moment. Your trophies look great, well deserved for the time and effort you put in.

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## Trout

Nice trophys there and lots of deserved memorys you will never forget.

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## HILLBILLYHUNTERS

Thank you very much for shearing with us . Please stay safe so you can come back for round two , may be West Coast next time ? .

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## Moa Hunter

Your story was both epic and very well told, but made me sick to the core with guilt and regret. Regret that despite living here with what you experienced on my doorstep as it were, I have never taken an extended hunting trip / domestic safari myself. Thankyou for showing the way

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## hunterAT

> Thank you very much for shearing with us . Please stay safe so you can come back for round two , may be West Coast next time ? .


Can't wait to go back. Maybe West Coast indeed. There's so much awesome country all over NZ - makes it hard to decide where to go first.

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## hunterAT

> Your story was both epic and very well told, but made me sick to the core with guilt and regret. Regret that despite living here with what you experienced on my doorstep as it were, I have never taken an extended hunting trip / domestic safari myself. Thankyou for showing the way


My pleasure! Especially in these difficult times, you Kiwis are blessed to have some of the most versatile and adventurous hunting in the world.

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## Moa Hunter

> My pleasure! Especially in these difficult times, you Kiwis are blessed to have some of the most versatile and adventurous hunting in the world.


Just avoid the 'Hairy Lasso' that has been the end to many a 26 year old mans planned hunting sojourns

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## MSL

> Just avoid the 'Hairy Lasso' that has been the end to many a 26 year old mans planned hunting sojourns


Just lasso these days


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