Thread: First bull tahr opportunity?

@Southern-Hunter did you go out for a look last weekend how did you get on

Originally Posted by HNTMAD

You can suggest what you like, this is just my opinion and I don't like being told to pull my horns in (excuse the pun) just because I have a different view to the mainstream.

The idea of a forum is to be able to discuss topics and often there are multiple sides to a topic.

Truth of the matter is we have an issue and the issue is we as rec hunters are our worst own enemy and don't shoot enough to keep any and all pests under control and do and will need help in what ever form it comes in to get them under control.

You speak of coming together as a group ....how's that going? 250,000 license firearms holders and 8000 national members of the NZDA......bit of work to do there in my view.....and yes I am a member.

I will stick to shooting whatever I see and do my bit, sure I can hear you say....."what about when they are gone".....well by the time that happens I will be broken and unable to get out......."what about your kids and their kids"......look at history, they can't get them all.

Hamish

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Ohhh. Must have caught you on a bad day Or are you feeling a bit picked on? I actually agree totally with you with regard to animal numbers and especially in the bush. They are not being reduced enough in some areas as you say. My point was more around the fact that that we should never kid ourselves that hunters shooting a ton of animals will change some people's attitudes as to whether game animals should be here full stop. We can kill nearly everything and they will still feel the same way about the remaining few. I think that a mix of what you and I are both talking about is needed. I am often walking past stags now to shoot hinds. And if the bush needs it and there are two, then I shoot two. Best thing you can do. We need to get away from the stag shooting mentality when we are after meat. More tucker per animal and better ratios of stags to hinds makes for healthier animals and a better roar when you do want to have some fun with stags.

Originally Posted by HNTMAD

Zero interest in them so unlikely to happen, but I have seen some vids pop up recently with Tahr shot so can't be all gone like people thought was gunna happen

Be kinda gd when my social media feeds free up a bit of space and the Tahr stuff stops coming through.

Each to their own

Hamish

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Hamish,

I can relate to your “zero interest in them“ attitude. That was until myself and my children got an opportunity to go South and hunt them. And to be honest even travelling South I still wasn’t excited for hunting these “goat” like animals. I mean nothing could of ever come close to single calling sika stags for this North Island hunter.
My attitude completely changed after that first trip in that epic country with my kids that tests the mental and physical aspects that any true hunter strives for on every hunt.
The environment those wonderful animals survive in and how truly majestic they are up close. I was completely wrong categorising Tahr as goats.
I’m not saying you would feel the same way or your strong negative opinion on them would change at all as I can only give my own personal experience but potentially “don’t knock it till you try it”.
What sickens me personally is the utter complete waste. Leaving one animal to rot on the hill let alone gunning down thousands of them only to be left wasting away on the hillside absolutely disgraceful and does not sit with me whatsoever. No different in my opinion to a hunter that shoots a deer and whips the back steaks out and carry’s on.
I get the management side of game animals, anyone with half a brain understands any species in high area numbers need managing (in my opinion humans even more so as we cause a lot more damage to the environment than Tahr).
Maybe I just value these game animals that give me this insane drug like drive way too much but if it sits well with you that thousands of Tahr are shot and left to rot than maybe your time spent worrying about your social media page feeds is time well spent.
Good on ya man.

Matt

Originally Posted by Conmad Jackvann

Hamish,

I can relate to your “zero interest in them“ attitude. That was until myself and my children got an opportunity to go South and hunt them. And to be honest even travelling South I still wasn’t excited for hunting these “goat” like animals. I mean nothing could of ever come close to single calling sika stags for this North Island hunter.
My attitude completely changed after that first trip in that epic country with my kids that tests the mental and physical aspects that any true hunter strives for on every hunt.
The environment those wonderful animals survive in and how truly majestic they are up close. I was completely wrong categorising Tahr as goats.
I’m not saying you would feel the same way or your strong negative opinion on them would change at all as I can only give my own personal experience but potentially “don’t knock it till you try it”.
What sickens me personally is the utter complete waste. Leaving one animal to rot on the hill let alone gunning down thousands of them only to be left wasting away on the hillside absolutely disgraceful and does not sit with me whatsoever. No different in my opinion to a hunter that shoots a deer and whips the back steaks out and carry’s on.
I get the management side of game animals, anyone with half a brain understands any species in high area numbers need managing (in my opinion humans even more so as we cause a lot more damage to the environment than Tahr).
Maybe I just value these game animals that give me this insane drug like drive way too much but if it sits well with you that thousands of Tahr are shot and left to rot than maybe your time spent worrying about your social media page feeds is time well spent.
Good on ya man.

Matt

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Don't get me wrong....it doesn't sit well with me either that they are left but unfortunately thats where we are at.

Hamish

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Originally Posted by Mr300WSM

@Southern-Hunter did you go out for a look last weekend how did you get on

Yea I got down there. Unfortunately the weather turned to shit but just before that spotted a few nannies and what looked like a young bull

Originally Posted by Southern-Hunter

Yea I got down there. Unfortunately the weather turned to shit but just before that spotted a few nannies and what looked like a young bull

I'm sure you will be back. Awesome country to hunt.

That’s good you saw some animals they are there for next time

Originally Posted by Shearer

I'm sure you will be back. Awesome country to hunt.

Yea for sure. All though I haven’t managed to tick it off the list was cool just seeing them

So what it the 4wd route up the Havelock like at the moment?

To get this back on topic for those of us that are actually interested in Tahr hunting as opposed to their social media feeds

My observation from the last 3 trips up the Rangitata, Havelock and Lawrence suggest that animal numbers are much the same as pre control levels. The beauty of the Rangitata is there is a lot more cover available than the likes of the Mackenzie country and they wise up to the machine pretty quickly an put their heads down.

The Tahr are quite low right now – most tend to be living in the scrubby bush fringes near the valley floor. The big bulls are out by themselves and can be fairly elusive to track down. Walk almost any river in that catchment early in the morning before the sun is up using your binos and you should find them.

If you’re stuck, then give me a PM before your next trip.

Top man @Hayden C

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