Thread: Tahr Hunting! Tips and tricks

Hey everyone!
Headed for my first tahr hunt next week and I was hoping we could get an adivce thread going.
Gear and advice type of deal. Being my first time hunting in the south im not sure what to expect. Cheers guys!

This time of year - spend the mornings glassing from camp (or if you must walk about, the valley floor), have a late lunch and make dinner, then go for a walk up the valley to wait till the Tahr come down to you (at last light). Go back to camp and eat dinner. Repeat.

No special gear required, at all. None.

Probaly should have mentioned, be careful with rivers.

good binos...piece of close cell foam mat to sit on when glassing...lay down with back against tussock etc and glass glass glass....
saw some today and they looking rather blond....tussocky cream...once your eyes tune into them ,you will see them easy.
go with aim to see some diferent country....any animals are a bonus,ANY animal is a bonus. by going with intention to enjoy the journey and MAYBE get an animal and it will take all the pressure off.

Cheers for the comments lads!

Should also mention its my first fly in trip, so ill be able to take some added luxuries. Really looking forward too it

Patience, patience, patience! Be prepared to sit and look, then look some more. Dont be in a hurry to walk too far, or to climb too high. Find em during the day, lay in wait in the evening. And dont be too heavy handed with the added luxuries - helicopter pilots aren't too keen on packing in a chopper full of kitchen sinks. Have fun, look forward to the report when you get back.

All the advice mentioned above works on Sika as well

Good weather be the best thing to take :-)
I know someone there now wont be to happy with this weeks weather :-(

Hard to pick if your set to dates Re work etc

Cheap Sunglasses and some sunscreen.

Not sure how many of these will be knocking about in NZ, but before modern spotting scopes came out these sweet things were your only option for glassing.

Takes a bit of skill to use but they give around 20x mag... not too bad for kit made in the 1890's.









Light, clear and compact if you can find a good one.

Seen old pics of them being used in NZ. Will bring mine if I ever get over for a hunt

If you are interested, look up the Lovat Scouts

When walking in valleys,walk slowly near the valley edge near cover.Walking out in the middle they will see you a couple of ks away.

Be aware of snow slopes! This time of year wet slides are a real danger. More so in the arvo on a sunny face. Fastest way to the valley floor is messed up in tonnes or wet snow soon to freeze like concrete once it stops.

Glass heaps
Dont end up above bluffs in the dark
Sometimes a cold misserible night is better than falling of something.

Tahr are low at the moment, in the scrub line. I wouldn't bother climbing high until you have a good look over the lower country first.
There are tahr higher, you'll always see the odd one, but the bulls will be lower on the spring tucker. Nannies are often higher than the bulls at this time of year.
Glass, you'll cover country much quicker with your eyes than your feet. Like spend hours glassing good looking country, not minutes.
They're easy to see at the moment, pretty blonde. Look like big hay bales.
Bulls will be away in their bachelor groups, young bulls generally hang out together, they may be hard to distinguish from nannies from a distance.
Older bulls will have darker hides from the mane back, and will immediately be noticeable as a bull. If you see a group of these, worth going for a look.
Tahr were pretty active until 10am and they started moving again about 430pm last weekend.
It's likely to be hot during the day, take sunscreen and a sunhat. And water, drink plenty of water.
But its the alps, so could be snowing as well...so be prepared for that.
Depending on where you are going, if it's had a clean out, like the place we went last weekend, you may want to avoid having a "bomb-up" on nannies like we would have in the past.
If you want to PM me with any specific questions, by all means send me one.

Originally Posted by JoshC

Tahr are low at the moment, in the scrub line. I wouldn't bother climbing high until you have a good look over the lower country first.
There are tahr higher, you'll always see the odd one, but the bulls will be lower on the spring tucker. Nannies are often higher than the bulls at this time of year.
Glass, you'll cover country much quicker with your eyes than your feet. Like spend hours glassing good looking country, not minutes.
They're easy to see at the moment, pretty blonde. Look like big hay bales.
Bulls will be away in their bachelor groups, young bulls generally hang out together, they may be hard to distinguish from nannies from a distance.
Older bulls will have darker hides from the mane back, and will immediately be noticeable as a bull. If you see a group of these, worth going for a look.
Tahr were pretty active until 10am and they started moving again about 430pm last weekend.
It's likely to be hot during the day, take sunscreen and a sunhat. And water, drink plenty of water.
But its the alps, so could be snowing as well...so be prepared for that.
Depending on where you are going, if it's had a clean out, like the place we went last weekend, you may want to avoid having a "bomb-up" on nannies like we would have in the past.
If you want to PM me with any specific questions, by all means send me one.

Appreciate the advice mate, ill send a pm through if I have any other questions! Cheers