After catching the bug for our Alpine game animals from an earlier hunt this year, I have been chomping at the bit since then to get back out again after them. Originally we had planned to do a fly in trip but due to work this didn't eventuate. So with a good weather window this week I decided to go solo and do a walk in hunt for 6 days to the same area. Arriving with a couple of hours light left I shouldered the pack and covered as much ground as I could to set up for the night, bumping a few Red deer which would've have been really easy to take however they weren't on the menu. The next day saw me make it to the hut and set out on a look around a spot that had few animals poking around from last time. No luck there so I climbed back down to the river bed and low and behold a Chamois Buck worked his way out of the creek on the other side of the river. Having never even seen a Chamois in the wild let alone take one I quickly chambered a round and fired, a solid hit but, the tough wee critter didn't go down so with another pill headed his way he was secured. Upon reaching him I was astonished at how small they actually are, 2 inches shy of the trophy 9inch mark I was more than happy with my Chamois and a Buck to boot!
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The next day saw me head high with my pack to chase a large group of bulls I had seen glassing up from the valley floor. From advice given from a mate I headed up the particular creek I was told to. In earlier conversations he had said 2 hrs, I was a little bit dubious of his time appreciation but he has taken many animals from this area so off I went. Needless to say it bloody well did not take 2 hours and my arsehole was well and truly left behind before reaching the 1200m contour line. I did however see plenty of animals on the way up one of which was a very large Bull but after ranging and getting set up he went into the bush never to be seen again. So I watched a few nannies and continued climbing. Once I got to the top it started snowing and visibility was down to less than 100yds bugger. I patiently waited for a break so I could resume glassing. I spotted a small group of bulls through the binos, one looked ok to my untrained eye so the stalk was on. I gained another 100m of elevation and was about 50m shy of the rocky out crop which was my planned shooting location. Stopping for a breather I looked up and there was a bull looking down at me he was probably just as surprised as I was so, I quickly shouldered and fired dropping him, he quickly tumbled down just shy of where I was standing and came to rest just below. Unfortunately he broke on of his horns on the fall, and he wasn't as big as I had thought, I was still pretty chuffed as he was my first Bull. It began to snow again so I headed back to my fly and settled in for a cold night.
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The next day I proceeded to walk back down another creek which seemed even steeper than the last one, seeing nothing at all so far. By this stage I was pretty well knackered and the knees were screaming from previous injuries. As I lowered myself down from a boulder and looked up there was a lone bull feeding away no more than 30yds, I couldn't believe he was not alerted to my presence and quickly assessed him. He was a lot bigger than the last one both in horn size and body mass, quickly cycling the bolt and sending a 145ELD-X his way did the job nicely. Awesome another one down, he measured 10inches so I was pretty happy a good representative Bull. He did look to have a bit of age on him counting his growth rings I counted 7? Someone may be able to help me out there. Very happy anyway! It also just goes to show how low during the spring they do go, he was only as the crow fly's 1km form the hut and another 150m higher than the valley floor.
With a Full pack I headed back to the hut for a well deserved brew and a few Ibuprofen. Having all this success I decided to call it there and walked out the next day to the car.
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Overall I was very happy with this trip, achieved a lot of firsts for me and was good to see a few Kea and Whio around too. I think a spotting scope may be required in the future when funds allow to aid in evaluation. This spot is fast becoming a favourite and JoshC summed it up pretty well in a previous comment, " The west coast gets you, look out" It has definitely got me that's for sure.
Stay safe
James
