A couple of years or so back I promised a couple of brothers a chamois hunt. Finally got a time that suited us all and we shot into the hills for an overnighter. Walked in and set up camp on Saturday avo, nicely set under a frozen waterfall!
We'd set up the tents with plans to wander up the creek for a look before it got dark. I literally turned around and saw the familiar silhouette without leaving camp! We were all stoked to see a chamois this early in the hunt.
Climbed out of the creek and into another valley and soon saw a trio of Chamois just below us on some bluffs, Watched them for a while before leaving them to it.
That night it was bloody freezing, I don't know if Pip was keeping me warm or it was the other way around. It'd be one of the coldest nights I've spent on the hill...woke to have ice on top of my sleeping bag inside my tent! Once the day started breaking I was out of there and jumping around trying to warm up my limbs! ;D
We headed back to where we'd been the day before and started looking from our vantage point. From here we spotted a couple of deer and a pair of chamois on the opposite side of the valley.
Pippas nose is pretty good at indicating whether its worth glassing or not in certain watersheds She was winding really well on these chamois when we were still 5-600m away from them. We snuck in and got a few photos and some video before moving on.
After a bit of a trek back to pack up our camp, we climbed over the ridge into another creek and bumped into some fresh sign in the snow. Following that we came across a couple more Chamois chilling out below us.
Its always a risk taking someone you don't know really well into an area that holds a few animals that you've worked hard to find...so I made particular effort to emphasize the importance of looking after spots like this.
These boys were a pleasure to hunt with, they showed great respect for the hills and excellent sportsmanship, and weren't interested in shooting a chamois for the sake of it, so none were harmed on this trip. They were ever so thankful for me for taking them there. Mid-avo we called it a day and headed back to the truck and were home by dark.
Cheers
Josh
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