Thread: A dream come true

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...

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

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.

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.

Originally Posted by 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

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

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.

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

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

Originally Posted by 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.

Fairlie is a lovely place indeed.

Originally Posted by Trout

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

Originally Posted by Mooseman

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.

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

Originally Posted by 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.

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

Originally Posted by Tentman

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

How could one not enjoy these magnificent mountains...

Originally Posted by kukuwai

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

You might be absolutely right about that.