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...