My Sons first tahr.

I met Steve many years ago when we worked together in Rotorua. We got on well from the get go with the common interest in hunting always giving us something to talk about. We did a few hunts together over a couple of years with Steve always being the one to secure an animal.


Sadly Steve moved back to his origin of Dunedin in the south and for a few years we kept in touch but didn't do any hunting together. Also during these years we both had young families, something the following story follows on from.
In 2012, I, with my family, also moved to the better island to start a new life with plenty of new places to explore and a nice small town to raise the kids in. About a year after moving here Steve organised I trip up these ways and we ventured up the Rangitata on a 2 night hunt where I managed to secure my first tahr with Steve as my unofficial guide.


Over the next few years we did a trip in the blue mountains for a fallow hunt and another hunt up the dobson river where an old friend of Steves decided he would only take his camera and let me do the shooting while Steve and his other mate went up a different catchment.
No other hunts were had for a few years after that and a few months ago Steve called up and said he was heading up this way for a funeral, his old mate who guided me around on the Dobson trip had passed and over a beer Steve said something like "fuck waiting we need to plan and do shit in our lives". This really hit home that in our mid 40s we aren't getting any younger and we should plan something soon.


Steve mentioned a tahr hunt so the next week at work I had a look at my calendar and sent him every day I had available over the next couple of months. A message came back " December 14th work for you?", sure does I replied. Then came the planning, where to go? who was coming? how many nights should we plan for? After a week or so we had a place, we had decided that Steve would bring his 16yo son and I would be bringing my 17yo son Ryan. The plan was for 3 nights if we needed them but coming out early was also something we planned depending on how we got on.

The day arrived although the preparation was not what I had planned on my part, things at work were not going to plan the night before leaving and I got a call saying they needed my help. After going in and sorting out some things I finally go to sleep at about midnight. 0515 I was up again getting Ryan out of bed and sending a few messages to work about the dramas from the previous evening, by 6 we were on the road to meet up with Steve and his son at the carpark we had decided on although about 20 minutes late due to needing a bit of a sleep in to be able to function properly. By this time the other crew were ready to head of so we gave them a head start and said we'd see them up the valley later.

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After a couple of hours we met up again and found a spot to set up camp, and have some lunch. Then the glassing started, the heat of the day forcing us into the shade of the nearby scrub, the animals doing the same with the odd tahr seen here and there but most hiding in the shadows. Late afternoon finally rolled around and we decided to move further up the valley in search of something to put on the deck. Not too far up we spotted a couple of young bulls up in the scrub across the creek.

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Moving forward we decided these would be quite an easy shot for the boys if we could get closer. Carefully moving forward while maintaining cover we closed the gap, made easier by the tahr also moving downhill at the same time. Soon we crawled onto a nice area where we could get both boys set up on 2 of the group of 4 at 145 metres across the creek.

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Waiting for both tahr to present us with a shot I told the boys I would count them down 3,2,1 and shoot on zero when they were both ready. Steve's son had his quartering away so I carefully watched and as soon it turned I asked him if he was good. Yeah good he replied, OK, 3,2,1 BA-BOOM barked both the rifles almost simultaneously. Ryans tahr spun and ran along the face towards us, "reload" I said with some urgency and as soon as it stopped I said "shoot"
Another bullet spat from the 270 and the bull dropped on the spot just above the creek.

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Wow, what a moment, about 10 years after I shot my first tahr on a hunt with Steve, my son had now shot his first big game animal, a bull tahr, also on a hunt with Steve. This was also the first shot Ryan had fired from the 270 as we hadn't had time to get to the range before the hunt but he's a fairly proficient shooter with the 22 and 223 so I knew he was capable of a good shot. A few congrats and pats on the back and we then made our way down to the creek to find the 2 bulls.

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Approaching Ryans bull we soon noticed it had 2 holes through its chest, nothing wrong with his accuracy. We got plenty of photos and then got into the butchering with both boys learning and having a go with some of it. Letting the meat cool we continued glassing as a couple of larger bulls had emerged from the bluffs and Steve was pretty interested in seeing how big they were. With the meat cool we slowly continued upstream and tucked in behind some scrub to shelter from the wind as Steve and his son closed in for a better look. After about half an hour they decided that everything low enough to consider shooting was too small for what Steve was looking for on this trip so we returned to camp and got dinner on while we still had about 20 minutes of light left.

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Finally into bed around 11, sleep came quickly and although I woke a couple of times during the night it was one of the most comfortable I've ever had in the tent.

Up again at daybreak we had a chat over a coffee and decided with the inclement weather pushing over the tops we would break camp and get out before the rain set in.

After packing up we boned out the legs and started walking just as the first spits of rain started falling. The going was a bit slow with heavy packs but an uneventful walk saw us back at the car a few hours later just as the rain set in backed up by a pretty severe nor-wester.

A bit of a yarn about how good the trip had been and promises to get out more often we parted ways and cruised home.
A proud dad and a very happy son.

that young man can shoot alright...his first wallaby will stay in my mind forever. awesome that you two are getting out together,long may it continue.

Thanks for a nice write up and photos RUMPY.Good for young lads to get out on the hills away from the citys.

Brilliant report. Those boys will remember that.

Yes , I remember that deadly old 270. On his journey, and won't be long before he's hunting on his own.

Great write up and congrats for a great hunting trip with your son, great memories.

Excellent story, nice to see your son has his first big game animal under his belt, long may your hunting together continue.

Family trips are the best ones. 👍

Great story , great memories created

Fantastic stuff.

Cool reading, thanks for sharing

looks like a great trip , the boys will be stoked with that !

Nice story cuz! Top photography of you and Ryan with his first Tahr. Hopefully the first of many great adventures together :)