Overnight Spring Tahr with Shearer
@Shearer had stopped in for a night on the way to his usual salmon pilgrimage, and we had discussed the possibility of ducking away somewhere for a quick overnight hunt if a suitable weather window showed, providing the fishing was going suitably well, or suitably poorly.. I'll let him reveal the outcome of that if he wishes, but safe to say a weather window was spotted, and the plan was in motion..
Short version, because I don't feel like writing the long version today - Weather was beautiful, almost too hot during the afternoon. Walked up the valley a couple hours, slogged up the side of the hill for a while more (including a few extended breaks to let my body catch up). Found a spot, made camp and then raced to a nearby lookout/creek as light was falling. There we saw a few tahr right away on the other side, then spotted some closer ones feeding through a saddle on our side. Shearer led the stalk, and we got to about 160 yards (from memory..) away before triggers were pulled and two tahr fell. Butchering done in the dark before heading back to camp for an early night.
Next morning was a planned sleep-in that turned into waking just before light, so figured we may as well break down the tents and head back for the lookout to see what was around. Over the next 3 hours, we had a great time spotting, filming, and just watching a number of animals in many different places, before heading downhill and towards home, just as the nor-west wind was beginning to stir.
Here's the compilation of my footage from the morning, hope you enjoy it.. Best in HD and fullscreen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM-axCRh3Z4
