Thread: Tahr Hunt

Hi Guys
Went for a shot last week with my bro inlaw and his mate we had been planning the trip for a wile but with everyone being pretty busy it seemed to keep getting put off which was probably not a bad thing as my fitness level is sitting rather low for stomping around the Alp,s ! so it gave me a little more time to get a bit fitter.
We managed to get away mid week which i prefer over weekends we all met up at Tekapo for a yarn and beer before heading south to pukaki the following day .
In the morning we woke to find the star,s out and no wind things were looking good also i was surprised how much snow had melted since the last trip in june but i still tossed the small set of crampons into the day bag as id been caught out a few times before without them also brought a small set of handheld radios ...by the time we got to the walking part the sun was just touching to tops as it took a couple of hours of bumpy travel to get there after a quick scan with the bino,s a couple of animals were spotted on the side of a steep gully then a mob of around 6 or 7 on the other side of the same gully there were a couple of bulls in the mob so the boys were starting to get excited as neither had shot a tahr before so after a quick chat i left them to it and headed up the main valley for a k or 2 i spotted a likely ridge and decided if i wanted to beat the sun id best get up there quick as i started up the slope i spotted a bull on the skyline so things were looking good it took around an hour before i could really get a decent look at him i was surprised he hadnt really moved far from were i first saw him looking at the spur he was on i didnt have much trouble getting on the same level as him pluss had plenty of cover to pop up around 150 meters away i hid by a big rock...which are easy to find up there! and watched him for a wile he was lying down and really i didnt think he was that big he was a lighter color but so were the others with him all nannys no other bulls hmm maybe he,s better than i think i hummed and harrd for a wile then he stood up gave him self a scratch and shake BOOM droped him on the spot i stayed there for a wile waiting for the others to drift off as with a single shot up there its very hard to tell were shot come from.even though he was around 150 meters away it still took a good 3/4 of a hour to get to him and when i did i wasn't to surprised to find he was only a young bull and he was also just starting to loose his winter coat which gives it a lighter color after removing his back steaks and head i had some lunch and thought about the box of beer sitting under the truck the temptation was great but i figured id come this far (around 1300 meters ) i mayswell keep going also spoke to the boys via the radio they had not done so well the animals they were onto must have been on the move and they hadnt fired a shot (Bugger) but were hopfull of getting onto more...so up i went bit of sign around by this time i was around the 2000 meter mark and running out of steam with a cracker view glassing down into a very shaded valley surrounded by snow and ice i spotted a mob low down on some ridges around 4 or 500 meters away there was quite a few i started counting but ran out of fingers so stopped ! they were spread out over 3 small ridges covered with a bit of scrub and tussock in the mix were a few nice bull,s how good i dont no as i didnt have a spotting scope and even if i did im still not great picking how big a head is i just shoot and hope its bigger than the last but they were well and truly safe from were i was sitting i watched them for a wile before heading around to the sunny side of the face once on that side i did a bit of glassing and spotted a bull lying against a big rock i had a good side view of his horns he looked ok so got a bit closer at this stage he was around 300 away he actually spotted me well my head as i peered over a rock looking at him but after a wile he stopped looking so i backed off and came down over the top of him for a better look but just as i was setting up for an decent look an animal below me gave a whistle he stood up instantly so i rushed it a little but the shot was good hitting it through shoulder it rolled into a scree and disappeared real quick as soon as i fired the shot tahr came out of the bluffs below including 3 bulls 250 away so lining up on the biggest boom it reared up and toppled into another scree then out of sight so with out thinking to much i was down the scree after them at first it was steep but plenty of soft rock to slide into with each step but after dropping 400 meters down and still no tahr it got steeper ! and i got to a point were the soft gravel ran out it was all a big hard shoot and gave no foot hold then that sick felling poped into my head f@%k time for a nervous cigarette i was perched on a wee flat rock just big enough for 1.5 boots to stand on wondering how far i would go if i toppled off my perch my ticker was starting to thump so made a dash for it luckly it was only 5 paces to the softer gravle on the far side and safety but taking that first step i was mighty nervous ! after all that i found a blood trail down & down it went untill it stopped and vered into some tussock crap! must be still alive then i lost the trail i was nearly going to carry on looking further down but wasnt happy about leaving the last blood spot so back tracked a little and then all of a sudden the bull took off from under a small bank a quick snap shot and he was down fule! at least i had found 1 of the 2 the head looked ok he was a mature animal so off with the head by this stage the boys had crossed the river & made it back to the truck...and the beer ! so they drove up the valley to find me i guess i was half way down when i found the last bull he had rolled a good k was covered in dust slightly chipped 1 horn bit nothing some super gloo wouldn't fix ...unfortunately the guys didnt get onto anymore so the next day we parted company them north me south i caught a few salmon in the canals on the way home so bloody good trip.Cheers.

Good stuff ,cheers for posting.

Sent from my GT-S5360T using Tapatalk 2

awesome bro..

Great photos Boaraxa, 3 animals and salmon, you must be chuffed with that score....well done mate!

You make it sound all too easy
At least you know when to back off and put safety first

Ahhhhh that's just brilliance.

Originally Posted by sako75

You make it sound all too easy
At least you know when to back off and put safety first

spotting the animals is the easy easiest ...getting to them the hardest!! out of all things to take tahr hunting a fit pare of legs is at the top of the list or maybe a 50cal ! the alp,s have no mercy but once you get to the top your king of the mountain with a pretty stink view

Nice story, cheers for posting it. Hope to do similar this weekend.