Rupert from England arrived down in Southland late last week. With a couple of weeks or so left in our country he was hoping to get a bit of hunting done, but was struggling a bit with contacts. I'd been hoping to get him out for a few days, but work didnt really allow it and neither did the weather...as it turned out the latter was hardly an excuse!
After a bit of an SOS call, Stagrinon put his hand up and took Rupert out for a couple of days in the Bluies chasing fallow. Luck wasn't with them unfortunately and although they saw some deer they were unable to connect with any. He loved the experience none the less.
I collected him off the bus after work last week, as the rain poured down. I explained that the forecast for the next day looked ominous but would try and get him onto a chamois or deer none the less. After a good feed of home grown steak, we packed some gear up and hit the hay.
Morning arrived with sleet, rain and hail showers, accompanied by strong winds! As we travelled towards our hunting grounds blue skies beckoned through the clouds so we optimistically carried on. The 4wd trip in had a couple of moments, the cruiser struggling on the clay tracks as the tyres broke through the new layer of snow...a few "runs at it"got us as far as we could drive.
Truck GPS'd and boots on, we trudged up through the powdery snow. Visiblity was often reduced to less than a hundred metres, but I was keenly hoping for that break! Unfortunately as icicles formed on our brow and our noses froze solid, that break seemed ever diminishing ;D
Reaching "Chamois" country I'd already decided that binos were a waste of time. It was up to pure luck that we may stumble across these chamois. I knew the valley well, with well over a dozen trips there under my belt, so even though it was whiteout I knew where we were. I think Rupert was slightly concerned at my willingness to wander "aimlessly" around the mountains though! ;D
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Sure enough we eventually came across some freshish chamois tracks and with the breeze in our favour the stalk was on. Pippas nose went into overdrive and lead us to some awesome bluff country. Trouble was the chamois tracks went over them...where we couldnt go. We walked the edge of the bluffs, checking out guts and gulliles leading down into the valley, hoping for a cheeky chamois peering back at us. Pip indicated well down into the bluffy country, so I decided we'd have to back track and work our way below them.
We turned and started back around the hill when out of the bizzard I saw a familiar silhouette looking down at us. By the time Rupert caught me up and I had pionted the young chamois out it was high tailing it out of range, well as far as we could physically see anyway :D
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With the sight of an animal under our belts we felt a bit more confident that we where definately in the right place and continued hunting. We cautiously made our way down into the country Pip had been winding, with viz reduced to 50-100m at times. Every once in a while we'd pick up a break in the cloud and see our white surroundings, but within seconds the veiw would be gone again.
Stalking on, the cold was started to get to us and we had to keep moving to keep warm. When out of nowhere a bloody good chamois buck was standing a stones throw away looking at us through the snow! All thoughts of being cold were forgotten as I literally grabbed Rupert and threw him down a day pack and pointed the buck out. Just as he took up the trigger pressure the buck broke and ran out of sight.
We boosted over to where he was standing just in time to pick him up working his way over a scree slide. I gave brief instructions to Rupert, safety off, wait till he turns broadside, squeeze the trigger...Boom!...I see snow flare up behind the Buck as it spins and bolts out of the valley! Not good. :'( We checked for blood...easy to see in snow. And quickly came to the conclusion that he was not hit.
Feeling a bit gutted we decided to hunt back towards the truck, seeing as though we'd been trekking about in freezing cold shite weather for well over 6 hours. The country we travelled through showed a lot of promise, and again Pip started winding well. We decided to sit tight for a spell under some rocks, at which time the cloud broke for long enough to spot two young bucks sitting on a rock face a few hundred metres away.
Using the cloud as a curtain, we stalked within 250 metres of where they were and lay in wait for another chance to see these chamois. Soon enough we picked them up again still in the same spot, and Rupert settled in for a shot. A couple of rushed shots later and he had his first ever chamois on the ground. His reaction was one I expected as I have been with a few people when they've taken their first deer/chamois/tahr, but Rupert really took the cake! I was worried his hollers and whoops would bring an avalanche down on us...he was stoked! ;D
By the time we got to the young buck the weather had broken up a bit and we managed some spectacular photos of him with "his" chamois. This one was earnt...the hardest way.
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After photography and butchering sessions we picked our way around the base of the bluffs and bashed our way through the snow covered scrub we'd shot the chamois in, and eventually made it to the truck a couple of hours later. The heaters were cranked in the cruiser and we arrived back home a good 12 hours after leaving that morning. As cold as we were the beer still tasted good.
Cheers
Josh ;)
After our hunt Rupert took up an offer to get out for a couple hunts with Username, chasing wallabies, ducks and hares/rabbits. By all accounts they had a good time 8-)
