Part 1
Just got back from a 13 day New Zealand adventure. The first three days were spent hunting with Owen Throwbridge of The Hype of The Hunt. I had met Owen about three years ago at a lunch with a mutual friend while hunting for Ibex in Kyrgyzstan. He was there hunting Ibex as well. We had a great talk, and when I got back to the states, I signed up with him for a hunt during the middle of the roar.
The months went by quickly and it was finally time for me and my wife to takeoff for New Zealand. The plan for the trip was to arrive in Christchurch and rent a car and meet Owen about 2 1/2 hours away. This was going to work out better for us since after the hunt we were going to go ahead and drive around the island and check out what it had to offer. I was fortunate enough to secure business tickets using some airline miles I had so the trip over was as comfortable as it could get being in business. We got some sleep and arrived in Christchurch around 1:30 in the afternoon ready for the adventure.
All the bags showed up and we were quickly able to hop on the shuttle to get our rental car. Yes, it does take some time learning to drive on the other side of the road, but I managed with a great copilot making sure I wasn’t going the wrong way. We made it to our final destination after a three hour car ride and we’re loving the various towns and scenery we were seeing as we traveled to hunting camp. Owen set up for us to stay in a hotel in town that was a short 10 minute drive to the ranch that we were going to be hunting. It was actually a tiny home so we had two bedrooms and a little kitchenette for our stay. Very nice accommodations and very quiet. We had been in contact with Owen and the plan was for him to show up at 7:30 in the morning. Me and my wife Jamie went into town to check out the local pub and have some food.
The next morning came quickly and we made some breakfast. The kitchenette had some food in it for us to make breakfast. The weather outside, though wasn’t looking great. It was misty and foggy with a very low cloud level. Owen showed up on time and we got caught up on life as we drove to the ranch. I was gonna be using his 30-06 as I didn’t wanna deal with bringing my rifle around the country as I traveled after the hunt. On my list was a gold level stag, arawapa ram, and a feral goat. We would be hunting a 1500 acre ranch that was just loaded with game. It had everything from stags, elk, rams, goats, pheasants, wallabies, fallow deer, and I’m sure a few other species mixed in there as well. Actually, the ranch had almost too much game, and probably could’ve used some culling of animals.
With the weather as poor as it was, we drove to the base of a two track and walked up a valley. The plan was to get to the top and then glass the back half if we could. Owen knew from previous scouting trip that there were a few nice feral goats in the valley and some nice stags on the backside. The plan was to look over a bunch of stags and see which one I liked before taking one. Obviously this is an estate hunt, and you’re able to look over some animals before pulling the trigger on one. As we hiked up, the weather just got worse and worse. We stopped and rested a few times underneath some trees as it was raining some. It finally stopped and we continued on and spotted one of the nice goats on the opposite hillside about 140 yards away. Looked them over and Owen said that’s a nice one to take if I wanted it. Right then the fog rolled through even heavier and we couldn’t see anything. So we got set up and about 10 minutes later the fog cleared enough for us to see the goats. He was a jet black goat that look good to me so I said I’ll take him. One shot later the goat was down. We ended up having to go down a bit of a steep ravine and up another side that was really slippery and wet. But we made it over there and took some pictures and got the goat taken out. Jamie decided to meet us back at the truck, as it wasn’t going to be a easy walk over to where the animal was at.
After we got done with pictures and getting the animal cut up, we headed back for the truck. The weather just wasn’t cooperating. It was now late morning and didn’t look like it was going to get any better. So we got into the truck and went into town for lunch and dropped off back at the hotel for a few hours break. Owen came back about 430 and just him and I went out as it was still pretty wet outside and not looking good. This time we got into a side-by-side to look over a different part of the ranch. We saw some great stags and elk bugling and roaring and able to get some videos through the spotting scope. Nothing big yet but a bunch of different animals all over the place. We did run into a few wallabies and he said if I wanted to shoot one or two of them I could. He said they’re pest and the rancher wants them off the ranch. Later in our trip, we learned that the government actually hopes to read the island of the wallabies and possums by 2050. So a quick shot later and I had a wallaby down. Good way to finish off day one. We then all went to dinner in town and back to the hotel.
Just got back from a 13 day New Zealand adventure. The first three days were spent hunting with Owen Throwbridge of The Hype of The Hunt. I had met Owen about three years ago at a lunch with a mutual friend while hunting for Ibex in Kyrgyzstan. He was there hunting Ibex as well. We had a great talk, and when I got back to the states, I signed up with him for a hunt during the middle of the roar.
The months went by quickly and it was finally time for me and my wife to takeoff for New Zealand. The plan for the trip was to arrive in Christchurch and rent a car and meet Owen about 2 1/2 hours away. This was going to work out better for us since after the hunt we were going to go ahead and drive around the island and check out what it had to offer. I was fortunate enough to secure business tickets using some airline miles I had so the trip over was as comfortable as it could get being in business. We got some sleep and arrived in Christchurch around 1:30 in the afternoon ready for the adventure.
All the bags showed up and we were quickly able to hop on the shuttle to get our rental car. Yes, it does take some time learning to drive on the other side of the road, but I managed with a great copilot making sure I wasn’t going the wrong way. We made it to our final destination after a three hour car ride and we’re loving the various towns and scenery we were seeing as we traveled to hunting camp. Owen set up for us to stay in a hotel in town that was a short 10 minute drive to the ranch that we were going to be hunting. It was actually a tiny home so we had two bedrooms and a little kitchenette for our stay. Very nice accommodations and very quiet. We had been in contact with Owen and the plan was for him to show up at 7:30 in the morning. Me and my wife Jamie went into town to check out the local pub and have some food.
The next morning came quickly and we made some breakfast. The kitchenette had some food in it for us to make breakfast. The weather outside, though wasn’t looking great. It was misty and foggy with a very low cloud level. Owen showed up on time and we got caught up on life as we drove to the ranch. I was gonna be using his 30-06 as I didn’t wanna deal with bringing my rifle around the country as I traveled after the hunt. On my list was a gold level stag, arawapa ram, and a feral goat. We would be hunting a 1500 acre ranch that was just loaded with game. It had everything from stags, elk, rams, goats, pheasants, wallabies, fallow deer, and I’m sure a few other species mixed in there as well. Actually, the ranch had almost too much game, and probably could’ve used some culling of animals.
With the weather as poor as it was, we drove to the base of a two track and walked up a valley. The plan was to get to the top and then glass the back half if we could. Owen knew from previous scouting trip that there were a few nice feral goats in the valley and some nice stags on the backside. The plan was to look over a bunch of stags and see which one I liked before taking one. Obviously this is an estate hunt, and you’re able to look over some animals before pulling the trigger on one. As we hiked up, the weather just got worse and worse. We stopped and rested a few times underneath some trees as it was raining some. It finally stopped and we continued on and spotted one of the nice goats on the opposite hillside about 140 yards away. Looked them over and Owen said that’s a nice one to take if I wanted it. Right then the fog rolled through even heavier and we couldn’t see anything. So we got set up and about 10 minutes later the fog cleared enough for us to see the goats. He was a jet black goat that look good to me so I said I’ll take him. One shot later the goat was down. We ended up having to go down a bit of a steep ravine and up another side that was really slippery and wet. But we made it over there and took some pictures and got the goat taken out. Jamie decided to meet us back at the truck, as it wasn’t going to be a easy walk over to where the animal was at.
After we got done with pictures and getting the animal cut up, we headed back for the truck. The weather just wasn’t cooperating. It was now late morning and didn’t look like it was going to get any better. So we got into the truck and went into town for lunch and dropped off back at the hotel for a few hours break. Owen came back about 430 and just him and I went out as it was still pretty wet outside and not looking good. This time we got into a side-by-side to look over a different part of the ranch. We saw some great stags and elk bugling and roaring and able to get some videos through the spotting scope. Nothing big yet but a bunch of different animals all over the place. We did run into a few wallabies and he said if I wanted to shoot one or two of them I could. He said they’re pest and the rancher wants them off the ranch. Later in our trip, we learned that the government actually hopes to read the island of the wallabies and possums by 2050. So a quick shot later and I had a wallaby down. Good way to finish off day one. We then all went to dinner in town and back to the hotel.
