Tahr Rut Hunt

[Kiwi]

In New Zealand its the tahr rut and a great time to head into the South Island to try for a trophy tahr. I won a ballot that gave our party permission to take a helicopter into a wilderness area. We had 4 days of perfect weather and plenty of bulls seen. My friends shot a nice bull and a buck chamois too. Both fantastic trophies from one of the most amazing places to hunt in the world (ok, so I'm a little bias!). I shot a nice bull tahr but unfortunately was unable to recover it, very disappointing. Planning is underway for a spring hunt when the bulls move off the high country and into the valleys.

Here are some photos of the trip.

Camp


Looking down at camp from the other side of the valley.


Some difficult country to navigate


Nanny Tahr


Local native mountain parrot - Kea


Nice Bull


Another nice bull


Nice trophy for the trip

 

[sneakypete]

Very nice! Great pictures thanks for sharing!

 

[glass eye]

Wish I was there. I like your LZ.

 

[jbm]

what a nice hunt you had. did your bull fall into an area that you just could not get down to ?

 

[Kiwi]

[/I]

what a nice hunt you had. did your bull fall into an area that you just could not get down to ?

My bull was on a small clearing and after the shot he took off into the trees. I followed a good blood trail but still couldn't find him after over a day of searching.

 

[1_pointer]

Way cool! Very neat critters in some great country.

PS- What do those parakeet looking things taste like?

 

[glass eye]

Way cool! Very neat critters in some great country.

PS- What do those parakeet looking things taste like?

Much larger than a parakeet................https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAhzmULgoqI

 

[jbm]

they taste a lot like spotted owl . not afraid of you at all we had a cpl land like only 10 ft away from us as we caped out my bull tahr

 

[Kiwi]

They are pretty cool birds but can be very annoying. They make a lot of noise and like to 'play' with your gear. Friend had his pack, tent, water bladder etc attacked by them.

 

[glass eye]

They are pretty cool birds but can be very annoying. They make a lot of noise and like to 'play' with your gear. Friend had his pack, tent, water bladder etc attacked by them.

That's always my fear as I'm away from camp that I'm going to come back and find my tent in shreds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL0xZudhK3Q

 

[Kiwi]

Yes, that's definitely a worry. Was glad we had a spare tent in case one was fully attacked. The good thing was they only seem to go for your gear when you are near it - and can spook them away.

 

[jbm]

i had a chamois head/skin in my day pack and when i got back to camp set it down and after making lunch found the kea had unzipped my pack and taken everything out of it. he was still just standing there look over the mess he just made but did leave all right where he set it so i didnt have to go look for anything

 

[kiwi hunter]

i had a chamois head/skin in my day pack and when i got back to camp set it down and after making lunch found the kea had unzipped my pack and taken everything out of it. he was still just standing there look over the mess he just made but did leave all right where he set it so i didnt have to go look for anything

i see youve found my pet,,took a lot of training

 

[Trigger50]

Looks like fun!