Big Game Hunting New Zealand Jul/Aug 2015 | Page 60

N HU G N TI South Westland DOUBLE Written by Nick Moss Day One: It was a surreal feeling waking to the beautiful South Westland scenery after a long night, with 5 days to explore there was no real hurry to hit the hills so we spent time around the hut sorting wet gear and watching heavy rain showers come and go. The day wore on and we managed to get out for a few hours exploring. Tahr were spotted scattered around the valley, the majority were nannies and young, with the odd bull up high in inaccessible areas. Typical of tahr they began to move at around 4pm and by 6pm were generally down a lot lower in feed country. This meant if we decided to go after an animal, early morning or late afternoon was going to the best timing for the easiest approach, easier on the lungs anyway. “came around the corner to see a chamois doe and kid departing at a high rate of knots” Day Two: T he weather was absolutely perfect as we sat in Hokitika watching a few well known hunters give it their all in the annual Hokitika wood chopping competition, however the dry spell was about to change. As we discussed plans with a local he told us if we didn’t get into the hills today we wouldn’t be going! The walk in had us fording several side creeks which are notorious for rising rapidly and catching people out. So a rushed packing job saw us in the car heading south immediately then racing up a well known South Westland valley on foot. We hadn’t made it far when the 60 BGHNZ Issue 7 Jul/Aug 2015 heavens opened drenching us from head to toe, this seems to be a reoccurring event for me in recent times and I seem to spending more time wet than dry. Onwards we trekked negotiating the first few crossings, however commonsense was telling Tim and I that we were pushing our luck and the worst was still to come. Darkness was closing in and river levels were rising quickly with each crossing becoming more dodgy than the last. I think it’s fair to say we were very relieved to make it to the hut around midnight after a few hair raising river crossings I would never like to repeat again. www.bghnz.co.nz An early start saw us crossing the dew covered river flats, which clearly outlined the animal tracks from the night before. It wasn’t long before we sat down and glassed a loan bull across the main river while behind us a number of nannies and young animals were lingering around on a near vertical rock face. Glassing from the river didn’t last long as the sand flies ran rampant and we moved off. The plan was to climb up a steep side creek, before hitting the leading spur and following this to the tops. Sneaking up the chosen creek we came around the corner to see a chamois doe and kid departing at a high rate of knots. www.bghnz.co.nz 61 BGHNZ Issue 7 Jul/Aug 2015