Big Game Hunting New Zealand Sep/Oct 2015 | Page 4

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t all started with the
opening of the much
anticipated Tahr Ballot
letter and the words “I
wish to advise that you
have been allocated a
wilderness block for the
end of May”, Yehaa!
After phone calls to a few
mates to spread the good
news it was back to sorting the
roar out and finding that big
stag everyone is after. With the
end of April slipping by it was
time to change my attention to
rutting Bull Tahr.
I had a new rifle arriving, so it was perfect timing
to put it through its paces and fine tune the drop
chart and loads in preparation for some serious
action at the end of the month. To accompany
me on this trip was Mark and Nathan however
due to other commitments Nath had to pull
pin, so Mark and I were left to plan and sort
the last of the gear. A quick call to James Scott
had us locked in for 8am at the hanger, so an
all-night drive was planned to make sure we
were on time to maximize our time in the block.
We watched the weather closely leading up to
our dates and after a small dumping of snow it
looked like we were in for some mint weather if
it all came to plan. Before we knew it we were
loading the ute and hitting the road for the
overnight journey south with high expectations
of big rutting Bulls.

RUTTING BULL TAHR OF THE

LANDSBOROUGH

Written by Hayden Sturgeon

4 BGHNZ Issue 8 Sep/Oct 2015

www.bghnz.co.nz

We arrived at Fox Glacier around 7:30am
just in time to get a dirty pie down the hatch,
then straight through to meet James. With
a quick unpack and change of gear we were in
the chopper and heading for our block. There
had been a small dumping of snow overnight
and it made the country we were dropping in to
all the more spectacular.
After a smooth flight and a quick unload, the
chopper was soon a faint sound in the distance
as we surveyed our surroundings and stood
there soaking it all up. We had the bino’s and
spotting scope out quick fast and spent the
first hour looking about. Within half an hour of
the choppers departure the first few bulls were
www.bghnz.co.nz

Young bull showing off to his
nannies

spotted, with one looking like a shooter.
This big bull was hanging about a rock cave
in some pretty nasty looking country. He
would have to wait until we were ready to head
his direction, besides we had camp to sort out
and we needed to get ourselves comfortable for
the coming week of very cold conditions.
Once camp was set we headed up river for
the first evening and checked all the low scrub
country and surrounding bluffs. There were a
few animals about but nothing worth taking.
After a good meal in camp we sorted our plans
for the next day and it was off to bed for a good
night’s sleep in readiness for the big mission
that awaited us. Before we knew breakfast was
downed and we were settling into a decent
climb up behind camp.
The first part was pretty straightforward
with plenty of scrub and alpine tussock
to grab hold of to help aid the climb. After
a quick drink from a small rock pool it was
back to the ascent and now we were slipping
and sliding our way to the top with ice axes
working overtime. In a couple of places we
contemplated chucking it in and turning around
but with some pretty unorthodox mountain
climbing styles we made the top just in time for
lunch. We checked a big basin out but no Bulls
were seen and there was far too much ice for us
to close the distance on a group of nannies that
had fed out onto a finger of tussock. We knew
there would be a Bull in residence but with the
weather closing i