I finally got to New Zealand for my Stag and Tahr hunt. As a retirement gift to myself, I was going to go in 2021, but COVID was still causing problems. Last year I finally made the commitment and booked my hunt. I went over a few days early and did some tourist stuff on the North Island before flying to Christchurch where my guide would pick me up for the hunt.
Day one involved getting to the lodge and getting settled. I opted not to take my own rifle and used one of the guide's guns. We headed out to look for Tahr mid afternoon with a stop to confirm the zero on the rifle. After shooting the gun and feeling confident with it, we headed into an incredible valley with a wide flat river bottom and what appeared to be damn near vertical mountains on each side. We worked up the valley, spotting several good bulls up high as they came out to feed for the evening. By the time we left to head back to the lodge, I was pretty confident we could find some bulls in the morning.
Day 2 started out cold and clear. We were able to spot some of the bulls from the previous night, but unfortunately they had all moved even further up the mountains. We continued to move thru the valley and found a really nice bull that the guide said wasn't in a terrible spot. After checking a couple other spots, we decided to head up the mountain after that bull. Holy crap that stuff was steep. We slowly made our way up, climbing 1700 vertical feet. The straight line distance on OnX was only .6 miles. Once we got up to the area where the bull was, we got pinned down and spotted by several nannies. Between that and the swirling wind, the big bull disappeared, leaving only a young bull in the neighborhood. As we headed back down, we saw the big guy again, another 1200 feet up the mountain. Might as well have been on the moon, because we weren't going to be able to get close.
Tired and dejected we started heading back down the valley working our way out. Both of us realized that we would probably be doing a similar climb the next day. As we were driving down the riverbed, the guide stopped and said "There is a bull right there" as he pointed up the mountain. Turned out there were two bulls that were 550 yards from our current location. The guide looked them over and said that one was a nice bull. We drove a bit further down the valley and decided it wasn't going to get any better so we stopped and got set up. At that point they were only 355 yards uphill. As I started to get set up, my hamstrings started to cramp from the climb where I had not drank enough water. After I could finally get my legs to straighten out I set up for the shot. And then I got into a bit of a gunfight. My first two shots hit the mark, but were a little back. I then rushed a couple shots over it's back before it moved into a spot where I could only see part of it's chest and head/neck. Now forced to slow down and aim small, I took one more shot hitting it square and watched it drop and roll over. One more climb for the day found the bull and a huge sigh of relief was breathed. It's a very cool feeling putting your hands on an animal you have never seen or hunted before and that you have long dreamt of hunting. It was a great day.
The following day was Red Stag time. The first place we checked was a huge open mountainside. After glassing for a while and seeing a few small stags and a bunch of hinds we located a very nice stag that appeared to fit what I wanted. I told myself I really wanted something fairly symmetrical with crowns. I don't like the big racks with junk going everywhere. I much prefer the more traditional clean look. We set off to get into range of the stag. As we got closer we saw several hinds and a smaller stag all heading up the hill. None were looking at us, but instead were all watching downhill below them. If I didn't know that there aren't any predators there, I would have sworn that a coyote or something was working that area. When we got to where the large stag had been bedded, there was nobody home. We still have no idea what spooked everyone up the mountain that morning.
As we headed back to the truck the wind really started to pick up. We spent several hours glassing different areas only seeing smaller stags. One of the other guides was in the area with his client and we stopped to chat. I started glassing and saw what looked like a stag feeding at about 1600 yards. My guide put the spotting scope on it and determined it was a good stag. From what I saw, I told him that I believed it was one I would like to shoot so we headed off to get a closer look. When we got to about 400 yards, picking our way thru the matagouri bushes, we spooked some hinds that trotted off past the stag so he went with them. We had good wind, so nobody had smelled us, they just knew something was wrong. The stag stopped at 816 yards and stood looking around for what seemed like forever. The hinds finally settled down and started feeding and shortly after, so did the stag. We then proceeded to play a long range game of red light/green light thru the matagouri moving whenever he put his head down and stopping when he looked. The wind had settled, but was still strong enough in our face that we knew we didn't have to worry about getting winded. After getting to around 350 yards my guide was able to get some photos of the stag thru his spotter and confirmed that I wanted to shoot it. When I saw the photos there was no doubt in my mind. We crawled on hands and knees the last 75 yards or so and found a little gap in the brush to shoot thru. The stag was a 265 yards and had no idea we were there. I got into position and fired a shot, dropping him instantly. As we moved up to the stag it was incredible seeing his antlers sticking up thru the brush with the ivory tips glowing in the evening sunlight. What an amazing feeling after a great hunt. We got back to the truck just as it got dark and the hunt was over.
I relaxed the following day and then headed home after an awesome trip. I am not sure if I will make it back there again or not, but I am so glad that I finally took the leap and did the hunt. What a great experience all around. If you have been thinking about doing it and putting it off, ask yourself "if not now, when?"
Thanks for reading.
