Rafael Sixtus - Out there doing it
By Rafael Sixtus - Nelson H&F NZ | 16 February 2011
After weeks of organising and looking at maps I finally got out for my tahr hunt.The plan was to get out onto the tops for I knew I had at least three to four days of good weather ahead. The first days walk in was a wet and very long one, let's say I was glad to bed down for the night after a good feed.
I awoke to a cracker day so headed up river to where tahr had been seen before. Plenty of tahr were seen but no big boys worth taking so I left them for another trip and kept heading up river. The day was getting on and only young bulls were seen so started heading back towards camp. At camp I packed some gear to head for the tops the next day.
I was granted another cracker fine West Coast day so I crossed the river to get into some untouched tahr country. Once at the top the views were stunning and started setting up camp. Rested from the climb and now camp was setup I headed to a good vantage point to see what good bulls were about. After an hour some low cloud brought some unwanted fog and drizzle so a quick retreat to camp was needed. It took a few hours to clear and I spotted some bulls not far from my camp. The bulls weren't getting any closer, and the Leica 900 rangefinder advised the closest bull being 615yards. I thought I'd have a crack for the light was fading fast so I settled behind my Tikka T3 7mm RemMag and sent a good shot off and the sound of a hit came back and the bull went forward into a gut. I headed back to camp and made a plan to head over in the morning.
A quick breakfast was had then I set off to where my tahr was. Battling through the monkey scrub I hit the first open patch for a breather. Just about to set off and a bull in the bluffs above appeared and a good shot had the bull kart-wheeling down towards me. After a few quick photos I carried onto where my other bull was. Once again I was back into the thick scrub and sidled around to the next set of rocks. Just as I got into view of the area of my bull, two other big bulls were seen 15m below so I set in for a few photos. Time was getting on and still had to retrieve my other bull so carried on the gut where he should be. A quick scout around found my 615yrd bull behind a big boulder tucked in some scrub. He was a very old animal with worn off rounded tips but had lots of character.
You gotta love the West Coast, it's hard country but I'll be back...
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