HUNT:
I planned this hunt 1 year in advance. And when April finally came I was very excited.
I booked the hunt with Brendon Matthews, owner of Matthews Trophy Hunting Safaris last May. I planned on spending two weeks in NZ. For that reason I opted to use the outfitters supplied rifle instead of bringing my own.
The flight was very long. It took us about 30 hrs to get to Christchurch. We were met by one of the guides who drove us to the Brendon?s house. This is where we stayed for the duration of the hunt. We spent the rest of the day resting and planning our hunt. I was the only one hunter at this time and Brendon was going to be the guide himself. Also it was school holidays and Brendon?s son Cailem volunteered to join us the next day. I?m going to tell you this kid was a big help. With his keen eye, he was spotting animals way before we could.
I shot Brendon?s gun a few time to get familiar with it. It was an old Brno in 270Win with an old Leupold 3X9 scope.
The next day started with a one hour drive to the block where we were supposed to hunt. I need to mention that Brendon is building cabin right under the hill and future hunters will be staying right at the hunting area. I did not mind the drive at all. Scenery in NZ was breath taking . We then took an ATV ride up the hill, to the block where we started the first day. After a short walk we arrived at the observation point and started glassing the opposite hillside. Brendon said that the previous group saw a big Tahr at this location but did not get a shot. I need to mention that that was in the middle of the "roar" and red stags were roaring all around us. It was amazing. While we were hunting on Brendon?s property every day we saw at least one gold medal and few silver stags. Quality of the animals in this place is amazing. Even at some point Brendon offered me to take a stag for a very good price but I declined. Maybe next time (and with the bow) I will do it. It seemed to me to easy to get the stag, but then again we were not hunting stag and that is probably why I saw so many of them. It was amazing how you can actually first smell a stag and then jump it from the bush. A few words about NZ bush. It is very thick and we were moving through it using paths created by cows.
Back to our observation point. At some point Cailem points out a distant animal moving downhill. Brendon put the spotting scope on him and said that it is good Chamois and instructed me to take position. 345 yards measured Brendon. I tried to find animal through the scope but could not do it through the glare from the sun. The chamois continued down the hill and was about to disappear into the thick bush. ?Now or never? said Brendon. Finally I was able to see a shadow of the animal through the glare and squeezed trigger. And MISSED. I shot over it said Brendon. The chamois ran up the hill without any effort as we watched and it jumped over the 6 foot fence. Later when we checked for the blood I was amazed at how steep that hill was and how effortless it looked for the Chamois to run up.
Then we walked up and down the hill, changing elevation between 1000 and 3000 ft. Glassing at different observation points. We looked at numerous red stags and two Tahr nannies but no bull. Then we break for a lunch and Brendon drove us to town. I really needed that break. It seems I was able to negotiate hilly terrain much easier when I was younger and a few pounds lighter. After lunch we returned to the same hill and Brendon suggested we check the highest observation point.
The bush at the opposite site is much thinner and we can see well. Bingo. As soon as we were able to see opposite side there were three dark, moving uphill, animals appearing on the side of the hill. Brendon set the spotting scope up and instructed me to take position. He sized the bulls and instructed me to shoot one on the left. ?He has best mane even though his horns are not the biggest ones? said Brendon. ?265 yards?. I stabilized the rifle on top of the backpack and squeezed the trigger. ?He is hit? said Brendon ?Shoot again?. And I shoot again. ?He is hit? said Brendon again.? Let?s wait and see?.
With the first shot the Tahr erected his mane aggressively and faced his attackers. He almost did not react on the second shoot. He just stood there with erected his mane and looked at us.
What a magnificent animal. It can take a lot of lead before it going down. Two other bulls moved up the hill and disappeared on the opposite side. ?Shoot again? instructed Brendon. Third shot broke Tahr?s front leg and it tumbled down the hill. It took us some effort (especially me) to get to the downed animal. Getting close to the Tahr I noticed very distinct and nutty smell.
After skinning Tahr we found two out of the three bullets. All the bullets hit fatal hart/lung aria. Recovered bullets (130GR softpoints) are not defragmented.
Non of the bullets had passed through. That's how tough those animals are. Skin of the Tahr is almost as thick as moose skin. They are pretty big animals up to 350lb. Then we climb down the hill and that was end of the day one. We drove back to the house and spent rest of the evening watching hunting videos and enjoying food prepared by Brendon?s wife Angela. Apparently Angela, Alicia and my wife, Olga, became friends and had a good time in town while we were hunting.
Next day Olga volunteered to go with us and spent half a day filming animals. She managed to film interesting deer fights that I will try to post later. Second day was uneventful.... meaning we did not see any Chamois, but there was plenty of sign. Somehow they were avoiding us. But we saw a lot of other animals. Even a good bull Tahr showed himself for a few moments before running down the hill and disappearing in the thick bush. The weather changed quickly in the evening, and it was very interesting to see how fast clouds moved in and temperature dropped 20 degrees. Clouds moved right above us and the top of the hill disappeared. We called it a day. Again after an enjoyable evening we went to bed.
Next day after an uneventful (meaning we have been seeing a lot of animals but not Chamois) morning, Brendon decided to hunt a different place in the afternoon. I have to mention that it snowed overnight and the mountains were covered with fresh snow.
The view was absolutely breathtaking. Also Cailem?s friend Bin Jay decided to join us this day. After lunch and one hour drive we arrived at the new place. Did I mention that view was breathtaking? It was. It was a little higher in elevation. Brendon was hoping that the snow will push the Chamois down closer to the tree line. He was right. After some glassing I have spotted a group of Chamois and Brendon decided to move in closer to investigate. This stalk was even harder for me then all the previous ones. I was gasping for air. My ankles were twisting on every rock. I can not say this about Brendon and kids. We made it to the trees and found another small group on our left. We decided to investigate the first group and closed the distance to 160 yards using trees as cover. Brendon sized the animals using his spotting scope and reported that there are two big nannies with long horns and one smaller billy. The billy had his hide scratched from fighting. Brendon said that the nanny Chamois grow bigger then billy?s and can have longer horns without the distinctive hook. He asked me which I wanted to shoot. I decided on the billy. Obviously the billy was doing something right if he ended up with the herd after fighting. After the shot he ran 20 yards and expired. The boys volunteered to climb up and bring the Chamois down. I was very happy with their offer. After the Chamois was down Brendon was surprised at how thick his horns were at the base. I was happy with the beautiful animal. We counted three holes in his hide from fighting. Chamois are very aggressive and often kill each other fighting.
And now the sad part - my hunt was over.
We get back down to the truck and drive back home.
NZ is the only place where you can legally hunt wallaby. And they make a great mount. I decided to get one. They are considered a pest and hunted by spotlighting. I have to mention that Olga first decided to bring one home alive as a pet. We visited one of Brendon?s guides who specializes in catching wallabies for zoos and private collections. His wife has one as pet in the house. Cute little creatures.
Unfortunately they are not house breakable and need a loot of room outside to run(jump). And they can run?
I managed to kill one last night hunting
.
Brendon is also a SCI Master Scorer and scored my animals. As you know, they both scored gold medals. The Tahr scored 43 points and the Chamois scored 26 2/8. I just sent my paperwork in. I hope it will get approved soon and I will let you know.
The last day: one of the Brendon?s guides organized a nice sightseeing tour which we enjoyed very much.
Next day we rented car and left for a drive around the island. But this is a different story.
Some observations about NZ:
1. This is outdoorsmen paradise. Anything that eats grass and is not a farm animal is considered a pest and can be hunted year round. With that said there is no closed season on big game animals... which there are plenty.
2. Season only closes for waterfall and fishing.
3. Fishing is fantastic with salmon and trout (brown and rainbow). Record trout is 32lb. and 20lb. is normal.
4. Waterfall. Some of you guys who went hunting with us sea ducks found this to be fun. Listen to this: They have a 50 Canada goose and 50 duck per hunter per day bag limit and they usually limit out! Per Brendon this amount of shooting withstand only Beretta and Remington guns. They have a lot different species of ducks. Mallards and Paradise ducks are everywhere.
5. They have wild pheasants. Including goldens. No limit.
6. People are very tolerant to hunters. Tourism and outdoor activities are big part of economy.
7. Only 800.000 people live on the South Island and 47 million sheep. And sheep herds crossing the roads are the only traffic you can get on South Island.
8. Major state highways are two lane roads with one lane bridges (lots of them). No problem.
9. People are very friendly.
10. Favorite sport ? Rugby
Here some more pictures:
Kea:
Roaring stag:
IF you've never been to NZ I highly recommend to do it.
I planned this hunt 1 year in advance. And when April finally came I was very excited.
I booked the hunt with Brendon Matthews, owner of Matthews Trophy Hunting Safaris last May. I planned on spending two weeks in NZ. For that reason I opted to use the outfitters supplied rifle instead of bringing my own.
The flight was very long. It took us about 30 hrs to get to Christchurch. We were met by one of the guides who drove us to the Brendon?s house. This is where we stayed for the duration of the hunt. We spent the rest of the day resting and planning our hunt. I was the only one hunter at this time and Brendon was going to be the guide himself. Also it was school holidays and Brendon?s son Cailem volunteered to join us the next day. I?m going to tell you this kid was a big help. With his keen eye, he was spotting animals way before we could.
I shot Brendon?s gun a few time to get familiar with it. It was an old Brno in 270Win with an old Leupold 3X9 scope.
The next day started with a one hour drive to the block where we were supposed to hunt. I need to mention that Brendon is building cabin right under the hill and future hunters will be staying right at the hunting area. I did not mind the drive at all. Scenery in NZ was breath taking . We then took an ATV ride up the hill, to the block where we started the first day. After a short walk we arrived at the observation point and started glassing the opposite hillside. Brendon said that the previous group saw a big Tahr at this location but did not get a shot. I need to mention that that was in the middle of the "roar" and red stags were roaring all around us. It was amazing. While we were hunting on Brendon?s property every day we saw at least one gold medal and few silver stags. Quality of the animals in this place is amazing. Even at some point Brendon offered me to take a stag for a very good price but I declined. Maybe next time (and with the bow) I will do it. It seemed to me to easy to get the stag, but then again we were not hunting stag and that is probably why I saw so many of them. It was amazing how you can actually first smell a stag and then jump it from the bush. A few words about NZ bush. It is very thick and we were moving through it using paths created by cows.
Back to our observation point. At some point Cailem points out a distant animal moving downhill. Brendon put the spotting scope on him and said that it is good Chamois and instructed me to take position. 345 yards measured Brendon. I tried to find animal through the scope but could not do it through the glare from the sun. The chamois continued down the hill and was about to disappear into the thick bush. ?Now or never? said Brendon. Finally I was able to see a shadow of the animal through the glare and squeezed trigger. And MISSED. I shot over it said Brendon. The chamois ran up the hill without any effort as we watched and it jumped over the 6 foot fence. Later when we checked for the blood I was amazed at how steep that hill was and how effortless it looked for the Chamois to run up.
Then we walked up and down the hill, changing elevation between 1000 and 3000 ft. Glassing at different observation points. We looked at numerous red stags and two Tahr nannies but no bull. Then we break for a lunch and Brendon drove us to town. I really needed that break. It seems I was able to negotiate hilly terrain much easier when I was younger and a few pounds lighter. After lunch we returned to the same hill and Brendon suggested we check the highest observation point.
The bush at the opposite site is much thinner and we can see well. Bingo. As soon as we were able to see opposite side there were three dark, moving uphill, animals appearing on the side of the hill. Brendon set the spotting scope up and instructed me to take position. He sized the bulls and instructed me to shoot one on the left. ?He has best mane even though his horns are not the biggest ones? said Brendon. ?265 yards?. I stabilized the rifle on top of the backpack and squeezed the trigger. ?He is hit? said Brendon ?Shoot again?. And I shoot again. ?He is hit? said Brendon again.? Let?s wait and see?.
With the first shot the Tahr erected his mane aggressively and faced his attackers. He almost did not react on the second shoot. He just stood there with erected his mane and looked at us.
What a magnificent animal. It can take a lot of lead before it going down. Two other bulls moved up the hill and disappeared on the opposite side. ?Shoot again? instructed Brendon. Third shot broke Tahr?s front leg and it tumbled down the hill. It took us some effort (especially me) to get to the downed animal. Getting close to the Tahr I noticed very distinct and nutty smell.
After skinning Tahr we found two out of the three bullets. All the bullets hit fatal hart/lung aria. Recovered bullets (130GR softpoints) are not defragmented.
Non of the bullets had passed through. That's how tough those animals are. Skin of the Tahr is almost as thick as moose skin. They are pretty big animals up to 350lb. Then we climb down the hill and that was end of the day one. We drove back to the house and spent rest of the evening watching hunting videos and enjoying food prepared by Brendon?s wife Angela. Apparently Angela, Alicia and my wife, Olga, became friends and had a good time in town while we were hunting.
Next day Olga volunteered to go with us and spent half a day filming animals. She managed to film interesting deer fights that I will try to post later. Second day was uneventful.... meaning we did not see any Chamois, but there was plenty of sign. Somehow they were avoiding us. But we saw a lot of other animals. Even a good bull Tahr showed himself for a few moments before running down the hill and disappearing in the thick bush. The weather changed quickly in the evening, and it was very interesting to see how fast clouds moved in and temperature dropped 20 degrees. Clouds moved right above us and the top of the hill disappeared. We called it a day. Again after an enjoyable evening we went to bed.
Next day after an uneventful (meaning we have been seeing a lot of animals but not Chamois) morning, Brendon decided to hunt a different place in the afternoon. I have to mention that it snowed overnight and the mountains were covered with fresh snow.
The view was absolutely breathtaking. Also Cailem?s friend Bin Jay decided to join us this day. After lunch and one hour drive we arrived at the new place. Did I mention that view was breathtaking? It was. It was a little higher in elevation. Brendon was hoping that the snow will push the Chamois down closer to the tree line. He was right. After some glassing I have spotted a group of Chamois and Brendon decided to move in closer to investigate. This stalk was even harder for me then all the previous ones. I was gasping for air. My ankles were twisting on every rock. I can not say this about Brendon and kids. We made it to the trees and found another small group on our left. We decided to investigate the first group and closed the distance to 160 yards using trees as cover. Brendon sized the animals using his spotting scope and reported that there are two big nannies with long horns and one smaller billy. The billy had his hide scratched from fighting. Brendon said that the nanny Chamois grow bigger then billy?s and can have longer horns without the distinctive hook. He asked me which I wanted to shoot. I decided on the billy. Obviously the billy was doing something right if he ended up with the herd after fighting. After the shot he ran 20 yards and expired. The boys volunteered to climb up and bring the Chamois down. I was very happy with their offer. After the Chamois was down Brendon was surprised at how thick his horns were at the base. I was happy with the beautiful animal. We counted three holes in his hide from fighting. Chamois are very aggressive and often kill each other fighting.
And now the sad part - my hunt was over.
We get back down to the truck and drive back home.
NZ is the only place where you can legally hunt wallaby. And they make a great mount. I decided to get one. They are considered a pest and hunted by spotlighting. I have to mention that Olga first decided to bring one home alive as a pet. We visited one of Brendon?s guides who specializes in catching wallabies for zoos and private collections. His wife has one as pet in the house. Cute little creatures.
I managed to kill one last night hunting
Brendon is also a SCI Master Scorer and scored my animals. As you know, they both scored gold medals. The Tahr scored 43 points and the Chamois scored 26 2/8. I just sent my paperwork in. I hope it will get approved soon and I will let you know.
The last day: one of the Brendon?s guides organized a nice sightseeing tour which we enjoyed very much.
Next day we rented car and left for a drive around the island. But this is a different story.
Some observations about NZ:
1. This is outdoorsmen paradise. Anything that eats grass and is not a farm animal is considered a pest and can be hunted year round. With that said there is no closed season on big game animals... which there are plenty.
2. Season only closes for waterfall and fishing.
3. Fishing is fantastic with salmon and trout (brown and rainbow). Record trout is 32lb. and 20lb. is normal.
4. Waterfall. Some of you guys who went hunting with us sea ducks found this to be fun. Listen to this: They have a 50 Canada goose and 50 duck per hunter per day bag limit and they usually limit out! Per Brendon this amount of shooting withstand only Beretta and Remington guns. They have a lot different species of ducks. Mallards and Paradise ducks are everywhere.
5. They have wild pheasants. Including goldens. No limit.
6. People are very tolerant to hunters. Tourism and outdoor activities are big part of economy.
7. Only 800.000 people live on the South Island and 47 million sheep. And sheep herds crossing the roads are the only traffic you can get on South Island.
8. Major state highways are two lane roads with one lane bridges (lots of them). No problem.
9. People are very friendly.
10. Favorite sport ? Rugby
Here some more pictures:
Kea:
Roaring stag:
IF you've never been to NZ I highly recommend to do it.
Looks like an "outdoorsmen paradise" for sure.
