New to NZ

Hi everybody,

I'm new here (this is actually my first post), and I was wondering if anybody had any advice. I'm currently in the US, and I am going to visit the South Island in late May to do some bowhunting for Chamois and Tahr for around ten days. I'm not looking for a trophy or anything, I'd be perfectly happy with a doe. I know nothing is free, and I'm not looking for anything specific, but if anyone is interested, I have access to private mule deer hunting in the states, as well as experience hunting antelope and elk in southern and central idaho. If you're headed that way and interested in some info/hunting swap I'll be hunting both come late August (Mule deer in november). I've attached a picture of a mule deer I took a few years ago with the bow. Anyway, I'm currently planning on driving into whataroa from Christchurch, and hunting the abel lake area, but that's very tentative. Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks

If you find yourself in the North Island I can sort you for trophy Sika Stags on DOC (public) land at no cost to you

Keep in touch via PM

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Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

If you find yourself in the North Island I can sort you for trophy Sika Stags on DOC (public) land at no cost to you

Keep in touch via PM

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wow, almost like a guarantee for a trophy sika.

Hey Hugshe, Idaho Is a fantastic place. Ive chased Mule deer there before, But only on over the counter public land tags and passed up everything I saw. They are one of the coolest looking deer. Once you get your post count up Ill send you a message as Im based on the west coast south Island and can sort out something for you Im sure.

Welcome aboard.

Nice quiet boots for bow hunting in!!!:D:D:D

Welcome aboard:)

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Originally Posted by XR500

Nice quiet boots for bow hunting in!!!:D:D:D

Welcome aboard:)

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Snake protection?

Welcome mate.

yes get your posts up, sent you a pm but its been diverted to god knows where.

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Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

If you find yourself in the North Island I can sort you for trophy Sika Stags on DOC (public) land at no cost to you

Keep in touch via PM

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Sweet deal...im keen

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

If you find yourself in the North Island I can sort you for trophy Sika Stags on DOC (public) land at no cost to you

Keep in touch via PM

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Legend

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Originally Posted by XR500

Nice quiet boots for bow hunting in!!!:D:D:D

Welcome aboard:)

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You'd be surprised, they don't squeak too much and they're very waterproof: no ankle protection though. And, if you get in during the peak of the rut the deer are typically otherwise occupied!:D

I appreciate everybody's replies, and I'll definitely work on getting my posts up. I've got a lot of questions and this seems like a great place to ask them! Also, I don't think I have PM privileges yet, so please don't get exasperated if I'm slow to reply!

I think you need 5 posts before you can PM. Initially Id say that there are a few factors that might make Abel lake area a less than perfect choice. Firstly its very remote and will take you 4-6 days of walking to get in and out, which when you have travelled so far and on a time limit, is wasted time. Second its a Tahr ballot block. That doesn't mean you cant hunt it. But at that time of the year its highly likely that there will be a balloted group of hunters in there. The ballot isn't a sole hunting right, its a sole access by helicopter right.
When you say you have 10 days, is that 10 days in country? Or 10 days of hunting?

I have tentatively 14 total days (including travel), possibly a couple more, but I have budgeted two on either end for flying and dealing with airports and whatnot. I'm hoping to spend as much of the rest as I can hunting. I've been doing some google earth scouting, and I definitely agree with you, the juice probably isn't worth the squeeze on the Abel lake area. I would like to hunt the west coast, for the scenery if nothing else, but it's a bit hard to find a good balance between ease of access and human footprint. I've mostly been looking on the DOC website and then checking out areas they mention as containing Tahr or Chamois.

Ok cool. There are some real advantages to hunting the west coast with the bow, But there is also one big downside. Weather. 10 days of hunting should give enough time to allow for wet days and hunt.
Are you wishing to hunt both Chamois and Tahr? or have a preference of one over the other?

I don't really have a preference between Chamois and Tahr, both seem like really interesting quarry with the bow. I'd be perfectly happy to hunt either/or. The weather is definitely something I've heard about, and I'm looking for some new rain gear!

Well that gives you a lot of options.

Ill give you my Email address. Make contact and Ill send you some more in depth ideas.

shankspony@xtra.co.nz

That’s a awesome mule deer! Congrats. I’ve tried to send you a PM but doesn’t looks like it worked. You might get two from me!

Im happy to help with your hunt plans but I’d say while the West Coast is possible you’ll probably want to join up with a kiwi on your first trip into the area. As others have said having the right gear, an understanding of the weather and chopper options are key things to think about. If anyone is thinking of doing a hunt swap, I’d highly recommend this as a great way to get to hunt USA. Unfortunately the Idaho general tags are pretty much gone as they went on sale 1 Dec, but there are options.

Abel lakes are hard yakka m8
I've tried it
There's better places

Thanks for reaching out, I'll take a look for your message! It's true that nonresident general tags went on sale Dec. 1, and those go quickly, which would include mule deer and elk, but controlled hunt drawings are still coming up. The archery antelope hunts are all controlled, so there is an application period (starting at the end of June), but many of those are unlimited first choice, meaning you're guaranteed to draw if you put in with that tag as your first pick. Also, I think nonresident general tags are limited to a single GMU these days, and some may still be available for the harder access areas (particularly those along the snake river). Returned tags go on sale March 21, 2024 at 10:00 MDT. First come, first serve, of course. Tags available will be listed on the Idaho Fish and game website the tuesday prior to the sale. Thts all I know about nonresident tags, but I'm sure I've missed something!

Update on this thread. Hugshe had a horror start too his trip with the airline stuffing up his flights and costing him two days in travel, then they lost his bow. Luckily we managed to salvage a plan that saw us head into the mountains on a quicker trip, only to find DOC had closed the hut we wished to use once we got there. But we adjusted our plan, and he ended up with a couple of nice Chamois and even managed a 12 inch bull tahr/chamois buck double in the same little valley.

https://i.postimg.cc/d0cmTmDF/20240308-093839.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/W47rFBQm/20240309-181259.jpg

Bloody awesome. Much easier with the rifle!

Couple of years ago I had the same airline drama when air new zealand lost my bow! Got it a week into my trip.

Yep it turned up at Hokitika, but too late. Probably because we didnt have it with us, we could have easily shot 4 animals with bow, all within 30 meters.

Well done both of you - what a welcome to someone who just pops up on a website!

Awesome first tahr

Hi everybody, I know Whanahuia already posted a quick recap, but I figured I would post a short hunt summary for anybody interested.

The plan originally: Get into Christchurch airport monday the 4th at around 1300, spend the rest of the day recuperating and head into the mountains the next day for a ten-day archery hunt looking for Chamois and Tahr.

What actually happened: Two consecutive flights were delayed, causing me to miss the corresponding flights to NZ (from the United States). I got to stay in SF overnight and for a day, and Houston overnight. I eventually got to Auckland on Wednesday at around 1000, only to find that my bow had been lost. After arguing with the baggage claim personnel (mostly for catharsis, certainly not for results), I missed my flight to Christchurch. Anyway, long story short, made it into Christchurch at 1300 that day and met up with Whanahuia, who was kind enough to host me and show me the NZ hunting ropes.

We decided to just get started the next day (Thursday), and drove south. During the drive the airport called me and told me they had found my bow in Auckland, but the die was pretty much cast at that point. We hiked into the hunting area and stayed at a hut. While at the hut we encountered some hikers and trampers, all of whom had seen Chamois up valley. Excited by this news, we got started hunting the next day and basically the instant we got off the track into the area we intended to hunt we started seeing Chamois. The first one was a good doe at only around 40 yards. If I had been bow hunting this would have been a fantastic opportunity, but with the rifle I held out for a different animal. We moved up the streambed we were on, passing over several more animals, until we saw a buck at the front of a tunnel in the brush. I quickly knelt down and took the shot, seeing the buck kick back and disappear into the brush in my scope. We crossed the stream and climbed up the opposite side, eventually recovering the buck (first animal in Whanahuia's post above). We kept on climbing up the streambed after taking the head and backstraps from the buck I shot, eventually reaching the end of the terrain we were willing to climb. We saw around 14 Tahr, mostly nannys and also around 800 yards away, as well as several more Chamois. After spending 45 mins or so spotting we headed down valley to another spot closer to camp for the evening, to look for Tahr. We repeated the uphill climb to mid-way up another face, where we saw a couple dozen nannies and kids, but only one immature bull. On the way down I managed to both drop my binoculars about thirty yards downhill, bouncing down every rock on the way, and get stung twice by wasps. Sidebar, I just remembered that I also managed to lose my binoculars momentarily in the stream we had been following earlier. PSA: properly tether your binos.

The next day we headed up yet another drainage, hoping to see some bull tahr. We saw lots of sign, as well as an old tahr skeleton sans skull, which gave us some hope. Eventually, after beating through some fairly thick undergrowth for a couple of hours, we were able to find our way onto a fairly open shoulder overlooking a little hidden fold across the creek. We settled in to watch the other side, planning to wait until the afternoon to see if any animals came out to graze.
Attachment 246119
After a few minutes we spotted an old nanny and her kid under a large rock, and we spent a fair amount of time watching them, in between naps.
Attachment 246120
Eventually, we saw a lone animal graze into a clearing a couple hundred yards below the nanny and kid, and after a quick examination determined it to be a shooter bull (at least for me, I was happy with any representative animal). I set up on a pack and ranged the animal, coming up with a distance of around 180 yards (angle compensated at maybe a 40 degree drop down from our position). I took the shot, holding at2/3 up the animal and right behind the shoulder. Immediately after the Tahr ran right down the little tussock he was standing on and out of sight downhill. He didn't give any sign of being hit, and I was worried I'd fudged the shot, even though it had felt good. We settled back in to give the animal a chance to expire unpressured, and continued to watch. We eventually saw a pair of young bulls emerge from the scrub, one of which was in a tree, maybe 30 feet above ground, all four hooves on the branch and grazing away.
Attachment 246121
Eventually we were able to climb down, cross the creek and start tracking the bull. As we followed the trail it had run down we encountered a Chamois buck lying down across the track, and I took a quick shot. Upon closer inspection of the buck we noticed it's back leg seemed to be recently broken, explaining why it didn't move after seeing us. From there we were able to find the tahr, which had managed to wedge itself into a bush on the edge of a cliff. There's a picture of both animals in Whanahuia's post above. That pretty much wrapped up the trip, and we left early lugging quite a bit of meat.

The Chamois with the broken leg was really strange. It was smashed right through the femur, and was so fresh there was no discernible swelling. Due too its position Im kind of wondering if the Bull Thar came over the rise full tilt and collided with him.

awesome writeup and really good of you young man to take this other young fella out..... plenty of folks will have done far worse with all the mod cons and no stuff ups..... go the forum and long may the good will that made this possible continue.

Good on you. Sounds like a good trip

good looking bow. is it a bowtech?
nz hunting may be a little different to what you are used to, think dense foliage, limited visibility and no cell coverage in case thing turn to poo. i would not suggest anyone hunt alone on the first time

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

awesome writeup and really good of you young man to take this other young fella out..... plenty of folks will have done far worse with all the mod cons and no stuff ups..... go the forum and long may the good will that made this possible continue.

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Hugshe did really well. Originally Id planned on camping in a high basin, but along with everything else, we kind of lost our weather window too, so I opted for a lower elevation with more shelter but a good 18k walk in. Then we got there to find the hut we'd planned to base out of, was closed at the last minute for renovation.
And we did load up on the way out with most of the bull Tahr, which was rolling in fat. Plus the best bits of the chamois and the heads. Which he coped with really well. Also it was pleasure to see him shoot, the first Buck needed a very quick decision and shot from a steep bank free hand at 80-100 yards. The bull was steep downhill at a line of sight of around 250 from the only semi flatish spot available.
I can tell you that given how the trip started, I was quietly ecstatic when the first buck went down.