Thread: A right balls up

Decided to explore a new area today as my free time close to an end. Nice sleep in,arrived at road end as sun starting to take chill off. Couple of KMs of easement went without hassle,things were looking ok. I had no intention of doing marathon walkies,just wanted to poke my nose in and see what block was like....got to the boundary gate,looked up with binos and buggamesideways there was brown animal waaay up de hill ( as Tasman would say lol). I got a bit steadier and yes it's a nanny tahr or young male....hmmmm I didn't really want to climb all the way up that mountainside...but...but..but oh fook it why not have a go??? My indian mate would take any meat....nothing for it but to start climbing one foot after the other. Gained desired altitude then started to sidle....by hoki it's steep up here thinks brain,do not for Fooks sake slip.... Got around couple hundy yards and nope still can't see into gut animal last seen in. Have to climb a bit more and get through matagouri.....warning bells must have been on blink.... Got around closer and as crested spur a brown object jumped up onto ridge couple hundy yards ahead. Lean into hill.cant sit it's too steep.crank scope up and load.yip definitely a tahr.if it falls forwards should land in lighter tussocks all good. Squeezed off shot.animal does big lurch then goes SIDEWAYs and starts bowling down to my ridge before cartwheeling off the end...ummmm that wasn't the plan!! Oh well should be able to locate it...then two unseen nanny's pop out slightly further up ridge,under neath rocky bit.sweet,thinks me. No worries drop one there,easy retrieve. Fire and one nanny lurches back towards me out of sight,the other,young one bolts uphill. The second nanny pops back into view lower down very crook.but on open spot..quick anchor her there. Boom goes rifle off she cartwheels down hill WTF is going on??? Doesn't look that steep... The third animal has made its way up higher on a tussocky finger off side of bluffy bit of ridge.surely I can get that one. So I drop another round into it. Two good solid hits on young nanny.she lays down I think.didnt move off,didn't see her cartwheel down. Right.three dead animals couple hund apart couple hundy ahead....that's when the fun started.

Not only was hillside so steep I slung rifle on back and had hanfulls of tussock to hold on,but the vegetation got a tad feral.matagouri,bush lawyer and Spaniards galore.i had gaiters on so not too bad...until it was worse.took me an hour to get to rocky ridge.looked down to where the two cartwheeled into...chest high vegetation and steeper still. Bugger that.i shall just have to be happy with easy one above..yeah right.i looked and looked,couldn't see it below shelf even holding on for dear life and leaning out. Couldn't see it on tussocky finger.i climbed up and around it but could not spot it and honestly I tried... I was more than a little fatigued by now,legs torn and bleeding between gaiters and cargo shorts.... Fook this,no goat is worth dieing for. Select upwards escape route and climb some more. Got to ridge top,sat and finished my drink.had muesli Bar and called it quits. I did have half hearted look through binos but my heart not in it. I absolutely hate wasting meat,I can count on one hand the amount of big game animals I haven't retrieved off hill so today sucked for me big time. I tucked tail between legs and slunk off homeward.beautiful fine day but my failure to retrieve animals soured it.

view from boundary. The animals were up above narrower green finger to right of gully,just below rocky ridge

That photo makes it look like open tussock....it's not.its chest high crap.

this is looking back into gully from Ridgetop....still doesn't look bad...but fook me it is.

looking back to car at road waaay below.and looking further into block.

I love the way the little Spaniards hide in the tussock and only reveal themselves as you grab a handful to stop yourself falling.

Nice country. I've never even seen a thar in the wild.

Sometimes you have to make a choice you are not totally happy with. At least you have saved the taxpayers some money... a helicopter cull isn't necessary now.

No question you gave it your best shot MD ( excuse pun please ). Real pity no reward to show for it. Tough gully to work through from your description.

if thats the gully i think it is , it sucks .

Well done on the climbing MD,too steep for me.

Too steep for me too bud.stuff the hairy goats,I shall leave them alone for another ten years lol.contour map says,best I can read,just over 300 meters up and 700 horizontal meters from gate to where they were...so yes it was plurry steep.

Haha. Great yarn. You survived, well done. Nothing like a bit of steep "pucker factor" country to let you know you're alive eh?

Yeah that sucks , , that tall tussock- matagouri and spaniard combo is a tough trio

Glad your safely off the hill mate, what a beautiful day for it though