Thread: Arthur’s Pass hard hunting

Arthur’s Pass hard hunt

The tikka 284 was complaining in the gun safe and I needed a South Island mission. I’d always wanted to hunt the Savannah range after looking across too it many years before from
Brown Hill. My 19yr old son was keen despite an injured foot so I flew down from Auckland to CHCH and spent the night in his grubby flat. He went to the pub and woke me up about 11am. I’d done the shopping so the next morning we hit the road to Arthur’s Pass and the Hawdon shelter. There were plenty of campers and a few hunting wagons as we shouldered packs and began the grind up Woolshed hill. Unfortunately a tramper coming down told us a couple of hunters were ahead so we were a bit disappointed but continued up. Breaking the bush line the weather had cleared and we had amazing views. We caught the hunters on the top of Woolshed hill and they were going to camp at the same tarn as us so we offered to push on the bush saddle and hope to find water and a camp site.



We found a flat spot on the saddle at about 1250m and set up the small tent. It was nice and still evening as we headed on for a glass and hunt but despite excellent bush edge and gullies we didn’t spot anything that evening. We did however get one stag to roar once and that was the only roar we heard for the next 3 days!! That evening we had a nice close encounter with a morepork(Ruru) that visited camp, before earning an early night while the temperature dropped. I was expecting roaring in the cool still evening and we were perfectly positioned to hear both sides but not a peep all night.




Next morning we headed down a gully toward the roar with a double mission to get water for the day. Nothing heard or seen but we managed to find a trickle and fill 3 litres up for the day. We packed up and got along the ridge to the next saddle under 1520m glassing on the way before sidling under 1676 to a nice tussock ridge.



We had a feed in the sun up high above the fog while I glassed ahead and spotted what looked like a pig feeding until it turned sideways and some nice hooks appeared above a white face. I showed it to James and ranged it at 525 yards. Too far for me to shoot so we needed a plan B which involved backing out of sight and climbing up peak 1676 which proved a steep scramble from our position. The peak had a good cairn and we dropped over the Hawdon side to sidle out of sight and get above and closer to the buck Chamois. For once everything worked out and we popped out above and spotted the Chamois bedded down having a snooze in some rocks below at 140 yards. It was facing us front on and not a great shot. James was keen for a go so the big pack was set up and he got ready.



We waited but the chamois wouldn’t move so eventually I said can you shoot it in the neck and he said ok. The 284 sent a 162 ELDX and the chamois simply rolled over slightly and never moved. I was pretty happy and we headed down to have a look. It was a nice buck and we laid out our tent to dry out while showing James how to take some meat and the head.



That’s when we heard voices and 3 trampers came along the ridge above us. They were heading to the East Hawdon Biv via the main range the same direction we were going. After packing up we soon ran into them again on some steep rock at 1657 and they were heading back. After having a look ourselves it looked too dangerous to traverse without ropes. We were also worried about water again and a sidle below looked a decent detour so we decided to cut back and drop down some scree to the East Hawdon in search of water. It was a long scramble down and eventually we found some water at about 1200m again. Continuing down we saw about the only fresh sign of the whole trip near the main river and then cranked up to the Biv which was empty and very clean and tidy. Unfortunately the hut book said a helicopter had been shooting a few weeks before and was probably targeting the pre roar stags.



I hunted and roared the bush edge and river flats that evening with no success. The other trampers didnt arrive so we slept in the bivvy which was a lot warmer and more comfortable than our little tent. The next morning we were up early to check out the head basin and yet again it was empty of any animals. With a crap weather forecast we decided to cut the trip and bail out back to the car with just one more highlight. Right near the main Hawdon river I heard a thump next to us and looked right to see a NZ Falcon on the ground about 10m away. It was a beautiful bird and quickly took off with a small bird in its talons which it must of just hit. Back it the flat we boiled up the chamois skull and measured it up at just over 9inch which is pretty good for your first buck.



A good trip in some great country but next time I’ll head for an area with more deer !!