Curiosity killed the Chamois
@ryansonghurst and I had decided to get out mid week and chase a few animals around. I found a likely looking a spot on google earth so headed off on Wednesday morning at the crack of dawn. Arrived in the pass to steady rain. Crossed the river and up the hill. It was a relatively easy walk, taking 2 hours to make the bushline just cruising. By the time we got to where we wanted to camp, Ryan and I were absolutely drenched and couldn't escape the rain. We stood around for a couple of hours freezing our assess off while our fingers went numb and morale took a real hit. My shitty stoney creek jacket was completely soaked through, holding about 5kg of water. Ryan was standing around in his shirt, no jacket or nothing, waiting for the rain to stop so he could quickly get changed into dry gear. Didn't happen. I made a quick before to try and get some warmth into our bodies before we started back down the track, both feeling a bit dejected.
Arrived back in Culverdan to a typical north Canterbury day, warm, dry and windy. We set about drying all of our gear out, even going as far as pulling apart rifles and bolts and drying out the firing pins as they even they were holding moisture. A couple beers and we hatched a plan for the next day.
Off again, to a somewhat new spot we'd sussed out on the way home yesterday. Starting making tracks at 6am. Stopped every couple of hours for a bit of a glass and some food. Spotted a lone mature buck at 1000m and slowly began making our way further up the hill to get a better look. Pretty easy going on our way up the hill following game trails along the spurs in the bush to stay hidden. We stopped about 300m from the top as we spied another Chamois, this time a young buck, much smaller than the first. Well he actually spied us first and we snapped a few photos of him on the ridgeline. We were set on chasing this bigger fella through so he was safe. We carried on up the hill for a bit longer before getting stumped by a bluffs section. Sat down and figured out our path past, we looked up to a whistle from this buck who had moved in from 500m to 270. Got the camera out again and set up for some filming. Ryan had moved 30m down hill to traverse this bluff while I sat on top. Surprisingly quickly the buck closed the distance from 270 to only 108m. At this stage I couldn't help myself and as he presented himself broadside I let one of my handloads go and down he went. Entered right behind the shoulder and took out the top of the lungs and part of the heart. 125gr accubond doing 3000fps did the job nicely and exited through the rear shoulder.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0842e3735e.jpg
Took the back wheels, straps and the head as it is my first Chamois. Carried on up the spur to the main ridgeline where it proceeded to blow its guts out and throw sideways hail at us at 100miles an hour. Off the main ridge and down a grassy/flaxy face and we hit the bush. Bashed through shit thick bush with bush lawyer all through it for a hour while our patience and good moods run out and arrived at the car park, but not before I fell in the swamp up to my nuts. Few beers and a relaxing drive home with buggered legs. Feeling it today.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...76a1a6fbac.jpg no animals in this photo, just gives you an idea of the type of country we were in. Hopefully useful for newer hunters.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
