Right'o heres a quick story & some pics of last week, enjoy
So I drew "Edison River" for the fifth week of the Tahr ballot & to be honest I knew nothing about the place, The txt's went out to see who was keen, Big Al aka Blaser & Caleb aka Shandy were starters, after a couple of guys pulling the pin we ended up with Shane aka 199p taking the last spot.
After an early start on Friday we made it to Greymouth for the night then off to James Scott's for a Saturday morning fly in & what a bwety day to fly.
Set up camp & decide to go for an afternoon wander, Al & Shane head up the steep climb on the left of the valley, Caleb & I go up the right. Around 4:00 we hear a shot & I soon see the boys heading up the ridge doing a retrieve, back at camp & we eventually see their headlamps cutting through the dark then coming slowly down the hill, back at camp around 8:00 & Shane had shot his first SI beastie turned out to be a 13.5 Bull, not a bad way to pop ya cherry & a great start to the trip ( sorry I haven't got a pic of it )
Next day & Shane spends the day at camp sorting his Tahrs pelt etc while Alister, Caleb & I head up around towards the right to glass some large bluffs & cliff faces, we spot a few animals & then one a little lower down in a spot that might work for a retrieve, a look through the spotter & yes it's a goer so we sidel around and get Caleb into position behind Al's R93 at 475yards, The bugger was sitting down enjoying the Sun & was a pretty cool cat, our attempts to get him to stand up by waving & yelling finally paid off and after about 30 mintues the shot was on, Boomfa & down he tumbled, We got over to discover him laying on the rocks well fuk me 14.5" Bull. Calebs first Tahr & it's a monster, Bugger me we're good guides lol
We ended up bush bashing & glassing on Monday, Tuesday was a camp day as rain set in, then late afternoon it was action stations as Shandy spotted a Chammie from camp, I grabbed the Edge and in the fading light I got a shot at him, missed but luckily he moved into a better position on a small bluff at 550yards "smack" & down he went, we & found him the next day in a steep water fall, Farken mint my first Chammie & a 9.75" to boot, CHUR
The next day we split up again & Al & Shane went towards the area where Caleb had scored his bull, while Caleb & I went up & along a large basin of scree slopes, I spot a group of animals and a large shaggy Bull standing on a ridge, so I make a bee line for him, get to within 630yards using a large rock for cover I set up the Edge & blow him off his feet "sweet" then another animal comes into the scope about 10yards behind where the Bull was, In the heat of the moment I thought it was a nanny ( We were after a nice skin & some back steaks ) so Boomfa and down it goes. We head up to get the business done & find a nice 11"+ & discover that the other animal was a young 8"ish bull laying only 10 meters away, thats a bit of a bummer, but we make the most of it & take some nice tender steaks & Caleb skins it out to take the pelt home. I load up the Eberlestock with my big hairy skin, back steaks, rifle & all my other shit, bloody hell it must have weighted nearly 40kilos lol
Al shoots a nice 12"plus that arvo & has some real fun trying to retrieve after it gets held up on a cliff face, but brings back what he can & then shoots a nice little Chammie the next day ( sorry no pics of that either lol )
All in all a mint trip.
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