OW's 2004 New Zealand Hunt

[Outdoor Writer]

This thread will include an array of photos in several messages from my hunt on the south island of NZ with Tim Buma's New Zealand Backcounrty Outfitters in 2004. If any of you ever get the opportunity to hunt in NZ, do not turn it down. I enjoyed it more than Africa. The country is spectacular and the people are super.

 

Soooo...to get you all in the mood, here are several scenics that should start your hearts pumping. These were all taken in the same valley where one of the Lord of the Rings movies was filmed, and we hunted tahr in one of the nearby mountain ranges.

 

The last one with the outhouse was taken at the hut we stayed in and looks back to the spot where the fortress for the movie had been built and later removed. -TONY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Outdoor Writer]

My partner and I spent seven days in NZ and right from the start, Tim and his wife, Vanessa, made us feel welcome and at home. Tim also had Brad Orszaczki -- an Aussie from the Victoria area -- come to NZ to guide my hunting partner, Troy Morzelewski. Like Tim, Brad knew his stuff and how to glass and find game. He wasn't too bad at downing a few Speights (NZ beer!) with us either.

 

We arrived on Sun. afternoon, got settled in and began our hunt for tahr on Mon. morn. We had planned to helicopter a tent camp up the mountain and spend a couple days but had to shelve that plan because of predicted storms. So instead, we used the helicopter to get from the valley floor into tahr country. The copter dropped Tim and I off in one drainage and put Brad and Troy in another.

 

Ready to lift off!

 

 

 

Tim Buma glassing for tahr just below the snowline in NZ's southern Alps.

 

 

And this is what he was looking for.

 

 

It was some of the steepest and most rugged country I've ever hunted. From there we glassed for a decent bull. And...we finally found what we had been looking for in the middle of rock slide. By the time we got in range, he had wandered to the side of precarious side hill and started running along a steep spine. Two shots from my .264 WM put the bull down before it hit a straight-down cliff. If it had made it to the cliff, it might still be falling. As it was, it stopped here. And trust me when I tell you that the camera doesn't show the steepness of the area too well.

 

Tim took this photo from the top of the ridge.

 

 

And..the typical "hero" trophy pix with both me and guide Tim Buma.

 

 

 

 

 

By mid-afternoon, our hunts for tahr were over with two light-maned better than average trophies. Troy's was right at 12.5" and mine was 1/8" short of 12" but had larger bases.

Troy and his trophy tahr.

 

 

This photo was taken back at the helicopter base.

 

[Outdoor Writer]

After the tahr chase, we headed up the valley about 15-16 miles to a hut, where we were to spend that night. That trip, which was often on an almost non-existent two-track took a couple hours. On the way, we glassed for chamois, forded rivers, checked out the spawning king salmon and enjoyed the mountain scenery in general.

 

 

 

The orange specks in the water are dead salmon.

 

 

 

We settled in the hut and had a bite to eat.

 

 

 

 

 

Then we headed out to rid NZ of some vermin. Here's the results. As shown, the possum color phase in NZ is quite varied.

 

[tjhunt2]

Thanks for these pics as well tony. These have to be the clearest pictures I've ever seen in my life. Enjoyed!

[Outdoor Writer]

We spent much of the morning caping our tahr while we were still at the hut in the Lord of the Rings valley. Then we drove back out the same route we had come in -- along the little two-track and across many rivers.

 

<div align='center'><img src="http://members.cox.net/tmandile/LRValleyNZ7.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

<img src="http://members.cox.net/tmandile/LRValleyNZ10.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

<img src="http://members.cox.net/tmandile/RiverCross1.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /> </div>

 

A few hours later, we stopped by O'Rourke Bros. taxidermy shop in the small town of Pleasant Point to drop off the horns and capes from our tahr. By then it was already late afternoon, so we headed to the mountains near the Mount Hutt ski area and glassed for chamois. Althought we spotted several, they were way too far off to even think about going after that evening.

 

As the weatherman had predicted, a storm had moved in during the night and dumped some rain. Although the skies were still foreboding when we woke up, the rain had stopped -- at least temporarily.

 

After a hearty breakfast, we headed to the ranch where Tim hunts red deer .

 

When I went to the SCI convention in Reno, I had spoken with at least four different NZ outfitters about hunting red deer. Everyone of them told me the same thing: The ONLY way to get a good stag is to hunt them on a private ranch, and since I didn't plan to spend all that money to get there and kill something I could kill in Texas, I decided the ranch hunt would be fine as long as it offered some challenge.

 

Before booking with Tim, I had asked him about the stag hunt because I didn't want a "shooting-fish-in-a-barrel" scenario. He was quite honest about it, telling me that it wouldn't be as challenging as a hunt on public grounds, but it also wouldn't be a "Shoot that one standing there" hunt. So that's exactly what we got.

 

After parking our vehicles at the ranch house, which was quite nice, as these photos show...

 

<div align='center'><img src="http://members.cox.net/tmandile/StagRanch1.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

 

<img src="http://members.cox.net/tmandile/StagRanch2.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></div>

 

...we boarded ATVs and headed to the hunting area. On the way we also watched the surrounding hills for wild deer, which often move into the nearby fields to feed. In the meantime, a light rain began.

 

When we walked through the gate into the red stag area, I looked at the hill in front of me and said to Tim, "We gotta climb that, huh?" He laughed.

 

It wasn't quite as steep as the mountains we hunted tahr in, but I had to stop a few times to catch a breath when my lungs protested. About halfway up, Troy and Brad went one way and we went another. That was the last we saw of each other for several hours even though we were hunting in the same area.

 

At the top, I got a much better view of the hunting area. It was tucked up against the mountains and offered a mixture of grassy hills, deep cuts that contained trees, heavy vegetation and some scrub bush areas along the edges. It reminded me very much of elk country in the USA, though the big tall fir forests were missing.

 

We spent the next two hours moving along the edges of the timber and glassing likely areas where the stags might be. All we saw were some grazing sheep, however.

 

The amusing part was that Tim had told me there were at least 20-30 deer in the area,with a mixture of stags, hinds and calves. Still, we hadn't seen a hair on a deer yet.

 

We eventually made our way from one side to the other and started to drop down off a hill through a narrow opening between two stands of trees. That's when my stag decided to roust itself out of its hidng spot in the trees and burst into the open. He was about 50 yards away at that point, trotting downhill and away from us.

 

Tim and I spotted him at the same time. As I clicked off the safety, I asked, "Should I shoot" since I had no idea if I was looking at a good one or not. Tim quickly said "Yes."

 

I raised the rifle and held the crosshairs at the base of the stag's neck where it joined the back and let one rip. We heard the bullet "whap" and it poleaxed the deer on the spot. Tim pulled out his rangefinder; it was just at 125 yards or so, and the bullet had passed through, blowing out the front of the neck.

 

When I got down to the deer, I was more than satisfied with it. The browtines, bezes and third points were exceptionally long and the top on one side of the 9x10 rack was cupped enough where it could hold water. It also has nice mass to it, with the upper main beams bigger than I could get my hand around.

 

And here it is with Tim and me.

 

<div align='center'><img src="http://members.cox.net/tmandile/TonyMTimBStag2.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /> </div>

 

A side view that shows the lengths of the first three points. Note the nice cup effect on the nearest side to the camera.

 

<div align='center'><img src="http://members.cox.net/mtony10/TonyMStag3.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></div>

 

And the last one of me alone from the front.

 

<div align='center'><img src="http://members.cox.net/mtony10/TonyMStag1.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /> </div>

[Outdoor Writer]

After I shot my stag, Tim left to go get my cameras, which were back with the ATV. As he walked around a bend, another stag burst from its bed and ran downhill. I watched it cross an opening for about 50 yards, then it disappeared into the trees.

 

Tim had left a radio with me, so he called back and asked if I had seen it, then mentioned that it was heading toward the area where Troy and Brad were hunting.

 

I left my rifle where my stag fell and took a walk up the hill where I would have a good view of the surrounding country, especially the area where the stag had gone. I sat between two large clumps of tall grass and started glassing. A few minutes later, I picked up not one stag, but two of them. They also had three hinds with them and were cavorting in a small opening next to a deep, thickly vegetated ravine. They were about 300 yards from where I was sitting.

 

One of the stags had a very symmetrical rack and the other was extremely wide and had points going every which way. It probably would have been my choice of the two.

 

I immediately tried to get Brad on his radio, but Tim answered instead. He had finally got to the top of the hill and could also see the deer. Then he told me he could also see Troy and Brad. They were perched on a sidehill and only about 200 yards from the deer. After Tim told me, I aimed my binoculars in that direction and could barely see them through a line of trees.

 

I was about 1/2-way between them and the deer but well off to the side, sort of like the third angle of an equilateral triangle with lines between me and the deer and me and the hunters. It was a great vantage point for the next 20 minutes.

 

Troy had already set up his shooting sticks and had his rifle cradled in them. But I later found out that the deer were hanging too close to the treeline, so he had only brief glimpses of one or the other stag as they played tag with each other. In contrast, I had a great view of them because I was off to the side and the ravine with the tall trees was directly in front of me.

 

We also found out later that Brad had left the radio in his pack, which was back at the ATVs. So there was no way for me to let them know what the deer were doing. Instead, I just watched the hunt play out.

 

It took quite a while, but the deer eventually moved far enough into the opening where Troy could see them both. I heard the bullet hit and saw the one with the symmetrical antlers buckle. Then I heard the crack from Troy's 7mm mag.

 

The deer walked stiffly toward the trees, and I could see the spot of blood; the shot was a perfect lung/heart hit. The stag fell and then regained his feet. Although he was now getting to where I couldn't see him, I thought I saw him stumble again as if he was going down.

 

By then, I heard the whine of an ATV and a minute later, Tim was heading down the hill toward me. He had heard the shot and asked me what happened. I told him I thought the stag was a goner.

 

I hopped aboard the ATV and when we got to the spot, we located the deer. It had fallen once at the edge of the clearing, and the second time it had fallen and rolled, coming to rest in some heavy vegetation about a 1/4 way down into the deep ravine. Ten minutes later, we heard Troy and Brad breaking their way through the trees in the bottom of the ravine.

 

We then found out that Troy had opted to shoot the one with the good symmetry and leave the wide-racked deer for someone else.

 

The four of us dragged the stag out of the hole for photos at the edge of the clearing. As the result of Troy's fine shooting shows, he made a good choice.

 

Brad is on the right in the first photo.

 

 

[Outdoor Writer]

Here are a few other photos of various critters.

 

An Arapawa ram, which run feral in the mountains.

 

My chamois, which I shot just at sunset. By the time we got off the mountain to my cameras, it was dark and raining. So this is at the lodge just before we caped it the next morning.

 

 

Two NZ gobblers

 

 

And last...my trophy wallaby, which Marc Plunkett is now mounting life-size. It's the very last of all my African and NZ mounts he had to do. I had to space them out over a couple years so I could pay for them.

 

[devinv]

awesome picturs and stories, thanks!

[firstcoueswas80]

WOW!! for sure some memories! awesome!

[COOSEFAN]

Dang.....NZ or Africa? I might have to toss a coin for that one! Thanks for takin' us along on your hunts! Hopefully one day I'll see it in person! JIM>

[ultramag]

you the man! Thats how life should be lived!

[Outdoor Writer]

Thanks, guys.

 

Jim,

 

Do NZ first. Great place. If you do Africa, go somewhere other than SA. Other than the game species, it's like hunting in southern AZ -- even with the cactus! And instead of coatis, you get monkeys and baboons. -TONY

[COOSEFAN]

Which place is cheaper? I would think NZ is alot less stress than dealing with the problems they have over in Africa. I also have been hearing Africa is planning to raise all the trophy fees by twice as much this next year! SCI is over there trying to fix the problem I think right now. Thanks, JIM>

[Outdoor Writer]

Which place is cheaper? I would think NZ is a lot less stress than dealing with the problems they have over in Africa. I also have been hearing Africa is planning to raise all the trophy fees by twice as much this next year! SCI is over there trying to fix the problem I think right now. Thanks, JIM>

 

Cheapness depends on what you hunt, where you hunt it and how much you ship home.

 

Some comparisons:

 

I paid the FULL rate for my 10-day African plains game "safari" with a basic cost of $4995. That included five critters -- gemsbok, kudu, springbok, blesbok and impala -- plus the day rates, food, lodging, PH, etc., etc. The airfare from Phx to Johannesburg via SLC and Atlanta was about $2,200. Then I tacked on another $5,000 in trophy fees, which ranged from $400 to $1,700 for the nyala, bushbuck, blue and black wildebeests, warthog and zebra. The PH threw in the $50 cost for the extra "drive-by" springbok.

 

Soooo...at this point, you've already hit about $12,000. If you bring home nothing but photos, you can stop reading here. BUT..if you want to have mounts done over here, you then have the trophy prep fees, crating plus the shipping cost to this country and fees to clear it on this side of the pond. Going from memory here, I think that all came to about $2,800.

 

Now, add in your taxidermy costs -- gulp -- and you're looking at a total of $25,000, and that doesn't include any dangerous game, such as buff, lion, leopard, hippo, elephant. A Cape buffalo hunt by itself will run $8,000 or more.

 

I believe the massive increase in trophy fees is just for Tanzania, not all the countries in Africa.

 

Now for NZ:

 

A week-long hunt for a decent stag, chamois and tahr will run about $5,000 - $7,000, depending on the outfitter and quality of the stag you want to kill. Airfare from here to Christchurch via LA and Auckland was about $1,300. The other hunting we did there was kinda thrown in since we had time to spare. We even hunted black swans, ducks and Canada geese one day. All the after-hunt costs of trophy prep in NZ, shipping to the U.S. and custom's clearance came to about $2,500 for two of us since we combined everything in one crate. So for one person, you're looking at about $6,500 on average for the hunt costs and taxidermy fees on top of that. If you want to spend more, you can also hunt wapiti, various exotic deer species, etc.

 

And you are indeed correct about the ease and the stress factor. I did everything via email with the police office at the airport in Auckland in regards to getting my guns into NZ. It took us about 10 minutes to clear them when we landed there. The greatest asset of NZ is the people -- everyone, including airport personnel, were super. And as the pix show, the scenery is nothing less than spectacular. I wish I had spent another week there, but my hunting partner had limited time to stay there. -TONY

[CouesWhitetail]

Awesome! Thanks for posting your adventure!

 

Amanda