Tahr shoot

For the second year in a row, Greg headed off on his Tahr cull.  This year Dave (Andrea's brother-in-law) flew down from Auckland to join him, and the two of them were joined by Greg's friend and fellow Deer Stalker Andy.  Or should that be fallow deer stalker.  Excuse the pun.

The boys getting into the chopper South West of Christchurch (up the Havelock River):

The accommodation was slightly fancier than last year.  Yes that's a solar panel on the roof of the hut, supplying LED lighting and a mountain radio (the aerial is the long wires at the top).

The countryside was amazingly wide and open - not to mention steep.  You could sit and look at a hill for hours and hours and still not see the animals walking around.  So sit and look for hours they did.

As you can see, the camo clothing the boys wear works well.  This is Andy sitting in a bunch of tussocks with his spotting scope - hard to see at 6 feet away.  You might also notice the boys wearing orange blaze.  Most game animals are colour blind, and the blaze clothing has a camo print so they work equally as well as the traditional green and khaki colours - but obviously a lot safer when there are multiple shooters.

Some more of the fantastic scenery, with a few Mount Cook Lilies in the foreground.  This was one little side valley that the lads walked up off the main valley.  The Mount Cook Lilies aren't so surprising considering they were less than 50km from Mount Cook (as the kea flies)

And of course being so close to Mount Cook, there were numerous glaciers heading down into the valleys the boys were hunting in.  Pretty much every side valley and stream started with a glacier.  Making for yet more spectacular scenery.

And finally, success for Dave.  This is his third hunting trip down to the South Island with Greg and he finally has a trophy animal - something to be really proud of.  And the sausages taste great too - many thanks to the Arrowtown Butcher for the Tahr, sundried tomato and basil sausages.