Bull Tahr at 630 yards (pics and video)

kiwi3006 · #1 06-01-2009, 03:37 PM

I just got back from a successful weekend hunting Tahr. Rob and I had intended going for three days, but we both shot a bull on the first day so came home early.
We had driven down Friday night and camped by the truck. Up early Saturday morning we were only half an hour into the walk when we saw the first mob about 1 kilometre away up on a ridge. There was a bull with them so we kept them in mind for later in the day.
About 2.5 hours after leaving the truck I was pointing out some tracks to Rob when he noticed the animals that had made them. We got set up, Rob on the rifle and me on the video and spotting scope. Eventually we had everything set and Rob took the shot at 630 yards. He was using my 7mm rem mag, dialled 10.5 MOA elevation and 1 MOA left windage. I was able to see the trace hit the bull at the back of the ribcage and then he started downhill draging his back legs. I lost him from sight, but checking on the video I saw where he had gone down.
We carried on and set up camp , emptied the packs and then climbed up to the bull.

He measured 11.5" in length and 8.75" circumference and just sneaks in to the record books.

Rob, looking up the valley we hunted.

While we were dealing to the bull I spotted the bull from earlier in the day. We hatched a possible route to get to him after lunch.

About 3 pm we were within 750 yards of the bull, but I didn't want to take the shot from there. They were feeding down and I figured they would come closer. Unfortunately they started to feed away from us. I took a shot at 650 yards as he was about to go behind a ridge. We didn't know if I had connected or not, so climbed around the next gully to get a look.
We came over the ridge and spotted him, unhurt, at 265 yards. I got set up over my pack, and then got a bit exicted and pulled the shot, hitting him in the front leg. He ran downhill and befor eventally stopping. I made sure of a better squeeze this time, but pulled the trigger on an empty chamber! Quickly reloading I hit him square in the chest, but he still took a while to go down.

My bull, 11" length and 8" bases.

We eventually got back to camp about 1.5 hours after dark. Next morning we packed up and came home early.

Carrying my pack back out, with the full body tahr skin on the outside.

Here is a short video of the hunt, it is an old camera so the quality is not the greatest.

YouTube - Godley Tahr hunt

Slopeshunter · #2 06-01-2009, 03:49 PM

Hey Stu and Rob, congrats! Great pics. It's looking a little cool there, what are the temps getting down to?

cheers

Buffalobob · #3 06-01-2009, 03:58 PM

That was a good hunt and some good pictures.

kiwi3006 · #4 06-01-2009, 04:12 PM

Slopeshunter, it was actually reasonably warm most of the time, although Sunday morning was down to -9 celsius I think.

BB thanks for the comments.

Stu.

Gene Jr. · #5 06-01-2009, 08:50 PM

Thanks for the post. I really enjoyed the video clip. Looks like a great place to hunt.

Topshot · #6 06-02-2009, 01:58 AM

Great story, well done.

What are the details of that rifle/load you use?

kiwi3006 · #7 06-02-2009, 03:48 AM

Topshot, thanks for the comments, the rifle is a Rem 700 rebarreled with a Trueflite Ultramatch No 4 26" 1-9 twist, chambered in 7mm rem mag.
Scope is a Leupold VX III LR 4.5 -14 x 40. Burris Signature rings
Load is 162 a-max, federal brass, federal 215 primer, 73.4 gr ADI2217, 3060 fps.
the other load is 160 accubond federal brass, federal 215 primer, 72.9 gr ADI2217, 3068 fps.
The accubond load shoots 1" higher than the a-max for the same sight setting.

Stu.