New Zealand Chamois

[kiwi3006]

My freezer is starting to get empty so I decided to head out for a hunt to start filling it up, I haven’t shot an animal since December.
I left home early on Saturday morning and headed up one of the local mountains. By 11 am I was nearly at the top when my dog disappeared off down the side, a few barks later I realised she was chasing something. Noticing a dark animal heading up the opposite face I got a real surprise to see a chamois. It was too quick and there was no chance of a shot.
By 11:30 am I was where I wanted to glass from but, by now it was getting very hot, there was a nice 7 mph breeze blowing. I figured a rest in the shade was in order so I retreated down to some trees and hoped to find some water.
By 4pm I was back on top glassing, unfortunately the wind had picked up to 12 – 15 mph. At 5 pm I noticed two animals on the far side of the basin. Trying to get the spotting scope on them was difficult as the wind was blowing it around. I was able to confirm that they were two chamois. They would be a 2km stalk so I left them for the next day as I had to head that way to go home.



Looking across to where the chamois were.

Around 7pm I finally saw the rear end of a deer sticking out from behind a bush. It was around 900 yds away so I headed down the slope to get a bit closer. I eventually closed the gap to 700 yds and set up the rifle. Unfortunately the wind was still gusting to 12 -13 mph, but every now and again would almost drop to nothing. I worked out the come –up and dialled it into the scope. A 10mph wind required 3.6 MOA plus 0.3 MOA spindrift. I dialled in 1.5 MOA and decided to take the shot if the wind dropped. I wanted to wait until the stag was facing downwind so that if I underestimated the wind the shot would miss in front of the animal.


Looking across to where the stag was

The stag was an 8 -10 pointer and was a big bodied animal. To retrieve him would mean dropping 500 vertical metres (1500 ft) down into the stream, back up 200 m (600 ft) to get to him and then reversing it. In the end I decided not to take the shot because of the wind, it would be the furthest shot on an animal I had made (although I have shot at targets further) and the retrieval would have been difficult.

I didn’t see any other animals that night.

Next morning I was up before daylight and headed around to where the chamois were the night before. It took less time to get there than I had thought, about an hour. Dropping my pack I stalked into where the chamois had been. Initially there was nothing to be seen, but as I made my way up the gut a chamois broke out of the scrub ahead of me and ran across a shingle slide. I had already put a round in the chamber, so it I thumbed the bolt closed and tried to pick up the animal in the 4.5x scope. It took a determined swing to catch up with the chamois but I finally dropped it on the run at 30 m with a 160 accubond through the chest.


Me with the chamois, a doe with 8 ¼” horns.


Close up of chamois

The chamois turned out to be a doe with 8 ¼” horns and was in prime condition. I grabbed all the meat worth salvaging, added it to the pack and continued the trudge home.
All in all a satisfying weekend.

The rifle used was a Rem 700 7mm rem mag, Leupold VX III 4.5 -14 x 40 LR, with 160 accubond, 73 gr ADI2217/H1000, federal case, federal 215 primer

[6BRBB]

Great summary and nice photo's 3006. Certainly gives me some inspiration to again head down south for some time in our Southern Alps.

[300WSMMAD]

Nice work Kiwi, she is a good size aye!

A few more weeks to go and its the roar. get that stag to come to you instead.

I too have been out recently but havent got around to writing any thing up but I will soon.

All the best
300WSMMAD

[kiwi3006]

300wsmmad, I'll probably manage one more trip before we head down for wapiti, and then I don't think I'll be allowed out for a while, so I will probably miss out on the local roar. Will have to try for him next year when he is a 12.

Stu.

[Moman]

Wow, you guys have some beautiful country and animals down there. Nice story, good luck with your future hunts.

[Oliveralan]

I agree, that's some amazing country to be hunting. And a huge variety of exotic game to hunt. LR shooting ability is definetely a big advantge hunting there.

I love how you spot game at 700m and such, and then end up whacking it at 30m on the run with a highpower scope and a performance LR round guess that's hunting and why I love it. Always exciting.

[MontanaRifleman]

Great story and pics! Thanks for sharing
-Mark