Hunting
Another West Coast chamois hunt by Zeff Veronese , NZDA North Canterbury branch
With my Hi-Lux twin cab truck we left Christchurch for the long drive to Fox Glacier on a January morning . I had with me Charles Willcox and Andrew Hunter , who were both 19 years old at the time and keen members of the Christchurch NZDA branch . Arriving at Fox Glacier , we stayed at the home of Tony Pigeon , a guide who takes tourists up the Fox Glacier . He is also a very keen hunter and photographer and has a fantastic collection of trophies and close-up game photos .
Early next morning we packed up and drove the remaining distance to James Scott ’ s place near the Karangarua River . From there James flew us up near a small tarn on the Karangarua tops . As the weather was a bit dubious we started by setting up a good camp , erecting my Olympus high-altitude tent and Charles ’ s brand-new Minaret tent . Then we put up the “ lounge ”, my 5 x 4.5-metre tent fly . This time instead of the usual centre pole we laid one side of the fly over a big rock , then underneath where it touched the rock we laid a strip of heavy canvas , about half a metre wide , to protect it from chafing . Then we descended to the bushline and brought back a big branch of neinei ( grass tree ) to put under the fly to give it more height at the centre , and thus more headroom . The top part of the neinei bush was covered in leaves that provided further protection from chafing .
As soon as we were set up we went out for our first hunt , but it was wet and foggy . We crossed a nearby ridge and went down the other side where we spotted a nanny with a kid and a
“… the buck had horns at least 10 inches long …”
juvenile buck in the scrub below us . Seeing nothing shootable , we went back to camp . From there , Charles spotted a big chamois buck , which my new rangefinder told us was 319 yards away . I gave Charles my 300 Weatherby with 30-inch barrel tossing a 180g Scirocco bullet at 3400 fps and filmed while he was shooting . However , the shot went too high and the buck took off at speed . I shouted at the animal and after a hundred
A branch of grass tree under the tent acted as a centre pole
“… both my young companions had a chamois on their first full day …”
yards it stopped and he took a second shot – another miss , still high . A third shot was again high and the
38 NZ Hunting & Wildlife 196 - Autumn 2017