NEW ZEALAND: Lochinvar Safaris - 5/09/25

[gillettehunter]

Very nice animals. I really enjoyed my New Zealand hunt. Congrats to you. Good shooting and I enjoyed your report. The videos are quite nice.
Bruce

 

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Day 5.1: Fallow Buck.

During the afternoon hunt we spotted our shooter Buck. He was near a lower area of a canyon at 220 yards. Jack confirmed. I get set up prone and he winds us and starts moving away cross canyon and up.Pretty steep terrain, but he moves quick. 220 becomes 330 yards in an instant and he disappears into the next draw.

Jack says, “you know that broken off Antler I found?” I said yes, and know where he is going…

Jack: “I found the owner” he’s bedded down at 205 yards. He gets me on it. The grass and bush is thick, so it takes a moment to locate him. He asks me if I’d like to shoot him too. Of course I do! The buck is bedded in tall grass and I only see antler. He eventually stands up and presents broadside. Wind is swirling and it’s hard to tell how much drift we’ll get. No wind call, I aim for just behind the shoulder and center punch him. He goes down. Double lung and straight through. I believe the 7RM is using Hornady bullets, but I’ll need to confirm. They are fast, accurate, and effective.

My climbing and hiking skills are improving by the day, so I make pretty good time getting to this impressive Fallow Buck.

Jack agreed to hike down and bring the brown antler back up for the reference picture. The Buck had grown a small spike and surprisingly doing a lot of damage fighting the other bucks in the area. Fallow are fierce fighters and will also fight Red Stag. I just held the the broken antler in place for the photo.

 

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Video from my first stag.

 

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Day 5.2. My 3rd Stag

Another opportunity presented.

Big wide broken horn stag. I agreed to take it.

205 yard shot at the top of the ridge on a relatively flat but uphill shot. 30 plus mph wind and late afternoon.

 

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Getting behind on my reports. Doing them at 2:00am. Explains my spelling…

 

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Pictures are slow to download… I’ll keep trying

 

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Day 6: Chamois.

We headed off to hunt a large 30,000 acre sheep ranch for free range Chamois. Approximately 1 hour from Fairlie to the point where we parked the truck and start hiking in.

Hunted on foot yesterday. Lot of walking and Steep. We hiked mountains, canyons, crossed streams, climbed 3,000 feet straight up and down, up and down again dusk till dawn.

No shot. Closest would have been 420 yards with a lot of wind and the guide said not to try...

We saw 2 different groups of Chamois with one good shooter buck.

On the way back to the truck the guides saw one shooter buck at 450 yards below where we parked. We snuck down to get behind a rocky outcrop to what would have been 100 yard shot. He was gone by the time we got there.

My legs held up good considering there was a lot of climbing and descending in loose rock and shale. Slower moving than I'd like. I’m glad I did a lot of walking the last year.

90 percent of their clients helicopter hunt Chamois. I’ll try again Monday or Tuesday depending on the weather.

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and thanks for sharing!

 

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Day 7: 2 More Fallow Bucks.

Morning.

We were glassing and Jake spotted a nice buck at the base of the canyon accross from us at 156 yards. Pretty simple shot from prone. We had to make a sneak and crawl about 30 yards to get into position at the top edge of the canyon to get a good shot accross. He was bedded but winded us and got up to have a look. He eventually presented a good, slightly quartering, broad side shot. Behind the shoulder for a double lung and passing all the way through.

 

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Day 7: 2 More Fallow Bucks.

Afternoon.

After a nice lunch of Venison and Cranberry meat pies from the Fairlie Bakehouse.

Fairlie Bakehouse

Relax in our spacious, great open outdoor space and enjoy the sun, or sit inside on a rainy day and indulge in our fresh baked desserts or hearty pies.

www.fairliebakehouse.co.nz

We headed back out for a look at 3rd Fallow for a potential life size mount. After glassing a bit. We take a ride down as far as we can go to the lower section of the property and the low gate near the stream crossing. Roads have dried out a bit and allow for easier travel by SXS. We see a nice shooter buck and get set up for a prone shot. It’s a short walk to a fairly open flat shooting spot for a cross canyon and steep uphill 220 yard shot. Now there are two and the see us and quickly run further uphill to 350, stop, and take off again!

They run 600 yards straight up and towards Hells Canyon and stop at the top of the ridge before going over. They join several other bucks feeding.

We make our way up to get into a shooting position and let them settle.

 

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We get set up for a 300 yard shot uphill at about 29 degrees.

 

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The entry shot caused the heart to blow out. The bullet passed all the way through. The heart was blown apart and hanging outside the cavity but still attached. Never had this happen before. I have a video I’ll download and you will hear where Jack called it and as we turn it over you will see the results!

 

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This was our last set up for the heart shot Fallow Buck.

The intent of showing these prone shot set ups is to make anyone, who may hunt in this type of environment/country aware of how important this is. The grade is too steep and ground is too uneven to use shooting sticks. The shots often require crawling in to position to make a quick shot. You will need to practice or you will cant your rifle, pull your shot, or “scope” your forehead bad due to compromising position! You’ll need to improvise by getting your bino pack or backpack under your rifle buttock to get slightly more support and the butt of the rifle into your shoulder. You will also be too far back to grip your rifle for-end/forestock without getting unbalanced and this will seem uncomfortable. Also if the animal moves, as they often do, you will have to quickly move and adjust. If they move uphill, you may need to increase elevation with you bipod settings or get lower at the butt stock. Too low on the butt stock and you will not be braced and end up scoping the shit out your eyebrow or forehead!

Set up cross canyon on a steep incline may mean shooting opposite hand or not getting a shot. This happened to me several times this trip. I had to shoot right handed, but I’m a left handed shooter…

Practice, practice, practice…

 

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Day 8: Rest

Rain, clouds, wind. No hunting. Rest and took a drive to Timaru for some shopping, supplies, and a few souvenirs.

Timaru. Port Town. Founded in the late 1870's Timaru is renowned for its Edwardian history and architecture, sport and leisure and is the base for major tournaments and events. You can visit Maori rock art, surf, mountain bike or snowboard…

Stopped at Fairlie Bakehouse for a pork and applesauce meat pie…