NEW ZEALAND: Lochinvar Safaris - 5/09/25

Great trip overall. Exceeded my expectations in many ways. Mark Harrison @ Lochinvar Safaris was great to deal with and I’ll be bringing a group of friends to hunt in 2026.


10 animals in 8 days of hunting:

3 Red Stag. 2 over 500” 1 over 600”
3 Fallow Bucks
1 Tahr - 14 Year old Bull.
1 Chamois - Good mature Buck
1 Arapawa Ram
1 Feral Goat

Food was great. Accommodations were very nice and clean. Staff are friendly and helpful. Top rate guides! Jack my daily guide, Paddy assist on Tahr and helped on Stag, Willie Assist on Chamois. Rifle, scope, and ammo was top notch. Equipment was new or very well maintained. Bed was comfortable. Concessions are large and challenging.

I’m glad I got myself in better shape. I would have struggled a year ago.

Take aways:
If you do a trip like this you will greatly benefit from shooting phone and practice shooting long distance and up and down angles.
Walk and hike in the hills or walk stairs, not “stair master” it’s not the same. Get a pair true alpine mountain boots, break them in, and hike hills or similar alpine terrain. Get a set of trekking poles and walk with them in hills or mountains. Load a backpack with 5-10lbs while you are walking and hiking. Wear your bino harness with Bino’s and whatever else you carry in it.
 
That was a great hunt, congrats and thanks for sharing :D Cheers:
 
I’ll make a post of the gear I used. It may be helpful to those in planning phases for this type of hunt.

It’s hard to describe how beautiful and pristine New Zealand is. Just breathtaking. I imagine a lot of California looked similar 176 years ago…

The thing I’m most satisfied with is the free range Tahr and Chamois hunts done without the use of a helicopter. I’ve been getting into shape for this hunt for the last 6 months and working on my health and wellness for several years. It definitely paid off.

South Island is a special place that I’m looking forward to getting back to!
 
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I just saw Budsgunshop.com has both the guide gun and the African for $1150. FWIW - I bought both and decided to use the Guide gun - I restocked it in a Bell and Carlson stock and I added the Alaska arms floor plate to add a round. I wanted the shorter barrel as I will use a suppressor. I wont go lower than $1100, but I will ship it and no sales tax.

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I have an unfired Ruger 375 African if you are interested. $1,100 shipped to you

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