Chamois hunting

Do you know of the long day’s patience,belly down on frozen drift,while the head of heads is feeding out of range.

Rudyard Kipling

This guy caused his own demise and was actively hunting me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan.16th 2019  After a longish stalk Dave gets “hands on” his prize and it looks like we will be eating like kings tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meat for the pot from the latest trip afield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Man the trips are few and far between this winter.  Crammed this one in at the expense of an all black game in Nelson….never mind.  Two Chamois and this was the first at 360 odd meters and the other is in “News” very similar does and good eating I’ll bet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chamois Doe shot for meat on a recent Tahr hunt. She was taken with a Remington 700 rifle in .243 cal at 150 meters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cham Doe spotted below after retrieval of  the Buck, shown above, the range would have to be the best part of 600 meters away, although not verified.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cham buck of no real significance below -head wise ensconced in his high seat on the look out for accommodating “chamesses”  in the early morning.  He was the only one sighted in a recent two day hunt.   This area usually provides a good smattering of animals and my suspicions are that the venison dollar is high and there as been helicopter activity in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above a young animal taken for meat early in the trip. Rifle is a Sako Forester .308 with Shilen barrel and Bix n Andy trigger housed in a Macmillan Ultra light stock.  Below a 9.25″ buck was shot holding six does in late March!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albrecht with Chamois after a lengthy stalk on the last day of a four day hunt.  The animal was taken at short range with the resident Remington 700 in .243 cal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trenton with his final animal for the trip and once again the message rings out  it is one thing to shoot the animal but yet another to get “hands on”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arnt with scruffy but respectable Chamois Buck taken at 220 meters from our fly camp.  He came from nowhere and was intent on sharing our sleeping bags at 11.10 in the morning not long after we had set up camp.  Now that is what I call an intelligent choice of a camp site! Good clean shooting from the big Dane!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arnt’s Chamois buck displayed in his home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This guy puts an end to my Cham rut for 2017.  The whole of May and half way into June are most definitely the best times to hunt this specie.  They are far more subtle in their reproductive cycle than deer and as a result leave next to no physical sign of their activities but careful observation in known habitat will reveal their presence and with it their over preoccupation with their seasonal needs.

The Cham rut is a fine time of year. This buck was enticed from 700 meters and finally dispatched at 300 after he smelt a rat and was on his way to pastures new- not nearly soon enough though.

A long tricky stalk culminated in Warren taking his first Chammy buck at a range of 200 yds.  He was more than happy with the result, even though this is the time of the roar he achieved what he really wanted but didn’t expect to get.

Jan with Chamois retrieved from well over in the next watershed.  He insisted the whole animal be brought back to camp so that he could have a full mount done. Emile his partner is a quality Taxidermist so the work between the two did not end here and was eventually taken back to the U.S.  Jan was using a 7mm Rem. Mag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dean Lindon with Cham. Doe on phase 1 of our ten day trip.  Rifle was a Sako and cal. was 7m/08.  Range was a tad over 100 meters.  Dean had to put up with atrocious weather in Phase 2 but was irrepressible and with that attitude managed to take a trophy Chammy buck and a stag as well.

 

 

Chamois Buck shot at 232 meters by Gerard Denaja.  Animal taken with a custom Sako Forester in .308 cal.

 

This Chamois was photographed the next day of the Tim Wildman hunt at a range of just under 200 meters.

Tim wildman with nice doe shot with a Tikka .243 at 220 meters.  It was Tim’s first Chamois and his aim was steady and the one shot was all it took.  The animal was in fine condition and rolling with fat.

Got onto this Doe whilst she was waiting for the sun to warm her on a cold frosty morning as told in “news” One toe back in the water

Young buck early in the rut season and alone but he knows I am there.  I missed him on two occasions this was the first encounter

This 9.25″ buck was shot on the 31st. March 2014 and as you can see he is well on the way into his winter coat although too scruffy to take yet.  He is absolutely rolling fat and his back steaks are the best I have eaten so far.  The bullet of choice for me now for all things is the 165grn. Nosler Accubond

A full winter chamois skin is a beauty to behold and this one I did justice to. I am allowing it to cool before stuffing into my Markhor day pack.

 

Another A1  skin during winter

Decent size Doe taken along with the Buck during the rut in the winter of 07

Scruffy animal taken in October in order to test drive the above rifle. Using lack lustre factory ammo and had me searching for a good half hour before I  found him.

This animal went over a huge drop and it took some seconds before I registered his landing with my ears. I couldn’t bring myself to edge over and look down into the fearful chasm. Mangy looking skin

It was around nine o’clock and heavy snow lay all around when I spied this loner crossing the flats ahead of me. I had spent a night under a bush myself and was on the last leg of my journey to the hut. On my last legs too !!!  Good winter skin

I’d missed him before after an ambush had gone wrong and I had shot under his belly from too far away. Two days later was a different story and the stalk was perfect…although he almost beat me again.

This was taken five minutes before a nosey chopper came over, the wiley buck just melted into the shadows until the machine disappeared.

This animal was shot at 307 meters, when unable to stalk closer.

After a long and arduous stalk the buck was finally taken at a range of 100yds.

One taken out of seven Does and a few kids for its skin

When there is so much snow about chammy just love the steepest places so they can access the feed when the snow inevitably falls off

Blood trail tells the story. The lead Doe taking the herd to the nearest exit

The shot was a long one for the rifle concerned. A good summer head-skin was the result

Paul and Sam working hard on the hill

 

Chamois buck came to investigate me from well over 600 meters. I took his head-skin and this is what he looks like after Richard Lee got to work on him

A buck and five chamois does hanging out in a good feed area

This animal was onto me and the action was fast and I fired thinking it was a buck. It toppled off a very high place onto her head smashing one of her hooks and damaging the other…just as well it wasn’t a good buck!! The skin seemed ok though

We sat watching each other for well over two hours- quite pleasant too when the sun came up and warmed us up a bit

While coming back from a fly camp I spied this buck high up in the bluffs.  One shot from 250 meters resulted in him coming to rest here.

 

You gotta love the chamois rut.  This guy came from around 400 meters away to investigate me-     Looks as though I am saying a prayer for his departed soul

Took this buck out of a mob, there was also a would-be suitor in the vicinity but left him alone.  I reckon he had better hooks than this guy and should be the governor.  First class winter skin nevertheless.