New Zealand has evolved through millennia as a land of birds and reptiles, free of any mammals, with the exception of the tiny Pekapeka, the native bat. All the mammals that we see in New Zealand today have been introduced, mostly in the early days of European settlement.

One of these early arrivals, the Himalayan Tahr, is so well adapted to the rugged terrain of the South Island High Country, it’s as if it’s a native of these high mountains of the South Pacific. One of the most striking features of the tahr is their color, and the adult male’s mane matching the long snow grasses where they live. The tahr have become one of our country’s favorite game animals and they have challenged generations of hunters to head out in their pursuit.

The Rangitata high country has long been a favorite habitat for the tahr, the rugged land of towering peaks and alpine scree is perfect for their lifestyle of free solo mountaineering.

The tahr that live on our land are managed through hunting. We target bulls that are in excess of
8 years old with the average age being 9 years with 12 ½ ̎ horn length. We also take many female tahr annually to maintain a healthy balance. All our hunting is done on foot by spot and stalk, the land lends itself to this method and has excellent road access to most of the areas up to 5500 ft where the tahr live.

Our properties produce strong bulls with trophy horn length and a thick classic bull tahr mane that makes a spectacular mount. Our hunting is not rushed, there is no pressure, and our guides will make sure that the animals taken are of high quality and have reached old age. As part of our management, we try to take two bulls per hunter and several nannies if we can. Tahr can be hunted anytime, however, from mid-March their winter coats are well developed, and from then until the end of August, they make a beautiful trophy mount.