My Belated Honeymoon Tahr Hunt

I wasn’t raised as a hunter. When I was a kid, my family members were sailors, so I spent a great deal of my childhood bobbing about it boats. I didn’t get my hands on a shotgun or rifle until I was in my late teens, and from my first attempts with both, I was quite simply hooked!

Since that time, I have always lived in the countryside and been fortunate enough to shoot, hunt and fish a lot. Most often I provided feathered, furred and scaled items for the table. Great fun (most! of the time) with a delicious outcome.

I have also had some great adventures hunting around the planet – in the US, Africa, Australia and throughout many countries in Europe (Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden). I even experienced a beaver hunt in Latvia, which is a super fun story for another day.

After a decade as a divorcee, though I prefer to say single gal, I married my second husband during the Covid lockdown of January 2021. It was a very simple affair due to the regulations at the time. Our wedding reception was a champagne-fueled dog walk for two, plus two hounds in the snow. I did wear a fox fur jacket of course! So, a honeymoon was out of the question as travel out of our county wasn’t permitted much less travel out of the country.

Regardless, we dreamt about a honeymoon, and as neither of us had ever been to New Zealand, we decided to go there when we could. Due to life and work and other travel commitments, we didn’t get around to setting off on this adventure until May 2025. We touched down on the North Island and spent a wonderful week touring around. This included a few days at a superb fishing lodge and some late-season trout for my fanatical fishing hubby.

We then took the ferry across Cook Strait as the sun set into a reflectively calm sea, a lifetime moment we will never forget. Our mission on the South Island began with some great adventures. We were blown away by the scenery and rainforests, stayed a little too long in wine country, and enjoyed a week at a wonderful hunting ranch with Rangitata Hunting. I’ve shot countless red stags in my time, so that wasn’t my aim on this trip. My sights were on a Himalayan tahr.

A helicopter was not my chosen transport method for this, and I was due to have my left hip replaced, having had the right hip done some 11 years prior. Sure, as a determined Scottish lassie I could still walk up mountains, but slowly and surely rather than with the speed of earlier years. The excitement for the hunt was high with slight trepidation about my ability to keep up. The wonderful guide said I’d be fine, and I took two walking poles rather than the customary one. The hunt was on.

I love to watch a new species of animal, new to me, anyway. Spying on these animals and their rutting behavior was very exciting. The setting, high in the mountains, was the stuff of picture books, and it was a fabulous day to be alive. We spied various animals during our hike, some close and some at a distance. Eventually a mature bull came into the frame, and we sneaked and crawled and shuffled to a firing point, mindful of the wind and extreme gradient. We observed this bull and his gang for a time and when the right moment presented itself, the 7mm Rem Mag did its job. Happy, happy huntress! – Cara Hutchens