"Our air charter flight into the wilderness took us from a pastoral setting up into the stark and beautiful Southern Alps. We were dropped with all our gear on a river sandbar near the foot of a glacier with miles of pristine alpine country in which to engage our pursuit of game until our scheduled pickup the following Sunday afternoon. We set up camp on the sandbar's highest spot, foresight that would pay dividends a few days later with the onset of a nor'wester. May is late fall in the southern hemisphere, and the weather can vary from shirtsleeve comfort to snow flurries in a single day. The alpine gear our outfitter provided ensured us a secure and comfortable camping experience in spite of gale force winds and rain.
"After setting up camp, we began to glass the high mountain peaks, shale slides and tussocks that surrounded our location. Within an hour, I located a tahr high in the rock outcroppings near the glacier at the head of our stream. After losing sight of him, we began working our way upstream, glassing for game as we went. Within another hour, we were treated to the sight of two bull tahr descending a shale slide to water in the stream below. Maneuvering into position, my partner succeeded in taking his first tahr.
"On each succeeding day, we located several tahr, as well as a few chamois. Three days into the hunt, we had taken six trophy tahr that were prepared for a variety of different styled mounts. In spite of weather forecasts to the contrary, by day four the weather had turned ugly. With no hope for an early break, we pulled out of the high........(continued)
