tahr and chamois

[Byrd]

just throwing this query out there in case anyone has some info.....anyone know a good place to go to try and see tahr and chamois? Preferably somewhere relatively easy to get to (in terms of not walking for days to get there! - but I have no problem with camping out so it doesn't need to be a day-walk). I was figuring the Mt. Cook area was the most obvious, but I have no idea where to head from the village. Any help appreciated.

ps, I'm not planning on trying for them until after winter!

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Chamois go to sea level around the west coast glaciers, and apparently can be seen from the main car parks at times. Walking up any of the river beds in the region can be productive.
For tahr, I think you would be best to ask the Mt Cook DOC office. They usually have a pretty good idea of where the animals are. Also try helicopter pilots. They probably know the individual animals and their daily routines.
After winter they might be higher and actually more difficult to get to. However, an old hunter once told me "they don't eat rocks". He said super keen and fit guys often climb right past them.

[Byrd]

thanks Neil. I'm planning on heading over to Munro Beach and Haast later in the year so will have a search around for chamois along the way, and I guess Mt. Cook is still the plan otherwise

[Ian Southey]

I never went looking for either species but I have encountered a few Chamois by chance from time to time although much of my tramping was in Fiordland where they are actively trying to keep numbers down. The best view was by telescope from from Surveyors Flat on the Dart River, a mob of about 20 with several playing kids. One friend told me that you can see them in winter in their dark winter coats crossing snowbanks while lying in the hotsprings at Welcome Flat on the Copeland. I understand that many of the hunters are climbing to the tops, often walking big distances and glassing the bush line. Chammois move around a bit so maybe a scope from the flats might be the easiest way to see them.

Also as Neil mentioned I have a friend who seems to have shot about as many Chamois as deer in the Okarito kiwi sanctuary so they could be low down too. Just I find animals that get shot at a lot don't like to be seen.

Most DOC field centres have good a hunter or two on their staff so you may be able to get some good advice from them.

Ian

[Byrd]

thanks Ian