Gordon,
You know your animals, but than again, you've hunted Africa. In Namibia, I shot Kudu, Gemsbok, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Springbuck, Warthog, Blesbuck, Red Cape Heartabeest, Waterbuck and the Mountain Zebra.
The Bison came from the same ranch the movie, Dances With Wolves was filmed. Or at least the bison scenes. He was just a youngster then, but he was in the movie. Yup, I shot me a movie star. hahahaha
The Himilayan Tahr is from New Zealand. He's top gold medal and tied for number 32 or 34 in the world. I don't enter anything in the record books, but I have a few that qualify. I wanted him full mount because of his hide. He's just an amazing animal. The hair is over a foot long and the colors are just amaizing. I also shot Red Deer, Fallow Deer, Chamois, Arapoawa Ram, bushy tailed possum and a pair of Paradise Ducks.
The thing that most people don't realize about New Zealand is there are only two mamals native to the islands. Bats and Seals. Most of them were intorduced for sport hunting in the early 1900's. Captain Cook started it off by letting hogs and the Arapawa Sheep loose on the islands as a future food source. The Arapawa no longer exists in England, Europe or any other place in the world and the New Zealand government wont let any live ones leave the country. They are nothing special, just unique to that country.
The Dall Sheep hunt really is quite an experience. You start in Anchorage and in my case, we took a charter too a gravel field along a river and an old gold mine at the base of the Alaska Range. Then the Super Cub picked me up and brought me to camp. Your only allowed 40 pounds of gear in those planes. You sit directly behind the pilot with your knees on either side of his seat. It's very, very tight. The planes only fly around 40 mph, so if it's windy out, you don't fly. They can land on just about anything, but it's very rough and kind of terrifying. While flying, you see lots of animals, but also wrecked planes. They are kind of like motorcycles. If you fly in those bush planes, it's just a matter of when you crash. Everyone has stories about previous crashes.
The animals are easy to see, but tough to get on. The mountains are very crumbly and for every step up, you slide back down half a step. The glaciers are the worse. I looked down a hole in one and could see water rushing through it about 20 feet down. If you fall in, your dead and nobody will ever find your body.
The trick to getting a Dall Sheep is to get above them. They never look up, so it's easy shooting if you can get into position.
One day I'll have a store for my RV Park and I'll use my collection as part of me decor. Hopefully I'll be able to go on future hunts after I open and write the trips off on my taxes. One of the lawyers I've used has done this for years, so I think it might be legal. hahaha
Eddie
