Huntress scores big in New Zealand trip

Angie Haas-Tennison lived up to her Extreme Huntress title on a recent New Zealand safari, bagging five game animals, including an Estate Tahr with record breaking potential and a monster red stag.

The 32-year-old MRI technician and mother of two young children from Kila was the winner of last year’s national Primal Adventure Extreme Huntress contest, sending her to New Zealand from May 9-19 for hunting adventures that were filmed for the “Primal Adventure — Eye of the Hunter” television show.

“The trip was amazing. I expected it to be good, but not that good. I ended up getting five different animals,” she said this week. “When we got there they put us up at Peels, a magnificent log lodge about an hour-and-a-half away from the hunting grounds. It was remarkable. The food was fantastic ... and there animals everywhere.”

The prize package worth about $25,000 included top-of-the-line hunting gear and trips to hunting industry trade shows in Indianapolis, Ind., and Las Vegas earlier this year.

Haas-Tennison was accompanied to New Zealand by her life-long hunting partner and sister, Mickey Carr, and her husband, Travis Tennison. Over a seven-day period, she hunted in rugged mountains about 2 1/2 hours south of Christchurch, taking down a eight-by-eight red stag, an Arapawa ram and a wallaby with a bow, and an Estate Tahr and Mountain Tahr with a rifle.

She was accompanied on each hunt by two guides with Frasier Safaris, a camera woman and her husband and sister. The entourage was somewhat awkward at first, making silent stalking more difficult, but Haas-Tennison adjusted.

“It was a bit nerve-wracking the first time she brought out the camera,” she said. “A couple of days into it I forgot the camera was there and I focused on my hunting.”

Haas-Tennison still had to be aware of the camera, however, having to hold off on shots until it was in position for filming.

“I was filmed on all the animals I harvested. Because I was very lucky and successful, it looks like they are going to do two different episodes” for the television show, she said.

She recalls a day in pursuit of an Arapawa ram, which involved a helicopter flight into the mountains. The rams were elusive, and at the end of the day a nanny and large bull Tahr were spotted on an opposing mountainside.. The decision was made to pursue the shaggy coated mountain goats, even as daylight was running out.

“We basically just high-tailed it over there,” she said. “It probably took an hour to get to them.”

Haas-Tennison shot the bull at about 180 yards, which is relatively close, considering than an average range for the species is in the 200 to 300-yard range.

The bull turned out to have an impressive 14.5 inch rack, a possible record.

“That’s the largest they’ve guided for in nine years,” she said, referring to her two guides. “It actually turned out to be my favorite animal to hunt.”