One fine day in late June I climbed an impossibly high New Zealand ridge, rendered more impossible by knee-deep snow, in search of a Himalayan tahr in full winter coat. A few days later I was stalking wild boar and Asiatic water buffalo in the lush green bush of Australia's Outback. The experiences couldn't have been more opposite, but incredibly they were part of the same hunt.

By last year I had made several trips to the South Pacific and had taken a good variety of game, but I had always compromised timing, failing to hit the "best" time for some animals I wanted.

One of these was a Himalayan tahr in full winter coat. The tahr is a big-bodied mountain goat with short, thick horns, a distant relative of our Rocky Mountain goat. It was introduced to New Zealand in the late 19th century and, in a total absence of predators, adapted well to the ideal habitat of New Zealand's rugged Southern Alps. Like our goats, the horns are okay, but the luxurious, flowing coat is an important part of the trophy; mature bull tahr grow an incredible mane that stands erect during mating rituals.

Also on my wish list was a really good water buffalo. I had hunted them earlier in the year on a couple of occasions and had taken a decent one, but because of mud and water there was a lot of good country that we just couldn't get to. I hadn't yet taken the kind of wide-horned buffalo that I really wanted. It was worth a try, especially since my 18-year-old daughter, Brittany, wanted to go.

For tahr we would hunt with my old friend and veteran New Zealand outfitter, John Berry. John has a great spot for tahr, not only a relatively undisturbed population with plenty of good bulls but also free range and reachable on foot (no helicopter ride to the top). In Australia, we would be in the care of another old friend and veteran outfitter, Bob Penfold.

Packing for two such opposite hunts was fairly complicated We needed serious winter gear and mountain boots to hunt tahr, while shorts and T-shirts would work just fine in Australia. Thanks to big duffel bags this was not a problem.

Rifles were more challenging. Keeping it to one gun case and one Australian gun permit, I took my left-hand Winchester Model 70 in .270 WSM. This would be hopeless for right-handed Brittany, but guide Chris Bilkey had a Sako .25-06 she could use for what she dubbed "one of those goat-things." The second rifle was a Ruger No. 1 in .405 Win. for us both to use on buffalo and wild boar.

Following our trans-Pacific flight, John Berry picked us up at Christchurch, New Zealand, in late morning. We were tired but not too much the worse for wear. Several hours later we were bumping our way up a narrow canyon in the Rangitata River area, glassing for tahr.

The air was crisp, the snow line not far above us. The narrow track ascended rapidly then took us around a bend where the sun would never penetrate. Now we were in plenty of snow.

We were in tahr, too. We had already seen one mature bull, far up on an outcropping, his flowing mane golden in the pale afternoon sun. As soon as we got into the snow there were tracks where tahr had crossed from one side of the valley to the other, and we saw several groups of nannies, kids and young males up on the sides.