DOC bag 434 tahr during Mt Cook cull

Helicopter-based hunters bagged 434 tahr during the annual cull in the Aoraki-Mt Cook National Park.

Hunters shot every mountain goat they saw during their 18 hours airborne, finding fewer animals this year than last year's tally of 500.

Department of Conservation ranger Ray Bellringer told The Timaru Herald the animals culled were primarily nannies and kids, followed by immature bulls.

They were also spread over a smaller area and in smaller groups than in previous years, indicating DOC's efforts to control the Himalayan import were working, he said.

DOC aimed to eradicate the pest, which ate native plants in mountainous areas, with the $20,000-per-year culls.

Small numbers of tahr were introduced to New Zealand's mountainous South Island in 1904 and 1907 and flourished.

Tahr populations exist in game parks in North America, but the only wild population outside the Himalayas is now in New Zealand.

A bull tahr can weigh up to 180kg and are prized by trophy hunters.