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Four more sheep who have avoided the shears for years have been found in mid Canterbury.
The catchers took to the air near Mount Somers to round them up.
Just over the Rakaia Gorge at Winterslow Station, the machine was used to rescue the four hermit sheep who have avoided their annual shave for possibly four years.
The helicopter pilot had to be extra careful rounding the sheep up as the blades almost touched the tussock.
"You've got to obviously have your wits about you, you're flying close to the hillside," says Blair Chapman, the pilot.
One by one, the four sheep were hog tied with a bit of kiwi haystring then dumped on the ridge and timing was everything.
"You don't want to hit them too hard. Once you've got them on the back, they're not going to struggle a big woolly sheep like that," says Don Greig, sheep catcher.
American journalist Linda Cortwright from Wild Fibers Magazine went along for the ride.
"This is once in a lifetime, this is a great opportunity for me," she says.
It's hard to tell how many musters the sheep have missed but it's clear from their dreaded locks that they have been dwelling in Lord of the Rings turf.
"They could've been moved out for one or another reasons. They could've been disturbed, chased or whatever, but I guess where they were living was pretty good country," says David, farmer.
Their wool will be all gone in a few weeks when the sheep are blade shorn for a fundraising event.
