...That's how differently hunters get their trophies. Someone spends days and even weeks in search of a worthy specimen, and encounters his coveted hunting dream not at all where he was looking for, and when there is almost no hope left. Someone finds luck right away, on the first trip to the grounds. It happens often that a wonderful trophy goes to the hunter, who doesn’t think about the record one. And there are absolutely incredible stories, like the one that has happened to Andrey Storchilov, a Moscow trophy winner and a member of the Safari Club International. Let's listen to his story.
It all happened in early January 2012 in Spain. The trip was originally planned not as a hunting tour only, but also as a family vacation. Spain was an excellent choice in this regard - an interesting, mild climate, friendly country. You have a cultural heritage, and <shopping>, and nature, and most importantly - a great hunt there. A few days were devoted to the beauty of Barcelona, and then I was going to hunt the Spanish ibex - endemic, not found anywhere else. And I wanted to get another interesting trophy - a maned sheep, Barbary Sheep.
The barbary sheep is native to the rocky deserts and semi-deserts of North Africa. It was a common species everywhere from Morocco to Sudan back at the beginning of the last century, but with the spread of firearms, its number has dropped significantly, and some subspecies are now considered completely extinct. In 1970, Barbary sheep were introduced into the Sierra Espuna Mountains. These animals are used to survive in the harsh climate of the northern Sahara, these representatives of bovidae have perfectly taken root in a new place, and currently Spain is one of the few places where you can comfortably hunt them.
It was the second half of my tour. I had already shot the ibexes by that time - thanks to the Spanish side in the person of professional hunter and guide Angel Merino. Only three hunting days left. In the morning, the whole company left Granada, and arrived in the city of Lorca, province of Murcia by lunchtime. We stopped at the hotel there, changed clothes and were in the grounds by three o'clock in the afternoon. It was just 15-20 km from the hotel. We arrived at the place, and immediately found a large herd of barbary sheep - 25 heads. An inspection in optics showed that three males in this group stand out for their size and clearly represent trophy interest.
In Spain, the Aoudad sheep live in relatively low mountains below and on the border of forest growth. They feed almost all the daylight hours, but sometimes they lie in secluded places during the day to rest. It was not difficult to detect them during feeding - their reddish-brown color was perfect for deserts, but not for the green hills of Murcia and Alicante.
The herd was 800 meters away, and it was moving in our direction. We began to approach them, went down the slope a little, losing sight of the sheep, and suddenly Angel noticed another group of barbary sheep on the left, and there was a giant in it: A giant that amazed everyone - a huge old ram with a luxurious mane to the ground and huge thick horns: It immediately became clear to us that it was exactly the "macho" one could only dream of.
Barbary sheep reach a meter at the withers and weight to 140 kg. A distinctive feature of the species is a thick <body kit> of long hair on the throat and neck, a kind of mane, to which the species owes its name. Both males and females have horns, but males are much larger in body. The length of their steeply bent back horns can reach 83 cm. These are the ones worn by the record barbary sheep, hunted in Spain in 1997.
The second herd was about 200 meters away, but it disappeared again immediately after the hill as soon as it appeared over the crest of the it. We decided to approach it, went to the top of the hill and behind it, we first saw in the distance the first herd with three trophy males on a grassy plateau, but the second was descending a gentle slope to a pine forest 250 meters away. The same <monster> was spotted right away. It had a special sign on its right thigh - a large gray spot. The distance for the shot was comfortable. I was with a Blaser R8 300RUM carbine and decided to shoot lying down with a backpack. So, I had time to aim calmly, then pressed on the trigger- a shot, and the herd broke down and galloped off into the pines. Angel shouted: “Shoot once again”. But the monster had disappeared already. Nevertheless, it seemed to everyone that I still hit it there. We searched for blood on the trail for a long time, watched the video, but, in the end, came to the disappointing conclusion that the bullet went to the left and higher. Perhaps I underestimated the right-side wind - a wide variety of wind shifts and the bullet demolitions were possible in mountainous terrain.
The first herd left. while we were searching for the consequences of the shot. Vladimir and I tried to look for it - to no avail, Angel meanwhile overtook the car. There was still time left, and we decided to look at other places. We drove off fifty meters, when suddenly Angel shouted <on the left! On the left!> He braked sharply, and we saw- a group of barbary sheep was moving in some seventy meters from us. We jumped out, I unclosed and loaded the carbine once again, stepped back a little from the open place to examine calmly the new herd. And we saw there: the same, huge old ram with such a noticeable spot on the thigh!
Spain is relatively densely populated, so all game, and barbary sheep is no exception, live in the neighborhood of people. In addition, the Aoudad sheep on the Iberian Peninsula have practically no enemies in the wild. As a result, they are not very timid and aren’t very afraid of cars and housing. The approach to the trophy is not as complicated as in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, and the requirements for disguise are also lower. If the frightened herd is not very scared and does not understand the reason for the concern, then it usually does not go far, and soon begins to feed again.
That time the distance allowed me to shoot with my hands, but Angel suggested that I use his shoulder as a stop. Just imagine: when the male was already in the crosshairs, and the descent was on the schnell, Angel stumbled and the bullet cut down a pine branch over the ram's back. I couldn’t describe my feelings at that moment! The herd took to their heels. We followed it. As a result, the sheep which were already jogging again, happened to be in a relatively open place at a distance of 120 meters. I didn't see the sheep, I wanted to get, but we looked out for another old sheep, and then I put him in the neck with one shot.
But I couldn't get the very macho one out of my head -a gorgeous trophy, beautiful, well-shaped horns. And I decided to extend the hunt and to go the next morning again.
We left early in the morning, drove all day, spent the whole day hunting and didn’t have rest. We saw plenty of animals - one herd then another. We approached them, but saw only rams of not very outstanding trophy qualities. In the evening Angel found another large herd high on the slope. We climbed 300 meters to it. I have aimed an excellent trophy male, as it seemed to me. One shot and I laid on the place. But he laid so high and uncomfortable that it took us almost an hour and a half to come to it. Unfortunately, its horns turned out to be very modest - much smaller than those that belonged to my trophy yesterday.
It made my condition even more depressing. I had two chances to meet the same really outstanding trophy and didn’t get it! What was the probability to find it again on an area of 12,000 hectares: well, what was it? Something about zero! There was still a day left, I was offered various other types of hunting: I decided to try one more time. It I saw it I’d get it, if not - no means no.
At that time of year (in January), barbary sheep moved little before lunch then hid in the bush or just laid somewhere on the slope - and therefore we usually didn’t see many herds until two o'clock. But in the afternoon, the animals began to feed actively, went out to the open grassy slopes, and the number of meetings with them increased dramatically. Therefore, on this last day, I decided to leave later.
“Angel, - I said. - Let's not to drive to the area where we had been before. Let's drive to another side”. We left and noticed a herd in half an hour later, at 14-30. We came out. Angel began to look in and suddenly fell straight to his knees! “There is the big one! It's the one we were looking for”. There was the lost male, which we were looking for all those days. It was hard to believe in such a combination of circumstances, but the noticeable gray spot on the thigh left no doubt. It was the male! Those animals had gone 15 km from the place where we met them for the first time during last two days.
The sheep were moving half a kilometer away from us to the hollow between the rocky outcrops. We went out to cross; I took a comfortable position between the rocks. The herd entered into the gorge below us, I caught the same male with a gray spot in the sight - a shot in the heart, and he lay down before he had gone forty steps. The distance was about one hundred and fifty meters. We came up - there was no limit to joy! It was hard to believe that such a thing was even possible - we left at two o'clock, at two-thirty we found them, and at three we had already made pictures with the shot twice and irretrievably lost sheep!
I want to add just one thing: Vladimir Smelov, the master meter of SCI (Safari Club International), made a preliminary measurement of the trophy on the spot. It had 119 points what meant the bronze record. Although the trophy has not yet been finalized, but it can be said with a high degree of confidence that it will take the first (!) place among Russian barbary sheep. And it will certainly remain one of the most memorable trophies in Andrey's collection. Do you agree?
