The New Year Party was traditionally organized in December in the yacht restaurant Chaika. My fellow Sergey Mazurkevich with whom we seated at the table was awarded by the Russian Mountain Hunter Cup. I suggested to fill the ladle by Champaign and everyone had to drink from it to the winner. The sparkling wine symbolized all sweat which he shed in the mountains while had got thirteen trophies. When it was my turn to drink from the ladle I thought to myself, If I could take the missing quantity of trophies in a one year.
After coming home I made the list and counted how much trophies I needed to finish the list. If I wanted to win the award I had to get 10 trophies! It was too ambitious goal. I’d been in Kamchatka twice and didn’t even see the sign of sheep. That experience didn’t’ t inspire optimism. Because if I wanted to achieve the goal I had to bag 6 kinds of snow sheep not counting the other ones species.
But as they say, the eyes fear, the hands do or another variant - no harm in trying.
My plan was to get six trophies in 2018: Kamchatka, Koryak, Chukotka and Yakutia Snow Sheep plus Sayan Ibex and Dagestan Tur. If I didn’t do it in the one year I would continue the next. I could implement the plan, not in one but in two years.
And it hit off…
I was training hard, went to the swimming pool twice a week, ran on the treadmill with 40 degree lift angle. I’d bought all necessary equipment which didn’t have and made the schedule of flights. Thank you very much to the Aeroflot team, everything was organized on the high level.
Kamchatka Snow Sheep
I was planning the trip to Kamchatka when encountered the problem which was called “ The World Football Cup in Russia”. Most of the airports in Russia had been closed for weapons movements. As one of my friend said, it didn’t bode well. But I had no choice. The only way which I could use was to fly through Novosibirsk. Fortunately there was the direct flight from Minsk to that town but I had to wait the connection flight to Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky for one more day but it was the little thing. Before the flight I've recived the confirmation from the aviation security of the Novosibirsk that could fly with my weapon. After arriving to the peninsula I'd need to fly further to Palana. The problem was that there were not every day flights to that remote place and I'd spend three days waiting. But there's nothing to do we’d have to wait. I was going to hunt there for Koryak and Kamchatka Snow Sheep and had time limits.
Thus, the adventure had started. The flight Minsk- Novosibirsk- Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was according the plan. I received the luggage, the gun. Suddenly when I was ready to leave the airport, I’d heard thee announcement on the loudspeaker that the flight to Palana was delayed till 3 pm, though it had to leave in an hour before our arrival to Kamchatka. It was the good sign. I could save three days and ran to the tickets office without hesitation.
-Do you have tickets to Palana?
- Yes, we have. But there are some problems with the plane. We are not sure if it can fly today.
I didn’t care about those problems, called to the local outfitter, got his answer that we could fly earlier and changed the ticket.
Then there were several moments which reminded me our Soviet Past. I’ve heard about it before but you will never understand or feel it until you find yourself in this situation. All passengers loaded their luggage to the plane by themselves! I’d hardly believe that it could be so. It was good that the locals knew the process and everything was done very fast in the routine way without any protests.
The plane Yak-40 was elder than I but I knew those unkillable Soviet technics. Then we got into air pits several times while flew above the snow-capped mountains.
The local outfitter met me at the airport and the ATV’s driver Michail, who happened to be my countryman, agreed to drive to the mountains immediately.
It was evening when we arrived to Victor’s base. I saw lots of bears while we were driving and I made video with one of them from twenty meters distance. I has to note that it’s not really dangerous to make such videos when you are sitting on the ATV, which is like a tank.
Next morning the Koryaks Anton, Viktor and Denis rode by horses to set the mountain camp. I spent that day having rest and checking/testing the rifle and wasn’t bored. The huge female bear with cubs passed near the camp and the big male followed them in a while.
Viktor and Denis came back at the lunch time while Anton stayed in the mountains. His goal was to make the monitoring of the surroundings. We also packed all things, saddled horses and rode to the Base camp. All the way to the place I confronted with my horse Mashka. First time, she fell in the swamp and I flew upside down. Then Mashka noticed it and used this trick from time to time testing me. She could stopped on the dry road and kneeled down checking what I’d do. I had to show who was the master, she understood and took it.
In the late evening we arrived to the place. The guys made everything in the best way we eat dinner and went to sleep.
It was 6.30 am when we left the camp and started to climb under the cover of low hanging clouds. But suddenly the sky cleaned, all clouds lifted and the sun shined. The picturesque views appeared all around us. Almost immediately we detected the group of sheep in one km from us.
Anton, our guide, suggested to come to the stone scree where the sheep would come later. Viktor stayed on the place to monitor the animals and to coordinate our movements be radio.
We reached the needed place and waited. The minutes dragged painfully long but my doubts about the wisdom of that actions rose each second. Finally our patience was exhausted and we decided to go forward to the animals. The local mountains elves- pikas started to whistle from different sides. There was the full orchestra of them when we reached the big stone.
We looked out very carefully and spotted a small bighorn beneath us. Anton connected with Viktor who told that there was the bigger one but it stood above us. We waited for while the second male would appear over the ridge. The distance was 300 meters. Probably it heard the whistle of pikas or smelt something but it began to move up. Being in despair I shot to the running goal and missed it. But there was a silver lining because suddenly the sheep stopped. Probable the shot echo confused it. It froze and began to listen. I measured the distance - 386 meters, made the correction, spin the reels on the scope and fired. We all heard the characteristic slap. It fell like a log into the gorge. The trophy Number 1 was taken!
Kamchatka Snow Sheep
The flight back to Petropavlovsk was in time. In a day my friend from Ukraine Jury with his grandson Egor arrived there. We all were going to drive by bus to the village Maysky and the by chopper to the Storozh River.
Thus it happened and we could even set the camp before the darkness.
In the first hunting day I saw four bears, one of them even came to 15 meters to my guide Vladimir. But he was so keen in examining the surroundings that I had to whistle to attract the attention the guide and the bear. When the wild guest understood that there were two humans against it, took the decision to leave and we went back to the camp with empty hands but without any problems.
Next morning we decided to go to the Damn Nose, the place where Sergey Volochkov got the good sheep in the last year. My guide was sure that we’d find animals there.
At first we climbed the slope then went down to the river and crossed it. I found the bear’s bed near the huge stone and a fresh pile of dung. None of us felt comfortable. We tried to hike making as much noise as it was possible. We talked loudly and stamped feet. Then we went up once again. 200 vertical meters and it wasn’t the easy exercise but at last we reached the glade- which was the home of pikas. They immediately let us knew that we were the uninvited guests.
The next part of the way was the rise to the lonely rocks, my guide called them Mates, but I wasn’t sure that it was the official name. We'd done it and decided to drink tea which took with us.
It was cold, the weather changed from rain to wind every fifteen minutes but we had to move further.
In two hundred meters Volodya sat down and send me the signal. I saw the clear silhouette of the sheep which stood on Kirin, so the Koryaks called the ridge. The distance was 1100 meters.
We relocated to the next slope and began to rise. The sheep was grazing on the slope moving from us. Volodya and I waited for a while and started to follow it. We roamed only when it couldn't see us. It appeared once again and we fell down like a log. It seemed as if it noticed something because looked to our side from time to time. The distance was 700 meters. I wished it was closer. That distance was exorbitant for the shot with the factory cartridge.
Twenty minutes we were lying and waited when it’d hide behind the horizon than jumped up and ran after it. Suddenly the next bighorn appeared, we fell as if on cue and the fog covered us. Was it good or not? The name of the place was the Damn Nose and the name justified itself. All those actions took place on the height 2000 masl. It was dangerous to move with zero visibility but we hadn’t time to wait. Nobody was sure that the mountains would clear but we had to go down and marked the control points in the GPS in any case.
But the fog lifted!
We judged that the animals could be in a nearby valley and went there.
Volodya suggested to make a stop and make the saltlick because took 5 kg of salt for those purpose.
Soon the wind began to catch up with the clouds, spun in the rhythm of the waltz. We had to move faster if want to detect the sheep earlier than the fog would cover the slope. And Voloday found them and we all laid down once again to the ground.
There were two adults and a young male below us in 175 meters. The youngest one watched to our side and obscured the old one. I needed to fire or they would leave. The first one made a step aside, the angle-30 degrees. I couldn’t take the comfortable position and decided to fire from knees. The Shot! The bighorn fell and suddenly nine of them appeared from behind the slope. O my God! We didn’t see them. They gathered into the group and didn’t know where to run. I pulled out the camera and began to make video. So they stood for a moment and slowly moved away.
Then we made pictures and cut meat in "the very comfortable" conditions: rain and hail. It was really cold but we didn’t notice it and I was happy!
In 2016 I visited Kamchatka two times. In the first visit I couldn’t even fly to the mountains. It was rain during all ten days and not the single chance to fly. At the second time I hunted in the Deep Cleft and didn’t see any male during 12 days. Each morning we climbed to the mountains and hiked not less than 10 km per day. And the last third attempt was successful. I got two sheep and one of them (Kamchatka Snow Sheep) got the Gold level.
Thank you very much to the outfitter and very experienced guide Vladimir for that interesting hunt!
Chukotka. The Koryak Snow Sheep.
Few days of rest at home and next flight to Chukotka. After meeting at the airport we used the ferry to get to Anadyr. I was surprised by the capital of that Cold province of Russian. The town was like from fairy tale. The colorful houses and buildings, built on the stilts in that the edge of the permafrost, looked like toys. The sight of them cannot but please the eye even in the most severe cold.
I was really lucky with weather. There were fogs and rains but it was utter nonsense for those region.
The helicopter waited for us outside the town. The sky was overcast by clouds but the pilot told me that he knew what to do. Telling the truth I had some doubt but in twenty minutes we happened in the clear sky. The sun was shining and tundra shimmered with bright colors, as if it had been purposely dressed in festive attire. It was the paradise for the photographers. You don’t need to choose the angle and a perspective just push the button.
The first day in the Base camp we had rest and tested guns. I can’t say anything interesting about it. Next day we moved to the mountains. It took us long time to cross the ridge, we saw several females with babies and wild reindeers. The guided told me that they had seen males a week ago but we didn’t’ meet anyone. My mood began to fall the memories about failures in Kamchatka came flooding back.
After the lunch my guide Mikhail offered to check the next slope where he saw males last time and we found three of them there! How didn’t we notice them in the first time? The guides knew the territory pretty well and suggested to make the corral hunting. Timofey would pushed animals from that place while Mikhail and I wait for them on the ridge. They had to go there according the plan.
An hour passed. The place, which we chose for the ambush, wasn’t comfortable. It was surrounded by thick bushes and I got nervous. Mikhail noticed my condition and said to be patient because the sheep would approach very close.
And so they came. The distance was 100 meters. They crossed the pass and moved slowly to our side.
- Which one I must shoot?
- The first one.
Seventy meters! The shot! I had the feeling that bullet hit to the stone and I shot once again. Stone! What an armor-piercing sheep was it! I was afraid that it’d leave behind the ridge and decided to fire the second one. The guided told me that they had one more license and the season would be closed soon. I made the shot and noticed that the first and the second one fell together. O my God! By the way the second one had bigger horns.
Chukotka left a lasting impression and I want to come there back. Hope I can do it.
Magadan. Kolyma Snow Sheep.
I flew back home and checked my list. If I want to win the Cup, I need to bag Kolyma and Okhotsk Snow Sheep, Altay Ibex and West Caucasian Chamois in KCR. I bag the last trophy in Abkhazia but needed one more just for the safety sake, and decided to increase the rates! The process went, I had not to do it slow down.
I found free time in my calendar and began to call to the local outfitters and tried to arrange the hunts. Thanks to my club fellows who gave me contacts.
The first guy I remembers was Alexander Klazyn from Magadan. He is my countryman and i'd talked with him about the hunt before. It didn’t’ take us much time to arrange all questions and soon I flew there. After arrival to Magadan we sailed by boat to the hunting area. I had to confess that wished to leave that boat as soon as possible because didn’t trust the sea transport. I’m the man of land and hate when the deck moves underfoot and you move automatically.
The rock looked very impregnable from the sea but it took us just two hours and we climbed 500 meters. We watched the group of young females while rising, they looked at us but were not afraid at all, as if they saw human beings at the first time.
I couldn’t stop wondering the modesty of the feed base. The grass was almost not visible, there was only the cedar woods as far as the eye could see. If I hadn't seen the females sheep before I could think what we were doing there?
Then we noticed the lonely male which stood in some distance and looked like entranced.
It was the lunch time and the sun was already hot. My guide Vasily invited to have rest and to drink some tea. He promised that we met sheep after the breather and was right.
First we detected two young males and then spotted the Big one which stood above us!
It was huge, athletic “Man”. We didn’t’ need to estimate its horns. It was the real male! The shooting distance was 225 meters with the angle 90 degrees. I fired and missed, as I thought at the first moment but noticed the blood which fountained from its neck. I hit it but wanted to make the second shot just for safety but Vasily stopped me. We dropped backpacks and started to prepare for the climb by the vertical wall. It could be high and dangerous. But the miracle happened. The sheep made just one step and fell from the rock. My breath caught in my throat because I thought that it’d damage the horns. I come close with the sinking heart and found that they were intact! The right one was fine but the left one didn’t’ t have the tip but the male lost it not now. I got really nice 10-11 years old trophy! The Kolyma Snow Sheep is taken!
To be continued.
