Madrid greeted us with a torrential spring rain…. It was unusual. The trip was planned to take part in the General Assembly of the Fellowship of Masters of Mountain Peaks, as well as to visit the international hunting show "Synerhetics". We made in time to the official opening ceremony, then walked to the booths. The exhibition wasn't big. Mainly Spanish and international outfitters were represented there. There were hunting equipment and equipment for hunting farms. It was much more intimate, if I compared it to major fairs in Germany or Austria.
The main goal was to meet with members of the Fellowship of Masters of Mountain Peaks and participate in the events of that organization dedicated to its General Assembly.
Obviously, There are few people in Russia who know about the Fellowship and therefore it makes sense to tell the readers of the magazine about it and the history of its creation.
The Fellowship philosophy is based on the idea that hunting is an instinct inherent in human nature. However, in addition to our instinct, man is guided by intelligence which makes us respect the trophies we have hunted and it leads us along the path of ethics. This is especially true for mountain hunting, since the hunting of wild animals, which dwell in hard-to-reach places, requires considerable efforts, and the result is unpredictable.
A group of Spanish hunting enthusiasts, guided by this philosophy, decided to establish an award to recognize the achievements of mountain hunters, who love the silence and solitude of mountain peaks, to emphasize that these people are th examples for the entire hunting community.
The creators named this award Culminum Magister - "Master of Mountain Peaks" to emphasize the importance of the achievements of those who will be awarded. They asked Chiqui Diaz, a sculptor from Seville, to create a sculpture of a falcon, which will be the prize. The falcon was unanimously chosen because it is the most obvious symbol of a hunter in the wild, for the Spaniards.
In 2008, the same group decided that many worthy mountain hunters would not receive the recognition they deserved if only one person was awarded per year. The result of that meeting was that they established the Fellowship of Masters of Mountain Peaks, and only a mountain hunter who has achieved high results can join them.
On October 29, 2011, the organization was registered under the laws of Spain.
The very fact of joining the Fellowship is already a recognition of the merits of the hunter, but the most outstanding hunters can also claim the award mentioned above, which is given every year to one of the members of the Fellowship.
The total number of members of the Brotherhood is about 60 people. You can join it only on the recommendation of one of the members of the Executive Committee. But it's not all, you have to fulfilled a number of conditions: have mountain hunting experience on at least three continents; get your first mountain trophy at least 10 years before applying for membership in the community; have trophies measured by one of the organizations listed below: CIC, Boone & Crockett, SCI, RW, GSCO, ISHA, or you can directly enter data on trophies and attach field photos; to get at least twenty-five wild, free and endemic animals in open areas using traditional methods and without artificial auxiliary elements.
The candidates accepted by the Executive Committee must personally present themselves at the General Assembly meeting in Madrid in the year of their adoption.
Eduard Bendersky was recommended by Nicholas Franco, who presented the candidate during the Assembly. This year, the Brotherhood was replenished with five new members; Eduard Bendersky (Russia), Alan Smith (USA), Eduardo Negrete (Mexico) and two Spaniards - Miguel Estade and Juan Marsh. All new members were solemnly attached official badges of the Fellowship with the image of a falcon. Later, during the gala dinner, the newly joined hunters received Diplomas. Today, there are already three Russians in this community of enthusiastic mountain hunters - Konstantin Popov since 2013, Alexander Egorov since 2017 and Eduard Bendersky.
The gala dinner gathered more than a hundred participants, the Fraternity members were joined by spouses, invited guests, among whom were representatives of the International Safari Club (SCI), the president of its Italian division, as well as the head of the Spanish Royal Hunting Federation and other officials. All those present paid tribute to the memory of Denis Campbell, who passed away recently. Dennis had been a member of the Fellowship since 2008. In 2014, he was awarded the highest award - he became a Master of Mountain Peaks.
The culmination of the evening is the award of the Master of Mountain Peaks for the current calendar year it is awarded during the dinner. That time its owner was Eduardo Romero Nieto. He is a hunter with a huge experience and experience of hunting in the mountains, he has been hunting many times in different regions of the world, including Russia. His trophy collection became the basis of the hunting museum, which he built in the mountains of Leon. Then the exposition was gradually replenished with trophies obtained by his friends. Now this museum is the largest in the world among private hunting museums. Visitors can not only see the stuffed hunting animals, but get an idea of their habitat, about their biology, since skeletons of many animal species are also presented. It emphasizes not only the educational, but also the scientific role of the museum.
The members of the Fellowship pay great attention to the upbringing of the youth, they form the correct ideas about hunting ethics among young hunters, and share knowledge about the specifics of hunting in the mountains. In 2017, the association of "Friends of Mountain Peaks" was established to expand their activities. In the summer of 2017, its members gathered for a seminar on improving shooting techniques in mountainous conditions. In addition, the association has published a field guide about all types of mountain ungulates in the world.
