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Instructions for setting up the Leica GEOVID HD-B 42 rangefinder Dear teammates! I decided to share my experience of using the Lake rangefinder. The latest models measure not only the range, but also such important shooting indicators as: the angle of the target location, temperature and pressure. Several types of ballistic curves are stored in the device's memory, which can be used for tuning. These ballistic curves do not take into account the characteristics of your personal ammunition, which makes the calculation very approximate But the manufacturer of the device has provided for the possibility of calculating ballistics for your personal ammunition. The set of binoculars includes a mini SD memory card, which is inserted into the socket located in the battery compartment. The card is inserted with the contact plates to the outside of the device. You should write a personal program on it before inserting the card. You should go to the website www.leica-camera.com select the section "Sports optics" and in it the subsection Leica ballistics program (direct link to the program HERE). There you get the opportunity to choose-using standard data on the ammunition catalog or to fill in the presented table taking into account your own data on ammunition: speed, bal. coefficient and weight of the bullet. In the lower part of the table, it is possible to enter data on the excess of the optical line above the barrel, as well as the height above sea level used for calculating the shooting distance to "zero" and the temperature. This data can be useful in order to compare calculations using the Leica program and the Arrow Pro program. I made these comparative calculations to make sure that the data obtained using both programs is correct and monotonous. After you have filled in all the data available in the table, you can move on. The program gives you the calculation of the ballistic curve with the construction of the bullet trajectory, where at various ranges are indicated: speed, drop, and residual energy. You can make comparisons of this data with other ballistic programs. I personally became convinced of the almost complete identity of the work of both programs. On the right side of the table, there are various icons. You should select the GEOVID icon with the drawn binoculars and insert the mini SD card into the computer, save the program data by clicking the above icon. If everything is done correctly, then you will be able to record data on the ballistics of your personal cartridge on a flash drive. If you use several carbines and different types of ammunition, then you need to write each of them to a separate flash drive, since the device program allows you to read only one position recorded on the SD card. After saving the data on the flash drive, you insert it into the socket located in the battery compartment, with a contact group to the outside of the device. It is necessary to make settings in the rangefinder itself. You enter the device menu by pressing and holding the right button,. First, the section where you choose the European or American measurement system (meters or yards), then by pressing the right button you get to the ball.curves subsection, where you select the Card position, then again by pressing the right button you get to the section for selecting the range of shooting weapons to zero (100, 200,300). You should specify the data identical to what you specified in the Leica ballistic table, and then through the right button you will get to the section where the data on the cost of a click on your sight is selected. In my case, all the sights give 1 cm per 1 click, which in the binoculars corresponds to the subsection "10", i.e. 10 mm. When everything is set correctly, you get the following: when measuring the distance to the target, the device will show not only the distance, but also after it will show the number of clicks that you need to make in the sight to produce an accurate shot. The device will take into account all the important data contained in it: range, angle of the target location, pressure and temperature, as well as personal data of your ammunition and optics. In practice, I have seen for myself that this possibility significantly reduces the speed of making a decision on the correct and accurate shot. I recommend everyone to use this function, and not just limit themselves to measuring the range. Good luck to everyone in the mountains!

This is a short story about how unpredictable the mountains are. Weather in the mountains. If you want to laugh mountains, tell them about you plans.   I asked to the people, who had hunted already on the Caucasus, when decided to hunt for the tur there. Igor Gaidukov and Alexey Belyakov told me about its changeable and treacherous weather. They spent two days in the tent because the rain didn’t allow to leave it. That’s why I discussed in all details the hunting terms and conditions. They suggested me to arrive in July - the mid of summer. It's hot there and the chance to get bad weather was low. But I decided to be ready for everything if a cloud appeared and rain would start for an hour and a half. I took waterproof coat and clothes, water-resistant bags, a warm sleeping bag and was ready to wait the rain out if it happened. Asif, who was the outfitter of the trip, knew well that the chance to get the trophy became higher when the hunters stayed and lived in the mountains. He was all for that variant from the very beginning. But I rejected it immediately and irrevocably – I was ready for daily loads and strong tension, but at the same time I wanted to sleep in normal conditions. It wasn’t mine that he suggested! The beginning of the hunt was difficult. We arrived to the camp, accommodated and began to prepare for climbing but it was not. A cover rain had begun - it poured and poured. I didn’t sleep well the previous night and was tired that’s why I slept like a baby. I fell asleep instantly. It was raining all night. Nobody woke us up at 7am as we agreed in the evening it meant that the rain was going on. It lasted for a day. So, in the rain, we met the holy holiday of Ramadan for Muslims. In the evening the clouds lifted and one of us detected the tur on the slope. After a short discussion we resolved to approach it. It was our mistake: the grass was wet, the ground has turned sour, the clouds had not dispersed… As a result, the horses went only a fifth of the way and got up, then we had to go on foot. It'd be better to say that we should climb up. But there was worse. The trouble happened when stones fell from under the feet of the one walking in front (more precisely, climbing higher). They disturbed other stones and rolled down on our heads with a crash. How we dodged was known only to the God (apparently, our time had not yet come). There was need to say, our approach did not end in anything. Although this word is also inaccurate. It finished in the darkness when I fell down to the stones. My back and elbow were bruised so badly that it's better not to remember. Most important was that we went for hunting on a Saint holiday and angered Someone Who should not have been angry. Because of this, everything happened. Hunters are very superstitious. The first hunting day was over. The next day it brightened up in the morning, and we were ready to conquer the mountains again. I forgot to mention that there were two more hunters Mario from Spain and Dmitry from Russia. Mario was a young, full of strength hunter. I saw how he shot, listen to his stories where he hunted, he was an experienced mountain hunter. Dmitry just started his hunting career, he wasn’t experienced yet but was fond of mountain hunting. I came to mountain hunting after decades of hunting for birds, hunting with dogs, in the corrals, trophy hunting and hunting abroad. It wasn’t clear for me how the hunter began to keen the mountain hunting not having enough experience. He was in his early fifties, in good physical condition, fit, shot well and had all necessary equipment. And he was not afraid of climbing to the top. Later he explained me that tried to overcome his fear of mountains in that way. The Internet warnings of the Hydrometeorological Center that rains were expected for at least four days-until July 21-did not affect us. We quickly convinced ourselves that if there were even three drops , the Internet would surely draw rain. We'd survive three drops somehow. And everyone left. The guys went to storm the ridges, and I stayed to explore the nearest gorge. We divided everything into zones so as not to interfere with each other. In the morning, at lunch and after lunch, the weather fully corresponded to our ideas about the Internet reinsurer. The sun was peeking through the clouds, the breeze was blowing. We were cold though the Internet promised that we could burn. There was no rain, and there was no result. We tried to approach twice but without any result. But we saw turs. “After a lunch” ended at 6 pm. The rain began. It was light from the beginning. But then it became stronger. Finally, it ran as fast as he could. Then a hard hail bombardment began. Nariman, who accompanied us, looked at the sky, assessing the situation, and philosophically said: “Let's wait”. We covered with raincoats and sat for about thirty minutes. If we knew it was the beginning we would have immediately run to the camp as fast as we could. Be we didn't. In a half of an hour, it became clear that there was no chance to wait it out. We saddled the horses and began the operation "Retreat”. It was incredibly slippery; the stones and the ground were treacherous. Everything was wet. We should stop in 300 or 400 meters - the hail bombardment began. We hidden under the tree where the poachers were used to hide their weapons! But the hail did not to stop – the rain with hail beat as if it passed the TRP standards. It even became stronger. Thunder filled the ears, and lightning cut through the leaden darkness of the clouds and hit the rocks with the obsession of a mad animal. The thought occurred to me: would our lonely tree become their next target? After a brief, almost wordless meeting on that topic, they rushed away from this place. What's next: ride a horse or walk? We decided that it was still more dangerous on horseback. If you slip on foot, then you don't fall very far – as they say in the movies from a height of human growth. It was more dangerous to fall off a horse. On the last day, we got two turs, loaded them on horses, but it turned out, the horses were afraid of the smell of blood, and the one that was under me, threw the rider on the rocks; my diagnosis was a bone bruise and a cracked rib). Another respite in the dense forest did not change the situation for the better. I was soaking wet. Water squelched everywhere. The waterproof suit of a well-known American company did not save at all. It seemed to me, there was no protection from such an amount of moisture. It was still a long way to the base, but we must go, and go quickly. The main danger that lay in wait ahead was the river. Everyone understood that it could become impassable with such a downpour … I don't remember the last time I ran like this, keeping up with young mountaineers who know a lot about walking in the mountains. It reminded me of the painting by Konstantin Makovsky "Children running from a thunderstorm". Water, water, water everywhere, even under the armpits! I couldn’t to explain how we miraculously managed to save the radio from the water – there was literally nowhere to hide it. We all had one thought – how were the guys on the crest of the cliff?! Would the tent withstand the blows of a hurricane wind and such a stream of rain? It's probably not even rain, but solid ice grains and hail the size of a pigeon's egg up there… Let's run. Soon we heard the river. It sounded louder than we wanted to hear. Nariman, our PH, warned us that if the water rose, it would be certain death to cross it! We should spend the night on the shore. That was certain death – there were no tents, we couldn’t make a fire, everyone was wet, the temperature had dropped to about five degrees. Again, a flash of thought: what about the guys up there?! "His premonitions did not deceive him." The stream was bubbling, dragging stones along the bed, and this stream of the suddenly black river could turn a horse easily, let alone a man. It was a miracle but we found the place where could cross the river. I didn't understand what was flowing from me – streams of rain, sweat, river water. After crossing the river, I thought how nice would be to heat the oven in the camp. I could think only about it, everything was forgotten - how we were afraid not to cross the river, to catch a cold ... The main thing was to dry and change clothes. Thank God, the stove was being heated. Out cook Timur, a city dweller, could not heat the stove with raw wood in such a rain. The beekeeper helped him out. As a person who lived in the mountains, he realized that it was necessary to help out, to heat the stove. Diesel fuel helped to ignite raw firewood. I felt what had happened over the past two hours only when I got under the roof. First of all I took off all clothes. Water flew from it so much that the cook thought that the roof the house was leaking. One towel wasn't enough. I thought that every cloud has a silver lining because I didn't need a shower. I changed clothes, drank wiski and realized that everything was over and I was save. But guys who stayed in the mountains, what did they feel? You begin to understand how weak a person is in front of nature after such a blow of the elements. None of the photos or video would show the horror we had been through. We could contact by radio with one of the groups just on the next morning. They told us that they were alive but we didn’t know if they were well or not. They had to walk knee-deep in snow, plus everything was covered with clouds-nothing was visible. We couldn't contact with the group where Spanish hunter was. He would never forget Azerbaijan if he survived. I was not sure if he agreed to visit the country once again. The shepherds who came down to us (and they lived in these mountains for decades) told us that they would not remember such a thing. They worried for the cattle. The sheep huddled together, cuddled and warmed each other, and this is what they were saved, but the shepherds did not know what to do with the cows. As one of them said: “They could fly away”. The other shepherds would be looking for them. The cows on the base, hid under the shelter and only horses stood on the open air meekly under the blows of the elements. The locals worried about a newborn foal but it remained alive. Mario came back in two days. He took everything with fortitude as a young man. He sat four hours under the incessant hail, he'd never forget it. He was saved by a good tent and a sleeping bag. But nature found a way to take revenge on the indomitable Mario. He burned on the second day and the skin was peeling off his face in patches. The only way to ease his suffering was Depantenol lotion. I write it not to entertain the audience or to throw out emotions on paper: here, I got caught in the rain and hail and I suffered from fear and turned sour. I've been through a lot of fear and I don't hide it. The strongest fear was for guys, who had even worse than me, and we were worried about them first of all. The purpose of this article is to tell about the unexpected and warn that the miner needs to be prepared for such force majeure. The main thing for Dmitry and Mario was the choice where to set up tents – on a hillock, not in a lowland, but at the same time a place partially closed from the winds that could tear down any tent in the mountains. The second was actually a reliable, properly installed and fixed, waterproof tent. The third was a good sleeping bag. The elements are not eternal, but it will be extremely difficult to hold out wet under gusts of wind without a good tent, without protection at a temperature of about zero. During my hunting life, I froze in Siberia, in the Barabinsk steppe at a temperature of-54 ° C. And got bronchial asthma of the 1st degree as the result. I was cold in the Kyrgyzstan mountains. As a result, I and my outfitter Anton Schneider had bilateral pneumonia. I was trapped by ice on the flood meadows of the Ob. I was attacked for times by wounded boars, an elephant and an ostrich! Everything happened. Hunters are at risk. The main thing is not to panic and prepare yourself in advance for possible difficulties.

Shot Show - is one of the biggest shows of weapon, ammunition, equipment and everything you need for hunting, army and the security service. It was not the first time when I visited it. This year I've noticed (probably the reason is in the economy growth) that number of members had increased, the most goods presented there were for the security service - new threats to society dictate new realities. I won’t bore the readers with information about new products for military or police and focus on the trends and products for mountain hunting.     There wasn't the presentation of the new hunting weapon. Probably they waited for IWA or there were enough samples that still used. I guess that the second variant is the right one. They've introduced so many new models in a couple of years, and none of them was the breakthrough that there is not any need to produce something else. Each company has the model of carbine with the sliding bolt, and has a model with the replacement barrels in different price segments. There are lots of guns made from carbon fiber. Not only Christensen arms but 3 or 4 companies produce such guns but they all are typical. I’ve had the opportunity to test Ar 10, that I want to buy for wolf hunting. It’s light even in 243 caliber.   The ammunition producers showed new products in comparison with the gunsmith. I say about Nosler и Hornady companies. The first one reinforced its new Nosler 28 mountain caliber with a new Accubond bullet. Our hunters don't know well the Nosler 28 but it's like the best version of “seven”. With the old bullet, the zero of this caliber is at 400 yards (360 m). The trajectory is incredibly flat! 7 RemMag is an incredible cartridge and the new one is totally unreal. There was the presentation of new Accubond bullets with the huge ballistic coefficient. This cartridge will work in a straight line, like a blaster with these parameters.  It’ll take time while the gunsmiths will produce rifles for that cartridge and bullets will be included in the production lines of the cartridge companies. Hornady was also very pleased with the new Pressiginhunters bullet (0.673 BQ for a three-hundredth caliber weighing 212 grains with hunting expansiveness – this is fantastic!) We can only hope that these bullets will fly from our barrels.  As for the mentioned BC... For those who have not yet mastered the basics of ballistics, I will formulate this: the higher the BC, the more stable the bullet flies, the less it is carried by the wind and has a more flat trajectory, which is very important for hunting in the mountains. Previously, there were custom bullets with such a high BC, but, first, they are usually match-based, that is, for shooting on paper. Secondly, large cartridge manufactories did not use them, so they were available only for hunters who had mastered the independent equipment of cartridges.  Manufacturers of optics did not fail. There were a couple of new and mountain-friendly sights on the show. Optics in the budget of mountain hunters has always been a very expensive item. Optical sights should have a variable multiplicity in a wide range – 4-16, adjustable parallax, tactical correction drums, and a good dimensional grid in the first focal plane. These are actually the parameters of tactical sights, and they are very expensive and not all companies can supply them to the territory of our countries. At the show, I saw at least four new models from different manufacturers: the first from Nikon-the model 308. Interesting, slightly redesigned BCD grid, compact, tight drums, good multiplicity.  The other three are from the American company Vortex, which is very powerful in capturing markets. The first is a continuation of their top-end ultra-sharp Razor series on the 34th tube, which is positioned as optics for the military and athletes (for hunters, too good, I suppose). Then there's the new Razor on an inch-long tube with an absolutely stunning Swarovski crystal picture and a tactical grid in front focus. It will be slightly more expensive than the Viper series, which I have already used for five years, but much cheaper than the Zeiss and Swarovski with the same parameters. Another sight is a Golden Eagle in the "night force" style, strong with large, tight correction drums. Its special feature is the correction step of 0.125 MOA. It is perfect for those who want to combine the opportunities for competition and hunting in one complex.  The Vortex also pleased me in the economy segment. It’s necessary now! The Diamondback HD series has all the necessary qualities of a mountain sight at a low price (almost twice as cheap as the Viper) and a lifetime warranty!  I have to mention about another sight. This is the first swallow made of carbon fiber. High technologies have already reached optics. So far, these are just prototypes, but already fired and quite working. The price bites, but the savings from 200 to 500 g only on optics is impressive.  Clothing manufacturers also broke through. "Sitka" and "Cryptek", that are known among all hunters, have expanded the production line. Several more companies have introduced new "mountain" lines at once. Let me tell you everything in more details.  "Sitka" re-released the entire collection in new colors. It's very controversial for our nature – too much white, but not enough for a purely winter collection.  Among the novelties-a suit made of softshelflis. This is a composite material: the outer surface is camouflaged fleece, then a membrane and an inner softshell. "Cryptek” presented a similar suit, but with additional insulation from tinsulite. The outer fleece gives a unique noiselessness. It is important for an archer, But it is an unfortunate decision in the conditions of rifle mountain hunting. The fleece will accumulate water in the outer layer, which makes it very heavy and then dries for a long time despite the moisture resistance.  Both companies now have vests on tinsulite. It's time now because the down jacket won't do, as I've been saying for a long time.  "Cryptek" has also released two very correct series: Dalibor (lightweight softshel for summer and warm autumn) something like cotton or military "ripstop" - this suit is perfect for hunting pheasant or other game when you need to wade through thorns.  I noticed that Cryptek camouflage has won that fight. It's really good. Absolutely all manufacturers buy a franchise from them and cover everything with this camouflage – from eyeglass frames to rifle pads and barrels of all brands.  First Lite, produced the wool underwear, presented their vision of mountain clothes. It has released a full multi-layer line in a new color scheme where the middle layers are made of wool, and the hard layers are made of the usual membrane. On the one hand, there are advantages – the wool warms and breathes well. But on the other - it immediately gets wet and, most importantly, is very torn on thorns and stones. I had a jacket from "Cryptek" made of wool with inserts from tinsulite-immediately everything was in puffs. I wear it in the city or camp only, and Cryptek eventually discontinued it.  The company Badlands, a well-known manufacturer of hunting backpacks and clothing (in the last year), has developed a camouflage of its own colors. I disliked it - too light.   Under Armor is the largest sportswear manufacturer in the United States. Why this company had to develop clothing for hunters, I do not know. But why not! Hunting and sports clothing are sold in the same stores there. It seemed to me that the guys just took a few tracksuits and sewed the same thing from camouflage fabric according to their patterns.  There were not many shoes models there but it was expected. European manufacturers do not come here, from the American ones I was attracted to only one model – from the Irish Setter. The model was made of synthetic composite materials, and the sole is combined with rubber. It was light and the design was not bad – with insulation and a membrane.  Backpacks The American company Slumberjack was exhibited on the show for the first time.I had the opportunity to see their products at the tourist equipment show in Utah. It's a pleasure the we can buy their products in Almaty and I advise to do it. This company is part of a huge American holding company that includes about a dozen companies that produce outdoor products, including such monsters as Kelty and Sieradesign. They employed an expert in mountain hunting as a consultant and added our wishes to the regular tourist backpacks. So they produced the best backpacks by the volume/weight ratio. This season I hunted with their backpack – definitely the best in my life! By the way, they recognized me from my Instagram photo. I talked with their consultant and gave him several ideas. They're working on a carbon frame as many other companies. Everything else is too heavy.  Knives for mountain hunting should not meet a large number of requirements – to be light and cut well. Almost every knife manufacturing company has them.  I liked a pair of knives from the American company Benchmade. This brand is well known among knife-lovers. The knives are not cheap, but they are made exclusively, each knife is assembled and sharpened by hand. There were a couple in the hunting series that I wanted to buy.  A knife with replaceable thin blades, sharp as a razor, deserves your attention. For the first time, I saw this type of model in the Internet. I was skeptical about it but last spring my Spanish friend gave me one when we skinned the ibexes and I appreciated it. And the knife worked for 5+. The concept is simple: the blade was blunted, removed it and put a new one (12 pieces are included). A skeptic will notice: but how to chop the pelvic bones? The answer: "No way, you need to cut with an axe or a guide's knife. Nobody hunts alone in the mountains”. Gerber presented such knives there.  In conclusion – about the Russian booth. Russia exploited the image of the Red Army beauties and presented the Kalash with a birch stock. I want to be objective. There were more beautiful samples of this model, produced in Israel.   That's all I noticed.

As we were taught in the youth, the revolution had a reason ... Why am I talking about it? The hunting, I’m going to tell you about, made a real revolution in my mind.   There were three reasons to travel to the Caucasus for a hunting though it was my third trip there in that year. The Caucasus is a home not only for three subspecies of turs and a chamois but for bears and deer too that's why I decided to get so-called “Caucasian Six” that has included all six animals. The second one was connected with my hunting trip to Kamchatka where I got a trophy of Kamchatka Brown Bear. It was nice and interesting hunting but too light for me. I wanted to get much more difficulties and obstacles and to compete with the animal. The third reason was to get the smallest trophy of brown bear in the world (though I’d heard that the smallest one inhabited in Pakistan or Iran). Plus I had two pretexts to fly there - all hunting trips for mountains ungulates are closed during the spring season and moreover my family wanted to travel to Pyatigorsk. It took me just one day to negotiate with Oleg and Alexey Podtyazhkin, to buy tickets. The plan was to fly to Mineralny Vody then move to Pyatigorsk. In the morning I’d drive to Kemal, whom I knew from the past hunting trips and arrive back in three days. My wife and a child should have rest while I was hunting. I started to prepare for the trip- to read what I could find. It surprised me a lot that there was not enough number of hunting reports or movies about hunting for a Caucasian Brown bear. As I knew from my previous trips there were two sub species of brown bear- a brown bear that was bigger and a rocky brown bear that dwelled on the rocks and was smaller. The rocky bear in comparison with its relative was more aggressive and attacked people each time when saw them. Sometimes they interbreed (subspecies among themselves, and not with a person), but this, as they say, is another story... I was interested in getting the Rocky bear and said the outfitter about it. The color of this animal is straw with a reddish tinge on the paws and a black spot on the hump. The length of the body is about 1,5 m and weight about 70 kg. It was just in one and a half times more than a chamois. To my great surprise, this vicious animal is completely unjustifiably doesn't enjoy the interest of hunters. We all know how trophy hunters from all over the world collect and appreciate all sorts of varieties of small African duikers-dikdiks. Each time when I saw the bear's excrements on the heights about 3000masl (but didn’t see the animals), I imagined how interesting would be hunting for them. It could be a real mountain hunting , in the high-altitude zone between the tur and the chamois, in the spring, when the mountains wake up after hibernation and were saturated with oxygen and all sorts of pleasant smells. There wouldn't any necessity to use a snow-machine or a bait. It could be my favorite kind of hunting from the approach. I knew the there wasn’t enough time I left family the same day we arrived to the Caucasus. It was night when we arrived to Kemal and I even had about two hours to sleep before hunting. In the morning - everything is businesslike, focused. After all, we were going to fight with the most evil animal of the mountains! Not matter how small was it. It looked like a real hunting. I took a backpack and with necessary equipment and a carbine. Kemal and his brother Nauruz accompanied me. It took us about two hours to climb from 1000 to 1500 masl. It had rained the day before and we slid on the wet grass mixed with thorns and stones- everything was like always. We moved very slow. First through the woods without much caution, but also without much noise. When we reached the open areas, we began to look from behind the shelters first to examine the surroundings. A bear could be everywhere and we didn’t want to face him nose to nose. Kemal told us that saw a rocky bear few days ago. Three years ago, such a rocky bear ate a hunter (he told me this last time), and last year, the same one killed two bulls. We felt optimism. But it was somewhere deep inside us. By 8 am, we occupied the intermediate dominant peak with views of the Bear Beam, which goes down half a kilometer. The beautiful spurs of the local mountains mixed with green glades of different calibers and the most beautiful Elbrus fascinated the eye! There we began to monitor the surroundings, to sleep, to eat and once again from the very beginning. At some point, from the very depths of the beam, there was a rumble of stones being turned over by an unknown creature. Or we thought we heard that... The tension passed away and we continued to sleep, to eat, to observe. At one o'clock in the afternoon, we decided to go around this very beam, because Nauruz thought he saw a bear moving along the rocks on the edge of the beam away from us. It took us two more hours to ascend 300 m and to walk around the ridge, about three km. We passed through a fairly rare, but long-lasting forest and saw fresh traces of the local Winnie-the-pooh. Unfortunately, it was difficult to define what side it went away. We went the same distance and took another dominant height of 2000 m, now on the other side of the ridge and, unfortunately, without views of Elbrus. We even thought to divide into two groups and to send Nauruz with the radio to one of the perspective places. Time goes slow when you wait, Kemal tried to fast it and told us stories about his previous adventures with bears, they all started from the phrases “under that pine tree” or “near that birch tree”. But now they are neither there nor here. It was sad... Two chamois came out, which fearlessly prowled around their clearings, completely unafraid of us, from one side, about seven hundred meters away, and then from the other, three hundred meters away. They were not afraid although saw us. The main thing was not to move, just to use binoculars, not to sleep or eat. It was about 5 pm when we decided to go back to the camp and to come back next day and to stay for a night not to lose time for a going up and down. We called Nauruz and told him about the plan. Suddenly Kemal shouted “ Follow me” and ran to the side where Nauruz moved. I didn’t understand what happened but followed him without hesitation. Kemal had switched off the radio already when saw Nauruz was waving his hands. He pointed to the bear grazing under us. Right in that Bear ridge. And then it started… I also noticed it and we began to descend from the downwind. We tried to do it as quietly as it was possible to do on the wet grass with the backpack and a carbine. We could approach it 320 m and were still above the animal. I wanted to make a video how I would be shooting and it took time to give the instructions to Kemal and to prepare the camera. The clouds of heaven opened up over Elbrus and thunder rumbled at full volume. It was seen on the video that I hit to its shoulder blade but the bear ran very fast. Then it stopped. I shot once again to its chest and it ran once again... I didn’t know that somebody could run so fast after that. At last Kemal shot from his 308 WinMag and the bear rolled down to the bottom of the gorge. We followed him for a long time down the last year's grass at dusk at an angle of 45 degrees through either teak, beech, or hornbeam forest. Then we made a photo session there and skinned the trophy. All this happened under the approaching screams of hungry jackals, which I tried to drive away with my menacing cries. The descent in the rain and in total darkness took about two hours. Another trophy from the Caucasian Six (in my own "table of ranks") has been taken. Then we ate traditional dinner, cooked by parents of Nauruz and Kemal. I didn’t want to leave mountains but my wife and daughter waited for me already and were happy that I returned back. And who now will say that the Caucasian rocky bear is not a mountain trophy!? I wanted to hunt it once again.

Goral-one of the smallest representatives of the tribe Rupicaprini, belongs to the genus Naemorhedus, or Nemorhaedus (the word Nemorhaedus is derived from the Latin nemoralis, which means "forest", and haedus – "young goat). There are not many trophies of gorals in museum collections , because almost everywhere these animals are few and belong to the threatened species. The taxonomy of gorals, like many other mammals, is very uncertain – some scientists suggest that there are only three species in the genus, while others count up to a dozen subspecies of the Himalayan goral alone. The authors of the Atlas Caprinae of the World CIC distinguish 4 species of gorals: Naemorhedus baileyi Pocock, 1914- a red goral; Naemorhedus caudatus Milne-Edwards, 1867- an Amur goral; Naemorhedus griseus Milne-Edwards, 1871-a grey goral; and Naemorhedus goral Hardwicke, 1825- a Himalayan goral. An adult goral looks like a young domestic goat with small horns. Others compare it with chamois (in particular, the Amur goral is called "Amur sulfur") or serow. The head of the animal is small, set on a short, muscular neck, the chest is wide, the legs are short, strong. The back is slightly higher than the withers. Males and females are the same size. With the exception of the smallest red goral, all other species are approximately the same size and weight. The body length of large individuals reaches 130 cm, and the height at the withers-80 cm; the body weight rarely exceeds 42 kg. Apparently, the red goral never weighs more than 30 kg, and is 103 cm long and 61 cm high at the withers. The black cone-shaped and pointed horns are tilted back and slightly downward, have clear, asymmetrical rings at the base and in the lower third, but are smooth above. The horns of the females are shorter and the rings are less distinct than those of the males. The horns are relatively short and do not exceed the length of the skull. Gorals have extremely sharp eyesight. Older males stay alone or live in small groups of 4 to 12 individuals. Gorals are extremely agile animals and can move at high speed over difficult terrain. Their disguise is very effective. Goral's first reaction when faced with a potential danger is to freeze. They are able to remain motionless for some time, and are very difficult to see in the rocks. Gorals lead a crepuscular lifestyle-active in the early morning and in the afternoon. They feed on grassy ridges and difficult rocky slopes, while hiding in the forest or crevices, looking for shelter under overhanging rocks. In case of danger, it emits a hiss or a sneeze-like sound that alerts you to an alarm. The habitats are usually located in the range from 1,000 to 2,750 m above sea level, but gorals were also found at an altitude of 4,200 m. It is believed that their life expectancy is up to 15 years. Our knowledge of the distribution of gorals, as well as the number of extant populations, is limited. Their range extends in a large arc from northern Pakistan along the Himalayas through southeastern and north-central China to Korea and the Russian Far East. In the southern direction-including Indochina. The contiguous ranges of all goral species have already been torn apart, probably even to a greater extent than shown on the map. All goral phenotypes are registered in Appendix I of CITES, and are also protected in a number of countries. They are subject to additional domestic restrictions in the United States and the European Union. It is doubtful whether these restrictions, including the list from Appendix I of CITES, are appropriate, since they have not had a sufficient impact on the stabilization of the goral population. There are no accurate estimates of the habitats and populations of most goral species, and their protection is, for the most part, a by-product of the creation of conservation areas. The locals hunt gorals throughout the area for the sake of meat and offal, which are used in traditional eastern medicine. there is no doubt that the local people will continue to do this until they are offered an alternative. It is clear that increasing the interest of rural residents in nature protection needs a pragmatic approach that will result in tangible economic benefits for communities and their participants. The application of an exclusively conservation approach to the protection of gorals in some conservation areas with little or inadequate control and compliance with laws to prevent poaching will lead to a further reduction in the range of gorals. The only possibility is still existed in India. There is still the possibility of limited hunting for the Himalayan goral, which is found throughout the Himalayas up to the foothills. Its population is assessed as low-risk / near-threatened, which allows to hunt for adult males under a special license in all states except Nagaland and Himachal Pradesh. Hunting for the Himalayan goral was legal in Nepal and China not long ago. All entries in the Rowland Ward Trophy Book refer to the grey Himalayan gorals. The trophy goral with the longest horns was got near the mountain settlement of Mussoorie in Uttarakhand, India, in 1902. The length was 23.2 cm, the circumference was 9.5 cm, and the distance between the horn's tips was 10.8 cm. More than 20 trophies from the western Himalayas (gray ecotype) had horns of 19.1 cm or more, and all of these animals were captured in the first quarter of the twentieth century or earlier. Eastern (brown) Himalayan ecotypes, on average, are characterized to some extent by shorter horns. A unique specimen from Bhutan (1967) had a horn length of 18.7 cm.12 trophies from Nepal were characterized by a horn length of 13.0 cm to 17.8 cm, and were mainly mined in the last quarter of the twentieth century. In Russia, in the Far East (Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories), the Amur goral (NaemorheduscaudatusMilne-Edwards, 1867) lives. It is also found in northeastern China, the Republic of Korea, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The northernmost phenotype is also called the Korean goral (N. c. raddeanus). In our country, it is quite common in three isolated places on the eastern slopes of the central and southern Sikhote-Alin along the coast of the Sea of Japan: in the Black Mountains near the headwaters of the Ananyevka, Nezhinka and Borisovka rivers; in the southwestern part of the Bureinsky Ridge; as well as along the Sino-Russian border in the Khasansky district and south of Lake Khanka. The extant populations are heterogeneous due to the limited number of suitable habitats, i.e. steep rocky slopes covered with sparse, mountainous broad-leaved forests, at an altitude of up to 2,000 m above sea level. The color of the Amur Goral varies from gray-brownish to gray-fawn. There is a mane of long shaggy dark hair on the upper part of the neck. The fur, at least in winter, is long, shaggy, and rather fluffy. The legs below the knees and lower legs are evenly colored fawn in front and outside. The horns are short (shorter than those of the Himalayan goral), but with a similar base circumference. There was just one pair of horns from northern China (Nankou, Hebei) registered as a hunting trophy, measuring 19.1 cm in length and 7.6 cm in circumference. According to experts studying this animal, the horns of individuals from Russia are from 14 to 21 cm in length in males and from 13 to 22 cm in females. The Amur goral lives in mountainous areas, sometimes going into evergreen or deciduous forests near cliffs, but mostly adheres to rough, rocky terrain. They prefer terrain with open, grassy ridges at an altitude of 500 to 2,000 m. The Amur goral lives in small groups - from 4 to 12 individuals. Adult males are usually solitary. Gorals lead a crepuscular lifestyle, most active in the early morning and late evening. A characteristic feature of the Amur Goral is its slowness. The animals move slowly from place to place, often stop and listen. At the same time, the speed with which the disturbed animals leave is surprising They jump on high rocks and ledges easily without running, make jumps up to two meters in height and standing on a small ledge of rock with all four legs. The Amur gorals can jump down from a height of 8-10 meters. They can make several jumps of 5-5.3 meters in a row without running up On a horizontal surface,. Males and females reach sexual maturity at about three years of age, with a lifespan of up to 15 years. Climatic factors, including the thickness of the snow cover and low temperatures, can cause a significant decrease in the number of gorals. The wolf, tiger and lynx are natural nemies of the Amur goral. The number of the last two species is small, but the increase in the number of wolves in Primorye in recent years raises serious concerns. In 1977, there were between 600 and 750 animals in Russia. At the same time, there are signs of a gradual reduction in the number of animals. More than half of all extant Amur gorals live in Russia, and most of the rest of the population-in the north-eastern regions of China. There are no current detailed estimates of the population size. Unfortunately, in captivity, gorals do not take root well, but catching and relocating them from Primorye to the mountainous and rocky areas of broad-leaved forests of the Caucasus, Crimea and other places where there are no long deep-snow winters is quite possible and is of great interest. In conclusion, I would like to note the fact that the Amur goral – a unique mountain ungulate of the family polorogih – is not an introduced, but an endemic Russian species, the extraction of which is excluded by a trophy hunter, but the "extraction" of this animal as a photo trophey will allow creating conditions for its reproduction and protection on the ground, which will necessarily affect the population growth. We think that the CMH could consider including gorals in the list of photo trophies.

The Russian Federation of High-precision Shooting held a sniper competition on June 18. This is not the first time that the landfill in Solnechnogorsk district has been used for this purpose. The shooters competed for the Federation Cup.  Before the formation of participants, after raising the flags, the President of the Federation S. V. Sumarokov presented certificates to the new members of the association.  A member of the Club of Mountain Hunters Sergey Mazurkevich, who took part in the fight for the cup, was among them. It was not easy to win this competition, because there were very experienced shooters of high qualification. The exercises that the shooters had to perform were far from simple. They required not only accurate, but also high-speed shooting with a change in the production, line and target.  Some shooters had trouble finding the target. These competitions required long-term attention and physical endurance. In addition to the group of five exercises included in the "Qualification", there were nine special exercises, and the total time for shooting work was approaching eight hours. The competitions were personal and team competitions. Each team consisted of two shooters. The best team was the pair of Gennady Kholod 610 points and Ivan Petrov 360 points (total -979). Alexander Kravtsov 484 and Valery Shits 483 (total -967) were on the secon place. In third place Alexey Kim 350 and Innokenty Kornyushin 526 (total -876). The prize, approved by the CMH, was awarded to the second-place team. In addition to the high team result, this pair had the closest individual achievements. Gennady Kholod won the individual competition with 610 points. The second was Innokenty Kornyushin - 526 points. Alexander Kravtsov was third – 484 points Alexey Kim (350 points) took the 16th place, and Sergey Mazurkevich, who competed only in the individual competition, with a result of 287 points-the 23rd place. Sergey Mazurkevich was awarded a special prize "For the Will to Win", as he took part in such a difficult competition for the first time and passed it with honor. Everything was organized on the very high level. A detailed report on the competition can be found in the magazine "The Magic of this Safari" # 8.

My friend who shares my passion to hunting Gennady Konoiko and I decided to spend ten days of our vocation on Kamchatka peninsula. I dreamed for a long time to visits there while Gena had been there six times, He hunted a bear there. That time we were going to get a trophy of the snow sheep. The plan was to combine hunting trip with the visit to the Valley of Geysers, located in the Kronotsky State Nature Reserve. Gena hadn't been there yet though visited the peninsular many time. The only way to get there is by chopper. Kamchatka weather was very changeable and each time when he was ready to fly the weather ruined his plans.   We decided not to buy a hunting trip through the Moscow agency. Gennady knew several local outfitters who offered us the interesting variant that suited us well and cost less than the agency could offer. I guessed that the Moscow agency could suggest the higher level of service and comfort but we were satisfied by the conditions of the locals that cost in twice less. The goal of the hunt is a trophy and more important than the service. And our expedition had a decent result. The hunting fauna of Kamchatka is very diverse and rich. There are many bears, moose and deer. As for predators, foxes are on the first place. There are not many wolves and they live in the remote areas. We were interested in hunting for snow sheep. Kamchatka snow sheep (Ovis canadensis), or chubuk has a strong body and a short and thick neck. There is no suspension on the neck and chest. The horns are heavy, thick, with a broad frontal surface, but relatively short. The surface of the horns is more even, without sharp transverse rings. The body length of the adult rams is from 148 to 182cm, 95-115cm height in withers, weight - 70-140 kg. Ewes are smaller. Zoologists say, there are not less than 10-12 subspecies of that animal. And this is only in the Asian part of Russia. The skeptics doubt the seriousness of singling out even five of subspecies. It inhabitants in the mountains from the Northern Baikal Region and Eastern Siberia across the Lena River to the middle and northern part of the Far East, including Kamchatka, Chukotka, Yakutia and even Taimyr. American hunters call it bighorn and it lives in the mountains of western North America from Alaska to northern Mexico and the California Peninsula. Snow sheep in comparison with the sheep that dwell on the really high mountains, prefer the remote slopes that alternate with gentle areas, and this is reminiscent of mountain goats. They live from the coastal rocks to the mountain-tundra belt, and sometimes in the mountain-taiga forests; in some areas they live sedentary, in others they make regular seasonal migrations, leaving in the summer in the Alpine belt of the mountains, and in winter in the snow-free areas. They feed herbaceous vegetation, especially like legumes and cereals, dig out the rhizomes of various plants with their hooves, eat mushrooms and ground lichens. They eat tree and shrub food, especially the shoots and leaves of willows Both in winter and in summer. Snow sheep prefer to stay in small separate groups about 4-5 animals. They gathered in big herds in the fall but not more than 20-30 individuals and stay together to the spring.   Snow sheep in North America live till 12-14 years old but you can meet 18-20 years old male on Kamchatka our Yakutia. The snow sheep is an object of hunting both in Russia and in North America. Kamchatka, Yakutia, Okhotsk, Koryak, Putorana and Yablonova snow sheep are in the list of Wild sheep of the World and are accounted as trophies of the International Sheep Hunting Association (ISHA). Their large, massive horns will really adorn any trophy collection. The ovis\ sheep hunters - is a special caste: the each who got 12 mountain sheep of different species are awarded by the hunting prize “SuperSlam” of Ovis Club. There are only about 200 such hunters today. Since the Iron Curtain has gone down the hunters from all over the world rushed to Siberia and Russian Far East. The most part of them was from USA. They raised the prices for these hunts.... After 9 hours flight from Moscow we landed on Kamchatka and immediately drove to Esso, a small village, located in 450 km from the capital of the peninsular - Petropavlovsk- Kamchatksy (PK). The first 100 kilometers we were driven on a good asphalt road, but the remaining "piece" of the way - on a fairly battered gravel road. The interesting fact about Esso village. It's heated by hot springs: hot water from the wells is fed into the system and then discharged into a large concrete sump pond or so-called pool, and then into the river. It was so warm that we could swim there even in September though the frosts began. And we did it after a long and tedious drive. But we could hardly swim there long, the water temperature was more than 30 degrees! Next morning the helicopter delivered us to the place of the future camp. The chosen place was between the sky and the earth: above-snow-covered peaks, below-cedar elfin trees. This is the name of the thickets of shrubby cedar that creep along the mountainside. Bears like to feed there; they are fond of pine nuts. The mountain slopes were covered with bushes of ripe cranberries and blueberries. It was the first time when I met a very interesting berry shiksha or Siberian crowberry. It is the same color like huckleberry, but the flesh is white; it seems tasteless when you eat it , but it has a very strong tonic effect and perfectly quenches thirst.  We set two tents to sleep there and one more open tent to cook and to eat there and to keep food.   In the first day we rose the ridge, that divided the valley into two parts and monitored the surroundings. I made the pictures of the circus of hunting lands. Our guides assured us that there are many snow sheep in this intermountain basin. They told us that last year the foreign hunters got three or four nice trophies there. But we saw nothing. But there were animals on the opposite side. But the distance was too far. Probably the reason of the animals' absence was the poachers who had hunted sheep using the helicopter. Unfortunately, it was not a rare thing in that area. For several days we prowled the mountains in the hope that the rams would be close enough to us. One afternoon I noticed two groups of sheep – 18 animals. The herds were on the opposite side of the canyon in two km from us. The guide assured us that there wasn't a worthy trophy among them. Later we knew that he was mistaken. We hoped for three days that they’ll come closer. But it was all in vain. So it was: We woke up- stormed the ridge, sat there and monitored the group. Sometimes we hiked to the right or to the left that took several hours and went back to the camp... At last we decided to approach them if they were not going to move to our place. Gennady took the position on the ridge. I left the guide on the place and descended to the creek and began to climb. Then it was necessary to go down again and up again. Not far, I thought. It was easy to say but I had to go through huge rocks, taller than a man. Some of them could barely hold their ground: if you leaned on it, it would collapse! And I should look out for sheep while climbing. These animals aren’t small but they are very good at camouflage.  At last I detected four ewes but there wasn’t any ram with them. The approach to the second group was even harder but I was eager to look at them and to know how many of them were there. Suddenly my guide overtook me and said that they had found the trophy ram that laid on the slope. We tried to call Gennady by radio but the batteries were drained. It was clear that Gena and his guide detected it too. We changed the route and began to ascend to be above the male. The guide followed behind me and tried not to make noise. The goal of each hunter is to approach as close as it possible and better to make it from above because sheep don't look up and lay to monitor the surroundings under them. Moreover, it's more comfortable to aim and to shoot form such position. The animal will run up if you miss and reduces the distance that gives more opportunities to make the second shot. We were on the top in a half of an hour. We both sweat out, my legs were wobbly, and my heart felt like it was about to pop out of my chest. I looked around and began to descend slowly. There were not sheep but I noticed a bear that walked towards Gennady's side. He had waited already for a bear and watched what we were doing. He also saw the ram. Suddenly two ewes jumped out from behind the rock below the place I sat, ran in 200 meters then stopped and stared at me. At that moment I detected the male that laid not far from them on the slope. It was chewing gum and watched the opposite side. In a second, I was already on the ground behind the rock. And prepared for the shot. The bear was coming closer to Gennady. Here it was already at a distance of a confident shot – some 200 m. But Gena didn't shoot: he realized that the roar of his well-aimed shot, repeatedly amplified by the rolling mountain echo, would certainly startle the ram. It would cancel out our efforts and leave me without the desired trophy.  The bear was lucky at that day. He crossed the ridge and moved to our camp side. Gena was worried about food we left there and followed it. The male felt something, stood up and turned to my side. The sun was shining in its eyes, so I didn't wait for it to turn sideways, and shot to its chest. The sheep legs gave way, as if it had just laid down to rest, but it could not stay in place and rolled down the slope. I was afraid that It’d break the face and horns. It somersaulted three times, then caught its horns on a rock and froze. I ran to it and found the nice trophy with excellent trophy size horns, that were safe! The view is quite photogenic.  I have my own ritual: I always kiss my gun after the accurate shot. That time I took Heim cal. 30-06 Spring that used more than 10 years already- I thank the goddess Diana or Artemis, whichever you prefer, for your good fortune. When my guide came, we made a podium from the stones, put the trophy on it and started the photo session. Then we call for a chopper, loaded the trophy and flew to the camp. I got the trophy of 13 years old male and it happened on September 13th, in 13 pm. So much for the "damn dozen"! Unfortunately Gena didn’t get the trophy in that trip. The outfitter suggested to fly to another circus where he could try to get the trophy. But they didn’t guarantee the result. But we decided to use the chance and fly to the Valley of Geysers because weather was fine. So we did. The photos of the stunning Kamchatka landscapes is a testament to it. But it’s another story… P.S. At home, in Belarus, the trophy was awarded for a gold medal.

I know many hunters who prefer hunting for ibexes to other hunts but they never call themselves hunters for goats but only hunters for sheep. Why is it so?   There is a subculture of wild sheep hunting in the world. It's the highest castle in the hunting world. The sheep are not so cautious as other antelopes or deer. They can't rip you to shreds like a bear or some of the big cats or to blast you out as the elephant or a bison can do. But the wild sheep are gorgeous in any case and they make you to travel by the most exotic places on our planet with the most beautiful landscapes. But you can say the same about ibexes. But! The most of hunters identify themselves as the sheep hunters first. I'd never heard during my long hunting career that any hunters bragged that he was a hunter for ibexes. It's not clear why. Are the wild sheep more beautiful the ibexes or markhors? The only thing, why the hunting for sheep (Ovis) can be more preferable, is meat quality. It doesn’t smell and is much tasty. But we don’t hunt for meat! Hunting for goats is also difficult as for sheep and takes place in even more remote and hard-to-reach places, and no less beautiful mountains. The goats habitat in the places where the sheep are afraid to go. Wild goats form several families with different numbers of species, horn configurations, and external coloration. They are very diverse. We know that animals belong to Capra can be different size from small like chamois to big ones like ibexes or markhors. There are the real originals like a white goat from the Rocky Mountains or a Asian Tahr. We know about several goats, like turs from Caucasus who are considered to be sheep by some hunters. There are transition forms between ibexes and sheep - like an aoudad, a dwarf blue sheep, the sheep hunters treat them like sheep. The cult of hunting sheep hasn't appeared long time ago and it was Jack O'Connor's doing. Jack O'Connor was fond of sheep hunting. The nature has deprived the Western hemisphere of ibexes! Four varieties of sheep live there and only one type of North American goat - the goat of the Rocky Mountains. In the post-war era, a new generation of American hunters, such as Herb Klein and Elgin Gates managed to instill in the world that the most prestigious hunting in the world is hunting wild sheep. It was not always so. One of the classics of North American hunting, William T. Hornaday, spent many days and nights with a rifle in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. At the beginning of 20s in the last century, the trophy of a goat was a nice and the main trophy while sheep were the additional bonus. Same years Kermit Roosevelt traveled to Tian Shan (it's the Western China now) and wrote the detailed report about that expedition “East of the Sun and West of the Moon”. He described an Ibex as the main and the best trophy while they met argali very often and hunted them for meat only. Today, everything is different. Wild sheep are the most prestigious trophies not only in North America, but also for mountain hunters around the world. The cult of sheep hunting has possessed to all hunters’ minds and make prices for such hunts to rise. Ibexes ... They belong to the second sort now. Snobbism is the partial reason of it. In part, this phenomenon has quite justified reasons. Goats live in the places that are not available for a habitat of other species including sheep and are better protected from the predators by the nature. It should also be taken into account that most species of goats are fertile and hardier than sheep, and more resistant to diseases. It means that ibex hunting is more available then sheep hunting. It’s good if you are fond of mountain hunting because the price for a ibex hunting is lower than hunting for a sheep though they can dwell in the same area. But the situation changes. Ibex hunting is gaining more and more fans. GSCO confirms: CapraWorldSlam has the same status as OvisWorldSlam. There are several exceptions. The hunting for markhors and bezoar ibexes are allowed in Pakistan but not all trophies can be legally imported to USA that's why this hunting is the most expensive hunt even if we compare it with the most expensive sheep hunts in the world. But in total, the hunting for ibexes with the same service level is cheaper than the sheep hunting. Hunting for a American Mountain Goat is organized in the same area as hunting for sheep. The price for that hunt has risen so much that I’m not sure that it’ll be called “The mountain hunt for the poor” as it has been not long time ago. In 2009, the price for a hunt for a American Mountain Goat was in twice cheaper than hunting for a Dall sheep. Elsewhere, the differences can be even more striking. In Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, you can hunt for Ibexes in the same mountains where you can hunt for Marco Polo. Kermit Roosevelt paid for the ibex hunting just a quarter of the cost of hunting argali. Mongolia is another great example. A couple of years ago I admitted that couldn’t allow myself to pay for a Gobi argali hunt, not talking about the monstrous cost of hunting the Altai Argali. But I dreamed to hunt in Mongolia and Bob Kern suggested me the next. We'd start from hunting for a Siberian roe deer and a wolf, then travel to Gobi and to hunt for a Gobi mountain goat and gazelle, after that we should travel once more to Altai and to hunt for a Siberian mountain goat. I spent three weeks in Mongolia, visited three geographical zones and took seven trophies. I paid the half price for all of them as if I had to pay for a Gobi argali hunting. If you look at the problem globally, you will notice that hunters have identified many more races of sheep than ibexes. You should have twelve trophies of sheep or ibexes to get the WorldSlam. GSCO established awards for hunting for twenty, thirty and even forty kinds of mountain ungulates. Rex Baker, winner of the Weatherby Award, said in a conversation with me: “It's easy to get thirty sheep/ But not so easy to hunt for thirty ibexes!” But it was so. Or is it just my imagination? The North America is an abnormal territory in the sense that there is only one ibex for every four (or six, if you count the California and Fannin bighorn) sheep. The situation in Europe is different. There are six (depending on what taxonomy you follow) mountain goats and six chamois to the only mouflon. You can get CapraWorldSlam even not leaving the continent. Asia offers a wide variety of both. Prices for ibexes there are lower because the outfitters have more permits. Africa is the complete opposite of everyone: hunting for Walia ibex are prohibited for years while an aoudad and a Nubian ibexes are the most complicated animals to hunt. There are not original bovids in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean and South America, just the introduced ones. Today, there is a great opportunity to hunt ibex on almost all continents of the Old World. In recent years, I have spent very little time hunting sheep. I want more but can't allow to myself. But I traveled a half of the world, hunted for two Mongolian mountain goats, for a couple of Spanish ibexes, for a Kri-Kri ibex in Greece, I got several chamois in Europe, Pyrenees, Carpathians and Balkans, had Dagestan tur in Azerbaijan and a tahr in New Zealand. Well, what's wrong with being an ibex hunter?     THE GOAT HUNTER By Craig Boddington

STATUS of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for 2002 Ovis canadensis (all subspecies): a low risk| depends on the protective measures. The population of bighorn sheep in the pre-Columbian era was about 1,5-2 mio animals (Seton, 1929). By 1960, their population in North America had declined to 15-18 thousand (Buchner, 1960), the population of Desert Bighorn Sheep was estimated in 7065- 8447 individuals. Thanks to the protective measures of the authority and other non-state organizations, their population has increased to 18965-19040 in the end of 1993. The endangered subspecies of the peninsular bighorn numbered 780-1170 individuals in Baja California, Mexico in 1993. The accounting was made by Sharkleton in 1997. Ovis canadensis canadensis = 36700; O. c. californiana = 8900; O. c. nelsoni = 15000; O. c. Mexicana more then 2000; O. c. cremnobates менее 2500 and O. c. weemsi = 500. Status IUCN Ovis canadensis cremnobates = endangered species. In 1998 it was added to the list of endangered species of U.S.F.W.S. The last accounting was done in 1998 (Rubin). The population numberd 334 animals.   CLASSIFICATION The Desert Bighorn Sheep category includes four subspecies described by Cowen in 1940: Nelsoni bighorn, Mexicana bighorn, Crembobates bighorn and Weemsi bighorns. There are three subspecies of the Desert Bighorn Sheep in Mexico. They are officially recognized by zoologists, have scientific credibility. Their reliability is based on anatomical differences and biogeographic considerations. All three Mexican subspecies were studied on samples from Mexico, which show regional differences.   DESCRIPTION (male) Males are tall at the shoulder (90 cm) and weight 68-77 kg. The adult sheep (127-157) long from the nose to the tail, tall at the shoulder (81-101 cm). Male bighorn sheep have large horn cores, enlarged cornual and frontal sinuses, and internal bony septa. The horns make a full turn to 7-8 years, the width to 84cm, weight to 13 kg. Females are about in 40% smaller than males. The scull of a desert bighorn sheep is smaller, ears are bigger and wool color is not so bright and wool is not long. They are smaller than Stone and Dall sheep and even Russian snow sheep. The white mirror has smaller size and is divided into two parts by the black line of a tail. Horns have the same size as Rocky Mountain sheep’ horns but not twisted so much. The horns look huge because of the smaller body size and short wool. They seem disproportionately large in relation to the body. The ewes have short and thin horns. The wool coat of the Mexican bighorn consists of a smooth brittle guard hair and a short and soft wavy undercoat of gray color. Their wool is light brown in color, paler than that of the American bighorn. The HABITAT is a desert consisting of arid lowlands separated by bare, often free-standing mountains. Sometimes a sufficient number of trees and tree-like cacti are found in the habitat area. Temperatures range from about 10°C in January to 35°C in July. Average precipitation: from almost zero in the western regions to 25 cm in the east. The altitude from sea level is almost 1500 meters. Typical vegetation: desert acacia, ironwood, mesquite tree, giant cereus.   Description by selected species  Nelson's bighorn sheep (Nelson Desert Bighorn Sheep) Ovis canadensis nelson It's was named after the American biologist Edward Nelson in 1897.  DISTRIBUTION: Arizona: northwestern part of the state. California: The southeastern part, mostly in the Mojave Desert, but also in the southernmost areas of the Colorado Desert. Colorado: southwest, south of the Colorado River and west of the Gunnison River. Nevada: Southern part. Texas: Western part. Utah: southwestern and south-central parts of the state. STATUS: Hunting is allowed. The limited number of hunting permits are sold in the auctions in Arizona, Nevada and some other states, but only few of them can be booked by the foreign hunters.   Mexican bighorn sheep (Mexican Desert Bighorn Sheep). Ovis canadensis mexicana DISTRIBUTION Mexico: Sonora Desert in the state of Sonora. Wild populations have previously lived in the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila, but have been exterminated; they are restored with help of animals caught in Sonora state. They habitat in Mexico and on the island of Tiburon. USA: Arizona: southwest corner of the state. New Mexico: southwest corner of the state. STATUS Hunting is allowed. They are managed by private landowners.   North Baja Desert Bighorn Sheep Ovis canadensis cremnobates DISCRIPTION The North Baja Desert Bighorn Sheep is the largest of the three subspecies that inhabit Mexico (Mexican, North Baja Desert Bighorn Sheep, and Weems' bighorn sheep,). Its body size is 20% larger, and its horns are about 16% larger. HABITAT In the state of Baja California, the territories occupied by the desert bighorn in the north (cremnobates) differ significantly in characteristics from the bighorn habitat in the south of the state (weemsi). Biogeographers divide Baja California into sub-regions based on climate differences, as well as differences in flora and fauna. DISTRIBUTION The peninsular bighorn lives in the territories from the border of Mexico and the United States in the north to the 28° parallel in the south. The southern boundary of the habitat runs in a straight line along the peninsula from the island of Isla Navidad in the west, through the city of Guerrero Negro and further east to the Gulf of California. NOTES At the moment, the population is not subject to hunting. No public or private organizations are working on changing the status.   Weems' bighorn sheep (South Baja Desert Bighorn Sheep) Ovis canadensis weemsi DESCRIPTION Anatomical differences include more than just horns. The color of the Weems' bighorn sheep is darker than other desert bighorns, and ewes have the longest horns of all wild sheep in North America. THE HABITAT a segment of the peninsula with a length of 1000 km. The habitat consists of an irregular, sometimes interrupted line of rocky formations extending to the south and north of the peninsula, decreasing in an easterly direction. The terrain is diverse, including mountain ranges, hills, plateaus, canyons, and zanders, mostly granite or lava. The bighorns mostly live on the eastern side of this long chain. Precipitation here falls mainly in summer and early autumn, averaging 9-12 cm per year. Sometimes there are showers. The climate is warm, with an average annual temperature of about 23°C. DISTRIBUTION The habitat is limited to the southern part of the Baja California Peninsula. This subspecies dwell south of the 28th parallel, south of the straight line from the island of Isla Navidad through the city of Guerrero Negro and further east to the Gulf of California. The southern subspecies (weemsi) lives in the Sierra de la Higanta biogeographic region of Baja California, the Sierra de la Higanta mountain range. This mountain range starts 25 km south of Baia de Concepcion and ends in the north of Baia de la Paz. Also, the subspecies inhabitant on the island of Carmen. The habitat is clearly defined geographically and biogeographically, so it is not surprising that the anatomical differences of the subspecies (weemsi) so pronounced in comparison with the northern subspecies. STATUS Hunting is allowed. The population in southern Baja California is tightly controlled by the Mexican government and private landowners. It has helped to form the population that allows hunting, although it is still small.  

The Caucasus occupies the isthmus between the Black and Caspian Seas. The northern border of the Caucasus goes along the Kumo-Manych depression, which in the Quaternary was a strait connecting the Caspian Sea with the Sea of Azov. The southern border of the Caucasus is drawn along the state border of the USSR (currently-the southern border of Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic and Georgia) and passes along the Akhuryan River, and then along a large natural boundary - the erosion-tectonic valley of the river. Arax. From the low current of the Arax river It goes by the Talysh idge and goes to the coast of the Caspian Sea at the point of Astara (Figure 1). From the point of view of physical and geographical zoning, the Caucasus includes the following territorial units:: Western and Middle Ciscaucasia; Tersko-Kum lowland; Greater Caucasus; The Colchian Lowland; The Kura Basin; Lenkoran lowland; Talysh Mountains; Small Caucasus; Javakheti-Armenian Highland, which is the northern part of the Armenian Highland.   The Greater and Lesser Caucasus are connected by the Likhsky Ridge, which is located to the east of the Colchis lowland. From the point of view of physical and geographical zoning, the Caucasus includes several quite diverse territorial structures, and is not limited to only one Large Caucasian Ridge. Consequently, the animal species inhabit this territory, and even more so being native, can rightfully be classified as Caucasian. These include the Bezoar goat and the Armenian mouflon, which are native representatives of the fauna of Armenia and the Caucasus. It is confirmed by scientific research and biological collections of the largest zoological museums in the world.   General help: Bezoar Goat (Capra aegagrus) has a fairly extensive range. The species is widely spread in Turkey, the countries of the Caucasian Isthmus, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and some other Asian countries. Moreover, this species is found on the islands of the Greek archipelago, and has also been successfully acclimated to other continents, such as North America (USA, New Mexico). One of the subspecies (C. a.Aegagrus), identified by researchers (Danilkin, 2005), lives in Turkey, Iran and the countries of the Caucasian Isthmus-Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The northernmost part of the modern range of the bezoar goat is in Russia. The Armenian mouflon (Ovis orientalis gmelini), which is also called the Armenian mouflon or Transcaucasian Mountain sheep, is an indigenous species of fauna of the Armenian Highlands. It dwells in Armenia (north of the Arax River), eastern Turkey, north-eastern Iraq, and north-western Iran. Separate groups of Armenian mouflons are detected in the territory of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic and in the south-western part of Azerbaijan. Outside of Asia, the Armenian mouflon was successfully introduced to the United States. According to the available data, the number of the species on the territory of Armenia is currently low. According to the most optimistic forecasts, the total population of the Armenian moufflon is only a few hundred individuals. In other parts of the range (Turkey, Iran), the number of the Armenian moufflon is much higher, the species is the object of trophy hunting. It should also be noted that the Bezoar goat and the Armenian mouflon are native representatives of the fauna of the Caucasus, but not endemic to this mountainous region at the same time. The reason for this is the absence of any significant barriers to the settlement of these species of animals, between the southern part of the Caucasus and other mountain ranges located to the south and west of it. We can say more: the southern border of the Caucasus is rather arbitrary and was largely formed not as a result of geological phenomena, but of a variety of historical and geopolitical processes that took place over thousands of years in this part of the Eurasian continent.  

Each trip starts from the list of the necessary things that I need to take with. The difficulty of our situation was that from the one side we were going to the mountain hunting from another one to the hunt, that would take place in the broad-leaved floodplain forests and from the third - we planned to fish. Moreover, we had weight limits - 20kg for a luggage and 5 kg more for a carry-on baggage. It was an ordinary requirement for airline passengers.     1. Waders are the obligatory thing, especially if you are going to fish. It’s better to buy them the bigger size than your normal boots to use the warm inserts. They are easier to dry and your feet will be warm.  If you are going just for fishing, I advise to buy the insulated waders to protect from wind and rain all your body. Probably you’ll wear them in the mountains too. I had special boots but my feet were always wet because herbage there was high and rain and dew drained down inside the boots by the pants and thermal underwear. My feet started to squelch in 4-5 hours.   You should use boots in the dry weather and only in the mountains, that's why you can take them as the reserve variant #2. There is not any sense to take low-top boots, you can't use them in the boat or to walk anywhere. Don't forget to take light boots or slippers for a camp you can fly in it. Most likely – sneakers. 3. I advise to take several pairs of warm socks. You’ll change them every day because they become wet during a day and I’m not sure that you can dry them because of Kamchatka weather.   4. Thermal underwear. It depends on you what kind of thermal underwear you prefer - synthetic or a wool ones but I advise to take not less than two sets. I’ve said that it’s a problem to dry things because of the wet climate but if you are going to hunt you’ll walk a lot and sweat that’s why you need to have the extra set. Sometimes two sets are not enough. Once we even stayed in the camp to dry our clothes in the hot bath house.   5. I recommend the softshell costume as the main hunting cloth. It breathes, rattles less, protects from wind and light precipitation, which prevail there. I had the Kadog set from Kryptek. The fleece jacket and the rain coat are enough for fishing. 6. The rain costume is an irreplaceable thing for Kamchatka weather. It has to have pants that you can put on not taking off shoes and to have an external non-rustling fabric of a protective color.  7. I used the touristic clothes from Marmot and Hart as the extra set.   8. I also took the light down jacket but used it just once. Unfortunately, "the dry down", that had to be dry, became wet and stuck together even under the light rain. It was raining nine days of ten while I was there.  9. Fortunately, I had Agis Extreme Cold Kryptek jacket. Made from membrane and tinsulite. It saved me, I was warm and dry. I liked that jacket very much and advised it to everybody. It suits for cold weather too. Telling the truth I didn’t wear that model in the cold weather but had the similar one with primaloft and it worked when the temperature was -25 degrees. The model for a cold weather had an insulation 100 g per meter and the jacket that I took had 80 gr per meter what was not critical. So, you need to have warm, waterproof jacket no matter what brand, you can choose what you like.   10. It’d be better to have two caps: fleece warm cap and a light one.  11. Gloves- two pairs of fleece gloves for hunting. If you are going to fish, you’ll need to have one waterproof pairs of gloves. I took neoprene gloves but didn’t like them.  12. Polarized glasses – for both mountains and rivers. 13. A waterproof backpack is very important because it protects all things that you carry inside.   14. A sleeping bag for -5 degrees. It is not colder at this time, as a rule. 15. A navigator wrist "Phoenix 2" company "Garmin". It’s an obligatory thing there. The flat forest doesn't provide any landmarks. It seems that you go the specified direction but go by circle in reality. It often happens when there is no sun. Not to mention the night. Never leave the camp without the flashlight during the day because nobody knows what can happen.   16. I used a Black Diamond headlamp. I’m not tired to praise this model. You can charge it through USB, it has the blocking from accidental switching on, and red diodes so that the animals do not see the light, not to mention the powerful spot and wide modes. The only thing I was sorry, that I did not take a powerful under-barrel gun – it was often needed. It was always dark when we left the camp and I was nervous when sailing a rubber boat by the rivers blocked off by fallen trees. In any case it was much better to have the visibility range of 30-40 meters. It is an absolutely necessary thing for hunting from the tower.   17. A multitool with a set of adapters is a necessary thing for any expedition. 18. Two cameras. Cybershots. I took two in case if something was wrong with one of them because of high humidity. Mine and my guide’s cameras didn’t work because of it. I used a GorillaPod as a tripod.   19. Don’t forget to take a solar powered battery for charging all gadgets The generator in the camp worked each day but not all of us had the possibility to charge all gadgets to the full, that's why all equipment worked autonomous.  20. I was disappointed by the satellite phone Inmarsat. I got through after the twentieth attempt. We needed the phone just for getting the actual weather forecast.  Or when we were discussing the plan when the chopper could arrive. 21. One more thing is a plastic shockproof, waterproof box for electronic gadgets.  22. Plus iPad in a protective case (to watch movies, to read books or to write reports).  23. Two knives. Mora knife was well-proven not only when we fished but when butchered the moose. A powerful Buck Ergohunter with SV30 steel is one hundred percent expedition knife.  24. The binocular Traditionally, I used Leica.   25. There were some small items of underwear, a first-aid kit, ingredients of Japanese cuisine, and so on.  26. I packed everything in the waterproof bag. It’s better to place the most valuable items waterproofing bag. 27. Fishing with the spinning rod. The optimal length of the rod is from 2 to 2,5 meters because you’ll fish from the boat too. The test from 10 to 50 g, that's enough to catch any fish. I had two rods DAM an Shimano.  28. You’ll need a special case to carry them. The airport staff will forced you to hand over your fishing rod in your luggage. I advise to have a fish net not to cut hands and it increase you chance to get the fish and not to broke the rod when you’ll pull out it. Usually, the guides have nets.  Inertia-free coils of size 2500-3000. There is not any necessity to wind the long cord. Take a cord or fishing line, according to your preferences, with a test of up to 10 kg. Salmon doesn't fight actively. 29. Spinning lures: 80 percent spinners-spinners. The local fish prefer silver spinners with the bright red or orange cores.  Size of spinners: from the 2nd for grayling to the 5th. The most popular ones are 4. The fish there don’t like feathers on the hooks. The remaining twenty percent are the wobblers (silvery, with bright spots) and small mice (they are loved here by large grayling). I cut three big fish and found mice in their stomachs. Will you grab some donkey gear. Some anglers use hooks with sinkers. The traditional set is two hooks. 30. First of all, you need a multi-tool –to remove the fish from the hook. The fish there are toothy, and the bait is swallowed deep.

The Latin name of the genus Rupicapra is formed from the Latin words rupes - a rock or a cliff and capra - a goat. The genus demonstrates a very difficult story that is not clear yet. After dozens of years of researchers and many hypotheses, the scientists haven't come to the general solution concerning the mono - or polyphilia of Rupicapra and the number of species and subspecies.   The most of zoologists agree that there are two kind of chamois - Rupicapra rupicapra and Rupicapra pyrenaicaс and many subspecies and geographical races.  R. pyrenaica has smaller scull and the horns are close to each other plus obliterated frontal-maxillary foramen; the winter wool of R. pyrenaica has wide light spots on the neck, neck, withers and rump while the summer one is dark and monochrome, except for parts of the head and neck. Tournament postures and courtship features of R. rupicapra and R. pyrenaica are also different. A chamois is a middle size animal, the average length of an adult animal is from 100 to 140 sm, and weight about 50kg. It has a robust constitution and reminds a goat. Sexual dimorphism is weakly expressed, females are only slightly smaller than males. Both genders have thin, black and curved horns. They are located quite close to each other, although there are variations among the described phenotypes. The horns grow vertically, curving sharply, forming a hook bent back, down, and slightly outward. The main rule says, the head with two horn that length is about two length of the head costs not less than 100 CIC points; a good circumference, a large distance between the ends of the horns, and age would probably make such a trophy worthy of a CIC gold medal. The fur of the chamois is thick and hard and shows significant seasonal variability-from pale yellowish-brown or red-brown to black-brown. You can easily see the dark line on its back, the sides are darker. Chamois dwell on steep, rocky areas in the mountains, including alpine meadows, open rocky areas, and mixed broad-leaved and coniferous forests. They are very agile even on very steep slopes and can jump almost 2 m in height and over a distance of about 6 m, running at a maximum speed of 50 km / h. Chamois are very loud and in case of alarm emit a sharp warning whistle. They prefer to stay on the Alpine meadows near the rocks on the heights from 1500 masl during summer time. In winter they descend to 1100m. The introduced chamois have been found in forests almost at sea level on the west coast of New Zealand's Southern Alps. They live separately the most time of the year but then the males that are older then six years old join the herd during the rut season. Currently, chamois are distributed intermittently: from the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain and the Iberian Massif of Spain and France in the west, over most of the middle and high mountain ranges of Southern and Central Europe (such as the Alps in Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland) to areas on the Balkan Peninsula. Chamois are also found on the peninsula of Asia Minor, up to the Caucasus range in the northeast. Alpine chamois have been introduced to several mid-altitude mountain ranges in Central Europe. The total population of the genus Rupicapra, more than 630,000 individuals, confirms the biological success of the chamois. Currently, the number and range of P. pyrenaica is increasing; the subspecies pyrenaica and parva are reasonably classified as "minimum risk", with a total population of approximately 60,0 The ornata subspecies has recently become a relatively stable population, but should be considered vulnerable to stochastic (random) events and unintentional hybridization, as the existing populations live in isolated areas and number approximately 1,635 individuals.  R. rupicapra is widespread and has a large population-up to 562,000 individuals. Forestry authorities in a number of countries (for example, Austria and Germany) require hunters to significantly reduce the chamois populations in order to preserve and restore protective forests in the Alps. Some of the less numerous subspecies of the common chamois (e.g., R. r. balcanica, R. r. cartusiana, and R. r. tatrica) are threatened by hybridization with the intentionally introduced Alpine chamois (R. r.rupicapra). Two subspecies of R. rupicapra are still threatened: R. r. tatrica, inhabitants on the border between Poland and the Slovak Republic in the High Tatras, and R. r. cartusiana, whose range is limited to a single mountain in France, although populations of both subspecies have increased over the past decade. The Caucasian chamois (R. r. caucasica) and, especially, the Lesser Asian chamois (R. r. asiatica), are also in a dangerous state or at least are subject to population decline. The reliable data about modern populations and population growth, legal mining, and poaching are scarce, and most records are fairly outdated, with the exception of a few private conversations with local scientists (for example, in Turkey and Georgia). The intraspecific taxonomy of animals is a rather arbitrary thing, and it assumes the possibility of separating almost any relatively isolated group of a generally recognized population into an independent taxon. The habitat is more important for hunters than features of the morphology or animal’s behavior because it allows them to travel and to visit new places. It provides a basis for the allocation of subpopulations of already known subspecies. One of them is the Vercors chamois. The Vercors Massif is located in the east of the French Alps, between the Drac Valley to the west, the Chartreuse Massif to the north, the Yser and Rhone valleys to the east, and the Drome Valley to the south. The highest point reaches 2341 m. This historic land was the first massif to be classified as a regional nature park. At the heart of this park is the largest nature reserve in France with an area of 17,000 hectares. The Vercors massif has a very good population of chamois. The management of this area and the distribution of licenses is the responsibility of the state, which allocates only a few licenses per year. The lands, where the company "Pro Hunt” organizes their hunts, have an excellent population and are characterized by excellent quality of trophies, since over the past 12 years only few hunts have been held in these lands. The hunting lands are bordered by a nature reserve, the hunting presure is very small. There are about 200 heads of chamois, the annual quota for shooting is 6 individuals of both sexes. Since the Vercors massif, like the Chartreuse massif, is an isolated massif, the Vercors chamois is quite entitled to be recognized as a special taxon (following the example of the Chartreuse chamois).

Wojteh Kononowicz is a well-known hunter not only in Belarus but in Russia too. He is highly respected for his commitment to the Right hunting, an impressive trophy collection (even for hunters from Western Europe) and hunting skill that not every hunter can show off. Today Wojteh is our guest and we present you the interview with this open-minded and friendly person.   “The Magic of the Real Safari”: Our traditional question what age was you when started hunting and who was your motivator? Wojteh Kononowicz: I felt in love with hunting from early childhood and it was my Grandpa’s fault. I was named after him. He was obsessed with hunting and all his sons were hunters too. I grew up listening to their endless hunting stories... “MR Safari”: Where was it? W.K. I was born in the village Borok, Stolbtsov district of Minsk region, in 1958. It's in the heart of Naliboki forest the biggest forest in Belarus and may be the whole Europe. That place means a lot for my country as the unique natural phenomenon and because of its historical value. It's closely connected with Radzivil’s family history. There is a church built in 1590. The hunting lands in that forest are the richest! They began just outside the village where I was born. It was more difficult not to become the hunters than the other way around. Telling the truth my father was less interested in hunting than his brothers – my uncles – were. We had a lot of wild boars and most of the hunters were interested in boar hunting though my Dad was hunting only for ducks during summer-fall time and for foxes and hares in winter. We've had hounds for as long as I can remember. Dad subscribed the magazine “Hunting and a game husbandry” that I was fond of reading. He was the only one who subscribed that magazine in our village and I still have several issued, published in 70s. I remember how we laid on the stove and read aloud the stories of Valery Yankovsky, Nikolay Smirnov, Mamin-Sibiryak and I imagined hunting to be the best holiday in the life. It was not just dreaming for me. My friends and I had, hidden single-barreled guns that used to shoot birds and hares in the permitted hunting time. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: When did you become the official hunter? W.K. It was much difficult to get the hunting permit at that time than now. In 1975, I graduated from high school and entered the Institute of Technology, the Faculty of Forest Engineering. Being on the practice I tried to move as far as it was possible to the forest, to taiga in Siberia. I’d been in Krasnoyarsk region twice as a member of expeditions to lay routes for logging roads. We lived in the tent on the shore of Yenisei. It was hard but I still remember those days. We hunted there and it reminded me hunts, I read in the books of F. Cooper, that was enough to aim for the taiga again and again. During my studies at the Institute, I was a member of the public nature protection squad. On weekends, the group of 3-5 students drove to the forest where we detained and handed over to the police poachers with weapons, lovers of fishing during the spawning period or with electric rods, illegal cutting of spruce plantations before the New Year. At the end of the university we were promised to be awarded with a diploma and a hunting ticket. But they didn’t give us any hunting ticket - they lied ... “MR Safari”: And...? W.K. After graduating the university, I married and stayed to work in Minsk - we built roads. I was used to visits the hunting shop after the work and once met there a fellow with whom we worked in the public nature protection squad. He was the director of the hunting farm which serviced the Party and Soviet elite. He gave me the recommendation - it was obligatory at that time to get the recommendation. I passed the selection committee exam at the hunting school and became an official hunter in 1986. Suddenly I met another problem that it was almost impossible to buy the rifle. There were none of them in the hunting shops. You can hardly believe how difficult it was to buy a smooth barrel gun a thirty years ago. I was lucky that my neighbor was an avid hunter and had three, and he sold me a one gun. It was Sauer “three rings”. There was a grave on the silver that announced that gun belonged to to Marshal Timoshenko. After that I bought the combined IZH -94 with the one barrel of 12 caliber and the second one for the Mosin cartridge. I was almost impossible for a person to get the rifled weapon at that time. In 2002 in Belarus the ban on the purchase of rifled weapons was lifted and I traveled to Moscow were bought Heym, cal. 30-06 Springfield. I hunted with it till 2012. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: When have you began to be interested in trophy hunting? W.K. I started from reading books about trophy hunting. The first book I read in the institute was written by Slisius, then continued to read about the Czech trophy hunting, described by Robskof where he described how they measured and estimated the trophies. I dreamed for a long to get a trophy of a boar. The first one I hunted and got, when bought the first rifle. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Let's go back, what hunting did you like before the trophy hunting? W.K. I was fond of hunting with dogs and had drathaars. One of my dogs was the Belarus Champion in the work class. It was an extremely intelligent and obedient dog! I could say it: “Sit near the trophy, I’ll make some pictures”, and it sat as long as I needed to make everything. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: There is a lot of wetlands out there. You have a great number of snipes, haven't you? W.K. Telling the truth, there are not many of snipes there. The hollyhock and crakes are common birds, and hunting has always been near the city or in the village with their parents. “MR Safari”: Let's come back to the trophies. Have you got the second and third boars? W.K. Yes, I have got them. I don’t hunt for them about a year and a half now because of the the plague but I’ve hunted a lot and have got many of them. I write down how many animals I’ve taken, where and the trophy's weight. I have a special scale and I weigh everyone. To date, I have take 299 boars only. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Unbelievable! Have you hunted all of them in the corral hunts or not? W.K. I have nothing against team hunting and take place in such hunts too but all boars have been got when I hunted alone. We had a lot of wild boar until 2013. The density of boar's population, in Vitebsk region where we hunted, was about 150 individuals for 17-20K ha. There is a hunting farm “Mosty” (Bridges), that owns about 120K ha of hunting lands. In 2012-2013 years we got 1500 boars there! “ The Real Safari Magazine”: There were many boars till 2013.. From what time their population began to grow? W.K. From the end of 90s or from 2000 year. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Have the poachers disappeared? W.K. The laws against poachers have become more severe and there was one more moment. If you have the opportunity to hunt as many times as you want, you don’t need all meat that you get from your hunting and we have begun to give excess meat to the guides that's why they haven’t need to poacher to get meat for themselves. It's known that guides are the most smart and experienced poachers. But the situation didn't change in such way everywhere. In places where the authority didn’t fight against poachers the boar's density of population was significantly lower. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Hunting from the approach is one of the most difficult, it makes a number of serious requirements for the hunter… W.K.: Especially the night hunting from the approach. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: I underline night hunting. A wild boar is a dangerous animal, and hunting from the approach is not only difficult, but also risky… W.K.: The accidents happen each year. Once I and a dog were chasing the wounded male... It was an early morning, about 5 am. We followed its track in the high grass. Suddenly it appeared from nowhere and attacked the dog. I should shoot from three meters. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: What is the most outstanding trophy in your collection? W.K. It takes the first place in the Belorussian Safari Club: fangs – 26.5 cm. The Moscow Safari Club has one or two more outstanding trophies. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: What about roe deer- in the hunting lands and in your collection? W.K. When I started to do trophy hunting, the region received 4-5 hunting permits per a season. Nowadays the usual number of hunting licenses for the hunting farm is about 15-20 permits for a season. As for me, I've got about 170 roe deer and four of them have Golden rank. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: In Russia we have many hunters but not enough animals. A hunting strategy of development of hunting industry, passed in the last year, i assumes an increase in the number, including ungulates, in six times, If I’m not mistaken. Many people have mocked it but the Belorussian experience shows that it's real in 15 years. How did you manage to achieve this? W.K. I believe that the biggest role in this case was played by the fact that the hunting industry was taken under the control of the President. The rampant poaching was no less than in Russia in 90s, and the moose was particularly affected. Today we can see the growth of animal’s population including moose. We couldn’t stop the poaching completely but reduced its level thanks to the passed laws. The great number of hunting lands including the common ones were given to the forest hunting farms. The majority of hunting farms are not profitable but the forest ones have funds that they receive from forest management, it allows to pay salary for rangers, and to provide biotechnologies. The profitable industry support the non- profitable one. Plus the effective private hunting farms. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Do you have the moose trophy? W.K.: I got it in 2010 in the hunting farm “Obsterno”, It is the moose trophy with the outstanding trophy characteristics. The fifth in Belarus and the first one in the Club. My deer is also number 1 in the Club. I took it near the Russian border in Vitebsk region in the hunting farm Babichevskoy that was one of the best in USSR. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: We’ve written about Kononovich’s skill to call wolves and to get them. How can you do it? W.K. Probably the God gave such a skill. It's true that wolves come to us when I call them. This year we got 20 wolves. I shot 9 wolves and one more I got when we hunted with flags. I have 49 wolves on my account. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Do you have a bear? W.K. Of course, The bear hunts started from Vologda. My fellow Sasha Varivodsky once settled in the Vologda region, and the first time I hunted there from the labaz. It was the new experience and was very emotional. I visited him about six time and got four bears. Later I hunted with Sergey Khromyh and we got the Himalayan bear on the Far East of Russia. But then my wife asked me not to shoot bears. And I didn't hunt them till 2001 when friends persuaded me to join them in the hunting trip for Kamchatka bear. I flew there and got it. Later the same year I visited Karachaevo - Cherkessia where got the trophy of the Caucasian bear. I heard that a hunting club was going to establish the award “Russian Bears Top Ten”. Or twenty? It is necessary to "collect points" slowly. Today I have five different bear trophies. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Will you tell us about your hunting geography outside Belarus. W.K. I once worked in Mongolia, building the city of Erdenet. And once in 1990 I flew home on vocation. It was the first time when I saw foreign hunters and foreign hunting magazines. It happened in the airport. They were from Spain. We had only “"Hunting and hunting economy” that wasn't so beautiful. At that time, it also printed in black and white. Then in Sheremetevo I saw the trophy of ibexes. It was something! I was so impressed by them that coming back from the vacation I asked the locals to sell me the horns of Ibexes. I got sick of trophy hunting. As soon as good hunting magazines appeared in Russia, I began to write them out from the first issues. The most desired one was “Safari”. I'd got involved in hunting tourism thanks to that magazine and began to hunt not only in Belarus but all over the world. Russia is an abroad country for us now but the generation that has been born in USSR treats it like a part of our country. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Are there any problems with hunting in Russia? W.K. The only problem is with the arm’s transfer, especially through Sheremetyevo airport. The Belorussian citizen is a foreigner and has to be accompanied by the local representative. I know that people from Germany or Italy needs the local representatives but why do we need them? If I fly to Kamchatka through Domodedovo, I don’t even touch the rifle when changes the flight in Moscow, all paperwork is drawn without me. But in Sheremetyevo I should take it on the first floor then carry to the third and give to the officers. It’s a strange situation. Why? We are used to it and know how to avoid it. “MR Safari”: Do you like Africa hunts? W.K. Not so. I don’t know why but I’m never interested in hunting in Africa. It comes from the childhood. I was grown on the book “Doctor Aibolit” and couldn’t imagine how to shoot a push - and- pull animal. I couldn’t imagine how to aim zebras or an elephant that admired in the circus when I was young. Probably I’d like to hunt for a buffalo but haven't decided yet. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: What about predators? W.K. Predators.. May be... “MR Safari”: It’d be logical to talk about the Belorussian Safari Club. When and how was it formed? W.K. It was established 6 years ago. Gennady Kanoyko accompanied me in the most of hunting trips when I began to collect trophies and to hunt abroad. Once our friend Sergey Verbitstsky organized a hunt in Kyrgyzstan. The group, that flew there, consisted of me and several young hunters included Dmitry Bogush. There we began to discuss the idea how to make such club. After a while we realized that the only man who could realize that project, was Dmitry Bogush. He had all necessary skills and knowledge but wasn't sure that would have enough time to do it. We persuaded him and he agreed. The Club exists thanks to his management skills and promotion. Our task was to involved the definite number of people to start the process. We invited all our friends- hunters and they all agreed to take part. Some of them left the Club later, it's normal and always happens. The last crisis year showed who was the real member of the Club. There are about 20 members now and it's enough to organize Club events. The doors don't close at all and we hope the number of members will grow. Or somebody will leave the Club. I like it and cheer for the Club's future that's why they call me “Grandpa”. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Belarusian hunters celebrate St. Hubert's Day every year. Who do you celebrate it in the Club? W.K. We have a priest in the Club. He is a Club member. His name is Antony Antonovich Klimantovich. It was his initiative to organize a general gathering of the Club to celebrate this holiday. We have a club banner with an embroidered image of Saint Hubert, and all events are organized under it. Our Minsk Metropolitan Tadeusz Kondrusevich never missed this day, he always came, even if no more than fifty people gathered. He came and always read a sermon on the theme of the holiday. Each year the Club members with families gather at this day. The first day we take part in the corral hunting and pheasant hunting on the next day.  “ The Real Safari Magazine”: How did you start mountain hunting? W.K. Since I was a student, I had a dream to travel to Altai. But something prevented me from it. I traveled all around Siberia but couldn't visit Altai. Once I was on the big hunting Show, organized by the Safari magazine. It took place in The Olympic Sports Complex on Proskpect Mira. There I met Konstantin Salaikin the owner of the company “Uch- Sumer” and he invited me to Altai. And I flew. It was a difficult but very emotional hunting. Though I was born and grew in the village I never rode horses. But there we were riding all 12 days. It was the extreme horse-riding trip in the mountains. There I got the ibex and the maral. It was my first trophy hunting, organized in the new place. And the first one when you enjoy the process and enjoy the difficulties. I began to respect myself when could overcome my weaknesses. Then I read the book of Alexander Khokhov “The top of hunting” and traveled to Bulgaria to get a mouflon. Unfortunately, I didn’t like that kind of hunting. Later I read in the Safari magazine that the hunting company from Okhotsk invited hunters to take part in the snow sheep hunting and my friends and I flew there. Each of us got a trophy there. Mountains there were not high and we felt well. It was nice. Later the other guys from our Club traveled there but not successfully. We were lucky. We take off shoes and move in the socks when hunt the boar. I did the same when hunted the sheep and could approach it on 15 meters from above. I missed completely, because the bullet caught the edge of the rock and ricocheted away. I could get it only when I moved on 200 meters from me. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Do you think about hunting in the serious mountains? W.K. The next hunt was in the serous ones. I hunted with Yuri Matisson. It was dangerous. Really dangerous and tough. I had to make two stops when going up from the second to the third floor in the hotel. The adaptation was very difficult and took three days. But my friend and I had got the trophy of Marco Polo each. Then I hunted in Tian Shan in the hunting farm of Moskovsky Komsomolets. Each of us got Tian Shan argali there. My fellow took one more trophy of the ibex and I couldn’t. I saw them but didn’t have a chance to shoot. Three times I flew to Kamchatka, where got trophies of a sheep, a moose and a bear. Two turs had been taken in Kabardino- Balkaria, the Caucasian and a Kuban turs. I shot them both in the same gorge but on different slopes. Later after analysis they happened to be Central Caucasian turs - both. Thus, I had to get the trophy of the Dagestan tur in Azerbaijan and a Kuban tur in Karachaevо - Cherkessia. There I got a chamois though had one, got in Azerbaijan. I became the first Belarusian who got The Mountains five and was awarded. After it I decided to collect the Great Seven and need just a lynx. We have lynx in our country but they are in the Red Book of Rare species. That's why I flew to Russian once again. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: How do you train for a mountain hunting? W.K. I never train specially. A man of 45-50 years old who hunts regularly and is in a good physical form, doesn't need to train specially for a mountain hunting. We didn’t run up and down by the stairs of high-rise buildings and didn’t go to the gym. As for the way of hunting I’m very experienced in hunting from the approach to the animal. As I’ve said above, thanks to my experience I've learned to approach the roe deer in socks without boots. There wasn’t any opportunity to shoot the animals from 100 meters and more. We approached it on 30-50 and even 15 meters. Same with the boars. The gun and optics, I used that time, was not high quality. We sewed clothes from cotton not to rustle. In the beginning I used it for the mountain hunting too. It looked funny. Nowadays there is a great choice of mountain clothes and several companies produce clothes for the mountain hunting only. Same with the boots. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: How did the idea of what to take, how to dress for hunting in the mountains change? W.K. I needed to buy mountain boots for the first mountain hunting in Altai. There were not special boots in the shop. I went to the market in Minsk and bought the Polish boots on the on a thick rubber sole. The seller assured me that they were especially for mountains. They cost 40 dollars. We arrived to Altai and rose to the mountains. The rut season hadn’t begun yet and we decided to start from the ibex. We got up in early morning. The staff began to make fire and to cook breakfast. The guide suggested me to go and check the surroundings while the rest were cooking. We went and detected the group of ibexes! It looked easy, just went down then up and to shoot. We both felt ourselves like heroes. We began to descend by the rocks. At that moment I realized what a fantastic boot, I had bought. My leg above the ankle was clamped with shoelaces and dangled in the boot. We went down. Then began to rise. The ibexes were having rest on the ridge edge and weren’t in a hurry. It seemed nothing difficult just to come close and to shoot. Suddenly the guide began to shout: “Shoot! Shoot faster!” I didn’t take the comfortable position yet, turned to the side, leaned on something and shot. The ibexes were blown away. Then we went down though none of us felt like heroes. Suddenly I felt that couldn’t make a step. I took off boots and found that all soles were calluses. The bloody calluses were under the fingers! We were going to finish everything in twenty minutes. But it took us three hours. From that time, I always say to the guides: “If you say a word under your arm, forget about the tip." I remember one more thing. The guide went for the horses and I left near the creek. I was thirsty. Near the old bonfire I found two old rusty cans, made fire, burned cans and boiled water with the blackcurrant leaves. So, I restored the water balance. Later in Moscow I bought nice mountain boot, they cost me 200 dollars. They were really for mountains. Now I have four pairs of mountain shoes, but the ones, I bought in Moscow are still the best. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Why do you need three pairs more? W.K. I always trust the sellers. They know what you have to buy. One time I bought boots that keep me warm till -15C, as the seller promised but in reality I was cold in them even it was 0 degrees. Some seller sold me waterproof boots but it was not true also. I trust people and each time want to buy the best but practice shows that only 5% of promises are true and keeps your requirements. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: What else from your equipment have you improved? W.K. I said good buy to cotton clothes. Today I use thermal underwear and have several sets - for hiking, and to keep warm from merino wool and so. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: What arms do you use for hunting in the mountains? W.K. I didn't buy any special weapons for a long time. For ten years I was hunting with my favorite Heym cal. 30-06 Spring. I hunted and got lots of trophies from moose to bears using that gun. Then my fellow persuaded me to buy an ORSIS precision rifle. It was really high-precision one but I didn’t like it. I took it to Kamchatka when hunted for a snow sheep but it was heavy and I was tired to carry it. I needed a special one for the mountain hunting. According the law in Belarus you can have just two rifled guns. I have the double-barreled shotgun Merkel for corral hunting - the lower barrel is also 30=06 cal and 12 cal is the upper one. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Do you like cal. 30-06? W.K. I hadn’t any problems with it. It allows to have a good choice of the bullets and have a good trajectory... “MR Safari”:How many mountain trophies have you? W.K. I have eight sheep, one ibex, three turs and two species of chamois. I mean species because some of them I have two trophies of one species. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: I could hardly imagine your trophy room. Where have you keep them? W.K. I have three trophy rooms in a country house. The first one was the room for my mother-in- law. She refused to live there and I decided to keep my trophies there. At that time, I hunted mainly birds, and there are mostly stuffed birds. I call it “the room for birds”. As many men, born in USSR, I couldn’t imagine my live without the workroom and made in the basement. Hunting took all my time and I had no extra time to make something in the workroom, that's why I decided to use it as one more trophy room “For boars”, the majority of trophies there are boars. There are medallions with fangs, but some full-size trophies- the head of my first boar, the fifth, the hundredth and so. I also have several unusual trophies such as a boar with interesting pockmarked skin and a white boar. I have several horns of reed and roe deer there. When the second room was full, I began to hunt in Russia and had nothing to do but to rebuilt the garage. I built it higher on a meter and a half and deepened in 1,5 meters. The result was a room of 8x4. 5 meters. My first thought when I came into it in the first time was: "Will I ever be able to fill it with trophies? » There are not space room there now. I came to the thought to build a huge hunting house with space trophy rooms and are in the process now. I hope to finish it in two years to my anniversary and all trophies from the rooms will transfer there. “ The Real Safari Magazine”: Thank you for the interview! We wish you a successful completion of all your plans and many, many more hunts!

I guess that about eighty percentage of hunts in the mountains are organized with the usage of horses. Mountain massive in our country have no roads and other transport links in comparison with Europe. One of my clients who lives in Switzerland has told me that he goes for hunting by the mountain tram. We can reach the hunting area where the density of mountain ungulates is high by horses only. It makes the process easier and can save hunter’s strength if the equipment works well and the horse won't kick. Moreover, the hunter has to know how to ride horse.    Riding horse even by the plateau is a stress for non an untrained person. I don’t talk about the descendants of Kazaks and Kazakhs, riding is in their blood. I remember my friend has described his feelings after he has galloped one lap on the hippodrome: “I felt as if each of my organ wanted to tear off and the only desire to survive has kept me in the saddle”. Riding is the most traumatic activity in the process of mountain hunting. I don't want to scare anyone, but last year I has to save a guy who fell down from the horse and have broken both legs. Two guides died in 2013, the horse of the first one slides on the ice and It was pulled under the ice together with the rider, the second one fell from the horse and got a fractured skull.  In that year I also fell three times from the horse because of the poor riding gear and once because of the slippery road. That's why I advise you to get the riding course if you take part in mountain hunting. The hippodromes are in the most towns. Riding by the plain won’t prepare you to all obstacles that you can meet in the hunting trip but it’ll teach you not to be afraid of horses and to hold in the saddle. The rider's behavior when he just begins to get the mountain experience is the main reason of all injuries and falls. I’ll give you some advices below how to avoid such mistakes. But let me tell you a little theory before. The base of riding gear is a saddle. It helps to distribute the rider’s weight on the horse back. The saddles that are mostly used in Kazakhstan mountains belong to the cavalry type. The saddle is put on the coat (made from wool or other materials that add the comfort to the horse). The stirrups are the belts and steel brackets for legs. Girth fixes a saddle on the horse. There has to be two of them. The first one is fixed on the front part of the horse’s belly and the second on the end. The crupper - the belt on the horse croup that fixes the saddle and doesn’t allow it to slide it to its head while riding down.  The breastplate is also the belt that goes across the horse breast and connects with the saddle and the girth. It didn’t allow the saddle to slide back when riding up. The bridle is the "steering wheel", the main control element of the animal. It’s a belt system that puts on the animal's head and has the aluminum segment (bits), put between the horse's jaws. A saddlebag is used to carry luggage. It’s a double bag that is attached to the saddle behind the rider. In the mountains (and not only in the mountains), a noose is used, a thick rope 5-6 meters long for gartering ungulates. All horses must be shod! Good studded horseshoes will provide a reliable grip on any surface.   The saddle can be fixed by the crupper or the girth only.   Quotes: The bridle:  1- occipital belt; 2-frontal belt; 3-cheek belt; 4-portable belt; 5-chin belt; 6-connecting belt; 7-chumbur; 8- iron bits; 9-reins Set of cavalry saddle (without crupper):  1-front and rear bows; 2-left and right shelves; 3-seat; 4-wings; 5-girths; 6- stirrups; 7- breastplate; 8-sweating coat with sweating roof; 9-saddlebags; 10-pack belt Stage one - How to choose a horse. Be honest with your host. It’s better to say that you don't ride well and ask to give you the calmest horse. Horses like dogs are smart and scientists consider their intelligence comparable to the intelligence of a four-year-old child. They have feelings and a character. The horses with bad character can ignor the rider at all and won’t follow his commands.   I always try to be on friendly terms with the horse before the riding, talk to it, treat it to an apple or a piece of salted bread, and rub the horse behind the ear. The main thing is not to be afraid and don’t jump aside at the first move. The animal will feel your timidity and use it against you. The horse must feel the confidence of the rider and know who is in charge in your tandem. Don’t shy to motivate it by the good rod. It doesn’t mean to beat the horse but to show it your firmness and the inevitability of punishment. You should achieve the execution of the command of you gave it. I consider geldings (castrated horses) to be the best riding horses for the town riders. The stallions run faster but they have characters and only locals can control them. The gelding is almost always calm, easy-going and manageable.  Many years I hunted in the hunting farm and always used the gelding called Landcruiser. I rode it ten years and it never let me down. When it became old and the owner didn’t need it anymore, I bought it. Now it just grazes and rides the kids. The horses have a very good memory. They will definitely recognize you even in several years.   The second stage - the equipment.  The ideal set consists on the comfortable saddle with two girths, the crupper, the breastplate and the bridle with the long reins. But I saw and used it just few times during my long hunting career. I don’t know why and what it depends on. The people don't use the breastplate not talking about the crupper. It's a common situation when the saddle is fixed on the only girth made from the available materials.  All times I fell it happened because of the torn girth. Don't seat on the saddle fixed by the only belt.  Two girths are minimum! They can reply you that there are not any other belts that’s why I suggest you to buy everything beforehand - the bridle, a couple of girths, a crupper and a breastplate. I advise to have that set as a minimum when you are going for a mountain hunting if you can’t take you own saddle. I try to take the full set including the saddle, the only left to have the horse with me. It's a joke but I recommend not to trust the host’s words that their riding gear is well.   The second component after safety is your comfort. You have to adjust to the length of the stirrup, the legs the legs should be only slightly bent and the distance from the groin to the saddle was a couple of centimeters. The bridle’s reins have to be long enough to compensate the tilt of an animal’s head or you can lose it. The saddlebag attached to the saddle behind you shouldn’t prevent you to get in and dismount from the horse. If you feel that the bad makes discomfort you’d reload in on the place, there won’t be any chance to do it when you are riding.   Try to pull the girth after the guide has tighten it. It’ll allow you to estimate how they’ve tightened it and you’ll be able to control it later. It often happens that the guides loosen it when you make stops and forget to tighten, you jump into the saddle, it curls up and you fall down. You comfort correlates with the form of your ass and the saddle. I know they don’t coincide in most cases. That's why I suggest to use the soft flat pillow from batting that eliminate these inconsistencies. Long trips on a leather seat without a cushion usually end in bloody calluses on the most delicate places. Another one is "motivator". A good kamcha (a whip) is not even a piece of equipment, it is a piece of applied art. I found mine in the mountains (it's a good sign). The kamcha can say a lot about its owner. It’s not only a tool for prodding but the Kazakhs say that Satan is afraid of yellow kamcha, it's a amulet. The story of the Great Genghis Khan began when he found a golden kamcha (a whip).  A piece of an old cord can also suit well. A simple willow rod also copes well. There is no any need to to lash the animal on the sides constantly, it is enough to indicate the movement with swings. Do not twist the whip around the horse's head – it may instinctively jerk sharply to the side.    How to control the horse. Let’s imagine that you have a gelding.   The first rule: Never come to the horse from its back. It can get scared and kick instinctively. It hurts. Once, the harmful gelding kicked my fellow and broke the carbine's stock. Everything was fine. But he should buy the new stock. Some of the horses can bite. Do not lose your vigilance, if you see that the horse is sniffing you actively, tell him something strictly, they understand the intonation.  The second rule: Sit the horse from the left side. It started from the Cavalry; the saber did not allow them to sit on the other side. Most of the horses don't like when the rider sits from the right. Keep the reins by the left hand while sitting the horse and hold on to the horse’s mane by the same hand but don’t hurt it. Beginners usually grab the front pommel of the saddle- it's not right.  Put your left foot in the stirrup If you have problems with stretching or the horse is tall, do not hesitate to bring the horse to a stone or a log, so that it is easier to saddle it. Lean on the stirrup and throw your right leg over the saddle. Then insert the second leg into the stirrup, stand up on straight legs, fix your clothes so that there are no creases and other inconveniences.  The third rule: the horse management teams are most likely the same everywhere. Chu- means go ahead, Trr- - stop. The horses don't understand when you say by voice “to the left, right or go faster”. Some of them can distinguish obscene language in the local language. All commands are transmitted tactically. The commands to the left or to the right are made by the pulling of the reins to the side where you are going to ride. The command "chu" is accompanied by blows of heels on the sides of the animal or and (or) by hitting the whip on the animal's rump, and "trr" by pulling the rein on itself.  The guide rides the first, as a rule, and the rest of the group follows him. If you stay alone, choose the mountains paths, don’t ride along the slope. It can be dangerous.   A horse can slide down on stone landslides. Be always ready to jump out, don’t be lazy and go near the horse on the most dangerous parts. I recommend to dismount the horse when you are descending because it tires much more when riding down with the rider than when goes up and it’ll be a good exercise for the hunter to walk. Beware of wet clay trails and snow with frost after rain, the horses can slide and can fall off with all four legs. Use your feet to absorb shock when jumping over ditches.    Features of horse riding in the mountains Do not forget while sitting in the saddle that they are alive although strong, has their own margin of safety. Mountains require additional effort from the rider, unlike trips on the plain. Your task it not to be a bag on the horse’s back. You have to balance all the time and to help the horse like on rodeo. You should carry you center of gravity in dependence on the horse’s movements, lean forward close to the animal's neck if you ride up and lean back to its croup when riding down. Always tilt to the opposite side when the horse lean to the side.   Redistribute your weight using the legs in the stirrup and don’t shy to move in the rhythm of horse’s movements. Don’t overwork the horse because it can lay down and not to stand up anymore. And most importantly, do not try to think for the horse, he has four legs, and you have two! The horse thinks in its own way and knows much better where to step, they also do not like when it hurts, and are afraid of fractures! In the camp. It's important to pay a little attention to your four-legged assistants when you stop in the camp. It is the duty of the horse breeder, but just in case I will write about it.  The first thing to do is to relax the girths. Don’t take off the saddle and the coat. The horse should cool down, depending on the time of year, from an hour or longer, in the cold, you cannot remove the saddle at all.  The second thing is to relax the reins and pull out the bit to allow the horse to graze. It’s better to roll up the reins around the bridle not to tangle them.  The third thing: Tighten the girth to the upper part of the saddle. The horse can lay down if it's tired and the girth can hurt the animal or to get caught on something.   The fourth: Detach the saddlebag. Otherwise, the horse will try to get rid of the annoying load by riding on its back.  The fifth: The horse must either be hobbled or tied with a rope so that it does not go home – this happens quite often.   Crossing the river You will cross rivers while hunting. It’s always dangerous. You can't see what is there under the water and the horse can slip up. It can be taken down by the strong current of the mountain river. It's dangerous to wade across the river in the winter time when the part of the river is covered by thick ice but it's open on the places where the current is too fast. The horse and the rider should go by ice then to jump into the rough flow and then to climb out on the ice. The edges of ice are always sharp and brittle. Two years ago, we had to wade across the river in such conditions twice because the main road was blocked by the avalanche. It's hard to put in into words. I prayed to all Gods and swore to avoid such situations in future.  Unfortunately, in 2014 the guide whom I knew died in the same situation when crossing the river. Keep the distance when wading across the river about 3-4 meters, your horse needs it to navigate by the one in front and it’ll reduce the risk. It’s better to keep the same distance when riding up or down not to clutter the movements of other riders. It's save you if the horse of the one in front will slide or fall down and the branches won’t hurt you too.  When it's too deep the horse can start to swim. You’ll understand it by the absence of hoof beats and it will start to drift along the current. Don't panic! The horse can safely swim with the rider on its back! Sit calmly, and do not interfere with the animal to cope with the situation. The maximum that you face (if there are no rapids downstream) is wet feet.    Transportation of weapons and assault backpack Due to the dense vegetation in our mountains, as well as untreated trails, I believe that the carbine should be carried on the back, wearing the shoulder strap over the head. The rifle is securely fixed, your hands are free: the left one keeps the reins while another keeps the whip. You'll need free hands to protect yourself when threading among bushes and forests.  if the branches across the path are too low, you need to turn the carbine around your neck with your right hand so that it does not cling to them. I don’t recommend to carry the carbine in the backpack because there is a chance that it’ll cling on something and you’ll fall down from the horse or damage the equipment.   I put my backpack on my back. It's not heavy and I don't get tired of it but it protects the spine from the damage if I fall down and helps to keep the rifle in the vertical position. None of variants with a holster strapped to the saddle work. There is a risk that the horse will bend the barrel or collapse the optics if fall sideways.   It follows that you should have your own saddle if you can drive to the mountains by car. If not, I advise to have the minimum set, included a couple of girths, a crupper and a breastplate. It’s not heavy even if you travel by plane but it’s universal and suits to all Nomand's saddles.     The history of a saddle. The history of the saddle with a front and rear bow and an iron stirrup dates back one and a half thousand years, this is the basic innovation of the peoples of the Turkic Khaganate.  The millennial experience of our glorious ancestors deserves respect Now we use two types of the saddles. The first one, known as a steppe saddle or some people call it a Kazakh or Cowboy saddle.   The horn on the front pommel of these western saddles is a torment to the hunter: it beats directly to the solar plexus when you are riding up, it's easy to break the binocular by this horn and it prevents you to jump "over the head". The back cantle isn't comfortable when you ride up, you feel as if you fall from the saddle.   The next saddle for a mounting riding is called a Cavalry saddle. It distributes the load on the horse's back as evenly as possible and is quite comfortable for the rider. A high pommel and a cantle guarantee a good rider’s fixation not matter if you ride up or down. Nothing superfluous, the saddle is light and ergonomic. The saddle top is made from leather, the panels are covered by felt plus a thick coat under the saddle. It is the best choice for horse riding in the mountains.  A traditional Kazakh saddlebag “korzhyn’” is the most comfortable model to carry the load on a horse. The proper korzhyn - this is a rarity, they are now used infrequently, so manufacturers don't produce them anymore. The used materials are tarpaulins, less often kirza or banner fabric.  The disadvantage of the fabric bags is that they rip when clinging on the bushes. The best ones are made from the banner fabric, the same as the inflatable boats are produced. This strong reinforced material is difficult to damage, it is waterproof, that is very important during transitions in the rain and when transporting meat. It is better to use reinforced plastic boxes for long-term expeditions. Dry food and small equipment can break in soft bags when the horse rubs against the trees or rocks on the narrow paths.     A couple more things you need to know Moving at night on a horse is an unpleasant process for a rider. You can't see where you are riding. But there is nothing to be afraid of. A horse's night vision is much better than a human's and it will always find its way in the starlight. I don’t recommend to use bright flashlights because horses don’t like and are afraid of white light, especially at night. A powerful beam blinds it and can lead to irreversible consequences. It can have sense when crossing the rivers. That situation is so dangerous that I suggest to use the light.   The best option is to use the red light of the head lamp. Horses can't perceive it. You can turn on the diffused white light at the lowest brightness when riding on the rocks in the most difficult parts. I used Black diamond flashlights for many years already. They have several light regimes from red to the diffused white.   Mountain riding in the mountains is slow. You sit in the saddle, hold the reins tight by the left hand and a whip in the right. There is not any need to hold on the saddle with both hands. The horses can break into a trot when you are riding back to the base. This is the most uncomfortable way of the horse riding; you have to amortize with the legs and move the body in the lower back.  Nobody gallops in the hunting trips. All horses ride in their own way. I like how the pacers ride. But you can hardly meet them in our mountains. Mountain horses on the Tien Shan or Altai are short but strongly built, with a short back and a strong neck. They are perfect for mountains. My best horse, I’ve ever met, was in Altai. We climbed Belukha mountain. I haven’t met smarter and stronger horse. It jumped on the rocks with me sitting on its back. I was going to buy it in that May but its’ owner boozed it in the winter. Our mountain horses are our great friends and reliable assistants.  And in conclusion, a few tips in random order:  1. Don’t water the horses on the route, and don’t water them until they cool down (from an hour or more); 2. It is not recommended to allow horses to eat grass on the move, you can fall if the horse bends its head to the ground on the descent; 3. If you are placed in a definite place on the mountain, keep the horses together, otherwise they will start to neigh, trying to establish where one of the brothers is, thereby giving away your location; 4. At the beginning of the season, when driving for a long time, your knees often start to hurt, it's not terrible – release your legs from the stirrups in turn to restore blood circulation; 5. If the seat is very stiff, move to the hip, while keeping the center of gravity on the axis of the saddle, tilting the body in one direction or the other.

Two years had passed since my first visit to Altai from Kazakhstan where I hunted for a Siberian ibex. It was a very active trip and hard hunting. Telling the truth, I wasn’t satisfied by the results because there were not many trophy size goats and I couldn't to get the big one. But I knew a lot during that trip and started to prepare for the new one.     Hunting was organized on the mountain slopes that united four countries - China, Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan. The guides told me that animals came to the territory of the Republic and stay for a winter time during the rut season. The wreckage of Soviet shepherd’s cabins, we met on our way, confirmed that information. If sheep could feed there in winter, the ibexes would find what to eat too. From the very beginning I understood that hunting there wouldn’t be an easy walk. In October it was really cold and snow cover was about a half of a meter. The hunting area was in two hours ride by horses from the lodge.  Four hours ride (two hours in a one way) was not only tedious but it was a waste of time, we didn’t have enough light hours. Thus, we resolved to stay in the tent on the top. I trained the whole year to be in a good physical form - trainings, winter equipment and so. Unfortunately, I couldn't arrive there in the last year, the hunting trip was planned on the beginning of December but the host canceled it because didn’t have licenses. I wasn’t upset because the average temperature at that time was -35C in day and dropped to -42C at night.  But next season I booked everything beforehand. The outfitter #1 in Kazakhstan, the leader and the inspirer of hunting tourism of the ProHunt company Nurlan Kikimov did his best and get the hunting license for an ibex. Thanks to him a lot for the support! So, I was going to travel at the end of November - beginning of December. Then the host confirmed the final date - December the 1st. The weather forecast promised unbelievable figures. It should be expected much warmer than usually about - 5 -10 degrees on the sun. Fantastic! My fellow, who was going to hunt for a maral in same areas, and I drove to the place. We should drive about 1650 km but it was a hard trip. The thaw caused fogs during all hours while we were driving. But we arrived.   Let's go! I talked with the guides before our arrival and insisted on staying in the tents on the top to save time and strengths. I knew how they hate to stay in the tents in winter and prepared for everything. I took warm sleeping bags, mats, one more tent, a gas stove, sublimates and many other things. The only thing which I didn't take was a rubber girlfriend.   We stopped by to pick up the guide and drove to the Base. After arrival our team decided not to waste time and began to pack the necessary equipment. Other guides with the horses arrived to the base in the beginning of 9 am and it took us some more hours to ride to the place. It was about noon when we arrived. We detected the group of goats including trophy size males while riding to the place. They were left for a dessert.   I knew where the main circus was, animals preferred to stay there. I pulled out the scope, that bought specially for that expedition and examined the surroundings. Two groups of ibexes were feeding there. Then had spotted the group, consisted of males only. There were about 30-40 animals. But the group was moving somewhere. The guides looked confused. - Somebody frightened them... We didn’t have much time to think it over and decided to follow the group. Climbing wasn’t hard. We were rising by the old snow avalanche that was like a stone. It was a pleasure to go by there in the crampons. Then we reached the snow part, it was melting under the sun and sticked to the crampons, we had to make stops to clear boots.   Views were amazing and it was warm. I was dressed in special clothes and covered by camouflage and have some extra clothes in my backpack. The kryptek camouflage was one of the best in my life and helped a lot at that expedition. It was light, waterproof and made with the usage of last technologies. Softshell worked well when I climbed and if the wind became stronger it also helped. The “Yeti” costume protects from the wind but you feel comfortable even there is no wind. There are special zippers to remove excess heat.  We reached the overview point and detected several group of ibexes, some of them were in 200 meters below us. I noticed trophy size males (from 100 to 110sm). We didn’t approach them but followed the big group. At last, we found their tracks and saw other ones... wolves. It was the reasons why ther were running. The guides looked surprised. There were not many wolves there, they said us before that's why I didn’t take my waba to howl to the wolves. Talking ahead I’d say that we heard and saw wolves each day. It was an abnormal year.  It was 4.20 pm and it was getting dark already. We couldn’t catch up with the group. Later we noticed one more herd and there were several animals and the distance allowed to shoot but I wasn’t ready to hunt the ibex in the first hunting day! One more distance why I refused to fire was the place where they stopped. It was unreal to pulled out the trophy from the gorge where they were feeding. The guides weren’t happy but I insisted on my decision. I aimed and shot to the stone hoping that the huge monster would appear but it didn’t.  It was twilight when we descended to the place where the camp should be, but it wasn't. I tried to find out why it happened. Shal- the guide began to whine and complain that we should go down to change horses. I asked him why we had carried there all those sleeping bags, tents and other things but he repeated again and again that horses needed oat. It was clear that he wasn’t going to cross the ridge and to follow big ibexes, another guide was sick and didn't want to sleep in the tent too.   It was a deep night when we came back to the lodge. They sent two horses to the village and then I had to drive to get oat to feed the new horses that would come next morning. But it happened that the new ones were the same we send to the village yesterday.   Those guides deserve to say some words about them. I hunted with one of them two years ago. He was a strong, experienced guide who knew a lot about hunting but he caught a cold and cough that’s why we left him near the horses. The second one, about sixty years old, was experienced too but was lazy and not share trophy hunter’s passion. He wasn’t happy when knew that I was going to look for and to get the big trophy- his mentality and hunting skills were aimed to get meat only.   The professional guide is not the same as the good hunter. He has to be on the same wave with the client and to be aimed to find the biggest trophy.  If the mountain hunting is the top of hunts, the mountain trophy hunting is a top of the tops! I felt the difference in that expedition. Training of such guides is a great deal and it has to be done for developing hunting tourism in the country. We need to start doing it urgently.    Next morning. It was about 9 am when we left the camp. The group, which we saw yesterday, was detected in the first gorge. I felt that my guides wanted me to hunt for one of them. I looked at them through the scope and noticed a couple of good ones. They were in 300m from us staying or laying in 50 m from the edge of the ridge, covered by forest.   Shal suggested to approach them directly from the down but I didn't like that plan. The goats were grazing in a hollow and we couldn’t come close by snow. It crunched, plus stones rolled under the feet. Nobody could guarantee that we would see them if went from that side.   I thought it would be better to climb by the wooded gorge parallel to them. Then one of the guides should fright them and to send them to the needed direction. They should go the the ambush and I would have time to choose the best one while they were moving.  I put the picture, made a day before that event to demonstrate where it happened. The red line means - ibexes’ route, the green is ours.   I still was monitoring the herd while we were discussing the plan and saw the wolf. Then two more. They were coming to the animals from different sides. Animals stiffened but didn’t run. I tried to make pictures through the scope but they were not good. In any case It was clear what was going on. The animals gathered together and looked in tension. Then I saw the incredible thing- the wolves laid among the ibexes and in ten minutes the goats began to feed if nothing had happened.  We all were shocked: why didn’t they run? I heard the wolf’s hunters told me about such situations when wolves were migrating together with the saiga’s herds. The ungulates are used to wolves and treat them like shepherds. The predators hunted them but just for feed. Stockholm syndrome. We didn’t like it. Shal insisted we approached from the down. He told me that one of the famous Russian hunters - Edward (how do you think who was it) approached the herd by the same way and got a nice trophy.   It was a hard climbing: snow, rocks, a slope. Only crampons and the combined alpenstock helped.   100 meters left when the radio informed us that the group began to move and withdrew on 700 m already. The guides thought that wolves made them go but I guessed the goats reacted to our coming. It occurred to me to ask what was the shooting distance when the Russian hunter got the trophy. Shal replied it was about 300 or 400 meters. Three hundred meters was not the same as fifty. The only positive moment was that ibexes were going by the route; we expected and crossed the ridge in the place where we planned to make an ambush. We hoped they would stop in the upper part of the gorge. But it didn’t happen. We were following them along the brook and soon we found the exit on the opposite slope of the high mountains (it’s a green star on the red, on the scheme).  The situation looked critical. One of the guides should have to go down to the village, he was invited to the marriage, another one had to go home to feed the livestock. We had no time to descend to the circus where we were in the first day. And it was useless to follow the group - the guard stood on the top and monitored the surroundings.   The only way was to rise the gorge and to go to the ridge above the ibexes. Soon we realized how difficult it was to do. The horses sank into the snow up to their chests and soon refused to rise. Shal looked at me and said that only insane could rise by the northern side. But it was the only way!  It took me about two hours to ascend 200 meters. I didn't go, I was crawling. It’d be better to say that I rowed, dug, swam. But there was not any choice with a waist-deep snow. I had even invented my own method how to move. I was cutting the upper level of the rammed snow (about 20sm), then put the knee on that so called chair to press the soft snow and made a step, and repeated everything by the other leg. When I had overcome about 100m I saw the guide who followed me though he was sick.   I hoped that it’d be easier when we reached the rocks but it didn't. There were lots of cracks where I fell from time to time. The snow slide under my feet and once or two I had almost fell off the cliff and only the alpenstock helped (it’s an obligatory thing for such hunting). We had reached the mid of the mountain but I had not any more strength to go further and my fellow went ahead of me. It was much easier to follow somebody than to be the first, in 100 m we changed each other. The sun went down when it was about 200 meters to the top. There wasn’t any sense to chase the herd.   We turned around and went down doomed. I asked the guide to hunt tomorrow till noon and to go back at 1pm in any case. Shal heard that we were going to try once again on the next day and advised to go by the ibexes’ tracks by their path. But I insisted on my variant.   The last day. It was dark yet when we left the camp as it had to be. At 8 am we were on our yesterday path. It frozen during the night and it was a pleasure to go. The distance left to the top was more than 200m, as we thought yesterday but we managed to reach it. But we had to be nervous. We were near the top when heard how the snow above us began to crack. Then it began to settle. We didn’t know what saved us from the snow avalanche. Fortunately, we got out safely. And quickly.  I prepared the rifle and took off the cover from the optics. The mountains covered by light fog and we went to monitor the south slope. Soon we noticed ibexes’ tracks on the edge of the ridge. They were not fresh; the group of animals went there but not yesterday. We went to the ridge hiding and there they were! They were grazing in 700m from us on the left side. We both fell down on all fours and crawled back. Hunting from above gives some advantages to the hunter. The goats are used to watch from up to down. The warm smell of a human rises in a winter time and they can't smell you. If there is a need to chase the herd it’s much better to make going by the ridge while they move by the slope, there are not much snow and it’s easy to go.   I stopped to take a breath. And suddenly I hear a crunch... What kind of obsession? It was the crust crunching under the hooves! We ran as fast as we could and crawled to looked what’s happened. O my god! The herd was moving. They’d heard us (an orange star on the scheme). There were 700 m between us once again. We ran as fast as we could. There was the additional obstacle for ibexes - the rough slope ahead. I pulled out the phone while running to check everything. It’d be a long-distance shot. It was not cold and the bullet should fly lower. I got all analytics from Garmin (I used the special thermal sensor that laid the outer pocket of the backpack. It showed the last 24 hours analytics). From the other side, the altimeter showed almost 3000 meters-rarefaction. It meant that bullet would fly higher! It’s important to know how those values compensate for each other. The calculations gave an adjustment of 1.25 MOA, it was less than on the testing. Rarefied air gave a greater correction than low temperature. It was about 20sm on 500m - a sure miss.  I took the position but saw just females. Then we ran to the right and noticed the end of the group, consisted of males. I pulled out the rangefinder - 495m. Let's do it/ I made the correction and caught the males in the crosshairs. Chose the most beautiful one. A shot, then twisted a bolt. I hit it. I aimed and fired to the visible part of the ibex and saw how it stepped back. The guide shouted: “One more! Don’t allow it to fall down”. I aimed once again and shot. One more hitting. It sat down and turned over to its side. - Yes!!! I’m not used to react so emotionally. We did it! The most difficult and beautiful hunt was over, emotions were overwhelming me! It was a little bit more than 11 am. Unbelievable!  We were happy like kids! Then went to the trophy. The rest of the group ran down and happened on the opposite slope. The goats were running in a chain. I tried to make a photo but couldn’t put them in one shot. There were not less than hundred animals. Probably there were other ungulates on that mountain. We admired the stunning sight.  Our male rolled down 50m and stopped at the end of the cliff. It was a time to use my alpenstock once again. I tired the belt to it, then bind its horns and slowly pulled the trophy up on the small platform.   Capra sibirica sibirica! It was even more beautiful when we came close! That male differed from the TianShan ones by the combination of white and brown colors. Plus, the length of the coat was amazing, on the neck-15sm! Its horns had smaller intervals between knots. The length was about 122-124 sm. But it wasn’t the biggest one! There was the chance to the get the World Record trophy! It's 135 sm now. Then photo session and we went back. One of us went to the marriage and I drove home. I watched the two heads Belukha when was driving home. The weather cleared again, the sun flared up, it became warm, and despite the fact that the body was exhausted to the limit, the soul sang. That was our hunting happiness. PS For somebody who is interested: the used carbine CristensenArmscarbon.300 WinMag, the sight VortexViper4-16x50, bipods Harrisbipod, cartrige Federalaccubond180 gr.

The museum of Nature and Hunting will be opened soon in Kaluga. It”ll be the first zoological museum in Russia, designed for a wide audience, where you can see the dynamic light exposure of the most famous the planet's biotopes. There won't be the standard set of animals,placed on shelves and showcases.   The idea to make such museum and to how to show animals to people, matured a long time ago We discussed it lots of times, dreamed but nothing changed. All talks finished by the conclusion that one day we’d realize it. Why have we started to talk about it? My becoming as a taxidermist had happened in the zoological museum. I talk about the Zoological Museum in Saint Petersburg. With all due respect to the masters of the Academic school, there I formed the idea how to present the exposition for the audience to make it more interesting. I’m sure that the usage of modern technologies which allow to feel the atmosphere that reigns in the habitat of certain animals. It was just theory but later I realized that our taxidermy studio is ready to bring this idea to life. We needed the only thing - finance. Each good idea needs to be supported by finance. You can’t make a step without it especially when we talk about such ambitious project. We were lucky to meet a person who was keen in that idea and agreed to support that complex but interesting project. These two moments are the core-stones of each project. It has no sense to start the work while we haven't learned new technologies and to use them as we can do it now. I won’t write about the financial side of the question because it's absolutely cleat that project without money is like a body without blood. It demands so much investments that I can compare the man, who agreed to help us with the famous philanthropists from the past - Pavel Tretaykova and Sava Mamontov. These words mean a lot. Unfortunately, nowadays the chance to meet such people like Mavrody or Polonsky higher. I respect all people who support the others. Every aspect of the projected needed investments starting from the purchase of land, building of the museum to the collection and processing the extracted material. We asked the Governor of the region Anatoly Artamonov to help us and got his support. He helped to find and to choose the place for the future museum In future the Administration will transfer to the Pravoberezhny region of Kaluga. It’s an outskirts now but will become a center. The museum will be surrounded by parks and ponds. It'll be beautiful. We could hardly overestimate the role of the governor in this regard. He allocated land for development. We didn’t use the finished building as the most of museums. Everything started from the very beginning according the special project. The exhibition place will take 5000 meters. It’s bigger than in Darwin Museum in Moscow. The process doesn’t go fast. One more moment I have to mention. Museum staff know how difficult it is to get the exhibit. It's a huge and expensive problem. None of the Russian museums (and not many museums in the world) can send the special expeditions all over the world to get the animals collections. Our investor is a hunter who travels all over the world and gets the trophies for our collection. But this only partially solves the problem. We need the help of other hunters to decide this problem. Our goal is to get the collection, consisted of 7 species of Bushbucks. It's hard task for a one hunter to take all seven trophies but possible for seven hunters who will hunt in different regions. I know that some trophy hunters have overfilled their trophy rooms already. There are not free space in their hunting houses but trips go on. They begin to donate their taxidermy compositions to everybody who asks. I would like to address to these hunters and others who are interested in our proposal to gift us the salted or freeze skins of their trophies. I can explain why we talk about skins because all composition in the future museum have been designed already. We’ll put them in special poses that impossible to make with the finished ones. Even if they were made in our studio. Unfortunately, we don’t need the stuffed animals. Most of the hunters needs a skull with the horns. Not all of them need skin and we hope that they won't doubt to give it to the museum or not. We’ll use plastic replicas instead of real horns. A special plaque will indicate the name of the hunter who made such a gift to the museum. I’m sure that we’ll get the collection of world animals with such help. We are interested in the most characteristic, memorable animals. And different Russian fishes too. The working name of the museum is the Museum of Nature and Hunting. I would like to note the continuity of generations in this title. The hunters know that the first magazine “Nature and Hunting”, the longest periodical in our country, has been published 140 years ago. It was a large – up to 240 pages-monthly magazine which became the best among the others devoted to fishing or hunting. The creator of this unique periodical was the great Leonid Pavlovich Sabaneyev I’m sure that all Russian popular science literature on hunting and fishing begins with this person. I want to believe that our museum will continue this glorious tradition. There is one more the philosophical aspect that we put into the name of the museum. Nature is the first and hunting is the most ancient but still wide and effective way of nature evolution. I mean hunting in common sense not only people who hunt for animals but the natural part of nature where everybody hunts for everything. As a biologist, I regard hunting as one of the natural manifestations of evolution and an effective form of maintaining the ecological balance in nature. I know about people who love nature by TV but are fully ignorant in terms of ecology and condemn hunting. I hope that our museum will be one of the educational centers of the country that helps to change this mentality. Hunting is more about the conservation and breeding of animals, as well as the selection and regulation of numbers. The density of animal’s population is some of the hunting farms are much higher than in the natural reserves not talking about forests around cities. Hunting is a way of life of many peoples of the world, including the northern peoples in our country. We are going to create the Department of Anthropology, to present life-size human ancestor dummies that have survived only because they could hunt. The Museum of Nature and Hunting will not become a museum of hunting trophies. We don't think about high trophy performance when going to expeditions. We try to collect animals of different ages and genders to make the maximum realistic picture. These are not only mammals, but also birds and reptiles. Invertebrates will be represented in the biotopes, where they are an integral part. But the main exhibits will still be vertebrates. The new museum will differ from the existed ones not only because we build the special building. Russian zoological museums traditionally use the system of the systematization of the collection, developed before the Revolution. All collections have the scientific character and represent the unique repositories of animals and plants collected in a variety of expeditions by famous and not-so-famous specialists. We don't pretend to the name of the scientific repository. It’ll be show- museum. It is planned as an exhibition area, as a part of hunting world, friendly to the hunting community. We are going to provide the place to organize meetings and conferences for hunters. Our space will be opened for different thematic exhibitions. The structure of the museum will be divided into several zones - the nature of Africa, Russia, America, Asia, Australia, and so on. The wildlife of mountains, fishes and birds will be exhibited in the separate zone. The animals won’t stand on the shelves but presented in their bio groups as if you see them in the nature. The general task is to create landscape compositions so that people who have not the opportunity to visit different countries and different continents can see this wildlife in a concentrated form and get the feeling that he has been there. We’ll pay special attention to vegetation in our compositions. There are the unique flowers such as the Queen of the Night cactus blooming at night, the Victoria regia water lily holding a baby on its leaf, the one-and-a-half-meter purple speckled Rafflesia flower – which are specific to a particular biotope. But from another side all these flowers ordinary for the definite regions. We’ll try to reproduce it as accurately as possible. One more aspect is light. It’ll change from day to night several times during the definite period of time. The visitors will be able to experience a pleasant relaxation from the evening twilight, and stand under the starry sky, and meet the dawn somewhere in the foothills of Kilimanjaro. They’ll be able to hear the voices of birds, the night cries of animals, the noise of the wind, the noise of the waterfall, and so on. We will try to use as many modern technologies as possible in order to create a presence effect. The museum will be interested for hunters too. There they’ll see the full collection of Russian ducks which they can hunt, and which cannot. There are not places where you can see them now. The serious informative base will help them to get full information about hunting species and where they can hunt for it. Computer modules can provide information to those who want to understand the taxonomy. This place will be interesting for pupils and students from the specialized faculties, for bird- watchers and all people who love nature. At the end of the article, I will say that we already have already started. We made several exhibits and collected materials for future work. We make all compositions in our Moscow studio and send to Kaluga for storage. The workshop in Kaluga is almost finished. The Governor visited it and we hope that he realized that the process goes on. The first exhibitions in the already built museum will be opened in a year and a half or two.

I want to talk about the positive preventive effect of the group of medicine to the mountain sickness.   The effective preventive remedy for acute mountain sickness is acetazolamide (synonyms diacarb, dilamox, anicar, acetamox). The researches show the protective effect which doesn't influence an urination if you take 50-125 mg every 8 hours. You have to start to take pills a day before or at the very beginning of climbing and to stop in 2 days after reaching the needed height. Acetazolamide is also available in the form of capsules of 500 mg of long-acting (taken once a day). The abrupt discontinuation of the drug can lead to the development of high-altitude pulmonary edema and high-altitude cerebral edema, that’s why you’d have the sufficient supply of the drug and take it during the hunting trip, or you should refuse to use it at all. It’s very important to monitor the occurrence of possible side effects such as allergy, tingling in the fingers, changes in taste, excessive urination, nausea, digestive disorders, and if they occur, you should reduce or stop taking the drug. Taking of aspirin, paracetamol, ibuprofen could reduce the headache and decrease the risk of pulmonary edema. I’ve heard that the European hunters use as preventive medicine prochlorperazine (etaperazine) 4-10 mg orally every 6 hours, but not the hunters from the Ocean. Antacids (sodium bicarbonate, rennie, almagel, phosphalugel, etc.) are useless. They say about the positive influence of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in a dose higher than 2 g per dose several times a day, but it's not proved. Dexamethasone, if you take it 4 mg orally every 6 hours, dramatically reduces the severity of acute mountain sickness but it has some adverse effects and the doctors don’t advise to use it as the preventive remedy but for treatment only. Pentoxifylline (trental) is used in some countries as a drug that improves brain function in high-altitude conditions. The locals in South America traditionally use coca leaves for the prevention and treatment of altitude sickness, but iit is not possible to recommend them for use in our situation. We can recommend hypoxene from the modern domestic drugs. This antihypoxic agent has an antioxidant, metabolic, vasodilating and hypotensive effect. The drug increases the effectiveness of tissue respiration in hypoxic conditions, especially in organs with a high level of metabolism (brain, heart muscle, liver). It helps to reduce oxygen consumption during significant physical exertion, improves tissue respiration, reduces the degree of mental and physical fatigue, and facilitates the performance of time-consuming physical operations. This remedy optimize the activity of the mitochondria of cells, reduces oxygen consumption. It has antiradical and antioxidant effects. It is available in capsules of 250 mg. You should 2-4 capsules per reception, but no more than 12 capsules per day. Mildronate is a metabolic agent that balances the delivery and demand of cells for oxygen, eliminates the accumulation of toxic metabolic products. It helps to restore energy resources and improve motivation (intake – 1 g per day in the morning). When I was going to write this article, I didn’t plan to include the theme, written below. It’s devoted to the treatment of mountains sickness and is for the specialists use only or for people who has to provide assistance in the natural environment. But later I’ve decides to present these materials. Mountains, as any remote area, are known by unpredictable situations which can happen there and the hunter has only himself and people who are near him. So, you should have the right algorithm what to do if goes wrong. Once my friend, the very experienced guy, met a group of tourists, almost kids, in the mountains and saved one of them because they didn’t know what to do. You can’t hope that the chopper will arrive fast or the ATV with doctors can find you, or the local doctor will go somewhere and meet your group, there are so many things which can prevent from weather, the absence of roads, and thousand reasons. We won’t discuss it here. The treatment of acute pulmonary edema includes the usage of a sufficient amount of fluid, taking painkillers, a light diet, limiting physical activity and, in rare cases, descending from a height. Acetazolamide is prescribed (if it has not been taken before) 250 mg orally every 4 hours, in cases of acute mountain sickness and high-altitude pulmonary edema. If the patient felt worse the bed rest is required and inhaling oxygen (if there is one). The immediate taking of nifedipine is recommended: initially 10 mg, then 20-30 mg (preferably slow-release capsules) every 12 hours until the symptoms disappear. If it doesn’t help the patient has to be immediately evacuated down. The goal is to move to the height lower than the last one where he felt well when has woke in the morning. Sometimes it's enough to descend on 500-900 m. You should think over the evacuation route and how to do it beforehand when planning the trip or ask about it the host party. Dexamethasone is prescribed 8 mg by injection intramuscularly or intravenously, then 4-8 mg every 4-6 hours, in cases of acute high-altitude brain edema though the effect can be moderate. If you or somebody from your group have symptoms of the mountain sickness, you should inform the outfitter, the trusted persons at home and, if necessary, local and international rescue and medical services – they can also get medical advice by means of communication. it is necessary to take care of the means of communication in advance (the best option is a satellite phone with a set of spare power) and have phone numbers (preferably several) of local and international rescue and medical services (choose services where several languages of communication are available). I hope you realize how important it is to have extended insurance coverage. In conclusion, I’ll repeat the main recommendations to avoid the mountain sickness because the prevention is the most effective part of the modern medicine. It’s better to spend first two nights on the heigh not higher than 2400m. Don’t climb than 400-600m per day. When rising during the day, always go down a little before going to bed. Sleep, water and food intake should be sufficient. You should avoid overwork and excessive physical exertion. I advise you not to smoke and take sedatives and alcohol while hunting. I offer to apply acetazolamide 250 mg per day from the first day of your stay in the mountains. If you follow these simple rules, the altitude sickness never spoil your impressions and plans. Sergey Rudnev, expert on certification of the ACC of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia

Not long ago we’ve published the article, devoted to Chukotka snow sheep, but we have what to add. We suggest you one more article, wrote by the scientist who studied different subspecies of snow sheep in practice.   The bighorn, chubuk, chubuku, bongga - all these names belong to the the animal dwells in the more severe conditions than where the northern reindeer inhabit. In 1829 Esholtz described a wild Kamchatka sheep and called it snow sheep. After the nominative Kamchatka subspecies six more subspecies of Asian snow sheep had been described. They all belong to separate big and small geographical populations. There were several more attempts to describe subspecies of snow sheep, fourteen in total, but they were reduced to synonymy because of the lack of persuasiveness of the signs or the infraspecific name. 1. The Putorana snow sheep, Ovis nivicola borealis Severtzov, in 1873, dwell on the Putorana plateau. 2. The Okhotsk or Taigonossky snow sheep, Ovis nivicola alleni Matschie, 1907. At first time that subspecies was described for a Taigonos peninsula but now it spreads on the Priokhotya, Stanovoy, Yablonovy ridges and others. 3. The Yakutia snow sheep, Ovis nivicola lydekkeri Kowarzik, 1913, inhabitats on the Northeastern part of the Verkhoyansky ridge, in 40 miles from the estuary of the river Yana. Those animals inhabitant on the ridges in the center and on the north of Yakutia. 4. The Koryak snow sheep, Ovis nivicola кoriakorum Tchernyavsky,1962, Koryak highland and the upper stream of The Achai-Vayam river. 5. The Chukotka snow sheep, Ovis nivicola tschuktschorum Zheleznov,1990, Anadyr plateau, the Chukotka mountains. 6. The Kodar snow sheep, Ovis nivicola kodarensis Medvedev,1994, the upper stream of The Muskunakh river and The Kodar ridge on the north of Baikal region and on the North East of Irkutsk region. 160 years has passed from the first time when the Asian snow sheep was described to the moment when K. Zheleznov Described Chukchurum (he gave this name to the Chukotka snow sheep). Chukotka is the unique territory on the end of the Northeastern part of the Asian mainland. The only ungulate inhabitants there is the Chukotka snow sheep. We can hardly believe how those animals survive it those conditions and it makes them the very interesting object to study. The vertical spread of that population takes the range from the sea level to 1800 masl- on the separate mountain systems. Unlike their southern relatives which dwell on all mountain heights , Chukotka snow sheep prefer to stay on the hills. If they move to the mountains they never climb to the tops and stay in the middle. The upper belt of the local mountains is too severe for them though they are fully adapted to the Polar heights. In fall and winter seasons the slopes located close to the sea, can be covered by ices what means the lack of food for animals who inhabitant there. But it's more plus than minus. The nearness of the sea during the summer time has positive influence on the vegetation on the nearest rocks what is really important for sheep feeding. We mustn't forget about the possibility to eat the seaweed thrown up by the waves. The sea is a huge natural source of salt of those animals. It’s noticed that the snow sheep dwell near the sea, have higher based horns than the animals which inhabitant in areas, remoted from the sea. The horns of young rams look almost like goat horns. It can be caused by the impact of food rich in iodine and other trace elements on the coastal groups of animals. The short Chukotka summer comes to the end at the beginning of August. The sheep, gained some fat on sparse vegetation, lichens and mushrooms, prepare for cold. The rams which prefer to pasture separately in other time, gather in herds with ewes and lambs. The rut and migration season starts in October, beginning of November. The peak season is in November-December during the Polar night. The researchers say it can last to the end of December and the beginning of January. The rams collide with horns in the flash light of the aurora. The fights intensity correlates with the density of sheep population. The ram’s fights is a rare occurrence if the population density is low. They have nothing to share! The rams collide with their foreheads at a run. The younger ones stand on their hind legs and beat each other like mountain goats. It’s an ordinary situation when horns of old and even young males are broken, sometimes to a half of them) or scratched off. It's not surprising when the horns of six years old male are longer than the 10 years old ram. The growth of horns decelerates significantly for old animals. They grow in the vegetation period only. It can be just few millimeters for 12-15 years old rams. The winner goes away with 2-3 ewes and in six months, when the blossom season starts, one, much less often, two lambs are born. They grow much faster than the youngsters of Siberian Ibexes. In September the biggest of them are the same size as ewes. They feed on milk till November or even later. It's a survival law in those severe conditions. The summer food mostly consists on legumes, cereals, sedges, and other herbaceous plants, shrubs, and lichens. I need to say few words about mushroom, there is a phrase, the sheep pick up mushrooms what means that the animals descend to the places where they grow. If there are not sheep on the ridges you have go down to the gorges where they feed mushrooms. The mineral nutrition of sheep is unique. They eat coal salt shakers and stone " oil " (aluminum-potassium alum), enriched by salts and trace elements of the underlying rocks, to all kinds of loam, tuff, as well as small gravelly minerals with a diverse composition. I guess that only sheep themselves can explain their choice. But they keep silence. All biological cycle of Chukotka snow sheep - the late birth of lambs, their fast growth and other biological features such as the abrasion of sharp horn’s tips - are the inner subspecies protective mechanism where each detail means a lot to survive is the in the harsh conditions of the extreme northeast of Asia, where any mistake or failure of established biological rules costs the life of the population. This is manifested to the maximum extent on Chukotka.   To taxonomy The first mentions about Chukotka snow sheep we meet in the literary sources in the second half of 19th century. N.N. Neiman (1871) mentioned them in his historical report about Chukotka expedition. He wrote about numerous flocks near the river Kamennaya (The tributary of the river Orlovka, flows into Bolshoy Anoi). He wrote that they were spread on the territory of all Chukotka and reached the shores of Arctic Ocean. We can find more interesting details in the esse of another famous researcher of the northern lands L.A . Portenko. He was an ornithologist. He's listed the herds; they've seen and their numbers and there we can read the next data. “October 3rd, We met several rams of different age on the Left Keralgaum river... Same day we met one more old ram. It was bigger than the ordinary Chukotka deer and had huge curled horns”. Probably they are the first but not proved data about huge size of Chukotka snow sheep what influenced the researchers at the end of XX century. All date, collected later by other people were generalized by the well-known researcher of bovidae animals the Academician V.I. Tsalkin in his famous work "Mountain sheep of Europe and Asia" (1951). He described four subspecies of snow sheep (Kamchatka, Taigonossky or Okhotsk, Yakutia, and Norilsk or Putorana snow sheep). He wrote about the Chukotka snow sheep: “The systematic position of sheep from the Anadyr region is still not clear. The only sample from that place is in the collection of Zoological museums of MSU. The bone rods of the horns and the horns themselves are close to the samples from the North of Yakutia. Unfortunately, It has no skin and we can't judge about its color. We can’t find its description in the modern literature too. That’s the reason why we can't close the question about the systematic position of Anadyr sheep now. But they are close to Yakutia subspecies or even can be identified with it”. The authority of that scientist was so high That almost all authors referred Chukotka snow sheep to Yakutia subspecies without any doubt. In 1984 one more work had been published. It belonged to F.B. Chernayvsky and was called “ The Mammals of the extreme north-east of Siberia”, where he analyzed all the morphological material and came to the conclusion: “... Snow sheep inhabitant on Chukotka has an identity at the subspecies level» He was realizing the lack of material to make the full analysis of the Asian snow sheep species (Ovisnivicola) and had proposed to accept "tentatively" 5 subspecies, "inhabiting the north-east of Siberia and Kamchatka” while collecting the missing materials. N.K. Zheleznov in 1990 and later in 1994 published in his works "Wild ungulates of the North-East of the USSR» and "Ecology of snow sheep of Northern Asia» The description of new subspecies of snow sheep from Chukotka peninsula as Ovisnivicolatschuktschorum.   The systematic observations Zheleznov considered Chukotka snow sheep to be the biggest representatives among other subspecies of the Asian snow sheep, including Kamchatka snow sheep and Kodar snow sheep. The researchers of the last one showed the presence of big individuals. This is especially showed in females. Their maximum size is much bigger then the ewes from other populations of Koryak, Putorana, Okhotsk and Yakutia snow sheep. They are approximately the same size as rams of Kamchatka snow sheep. But the scull of these animals and especially rams is smaller by size and width and can be compared by these features with the representatives of other geographical populations of snow sheep. The other craniological characteristics except the size of the scull are absent. At last the time to make the genetic analysis of the Asian snow sheep to confirm or refute the systematic status of subspecies, has came. The author of that article together with other scientists has managed to collect the material to make the genetic analysis of large geographical population of Asian snow sheep including Chukotka populations. We’ve analyzed about 40 samples taken from 40 individuals of snow sheep to define a persistent difference between the Asian and American groups of these animals. It’s improperly to call Asian snow sheep canadensis or Canadian snow sheep. Everything is more difficult inside the Asian group. The scientists came to the conclusion about the genetic affinity of Asian snow sheep what was grounded by morphologists before. Many of morphological features of separate large geographical populations, including Chukotka one, are in the limits of variability and don’t reach the real subspecies differentiation. The genetic analysis (I need to note that we didn't have a large amount of material for research) confirmed this vision. It's happened that two groups distinguish inside the areal of Asian snow sheep - snow sheep of Kamchatka and Koryak highland and another group is animals, dwell on Putorana, Kodar ridges, Yakutia, including the Stanovoy ridge, Okhotks mountains and Chukotka peninsula. We collected the samples of snow sheep specimen, including the ones taken during our own research expeditions, which are listed in the researched basis of such geographical population as Kodar region (the river Apsat and Srednyi Sakukan), Kamchatka ((Cape Nalycheva and other territories), Koryak (the northern part of the Koryak highlands on the border with Chukotka), and Chukotka (the Chukotka peninsula- the Anadyr Highlands). The last sample was delivered by students, game-biologists, who found the fresh remains of local snow sheep, killed by wolves on the salt flats. There are two points of view on the taxonomic position of the snow sheep of the Chukchi Peninsula. Some scientists think like N.K. Zheleznov- Chukotsky, who described that subspecies, that those animals belong to the differentiated subspecies.Their size, especially ewes, is bigger then in other sheep populations. F.B. Chernayvsky was the first who mentioned it. The adherents stand that Chukotka snow sheep is small and their horns are not thick enough in the base. They inferior in that feature to the sheep from other geographical populations. I talked with the researchers who often visit Chukotka (Maksim Vorobiev - the owner of “Russian Professional hunters” company helped me very much) and made to the conclusion: Chukotka snow sheep has lighter color than the relatives from Koryak and Kamchatka. They d interior in the horn and body sizes to Kamchatka sheep but remind the samples from Koryak highland. In 2000 I took part in the expedition of ISHA, lead by the President of this organization Joe Quarto. It took place on the Apuka river. Before it, all studies were conducted in the upper reaches of the river. Pahachi. We got several males of Koryak sheep in the frame of the scientific program. I measured two rams of the snow sheep, we got. They superior di in size the ones, described by F.B. Chernyavsky. But not much. But we detected the rams that were bigger than the ones we hunted and got. it is necessary to mention three ecological rules that reflect the essence of the adaptation of mammals to changing geographical conditions of the environment. Chukotka snow sheep, according the Gloger rule, have to have lighter color than the other sheep because inhabitant in more severe, northern territories. Many authors agree with that fact and there are no disputes. According to the Allen’s rule, Chukotka snow sheep , as well as sheep from other Asian territories, should have relatively short muzzles and ears. It is not disputed by researchers. As for the huge body size, described by N.K. Zheleznov-Chukotky. They correspond to the Bergman rule – when moving from the equator to the poles, warm-blooded land animals increase their size, reducing heat transfer. A small rodent or shrew (with increased heat transfer per unit area of the body) freezes, falling into an earthen pit in the summer, But a large and perfectly adapted animal like the snow sheep is able to remain viable in the harshest winter conditions of the northern mountains beyond the Arctic circle during the long periods of bad weather and lack of food. It's not clear how it connects with the fact that animals from the northern population of Koryak snow sheep are the smallest and the rams from the south population of Kamchatka snow sheep are bigger. There are still many questions, and further research is needed to resolve them. It’d be interesting to practice the new kind of hunting tourism when the trophy is the picture and video of the trophy. The hunters can use the special methodology to estimate the trophy and to rank its horns. The suggested variant of photo and video tourism will allow alternate between the work of security cameras set by the conductor and the client and filming with a manual camera with a telephoto lens and a tripod from a long distance. The perspectives of that kind of tourism are in the price of trips and the period duration that lasts - from the spring to the late fall. Have all genetic research regarding subspecies of the Asian snow sheep finished? I think no. In science, as in life, there is always room for improving methods and assessments. The study of the Chukchi snow sheep would answer many questions. In conclusion I want to say that such large population as Chukotka snow sheep is needed the special protection strategy which has to include the following points: 1. The periodic conducting of an aerial survey allows to give a qualitative and quantitative assessment of populations-at least once every 5 years. 2. Ground-based annual animal registration, including the organization of the collection of survey data, to assess the state of populations. 3. The permanent monitoring (non-contact on the part of a person) with the installation of automatic cameras in key habitats: Cameras that allow to track animals all year round. 4. The development of tourism on the base of all year-round monitoring. 5. Organization of semi-voluntary aviary breeding of animals at the stage of scientific experiment and study of their biology 6. If the experiment will be successful, the scientists can think about the animal breeding to replenish natural populations. 7. The reservation and study not only animals but the biocenoses within their range. 8. The estimation of population and separate animals cost. 9. Determination of damage caused to the particular population by humans. The compliance with this strategy would help to restore the number of the Chukotka snow sheep and turn it from the "Red book" to a commercial species.

The main goal of each hunter is to save the beauty of the wild nature. Our team including the local shepherds and guides decided to help wild animals to survive in winter. I hope these pictures will decorate your day.