Статьи

Many years have passed since that hunt, but it is still in my memory. I decided to share my memories about it. 2006 year. Kyrgyzstan. It took us 9 hours’ drive from the airport to the hunting lands. The climbing on 3500 masl is difficult for each person. The only difference is how the physiology of definite man perceives the change in the place of your stay? It was not a problem for me at that time to rise from the plateau to the mountains. I always accompanied hunters for ibexes and Marco Polo sheep and my body was used to significant differences and changes in the oxygen composition of the air. The same heights in Kyrgyzstan are handled much easily than in Pamir. I don’t know why it's so but it’s true according my experience. It’s a pleasure to arrive to the place and to accommodate in the warm cabins of the field camp, no matter they are not so comfortable as the hotel but there is a canteen, a bed and that's enough. Our hospitable hosts cooked tasty dinner while waited for us. The outfitter introduced me the guides with whom I’d go to the mountains next day. We discussed the plan while eating. We should stay few days in the field camp and then to ascend to the highest peaks where ibexes stuck at that time. It was October, the rut season had just begun. From the one side it was good because the males became more active but from the other not so. The adult males, which prefer to keep separate in all other periods, join the herds of females and the young. It’s more difficult to approach the herd to the shooting distance when the surroundings are monitored by both males and females. Chances to make it reduce in several times. But we are the hunters and know all nuances of animal’s behavior and always try to win in this competition. The temperature on the lounge height was not really cold but it dropped to -10-15 C at each night. The guides warned me that it’d be even lower when we would climb. We know the words of famous song “nature doesn't have bad weather” and I can add but you need to choose the right clothes. I’m used to cold in the mountains. Fortunately, I had warm thermal underwear and clothes which could protect me from low temperatures. But my sleeping bad wasn’t so good. It wasn’t bad by its parameters. I bought it on VVC. The qualifil insulation was designed for temperatures up to-15 C. Qualifil is a synthetic material, permeated with seven air channels, what provides poor thermal conductivity. It helps to keep warm inside the sleeping bag. The scientists tried to use the idea of fluff filler for sleeping bags. They did it partially. But there is nothing absolutely perfect in this world. That’s why all temperatures below -15 will be able a problem for my health and physical conditions. I could hardly expect that there were -25C at night in Kyrgyzstan in the mountains in October. The only chance was to get the trophy as soon as possible and to hope that my thermal underwear will protect me if it was cold. Next morning after a hearty breakfast we left the camp. Our group consisted on two guides Almaz, Alik and me. Almaz was of medium height, with a strong build. He was always smiling and could speak Russian, not like Alik, it allowed me to hope that we’d talk a lot while hiking in the mountains. Alik was of medium height too but younger and skinny but he looked strong. They both were good in handy with horses and helped me with harness when it was necessary. It was not an easy matter to harness a horse in such cold. The locals didn’t take care about harness with stirrups, bits and girths and sometimes I couldn’t even fasten the girth belt. The harness wets from the horse sweat during a day, then freezes till morning that’s why it's hard even to straighten it. . I don't know why but the locals in Kyrgyzstan often use the only girth and it makes problems in the mountains. Down, up, and so on all day. The saddle begins to move back and forth, and you feel uncomfortable. You feel as if you can fall back while climbing or to fly over the horse's head forward while riding down. It can be the reason of chafes and the horse can be out of commission because of the serious damages, scuff marks on its back. You should always control and pull up the girth. I should say how my friends from Altai prepare their horses for long expeditions, to compare both ways. Each horse has three girths, a breastplate and a tailpiece. And leather archimakis on both sides. You feel like driving in a car when riding such horse. But I was in Kyrgyzstan. And had no choice. The only way was to adjust to the circumstances. We were going. We rode about three hours and arrived to the field camp. It was located on the height 4000m. There was the only dugout with the stove inside. There was a huge shortage of firewood there, and they used litter or dung for the stove. Could you imagine how warm was there. But it was better than nothing. It’s much better than to sleep on the open air under the sky I know what I talk about. We decided to leave their bags, to have lunch and to go exploring. The local caretaker was already there. He’d keep our things in order and safe. It took us two hours more to reach the place where we were going to hunt. We examined the mountain slopes trying to detect the trophy size ibexes. But there were none of them. Even the females didn't show up. It happens in the mountains. It seams that there are not animals in a definite place and you have to go further. You leave the place but suddenly turn back and see the herd. The animals are real Profi in the art of camouflage and use the terrain in the best way. It was getting dark and we should go back to the camp. We still had enough time to get the trophy. After coming back, we ate dinner and went to sleep. Next morning, we all got up early, had breakfast, harnessed the horses though it was really cold and moved. A beautiful sunrise in the mountains always impresses with a variety of colors. You are the viewer in the theater who seats in the first row and enjoy the performance put on by Nature. You have enough time to admire the show because doesn’t need to waste time to drive the horse. It obediently follows the one in front. The sun gilds the mountains peaks, which shine by virgin white and shimmer in like expensive diamond crystals. But you mustn't forget about the sun and to take care about your face and lips. It's easy to burn under its deceptive rays. You should put on the protective lotion and a lipstick. I know what sunburn is from my own experience. Soon the legs begin to catch the frost from a stationary position in the saddle. You should make stops to dismount and make physical exercises not to get cold and to freeze legs. Next two hours we monitored the surroundings which were the favorite places for ibexes, as my guides assured me. We noticed the group of females with babies and several young males. None of the adult males were seen at that day. We turned back and went to the camp. One of the guides noticed three horse’s tracks that came to the mountains from the side where we had already been before. The caretaker said that three guy who said that they were from the environmental control passed near the camp not long ago. They were going to account the number of ibexes as they said to Beshen. We could hardly imagine at that time what it would mean. We all were tired and dreamed about hot dinner and the warm sleeping bag. I was happy even to eat Doshirak though I hated it in my ordinary life and didn’t eat. But Beshed cooked meat which we took with us and that dish was delicious. I turned to the remedy I had tried not once, to warm faster. You should need to mix black and red pepper in a small amount of vodka and drink it in one gulp. The effect comes very quickly. You shouldn't abuse this tool not to burn the mucosa of the digestive tract. I warned the other fellows about it when Beshen liked it and wanted to take some more shots. Thus, we warmed and went to sleep. Next morning, we left the camp before the sunrise. Once again we found the tracks of mentioned riders when moving close to the hunting area. They led to the small gorge. Our path ran in the same direction. We entered the gorge for 500-700 meters and met those accountants. The first thing we saw was three butchered bodies of the ibexes. Those animals had been accounted already. The hunting lands where that hunt was organized were the private one and all hunts there had to be agreed by the owner. We were sure that they did not notify him about “that accounting”. The guides asked me to make pictures of that crimes to prove their words and use photos as physical evidence. I took on the camera and made several shots. Almaz said that probably he knew who could make it and asked me to make pictures of their faces if we met them in the hunting lands. Suddenly we heard several shots. It was evident that several more ibexes had been accounted. Almaz knew the place from where they fired. We leaped into our saddles and rode to where the shooting was taking place. It took us 30-40 minutes. Almaz was right. Soon we met those poachers. In the East, it is not customary to swear and clarify relations in raised tones or to fight. They began to talk with those guys. I used the situation and made their photos but tried to do it discreetly as if I was making pictures of nature. Later I gave those photos to my friends, the owners of the hunting lands. They called me and told that fired those poachers and brought them to justice. Thus, we helped to identify violations and bring to justice poachers who worked in the government agencies. Telling the truth, it didn't make it any easier for us at the time. They spoiled one more hunting day. We came back without a trophy. The days passed by and there wasn’t any chance to find the male and approach the shooting distance. I began to doubt in the success of our operation. The time limits didn’t allow me to stay there longer but the hunt hadn’t started already. Next hunting day we rode to the mountains with a hope to find ibexes. The frost grew stronger at night and it was harder and harder to get in the saddle in the morning. In that day the guides suggested me one more test that would safe my strength as they thought. They offered to go to the mountains and to stay there until we would get a result. We took all things we needed, including sleeping bags, mats and all warm clothes which I had. Telling the truth, I’m always ready for any challenges in any conditions. But that time I doubted the adequacy of the efforts we did to capture the ibex. My equipment was not designed for such conditions in the mountains. We couldn’t make fire there because of the lack of firewood. They knew nothing about portable burners at that time in Kyrgyzstan. The prospects were not very bright. We were not used to retreat and collected everything, we would need, we loaded the bags and to meet new challenges. It took us an hour to reach the place where we were yesterday but then we turned from the well-trodden path and moved to the left through the gorge to climb the rocky mountains. In an hour we ran into a very steep climb. I looked up questioningly but Almaz said that there was not any other way to go the place where we were going. I asked him, did he climb in that place before? He answered yes, a couple of times and promised trophy size males there. Their favorite place was a plateau surrounded by gorges from all sides. They prefer that place because it's visible from all sides and no humans, not predators can come close being invisible. Nice. What must be must! But how should we bring it to life? It became clear from the first steps that danger is waiting for us at every step. We should go by the narrow path with the abyss from one side and the rock from the other. I put my shoulder against the rock often, and horses were constantly touching the stone by the harness. We dismounted and were rising by foot. The altitude was more than 4000 masl. I felt the first symptoms of the mountain sickness. You don’t feel it when seat in the saddle and don’t move but as soon as you go with the load, you immediately understand what you're dealing with. The path in some parts had been so rough that it looked as if it drained to different sides when I stepped on it. It was hard even to make a step there. But we had no choice. Thanks to my Meindl boots which clung to the rocks plus I helped myself by hands, we moved forward slowly. The horses followed us. It was much easier for them. They are used to such height; the load wasn’t heavy and no riders. We were riding about an hour including several stops to take breath before the next march throw. At last we reached the plateau. Only peaks of inaccessible mountains were higher than we were but we had no need to climb them. We could take a breath and regroup for the next part of the way. One more gulp of tea and step forward. Later we made one more stop and my guides began to watch the surroundings. Almaz pointed to the ridge where beautiful males stood. The group consisted of females and trophy size males. It was the place, my guides had high hopes. And they were right. But to see the trophy didn’t mean to get it. The guys knew how the ibexes moved and expected to intercept them when the animals would go to have rest. We left horses behind the rock, invisible for ibexes. Our group came close to the edge where we could see the valley, spread between two ridges. Just imagine, how surprised we were when the group of five wolves run out from behind the edge. We stood in confusion and didn’t know what to do. The wolf is the predator that has to be destroyed in the first turn. But if we made a single shot, we would forget about ibex hunting in that area. The guides warned me about it. I had to submit to advice and common sense and to restrain my hunting excitement. If I didn’t I would spoil all efforts of the last days including the last dangerous rising. I just managed to take the camera and made several beautiful shots of those predators. It happened that not only poachers - predators but the wolves too dwelled there. That could be the explanation why we didn’t see goats before. The herd stood on the place and we got on the horses and rode, hiding behind the ridges, to the area where the ibexes were. We arrived to the place from where should try to approach the group. The guides uploaded the horses to give them rest. Alik and I stayed to set the bivouac while Almaz ran to look on the goats and to define the plan of hunting. We got out some food and tried to chew it that was difficult, everything was frozen. Tea in out thermoses wasn't hot but still warm. But even warm tea was very welcome. The frost grew stronger and we could hardly bear such low temperatures without warm gloves. We thought that it was -15C. But we didn’t know the truth. It was difficult to say. Almaz came soon. The ibexes were on the place and next morning we’d try to get the trophy. Oh dreams...,- I thought at that moment. And came to sleep. There were several hollows near the rock, where we stopped, we put there our mats and sleeping bags. It didn't take much time. But it was comfortable to sleep. The most important was that you needn't think that you’d roll down by the slope because the cavities protected us from it. We slept like in cradles. I worried about temperature only. How cold would it be at night? I’m used to sleep in the pants or to put on the thermal underwear if it's cold. It helps me to restore my strength. But it was too cold and was getting even colder. I put on the sweater and lay down in the sleeping bag. And put the upper clothes near me. It’s not comfortable to get up in the morning when you've slept in the clothes that has been on you the whole day before. You are more cold than warm when put on the upper clothes after the sleep. I even put my boots close to the sleeping bag to prevent them from being frozen. Thus, we slept under the cover of deep and starry sky. I woke at night when guys were covering me by heavy blanket. It was the horse’s cover or something like that. After it, I warmed and fall into a deep sleep. But the temperature outside dropped even more. I was breathing the frosty mountain air. The temperature was already over – 20. It seemed as we were on the North pole at all. The sharp pain in the throat woke me up. A lump the size of a plum popped out in my throat on the left side. It was an inflamed lymph node. The only thought flashed in my mind. “It's the end of your mountain hunts! You’ll come back to the camp in the morning without the trophy”. I tried to banish those thoughts and still hoped to get the trophy of ibex. The mountain sunrise was beautiful. I saw them mane times but they all are different and I can’t compare them with nothing else on the earth. We began to crawled out from our sleeping bags and to share how we spent that night. I told guys about the lump in the throuat but said that was going to hunt in any case. They gave me a mysterious look. Probably they thought that I was ready to surrender. I put on the frozen clothes and boots while they discussed something on their language. It was a problem. I didn’t know how to warm feet in such situation. I did some physical exercises to dispersed the blood through the body, but feet.. It didn’t help to them. There was nothing to do. We tried to eat something that we could chew. And Almaz suggested the plan. They both would try to direct the herd to the definite side. I should seat and wait the animals in the definite place. They knew the animal’s paths and were sure that ibexes would cross the place where I would wait. Fortunately, that place wasn't far from our bivouac. I understood where I should be and was there in twenty minutes. I dreamed about such walk because hoped my feet would warm. And so it happened but not full. There was nothing to do. I found the comfortable place and sat. The place, between the huge cliff from the right and a small ridge from the left, had a great view. I was invisible from all sides. But could see on 1-1,5 km. There was just one disadvantage. It was very cold. I couldn't seat for a long without moving. There was a huge mountain cup, surrounded by the rocky ridges, in front of me. The sun was rising from the left and its rays shined on the snowy slopes of the ridge that was from the right. The guides told me that animals would go by that ridge. I got out my SAKO 75, cal. 300 WinMag and prepared to wait. It’s not a problem for a real hunter to wait. Those people can spend hours waiting in any climate conditions. Who were the snipers in the war? Almost all snipers before the war were hunters. Why? Because they had been already trained for the war, they could wait for the chance to make the only but the accurate shot. I prepared to spend time there waiting for a chance to get the trophy. Time passed. It'd been an hour or more. There was not any sign of ibexes. I’d got cold and a light tremor passed through the whole body from time to time. At last I noticed first ones on the ridge. One, two, three... About twenty animals had appeared. I could see all the group through the binoculars. But none of them had trophy size. The herd moved slowly to my side. In twenty minutes, the goats were in the gorge near me. I saw females with babies and young males about 2-3 years old. It was not necessary to talk about their trophy characteristics. Their path came through the place where I was and soon they all were in 5-7 from me. Even the females that led the group didn't notice me. I held my breath and watched the animals go. I could even see the lashes on their eyes. It was fascinating though I didn't fire. Not only shot gives pleasure. It was a rare luck to see those animals in their habitat. This was a great pleasure. My hunting principle - to come as close to the animal as it was possible worked well. I wasn’t upset that didn't get the trophy. I was so close to those careful animals, moreover I watched wolves from 70-100 m before. But I couldn’t unnoticed for long. One of the ibexes had noticed me or smelled and the herd took off abruptly and ran down the slope, kicking up a huge column of dust. I watched them go and realized that I could move to keep warm. Then I saw Almaz who appeared on the ridge and gave a sign to go back. Being more pleased than upset I went back to our place and hoped to warm while walking. When we gathered Almaz explained what had happened. There were two big males in the group. But they stayed separated from the herd. When the group went by the usual route those two moved by different way. That’s why I didn’t see them. There was nothing to do. I got used to the idea of a failed hunt. We began to pack bags. It was time to go back. The horses were hobbled but managed to go from the place where we left them. Probably they were looking for food or just walking. Almaz ran to look for them. Alik decided to examine the ridge for the last time and went somewhere. He didn’t go two hundred meters as turned back and waved me, then pointed to the gorge where we saw ibexes. I understood that he detected something. Caught the carbine and ran to him. The tremor and a lump in the throat still bothered me. But nobody would pay attention to such things when there was a chance to get the trophy. I moved by the slope trying to be invisible. Alik said about two males in the gorge. When I asked him how far, he replied far. But I resolved to use that chance. My guides said that they have one more extra licenses that I can use. If I was lucky, I’d get two ibexes. Alike led me to the place from where I could shoot. “How far to the ibexes?”- I asked him once again. “Far!”- he answered. I thought for a moment and took the initiative. Got out the rangefinder and crawled on the ridge. Then aimed it to one of the animals and pushed the button. It showed 204 meters. Ok. Now I knew what meant far for Alik. Not many hunters could shoot more than 300 meters at that time. The locals had smooth barrel rifles and had to approach animals not less than 70 meters to make the accurate shot. But it was not the distance for me. I always tested my guns on those distances. I entered the cartridge, took the safety off and put the soft carbine's cover on the stones which I always took with me and crawled to the edge of the ridge and set the carbine. I like that cover because it protects the carbine and optics from the dust and mud and allows to regulate the carbine position without any uncomfortable positions. I took the comfortable position to shoot. Then set the multiplicity to "8" and only then could I see the animals. There were two adult males but not record sizes. They were not old as I thought at that moment. The value of the trophy doesn’t correlate with its size but with the way you go to get it. Well, the moment of truth has arrived. To get or not to get the trophy. The male was on the shooting distance. I caught its neck in the crosshairs and pushed the trigger smoothly. The shot. The echo of the shot sounded long in the silence of the gorge. The ibex fell down and rolled down by the stone scree. The another one stood and watched how its brother was rolling down and turned its head trying to find the source of the danger. I heard the cheers of my guide and how he insisted I’d shoot the second one. I reloaded the carbine and aimed it to the neck of the second one. The next shot and the second ibex repeated the same way. The powerful cartridge and a good bullet CDP 10,7gr, produced by RWS for Blaser made their work. Alik I didn't hold back his emotions, hugged me and congratulated. He couldn’t believe that I got two ibexes from such distance by two shots only. Telling the truth, I didn’t know who was more happy Alik or me. I guessed he was happy because they’d have enough meat. I felt drained because of tiredness, chill and a lump in the throat. I was just knocked out. And wanted to be somewhere near the fireplace in the armchair. I could barely make it to the bivouac. Soon we met Almaz who had found horses. He was smiling. We packed everything we had and began to descend to the taken ibexes. I’d warmed while we were going down thanks to the sun and temperature that was higher there. I realized that I got those trophies only when we came to them and I touched their horns. It wasn't all in vain! But it was too early to relax. After a short photo session, we butchered the goats and to load meat. It took us two hours and only then we could go back. The way home is always shorter but it was late evening when we reached the dugout. One more night in the field. But next day the very old but reliable UAZ delivered us to the Main lodge. At last I took a hot shower, ate tasty dinner and slept in the bed. The chills and swelling were gone. Only unforgettable memories and burned face stayed. Fourteen years has come from that time but I still remember that hunting, what obstacles I have overcome to get that worthy trophies. P.S. One more plus of that hunting was that we managed to justice those poachers and my pictures played not the last role in it. Dmitry Vstovsky.

I've noticed that many hunters prefer to organize their hunting trips directly through the outfitter, the owner of hunting property and lands not through the agent. That was the reason why I took part in the auction for the hunting lands on the north of peninsula, near the border with Chukotka several years ago. The price hasn't been high because of the logistic scheme, what is difficult and long enough and I become the lessee of hunting ground for the next 49 years. The total square of my lands is more than 700K ha. I began to count when took these lands. The right way is to count first and then to act. I haven’t time to think over. It’s as in a joke: I have no time to think, I have to shake. I was lucky because the last season proved my idea that I was right. The total area is a terrain with a varied relief - there are also mountains, not as high and rocky as in central Kamchatka They are rather gentle, like hills. There are some valleys, where moose inhabitant. But moose hunting on the north of Kamchatka is prohibited. I could count on snow sheep only and bears less so. The bears dwelled on the north are smaller in size than their relatives from the central part and from the south/ and their number is small. It’s better to treat bear hunting as a way to get the additional trophy because of the complex logistic. I even don't know if it’s good or not. Why is it good? I could hardly protect those lands from poachers because there are not villages and I wouldn't have found the local staff to make it but the remoteness of that area resolved the problem. There is no necessity to do it. But I had some ideas how to get there with the client. The local outfitters, who live there, use the same scheme how to deliver the clients to the north. They fly by plane to Tilichiki and then by chopper to the hunting base. I should fly there from Moscow. I've studied all variants and decided that it's more preferable to fly to Anadyr first. And then by chopper to the camp. The hunting season this year has begun at the end of July. Thus, Sergey Razvizhin, one of the MHC members and I flew to Anadyr from Moscow. The local guide Ildar met us at the airports and we drove to change clothes. I’m was surprised that the place where we were going to change the civil clothes to camouflage, was so good that we could even spend a night there. But it was not necessary. We dressed and drove back to the airport where the chopper was already waiting. You should know that the rent of helicopters is very expensive and I made the decision to organize hunting trips in that area following the principle of reasonable minimalism. Through trial and error, I have found the optimal formula for a hunter who is not afraid to be face to face with the wild. The first moment - The delivery to the place is by Robinson- the cheapest variant. The car is designed for three passengers, so we only fly together with the hunter - there are no cooks, camp workers and guides. I’m for all of them. The seat place is for our equipment. There is no sense to land in the valley and then waste time climbing. We land on the ridge in the second part of the day. I studied the territory when flew over there in two last years and know where to look for sheep. 700K hectares is 70 by 100 kilometers, and you need to have a good idea of where and what can be found here. Our landing was not the most successful. The low clouds in the departure day didn’t allow us to land where we had planned. The pilots offered to wait a couple days but I know that two days on Kamchatka can stretch into two weeks. We decided to fly the same day. But pilots were right. The highest mountains were covered by clouds and it was always constantly drizzling. So, we had to land below on the place where the helicopter could hang in the air not far above the ground without turning off the engine. We threw equipment on the ground and waved to the helicopter pilots. When they flew away, we set two single tents, which became our camp for two days. The only advantage of that place was that it was near the springs. There was no water on the tops and we should go down about 700-800m each time to drink if stayed there what was not comfortable. Usually, I take about 15 L of drinking water in the plastic bottles what is enough for 1-3 days of hunting. We left all our equipment in the tents and went to examine surroundings to the end of the day. I’m use to go along ridges, it saves energy, I don't need to run up and down. There is a good view from the ridge You can see clearly the traces of animal activity on the nearest slopes. The experienced guide can know if the animals inhabitant in the area even if he doesn’t see them. He comes to such conclusions if see their paths trodden by animals, or their beds. He will understand how active the vital activity of the animals is. Neither on the first day nor on the second day did we even see ewes with lambs. The tracks proved the idea that we should climb. We detected several bears but far from us and were not interested in them at all. In two days, weather became better and we called to the helicopter pilots. I use Iridium phones; they have a navigation function. You send a point to the pilot, and he takes you where you are. But you should need to find a suitable place, since not even "Robinson" can land everywhere. The new place was higher and better for hunting. We noticed the group of ewes with lambs when we flying. When the helicopter hanged above the ridge, the animals ran away, but as soon as it flew away, they calmed down and continued to graze calmly. It showed us that that area was absolutely wild and animals aren’t familiar with humans. I hunted in Tuva last year and saw how the herd of ibexes with kids ran away when heard the noise of helicopter somewhere. We camped once again- set tents, watched the group of ewes and went to look for trophy rams. We were moving all the time along the ridge, periodically stopping to take some glasses. We went about four km but spotted the group of bighorns. It was twilight when we approached them. Two of them had trophy sizes. Sergey decided to fire. He put his carbine 338LM on the bipods and shot. One of the rams fell down. The second one ran down. I must say that Sergey shoots very well and go in the mountains easily what is a rarity. I had one more license which wanted to use myself and followed the male hoping that it’d stop. I use Blaser 300 WinMag. So it happened. It stopped for a moment, I fell down on the ground and prepared to shoot. The distance to the aim was 360m and it was lower than me. I use an inexpensive Winchestver cartridge with a bimetallic sleeve and a Ballistic Silvertip bullet. I entered all cartridge data from the Winchester company website into the Leica ballistic calculator. I shoot quite confidently at 500 meters. The ram stayed for a moment and moved down. The first shot hit its body and the second one made it to stop It came not more than ten minutes between getting two trophies. The first thing we did was take pictures with the trophies. Then we began to butcher the sheep. It was totally dark when we finished. We took just one trophy and few pieces of meat but was going to come back next day. The weather was fine and we called the chopper to take us back on the next day. All morning we were busy dragging to the landing place what we could not pick up yesterday. In the second part of the day, we said goodbye to the hunting lands that gave us two nice trophies. We landed on the base, belonged to our friends i 300km from Anadyr. It is possible to use two bases - one in the form of a country house with all the amenities and a sauna, where we ended up. The next apartment is in the village Markovo. You can stay in both places if weather is bad to wait when it’ll change. We put all meat into the fridge and next morning I was busy with the primary processing the trophies. I removed carefully and salted the skins and boiled the skulls. Two days we waited for good weather and then flew to Chukotka region. That time there were no adventures, flew out early and landed in a good place. We were on the dominant height, on the ridge, from which several other ridges diverged and we had the opportunity to explore a large territory without much hassle. We set the tents and left the equipment there. It was lunch time and sheep don't graze at those hours. I suggested to have lunch and go. I always take gas stove and sublimates to the mountains. It's necessary to eat hot meals when you are on the height. My usual choice is instant noodles, but not Russian. I prefer to buy Aptonia, thanks to Kazhym Dzhumaliev who has taught me. We ate, checked rifles and went to look for the trophy. We detected more than three dozen of sheep but none of them had trophy size. I didn’t remember how much time it took but we hiked about two km when detected the group of three rams. They were in 700 m from us and they all were about the same size but one of them was bigger. Those rams were older than the animals we met before. Sergey decided to fire. He was ready to shoot from 700 meters but we had the opportunity to approach. We descended from the ridge to the left and moved forward under the cover of the ridge so as to climb up the ridge again and be just above the rams. It was not far to go, but when we looked out from behind the ridge, it turned out that we were mistaken in the distances, or the rams moved away a little. There were about 200 between us. Sergey looked once again and said that he’d shoot without optics. The goat fell after the shot. I had not time to congratulate him when noticed the group of sheep in 300m from us. They ran and we saw the males with excellent horns. What should we do? It was too expensive to get one more trophy. I had hunting licenses for my grounds but not for those area. How worried he was! Then there was a photo session, butchering a ram... At night we sat near the fire on the top of the mountain and talked. It's a pleasure to sit at night in good weather on the top of a mountain, when there is not a single person for hundreds of kilometers. But the most important thing, was that it was very comfortable to communicate with Sergei - this did not happen often. It was not in vain that I participated in the auction...

For those who love to travel, the discovery of new countries, distant corners of the planet is a real gift. Thanks to my professional activity, thanks to which I often manage to visit places where I myself could hardly be. And accompanying a trophy hunter on a hunt is a special level of travel and an opportunity to improve your professional skills by immersing yourself in the features and nuances of exciting trophy hunting.Pakistan – at the hearing, one of, and not such a large number of places on the planet, which necessarily need to visit. But, unfortunately, in the minds of many people, since the very times when India was "for our people" and Pakistan "for theirs", stable cliches have taken root, which can scare away those who want to make a trip there.In fact, there is no reason to worry at all. Pakistan is a hospitable country, very attractive for the world tourism industry. People come here for the sake of conquering the Himalayan peaks, exploring the ancient history of mankind and, of course, for hunting, the organization of which is at a high professional level, the trophies are diverse, and the trophy indicators can satisfy the most demanding hunter.Collectors of domestic and international awards and helmets can not avoid traveling to Pakistan. Almost all captured animals have only a local "registration address".The Himalayan mountain goat, Karakurum blue ram, Sindhi mountain goat, Blandford's urial, Punjabi urial, Afghan urial, Nilgau, Astor marhur, Kashmir Marhur, Sulaiman Marhur are hunted here.Unfortunately, it is impossible to get all the desired trophies in one trip to Pakistan. These are issues of seasons, optimal hunting dates, and logistics. By area, it is the 34th out of a hundred and fifty countries in the world, and the areas of captured animals are scattered throughout the country.If you want to replenish your collection to the maximum, the hunter must have sufficient time, patience and be ready to adjust the plans in the direction of changing the planned number of days in the direction of increasing.As a rule, most people try to include 2-3 types in one trip. Many hunters return to Pakistan several times until the trophy plan is 100% completed.For the first hunt in Pakistan, a combination of the Sindhi mountain goat and the urial Blanford is very often chosen. For each species, three days of hunting are allocated, but according to many years of practice, it is possible to get these animals much faster. It happened that the goal was achieved in one day!sind ibex and urial of Blanford live in the South-East of the country. The drop - off to the land is carried out from Karachi – a giant metropolis with an international airport.The small number of days of hota per animal should not be misleading and speak of the relative ease of this hunt. Hunting takes place in open areas. The undoubted advantage is that the density of the animal is very high, the heights are also not critical-the hunt takes place at 700 – maximum 1200 meters above sea level. There are no rocks, scree or steep slopes. The disadvantages are the long marches and the breath of the sun-scorched Thar desert. It was the march through these lands that once killed more than one phalanx of the army of Alexander the Great.For the first trip, a combination of the two mentioned types with the addition of Punjabi urial is an excellent option. However, it should be borne in mind that in the area of hunting this sheep, the mountains are steeper than in the south, the ascents and descents are more tedious. The slopes are covered with dense thickets of shrubs and stunted trees.When planning a trip, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of logistics. And it is very important to decide whether the carbine will be rented or your own. If a hunter goes after the Sindhi ibex and the Blandford urial and rents a weapon, then he boldly flies to Karachi. But if his favorite hunting rifle is also in his luggage, he will not escape the destination airport of Islamabad. Only there you can officially import hunting weapons into the country. And it turns out that after Islamabad there will be a domestic flight to Karachi, and after hunting for southern species, you will have to return to Islamabad again. I suggested adding a third Punjabi urial because this species lives in the north, and the transfer to the hunting area for it is carried out just from Islamabad.Quite different features with another popular combination – blue ram and Himalayan ibex. The hunt takes place in the very north. The starting point is the city of Gilgit. The flight is operated by domestic airlines from Islamabad. But often the unpredictable Himalayan weather makes its own adjustments to the plans. Flights can be canceled, and then the only way to get there is only by car. This way will take 14-17 hours in one direction.An interesting feature or tradition: in Pakistan, the hunter is accompanied not just by a few huntsmen, but by a whole team. During the hunt for the Sind ibex and Urial Blandford, I counted 12 people in the "entourage" of one client-a hunter – huntsmen, representatives of the authorities, local guides. And when hunting Himalayan ungulates, the number of porters alone can reach 20 people, plus a huntsman and representatives of the local community and environmental organizations.In the South-West of Pakistan is a hunt for the Afghan urial. The drop-in to the land is carried out from the city of Quetta. In the same area, you can also get Suleiman marhur.The markhor is the auction hunting types. To book a hunt for one of them, you first need to take part in the auction. In addition to the Sulaiman Marhur, Pakistan offers hunting for the Astor and Kashmiri Marhur. To get to the Astor range, you need to arrive in Gilgit. And Kashmiri lives in Chitral.The decision about hunting in this country should be made in advance, especially for the hunter, who rarely goes hunting without his carbine. The paperwork of the relevant authorities of Pakistan takes an average of 3-4 months.Now it has become easier to get a visa. In addition to the traditional method-submission of documents to the consular department of the embassy in Moscow, you can also apply for an electronic visa through the government website.I hope the information I offered was interesting, and if Pakistan is in the plans, do not hesitate, feel free to prepare for the trip. Pakistan will not disappoint you!

In June 2020, Afanasy Sleptsov, from the Even Life company, suggested his help in registration of my snow sheep trophy in the Record Book of SCI. According our preliminary estimates it could claim the title of Champion by SCI system. And I asked Afanasy to organize hunting trip for the snow sheep on his hunting ground. We agreed to organize it in September. In August he hunted with a guy from Yakutsk who got nice trophy. I chose Afanasy because of the trophy’ quality he could provide. It’s always risky to hunt with new people. In September two more hunters from St. Pete and I arrived to Yakutsk. Afanasy met us at the airport and invited to his house. The shaman, he invited beforehand, made a hunter rite of passage. We thought It’d help us. The weather was fine and we flew into the hunting area at the same day. It took us the whole day to drive by car to the base though we flew the part of the way. I’d remember for a long how we drove those 69 km by stones. On the third day we arrived to the mobile camp. It had been set already and the local guides told us that detected the group of good sizes males. Next early morning we went to the mountains for hunting. We climbed the top and didn’t spot the group of males, they talked about. But decided to look for them on the next tops and ridges. In one km from us we noticed three groups of females with babies. There were not any signs of males. We resolved to check other places but with the same result. In the evening we came back to the camp and suggest our guides to divide into two groups and to examine the surroundings without us. The news, they told us next evening, gave us with hope. On the fifth hunting day we left the camp, rose the mountain where the guides watched the sheep and didn’t find any. Several groups of females were grazing there.  We asked the evens what was going on and they confessed that didn’t see any trophy size males at that area and inform Afanasy about it before our arrival Afanasy preferred not to tell us the truth but lied that the guides found the males and everything was under the control. The best variant was to transfer our arrival to the other dates. We made the decision to finish the hunt and to fly back to Yakutsk. Afanasy demanded on payment for the second part of the trip. I suggested to compensate our travel expenses and to transfer the hunt for the next year. But he didn’t agree. My hunters did what he asked. Dear colleagues! I don't recommend to book hunting trips with Afanasy Sleptsov - the owner of the "Even Life" company, not to be disappointed and not to lose time as we did.

This hunting in Sudan was organized by HUNTGEO company (Eric Muller). The local outfitter was the family of natives who didn't have the experience how to organize trophy hunts. Some people could say that there were other alternatives and I could choose the other variants? As I know the other touristic companies, registered in Sudan, has nothing to do with hunting. When Sergey Yastrzhembsky and I arrived back from Sudan, I could assure you that there is just one company which organizes hunting trips. The last legal hunting, organized for a foreign hunter, took place about 10 years ago. It was Oleg Popov, who hunted in Sudan in 2011. The trip was organized by Angel Dacey. Over the years that have passed since that time, the poachers (mostly gold diggers) undermined the population of hunting animals. That's why I think that it's not professional from the Profi Hunt company side to use the ten years old data about the number of populations of hunting animals. It doesn't reflect the current situation. The information about 100% success misleads the readers. I visited all hunting places there and can declare that 100% success is out of the question. The prohibition to import their own guns by the foreign hunter don’t increase the hunting success too. I guess you realize how much does it mean for each hunter. The rented rifle, we used, wasn’t bad but not shot enough. We took our own sights and fixed them as we could. I tested the gun as long as I could and succeeded to put all shots on one list of paper A4 format. The shooting distance was 200m. We resolved to start our hunting from a Nubian ibex. The locals don’t know how to hunt from the approach. They are used to hunt in corrals and shoot whatever they see. The native beaters are so emotional that animals run like hell. So we couldn’t approach the ibex because our guides haven’t understood what we wanted from them. But I’m sure that there are ibexes in the mountains and the chance to get them there is high enough if they change the tactic and allowed the hunters to use their own weapon. After hunting for ibexes, we moved to the habitat of Barbary sheep. The outfitter told us that it’d be much difficult to take a sheep trophy because its population was small. We drove around all nearest mountains where Konstantin Popov and Rene Schneider had got their trophies and detected the old sheep trail. All other attempts to find the new trails or to see an Aoudad sheep were not successful. But we discovered the group of poachers who were digging just behind the next gorge. That meeting confirmed our thoughts about sheep absence those mountains. Not many hunting days left and we moved to another hunting ground to hunt for gazelle. The guides set the camp. I could write the article about that camp and our accommodation there. In the last day we saw three males but all of them we far from us and I didn’t risk to shoot using the rented gun because wasn’t sure in it. Despite this, I managed to get a small trophy. The representative of the foreign company which organized that hunting trip was honest and told us that didn’t know the real hunting situation. That trip was like a test. We were ready and didn’t have any illusions. I decided to repeat this hunt once again when could take my own rifle there. The local businessman told us that the permission to visit the country for hunting purpose with personal weapons would be get the next months. You can read about this trip in more details in Sergey Yastrzhembsky article which will be published soon. I would like to thank Eric Muller and Sergey Yastrzhembsky for the opportunity to participate in this hunt. Thank you very much to Evgeny Kharitonov ( Stalker group) for his help and support duting this trip.

Dear Members of the Club of Mountain Hunters! We want to comment the information published by Mr. Reznik on the site of CMH about the ad of Profi-Hunt company which mislead the readers. https://kgo-club.ru/stati/item/vnimanie-reklama-vvodyashhaya-v-zabluzhdenie.htmWe need to clarify that to mislead means a fraud and other unauthorized actions. This statement is unacceptable in relation to our company.  1. Hunting of Mr. Reznik in Sudan has nothing to the Profi-Hunt company. We don't know where he has book that hunting trip and other hunting details. It’s not correct to connect the result of his hunting with the Profi-Hunt company.   2. His decision to travel to Sudan was taken on the base of another ads.   3. The pictures, used in our ads, were made by Konstantin not Mikhail Popov, as it was mention by Mr. Reznik.   4. We write honestly that hunting has been opened after seven years break.   5. When we say about 100% success, we are based on the results of Konstantin Popov hunting who got three from three declared trophies what means 100% success.   6. There is the link where we give all details concerning that hunting: http://profihunt.com/hunt/ohota-v-sudane       Respectfully yours, LLC “ Profi-Hunt”

В 12 выпуске журнале Магия настоящего САФАРИ на 74 странице опубликовано рекламное объявление компании ProfiHunt с предложением срочно бронировать охоту на аудада , нубийского козерога и эритрейскую газель в Судане. Особо подчеркивается , что успех добычи близок к 100%При этом прилагаются фотографии трофеев 10 летней давности добытых Михаилом Поповым.На прошлой неделе я вернулся из Судана, где благодаря Сергею Ястржембскому вместе с ним , принял участие в первой за последние 10 лет охоте на указанные виды.Краткие выводы по итогам прошедшей охоты.1. Шансов добыть гривистого барана за 14 дней практически нет. Ни самок, ни ягнят, ни тем более самцов мы не встречали. За все время мы пару раз видели старые следы. 2. Трофейного уровня козерога добыть можно, но при условии если вы привезли своё оружие, а не с тем оружием , которое арендовали на месте. Один раз ( за наши 7 попыток ) Сергею Владимировичу повезло увидеть трофейного качества самцов, но стрелять из арендованного оружия на дистанции их нахождения было бессмысленно.3. Эритрейскую газель добыть действительно можно. Мне это удалось.Рекомендации:Ехать при условии разрешения на ввоз собственного оружия.Не рассчитывать на добычу гривистого барана.Все подробности этой экспедиции читайте в будущей статье Сергея Ястржембского.

The weather was merciful to us in that trip. We arrived by chopper in time and the visibility was great. There were two groups of hunters in different camps. In the first day we saw lots of sheep tracks but didn’t spot any animal. Next day we went to another gorge and found four males. Two of them had trophy size. I shot from Blazer 300 WinMag. The shooting distance was 215m. The sheep ran about 100 m, after I hit it, and fell down. It got dark while we fetched the body and skin it that’s why decided to sleep there. It got colder at night and started raining. Fortunately, we took primus with us and could drank hot tea. Next morning, we came back to the camp and I flew away to Milkovo. Thank you very much to my guide Vladimir and the outfitters.

Интеллектуальный оптический прицел DHF 4-28×56 Harrier оборудован встроенной системой обработки информации и дисплеем с настраиваемым интерфейсом, расположенным в поле зрения стрелка. Для совершения быстрого высокоточного выстрела достаточно установить на дисплее дистанцию стрельбы, вращая барабан ввода вертикальной поправки. Стрелок одновременно наблюдает актуальное положение барабанов и цель, что очень удобно и информативно в светлое время суток и необходимо в ночное время при работе с предобъективными насадками.АО «Дедал-НВ» входит в тройку мировых производителей, реализующих данную технологию.Расположение прицельной сетки в фокальной плоскости объектива (FFP) позволяет пропорционально масштабировать размеры сетки с изменением увеличения прицела, что необходимо для определения дистанции до цели на любых кратностях при стрельбе выносом. Линии центрального перекрестия сетки имеют минимальную толщину для стрельбы по малоразмерным целям на больших дистанциях.Подробнее на сайте dedalnvoptics.com

Dear Club Members! We are glad to tell you that the Club created new prized in the next nominations: The International Wild Goat Award (the detailed description) and the International Wild Sheep Award  (the detailed description) The Club Member who reached the International Wild Goat (Sheep) level can order the Prize. He has to get 12 mountain goats or sheep from the Club rating list. After reaching the next levels ( Super 20, Super 30 and so) - you can order the additional bronze nameplate and put it on the three-tiered marble base of the prize.  The prizes are made to order and the nominee's names are engraved on it. You can get more information and send the request for the prize production by email: kgo.alexander@gmail.com kgo.irina@gmail.com All information concerning new prizes will be published in the section Rewards and in your personal accounts.

I don't know how other people plan their journeys but I often start to think about the travel when see the beautiful picture, made at that place. There are lots of accounts in Instagram where people post fantastic photos from the different and amazing parts of the Earth. Thus, I saw the picture of the Karakorum mountains and the Hunza river valley in Pakistan. And started to plan my trip to that place. Like most of people , born in the USSR, I didn't have the positive perception from Pakistan. My country took a side of India at that time which was in war with Pakistan for hundreds of years and we all imagined that country to be the mainstay of global terrorism and treated to its citizens as to the ruthless thugs. I realized that people who lived there were the same as everywhere but was anxious a little bit. Usually the acquaintance with the country starts from its airport. But 98% of the plane passengers were the locals and began to watch them in the flight. Some bearded men looked like Bashi-bazouks. But it was just my impression. I saw how carefully they treated to their relatives and realized that everything would be good. We arrived to Islamabad. I was surprised how polite and friendly the local customs officers were. They didn’t cavil me though I traveled with the weapon. Only in the mountains I realized that it was not the country which had the problems with tourism as my country had. The car was driving by the picturesque road from Gilgit to the Chinese border and the Hunza river valley and I saw hundreds of small hotels, guest apartments and touristic offices, which showed that the country was popular among the tourists. Almost all people spoke English! First impressions The mountain villages in the river valley looked like on posters. Probably thanks to the Islamic traditions they all were ethnic and very clean. People there didn't look like Persians, they had white skin, red or brown hair, every second had green eyes. I didn’t know about other villages but the most part of the population of Gulmit, where we stayed, was Tajiks. They spoke wahi, an ancient Persian language. They didn't profess radical Islam and women weren't’ obliged to walk with covered heads. They communicated with the foreigners, drove the cars and worked in the touristic industry. They all were very friendly especially when I told that I was from Kazakhstan. “Stan” there was a magic word. I think that wahi language was similar to to the language of Targariens. Probably the movie authors found it there. I couldn’t understand a word! But I studies a couple of them: shukari- a hunter, uksh- an Ibex, baff- good, luk- big... I need to say some words about the structure of the hunting farm or about conservation hunting. There is no hunting industry as we know it. The huge population of people and a small territory make it impossible. But there are wild animals which have to be protected. Pakistan was among the first countries which took the strategy “Hunting for the protection”. Prohibited measures didn’t work and the natives were exterminating animals for years. They needed meat for the families, used to hunt from the childhood or had other reason. Nobody could catch them. The animal’s density had fallen down in times. No world community, no the official authorities could do anything. The Government took the unprecedented measures and put up the International Hunting auction the one license for the markhor. The authority raised about 200K and gave the part of the income to the local community. The mountain part of Pakistan, the Himalayas is the motherland for lots of many small nationalities which peacefully coexist on the rights of limited self-government. The allocation funds to the Elders, leaded the Communities allowed to achieve the impossible to stop poaching! The peasants realized the value of the animal resources and had chosen roads, new schools, hospitals and other advantages instead of sheep extermination. Thus, the local communities became the outfitters. Our inspector Kamal Bey, accompanied us on the hunt, has confessed that poaching is still exists in the region. But it happens very rare. People have lots of weapon and there will always be individuals who put themselves above the interests of society. The taken measures gave the result. The density of the markhor population increased from 70 individuals to 2500. It was the same with the Punjab Urials and Sidh Ibexes. The authorities didn’t forget about the Pakistan hunters, the permits are divided between the natives, country citizens and foreigners. The price depends on the category, the lowest one is for the native hunters. All licenses are without the right to transfer. The outfitters earn money on the service and take part in the auctions. And there is the problem. The limit is approved in a month before the hunting season starts but the auctions are organized in two weeks before the opening of the season. The hunter hazards a lot booking tickets and making all papers beforehand. Moreover, you don’t know how much your outfitter will pay for the license. Our group, as many others were screwed. Our outfitter was able to buy only 3 licenses in the limits of our budget for four hunters and they all were in different places. Thus, my friend Jordy, a well-known outfitter from Spain, who organized that expedition, abandoned it in my favor but took part in the trip to make movie about our hunting. Two more Spanish hunters from Madrid met us in Islamabad and we all, accompanied by the local outfitter Razi, flew to Karakorum. The Gilgit airport is located in the deep gorge. I had never landed in such conditions. About 1,5 km we were flying in the stone tunnel between two rocky mountain ridges. After the landing I realized that if I came back alive, the trip would be lucky. The views around us were like on the Instagram pictures! I couldn’t but admire by Lombardy poplars, persimmon and quince trees, hung with fruits and watched how sunny rays reflected from the light rock and lighted the valley. I was in the golden kingdom of fall and incomprehensible in his greatness the mountains. We left Gilgit and drove by the new highway, built by the Chinese. It followed the ancient Silk Way. The road in the valley of the Huanza River is on top in my own rating of world roads. The photographers can understand what I’ve felt seeing the amazing views each hundred meters. I watch pictures which have been done on phone from the car and imbue with the greatness and beauty of these places. When the phone memory was full you, I began to pay attention to the people's life. The first thing I noticed was the absence of mosques. The most of people in that area are Tadzhiks and they practice Ismaili Islam with the spiritual leader Aga Khan the Fourth. This religious movement has definite features: that doctrine says about the cultural, ethnic and racial diversity, social justice, and so on. People there are very friendly and hospitable. The kunzite, it's the name of the valley inhabitants, are the longest-lived people on the planet. Most of them live to 110 years. I couldn’t understand how the natives adapted to the life in such severe land. They used quadrillions of stones and built terraces, fences, houses and shed. They are very hard-working people. Once we invited ourselves over to the weavers and know how they lived. They earned by weaving carpets. The family lived in a stone house with a couple of windows on the roof. They didn't make windows in the walls. One of the windows is a chimney, they heat the houses in the traditional way. The house is divided into two parts for men and women. They eat, what they grew on their own farm. Each family has a kitchen-garden where they grew potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables. Most families have sheep or goats, the rich ones have cows or yaks. I liked their meal! In every place we stayed for a lunch, all dished were high quality. I tried lots of traditional cuisine but the karakorum cuisine is the best one. It's the mixture of the Indian and Turkish cuisine. All meal is bright but not heavy with the balance of protein and carbohydrates. It doesn't get old you can eat it every day. I ate there so much rice as had never eaten before. A standard meal on the local market for two persons costs one dollar. We try to hunt. We arrived to the valley and divided. Brothers Jorge and Israel drove with Razi to the Afghanistan border. Jordy and I and Salvatory stayed in Gulmit. (Salvo was our cameraman). We all accommodated in a small hotel with all conveniences even including Wi-Fi. The tourist’s season there was from May to September, that’s why we were the only guests and our hosts were happy to help us. The first day we waited for the permits and the inspector. According the local law all trophy hunts have to be done only with the participation of the official representative of the Wild Life Department. The only useful thing, we did, was the gun testing. After the lunch the local guys and Kemal Bey ( our inspector) left the village and drove to check the surroundings. They drove back in the evening and told that there was a group of Ibexes just opposite the village. We watched the group through the binoculars and found only young males and told Razi about it. The guides were surprised by our knowledge and skills to define the size of the trophies. When we had dinner and talked, I had insisted our our participation in the researching expeditions. The local guides had only one Chinese binocular for all and it wasn’t effective way of monitoring. They didn't expect such reaction. It seemed that they thought the hunter had to lay, smoke hookah and did nothing while they’d look for the trophy. Next morning, we all drove to the hunt on the old off-road car. It wasn’t the difficult process: to stop on the highway from time to time and to spot the nearest slopes. We saw 35 individuals during the morning hours but all of them were females. None of the worthy trophy. We couldn’t but drive back to the camp and discuss it with the outfitter. Nothing had changed during the evening and the next morning. It had no sense to stay on the place and we moved to the mountains. The climb should take us 4-5 hours to the Sherpa cabin, where we were going to stay and to spot from there. We ascended by the good path though there were some extreme places on it. I was shocked when saw how they did the entrances to the pasture through the rocks. How much labor and dynamite they used to build them? Our team consisted of me, my Spanish companions, Kemal Bey and the native guys who were porters and guides at the same time. It was clear for me when we reached the cabin that it was their first climbing. They were in jeans and snickers but not trained to such trip. Finally, I realized that they all were the beginners when saw what they had brought for cooking. It was a huge stove model with 20 L. gas balloon. It came me to the conclusion that all hunts, organized before, had been done from the highway. If it was so. Kemal Bey confirmed my hunches that it was the first time when the community won the right to organize the hunt. According to the Pakistan laws we shouldn't change the location or to refuse the hunt. You agree with these rules when take part in the auction. What could I do? The right answer was to look for the animal and to hunt! So we went on hunting. We reached the height 3700 masl and began to spot. There were animals in that area. I accounted several dozens of ibexes in that circus. There were good males but with horns smaller than allowed by the Pakistan rules. We still had time. To be continued...

Alexander Egorov was born in Russia, grew up in Siberia. He started hunting at the age of 6 with his father. Since then all his dreams were only about hunting. He worked as a trapper, served in the border troops in Kamchatka and travelled extensively throughout vast Russia, selflessly and fearlessly mastering its most remote and inaccessible places for hunting.In 2003 Alexander became a member of SCI. In the same year, for the first time, he went hunting outside of Russia and from that time began registering trophies. His first recorded trophy was Marco Polo, which he got in Kyrgyzstan.Since 2003 Alexander has hunted at a speed that is very difficult to imagine and few can compare with this.His passion has always been mountain hunting, he got 38 different types of sheep, 35 different types of wild goats. In total he got 118 mountain animals.His collection of more than 440 different hunting trophies from around the world (81 trophies of which are still in the Top 10 SCI to this day) is the result of 173 international safaris, visiting 56 countries on all five continents.173 different species were harvested in Africa, completing 40 full African safaris in 12 African countries. Hunted 104 times in 14 different countries in Asia and obtained 75 different species. Hunted 105 times in Europe and obtained 51 types of trophies in 24 countries of Europe. He has spent a lot of time hunting in Russia, four times in Mongolia, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Iran. Three times in Tajikistan, twice in Armenia, as well as in Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Nepal.Alexander hunted around the world with amazing zeal and stamina. He completed his “SUPER SLAM” of “NORTH AMERICA BIG GAME” in four years. To get his previously mentioned achievement he made two unsuccessful expeditions for Roosevelt Elk in 2015 and only for the third time in 2016 he got it.39 safari in North America and preyed on 76 different species, including 44 indigenous species of North America.He also achieved SCI diamond levels in South America, Australia, and New Zealand.Among his achievements, it should be noted:● “CONKLIN AWARD”;● “INTERNATIONAL HUNTING AWARDS” SCI;● “WORLD CONSERVATION AND HUNTING AWARD” SCI;● “PANTHEON AWARD”● “SUPER SLAM RUSSIA Big Game” (35 animals of Russia) 2019 The first and only Russian hunter to receive an award;● “16 GRAND SLAM’S” SCI;● “26 DIAMOND LEVEL AWARDS” SCI;● “WORLD HUNTING AWARD" SCI;● “ОVIS WORLD SLAM SUPER 30”, 2016;● “CAPRA WORLD SLAM SUPER 30”, 2015;● “TRIPLE SLAM”, 2014;● “SUPER SLAM OF NORTH AMERICA BIG GAME”, 2016;● No. 1 The highest Russian award of the CLUB OF MOUNTAIN HUNTERS - “RUSSIAN MOUNTAIN HUNTING AWARD”, 2016;● “WEATHERBY FOUNDATION“ - Finalist 2018;● “WEATHERBY FOUNDATION“ - Finalist 2019;He actively cooperates with numerous hunting and environmental institutions: WEATHERBY, CONKLIN FOUNDATION, SCI, GSCO, DALLAS SAFARI CLUB, COFRADIA CULMINUM MAGISTER, WILD SHEEP FOUNDATION. Member of the Board of Directors of CONKLIN FOUNDATION; Member of the Board of the Mountain Hunters Club and Moscow Safari ClubHe became the initiator and leading force for amending the law on hunting in Russia with the bow and arrow. From January 30, 2020, bow hunting is allowed in Russia!He has published over 200 articles promoting hunting and wildlife conservation in various Russian magazines.- Fully funded and participated in the filming of more than 20 films for Russian and Bulgarian television:- “Hunting in America”; "Hunting in Tajikistan"; "Hunting in Pakistan"; “Hunting in Namibia”; "Hunting in Africa"; “Hunting in the Far North of Russia. The Arctic of Yakutia "; "Mountain hunting in Iran."Author of the hunting book “ANATOMY OF HUNTING”.Alexander lives with his family in Moscow, has two sons and a daughter. Now he is a successful businessman, owns and runs a large construction company in the Moscow region, which allows him to significantly improve the quality of housing for people in his region and create many jobs.In 2005 Alexander founded and finances the Gletcher-Help Charitable Environmental Fund, which provides assistance to gifted children, allocates funds for the conservation of wildlife, maintenance of environmental projects such as wildlife, protection and restoration of endangered species. In 2011, the Foundation built an Orthodox church in Moscow.Alexander constantly contributes to many useful hunting initiatives and hunting / nature management organizations around the world and believes that only thanks to hunters many species of animals have been preserved to this day and completely agree with the slogan “Hunting is the best way of wildlife conservation”.www.weatherbyfoundation.com

The 50th anniversary is a special date. The half of the century has gone already but the whole life with new plans and interests is ahead. That’s the new start when you have to make a lot. They say that when the man listens to his desires when his is young, at 30 years old he follows his mind, at 40- his brain and only when he is 50 years old all these features transfers to wisdom. We want to say some words about Edward. He was born on June 25th in 1970. His father was a military man and the family lived in Gus-Khrustalny town. Thanks to his Dad's job the family lived in different place and moved from one republic to another. He spent the childhood and the youth in Turkmenistan. He was ten when the father took him for a hunting. From 1987 to 1991 Edward studied in Ryzan military landing college then was selected to the special group of KGB USSR and took part in the dramatic events which happened in our country at that time. At last in 1994 he made the very serious decision and left the Army. Three years later he leaded the private guarding company “Vympel-A”, and the United companies “Vympel- A” in 2002. The company works in the field of security About five years from 2003 to 2008 he headed the Regional Community of the veterans from State security Agency “Vympel”. The organization helped all kind of support to the veterans, the families of those who died or wounded. In 2007 he graduated the Law faculty of the State University “The High School of Economy”. From 2008 he is the President of the Charity Fund “Vympel”. The main activities of the Fund is the support of Children Houses and kids who need medical care, they also help veterans and their families, takes the active part in the development of Amateur and children sport and others. From 2006 to 2013 he was the Head of the Russian Association of Hunters and Anglers (RORS). We remember, people said that Edward's intentions were to close the Association. But he took a credit to repair the hotel, belonged to the Association and the unprofitable factory “Saturn”. His enemies said that he did it on purpose to sell it to the Bank. Later they refused from their forecast when saw what he did with the building of the Main Office, finished the establishment process for all legal entities. It was started in 1992 but only Edward could finish it. The central office has got the financial independence. All his actions as the leader of the Association were very thoughtful and aimed to the future. He has the ability to look ahead and has seen the potential in the project of the Mountain Hunters Club. Not all people believed in the necessity of such Club in Russia. Today the Club meets all requirements for the international clubs and there are about 850 Club members today. The readers of our magazine could see and not once that Edward always set the ambitious goals and got them. At the end of the last year he became the first world hunter who got 50 species of Capra from the CMH ‘s list. It was the gift which he presented to himself. It’s Ovis turn now! Dear Edward Vitalievich the editorial staff of the magazine “The Magic of the Real Safari” congratulates you with your anniversary and wish to get all goal you set! We wish you to reach everything you want and your angel won’t leave you.

If somebody ask me how I can characterize Leonid Palko, I’ll say just one phrase. He was born to be a hunter. It happened in 1960 in the small village Podlesny in Novosibirsk region. The forest began just behind the house and as Leonid said it was more difficult not to become the hunter. It was his brother who allowed the six years old boy Leonid to make his first shot from the rifle of 32 caliber. He hit the target-a tin can. The first hunt had happened a few years later when the got the duck. The grownups didn’t know anything. When he was 14, his uncle presented him the new TOZ BM. Thus, his hunting career began. Everybody in their village knew that he used the hunting weapon. Leonid began to write down hunting reports and accounted how many game he had. It happened that he took more than one hundred ducks during the hunting season! Leonid Palko graduated the faculty of animal engineering of the NSAU in 1982 He took the active part in the social work while studied and continued to work as the first secretary of the VLKSM after graduating the Institute. It went on for nine years. From 1989 to 1991 he worked as the instructor of CK of VLKSM. But each free day he spent in the forest with his hunting gun. Later in 1991 he moved to Moscow and organized the publishing house “Veche”. Valery Elensky became his partner, Sergey Dmitirev joined them as a partner later. He is the General Director of the company from the very beginning. Today, “Veche” is in the Top 10 of the Russian Publishing houses. They published all kinds of literature from non-fiction to business books. “Veche” is one of the few publishing houses which prints books devoted to Leonid’s hobby - hunting (the series “the World of Hunt”, “ The Hunting adventures”). After moving to Moscow Leonid had to look for the new hunting locations and soon he interested in the trophy hunting though the hunting process is still on the first place. Later he came to the idea to buy his own hunting area in Ryzan region. His hunting farm “Elms” works perfectly. At the end of the first decade of 2000’s he began to hunt in Africa and visited all well know hunting destinations from Namibia to South Africa and Liberia. Later he visited other continents and hunted there. Leonid Palko became a member of the Board of Trustees in the CMH. He’ s also the Board Member of the Russian Book Union, the member of the Publishing Council of Moscow, member of the Union of journalists of Moscow, full member and Professor of the Academy of Russian literature and fine arts, He is also the corresponding member of the Academy of Russian literature, corresponding member of the Petrovskaya Academy of Sciences and arts. At the end of the last year Leonid Palko was awarded by "Order of Honor". The staff of the magazine congratulate our author and a good man Leonid Palko with his 60th anniversary and wish him great health! We wish him to reach the new achievements!

The rifle for mountain hunts, on the base of M98 system, is produced from the titanium alloy, cal. 300 WinMag. It's weight is just 2.870 kg. The barrel is from Nickel-chromium-molybdenum gun steel with the length 665mm. The magazine capacity is 3+1. Made by Johann Fanzoj (Ferlach, Austria). Constant striving to improvement and gun’s optimization is the main feature of “Johann Fanzoj” management team. One of the main direction in the company is the development of classical Mauser rifle with a longitudinally - sliding bolt, which was canonized in 1898. It’s easy to explain why they are adherents of this system. M98 has genius construction which allows to control the transfer a cartridge from the magazine and not matter what the shotgun orientation is or how fast you pull the bolt action. The system 98 has the most reliable locking of cartridges in the magazine among the same class rifles. The original bolt action has the third, emergency lug in front of the bolt handle, in case the primary ones fail under pressure.. It’s fixed in the back part of the receiver and activates when the breech bolt moves to 0,2mm back. One more advantage of this system is that the controlled-feed mechanism, consisting of a large, non-rotating claw extractor, engages the cartridge case rim as soon as the round leaves the magazine and firmly holds the cartridge. When the shooter tries to make pressure and to remove the cartridge, the hook of the bolt mechanism pushes it to prevent its slippage. It makes M98 one of the safest and reliable systems in the world. Not long ago, all rifles of “Johann Fanzoj” company was produced on the base of steel system M98. It’s evident that piece production allowed to improve guns’ quality in the comparison with the original a century ago drawing of the Army rifle M98. The manufacturer used not only good quality steel but provided less dimensional tolerance. The highest level of all surfaces treatment, especially the connected ones, allowed to increase the lifetime of their rifles. The company reduced the diameter of a striker and the place for it in the bolt action. This measure reduced the risk of breaking through the powder gases when primer exploded. The hole in the breech bolt displays torn gases to the side, perpendicular to the axis of the shotgun. The third position safety mechanism, rotated on a vertical axis on the right side of the trigger, adds more comfort when you use the rifle. The family hunting lands are located on the steep slopes of the Karawanken ridge and the management of the company realizes how important for the mountain hunting is the weight of the rifle and they try to minimize it.   If they tried to reduce the weight cutting the length and the diameter of the barrel it could damage its ballistic. Every hunter knows that each gram is very important in the mountain. It’s easy to understand the mountain hunters desire to have light and long-range weapons. Some hunters can say that the recoil depends on the guns’ weight and is stronger then the gun is lighter. But it’s not important in this kind of hunting because you feel real euphoria when detect the rare trophy and don’t pay attention to anything. The power of the recoil is important when you shoot with high tempo but it’s more actual for sport shooting than for hunting. In case you have some problems with the recoil intolerance you should order the rifle with a muzzle brake. All Fanzoj rifles have the elastic backing for such case. The company spent few years looking for the best decision how to reduce the weight. They rejected all variants connected with the lighten of a barrel or locking system. It’s unlikely to get accurate shooting with the barrel length less than 600-650mm. So idea was born to use titanium for producing almost all parts of the rifle, excluding a barrel. Not pure titanium but doped one. The history of this metal is very interesting. The titanium oxides were discovered in different minerals in the end of XVIII century. Then the titanium oxides was wildly used in the paint production (titanium white). Today about 90% of these oxides is used as the pigment in the paint, the fillers of paper and plastic. Only 10% of all titanium is used as metal. It became possible in 1925 after Dutchmen had invented that technology. Titanium is very light. Its’ density is 4.54 gr/sm3, steel has 7,8-7,9 gr/sm3. The pure titanium is soft and plastic but alloying adds it toughness. Its toughness, resulting in a cross section of equal weight, exceeds steel. Titanium is heat resistant and quite chemically inert. It is prone to oxidation but the process is limited to a thin surface layer. The mechanical processing of this metal complicates by the proximity of the forced yield strength to the tensile strength. Thermal conductivity of Titanium is in four times lower that steel conductivity. It means that it heats in the local cutting zone and became plastic. Metal sticks to the cutting tools and it leads to a catastrophic deterioration in the quality of the treated surface. Changing the geometry of the incision doesn’t improve the situation. The only way to avoid it is to reduce cutting speed and to cool intensively of the cutting area with an emulsion and to use of cutters with special coatings. You have to know that Titanium dust has the property of spontaneous combustion. It means that grinding needs special tools and ways. Titanium viscosity and thermal conductivity cause the problems in cases when parts of items rub each other. But telling the truth today we have some technologies which help to decide this problem. The Fanzoj management have found and attracted specialists who can produce rifles with the same accurance characteristics as heavy tactical rifles have. But they are much lighter. It happened four years ago when I tried the Titanium rifle, produced by Fanzoj company, for the first time. The first impression was overwhelming. Just imagine, the very serious bolt-action rifle with the weight 2.870kg! But the balance of the titanium rifle is moved to the barrel in the comparison with the original Mauser rifle. It only has sense when you shoot from the lying position or use bipods. The barrel is obtained by cold rotary method from Nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloy steel used for the barrels of automatic guns of modern NATO Eurofighter fighters. These barrels are almost non-corrosive and have long lifetime due to its resistance to high- temperature erosion. This characteristic depends on nickel content which increases steel temperature. It also prolongs life time of hunting gun’s barrel. The production of all bolt parts from Titanium (except a striker and a spring) has led to reduction of strikers weight and time of the trigger system. It also helps to increase the shooting accuracy.   The shotguns vibrate when we are aiming and we try to catch the optimal moment to shoot. The faster we can shoot, the better. The lighter all parts of the trigger are, the rifle moves to the side less before the gunpowder combustion. They used special coats, sprayed in vacuum. The same covers, used for Formula 1 cars, allow to make all movement of titanium parts softer. Even the dry bolt moves easily. Stocks of Fanzoj rifles are made of natural walnut which dried in the natural conditions. We know that engraving and the inset of precious metals to Titanium is more complicated process that to steel but all rifles are decorated by elegant engravings. The top of the magazine is decorated with a Golden emblem of the company "Johann Fanzoj".

I wasn’t going to visit Kyrgyzstan but my friend Andrey invited me to join him  in that expedition. He told me that hunted there twice and wanted to try one more time. I took the invitation and decided to try my hand and to get an Ibex. I've hunted for marals in Kazakhstan for two times but it is not the same. The heights there are lower and we rode by horses not hiking. Andrey's  advised me to start to practice long distance shooting because it is the obligatory skill for each mountain hunter. I started to train in a year before, had treated your injured  leg, and practiced shooting on the shooting range in Pesochnoe. Then I bought all necessary equipment including some things which had never used before like special trekking poles, energetic gels and foot heaters. The wife gave me the special ointment for frostbite and burning at the same time. Spoiler: I used poles, gels and they helped a lot. But let’s I will tell everything by order. The flight from Saint-Petersburg –Moscow-Bishkek was on schedule and there were not any problems with flying with guns. The Custom Union rules allowed to organize everything without the custom. I didn’t need  to get any permits from Rosgvardia.  There was really nice VIP service at the airport in Bishkek . You pay 50$ and wait when the airport staff make all papers, put stamps and get your weapon. It took us about five hours drive to the Base “Archal” located near Kazakhstan border on the altitude 1900 masl. The base consisted of comfortable cabins made from the several twenty-foot containers connected by common hall and canteen. It wasn’t five star hotel but there were normal beds and hot batteries.   The only thing  caused discomfort was the toilet outside because it was cold to stay there long when the average temperature was - 10ºC. From the other side if I treat to that situation using  the philosophical approach, the half of the population in Russia live in such conditions all year around and don’t suspect  about another. Our camp cook Natasha was very professional and the only problem was that it was so tasty that I couldn’t but ate too much. We hadn't any meal problem. It was snowing when we arrived and our guide had got stuck on a car somewhere. He drove to the base at night and we moved gun’s testing on the next day. In the morning we drove to the  Sarlatur tract. The locals used the car which they called  “Tien Shan” and which was the hybrid of our GAZ -66 and Mercedec). It delivered us to the altitude 2900 masl, but then we should walk. It was snowing steadily. Everything was covered by snow and the mountains’ top were unvisitable because of a whitish fog. It was impossible to see anything there. It became colder while we were testing guns and suddenly the sun appeared.  We drove along the gorge and detected the group of Ibexes in one km from us. The guide pointed to the trophy size male and I agreed. My guide Sergey and I changed our clothes.  I was really surprised when saw Sergey put on the rubber boots. He was perfectly climbing in that boots, didn't  fell or slid.  I used special mountain boots, ordered in US and waited three month for delivery but didn’t feel as comfortable in them as Sergey in his rubber monsters.  I know what you’ll tell me that he had been born in that place and use to wear them from his childhood. But he was 63 years old when I was younger 50! I even lost 5 kg before that trip and was in good physical condition. The guide offered me one of his wooden stick before we started climbing but I refused because had my own special ones. I noticed doubt in his eyes  and asked what’s happened? He was a very delicate man and answered evasively that I could use what I wanted.  I didn’t know would I like my new poles or not because tried them for first time. I used trekking poles in Alps but walked on the trails and even rose one vertical km. It seemed that there wouldn’t be any problems. I smeared the face and lips with the cream my wife gave me, put on sunglasses, took the rifle, polls and standard set for long distance shooting which included a meteostation, binocular, a rangefinder, a calculator in the phone, energetic bar and shooting gloves.  There was one thing that I had never took before but added that time. I was a small shooting bag, I was going to put under the gun when would shoot. It was good that I didn’t take the backpack or I would die with it. We should overcome the distance about 800-900 meters up and it was much harder than to go same distance in Alps.  There were not any sign of trails. Everything was covered by snow which had the consistency of cereals. It wasn’t deep but I didn’t see where I step. The slope consisted of different size stones was hidden under the snow. I started briskly but  Sergey went ahead, and I fell behind. They warned me that he hiked fast but I didn't pay attention.  I tried to walk my own tempo but instinctively followed the leader. The guide didn’t go in his full force, but it was enough for me to lag behind him. We overcame about a quarter of the way when I felt sick.  I wasn’t tired and my feet didn’t hurt me but I couldn’t go fast.  I felt like after a knockdown,  and every sudden movement , every step reflected to my stomach.  I suggested to take a short rest but Sergey grimaced in annoyance and told me that there were just 200 metes left and our trophy would just behind the rock. I overcame the distance on moral and volitional qualities but nobody waited for us behind the rock. We couldn’t stay long on the top, It was too windy, and after the short discussion went to the next rocks. We both hoped the herd would be there. Walking to the scree I asked Sergey to give me his wooden stick, my metal ones made lots of noise. It was much more comfortable to descend using it! We reached the next rocks. Sergey looked out behind the stone and whispered that male was just in 100 meters from us! But if we try to go around the rock along the ledge, the animals would notice us.  The wind was  changing the destination very quickly, that’s why I offered to go to top and to fire from there. The guide managed to crawl to the top but there was not any place to observe and make a shot that’s why he suggested to creep to the ledge. We moved very slow, Sergey was the first and I followed him.  Suddenly I saw the herd, in 150 meters from us. There were two good size males and Sergey pointed to one of them. I aimed sitting on the knees though it want’ comfortable at all. My guide was nervous because goats could smell or notice us, and hurried me.  The chosen goat pushed the female goat to the rock and I lost the opportunity to shoot. I can’t say if Love save the world but it saved one Ibex! Sergey watched the scene from the different angle and advised to get another one. It stood on the scree with the chest to me and I agreed. Probably I was tired or used not the right position but I missed. At first we thought that I hit it but didn’t find any sign of blood and realized that I missed. We both were very disappointed and I couldn’t describe our feelings by literary words. We did such great job, ascended that top, approached the male and I missed! I was stifled with annoyance. The phase “Hunt is hunt” didn’t inspired at all and we went down. Sergey  ran ahead but taught me beforehand, how to go down by a scree. I was going down leaning on the stick from behind and I was thankful to him for this knowledge because didn’t know how to make it in the best way and was ready to use the fifth point. I had time while descending to analyze what had happened and came to the conclusion that the only reason of my failure was that I was in a hurry. I shouldn't have to listen to anybody while preparing for the shot and to use the support because felt tired. But in any case, it was my fault. Being in thoughts, I mused, stumbled, did a flip and hit my Blazer a stone. When I came back in a second I was happy to realize that didn’t damage myself. Sergey didn’t see what had happened. Soon I noticed him in 200 meters lower than me. He was waving me actively and I waved in response but he went on to do it as if calling me to go him faster. At last I realized that he found something and moved as fast as I could at that moment. Sergey stood on the ledge and showed me  to the herd which moved up along the gorge. There were two trophy size males. I laid on the stones and tried to measure the distance. Unfortunately my rangefinder was frozen and didn’t work correctly, later we understood that the problem was in a new battery. Ibexes were going up and reducing the distance. I chose the rock which the male would cross and measured the distance. The distance  was just 210 meters with the angle 28 degree. I added new data to the calculator, entered the vertical correction to the sight and aimed the male which hide behind the bushes or stones. At last it came to the open area and stopped. I waited the gust of wind abated, aimed the cross with the shoulder blade, hold my breathe and shot. We both heard the distinct slap and the male laid down! I reloaded the gun taking it in the sight but it wasn’t necessary. It was over. Sergey congratulated me with the accurate shot and I realized that everything was over and discharged the shotgun. We came to the trophy and Sergey was the first one who reach it. It was getting dark we had to be in hurry if wanted to make pictures with the trophy.  Looking' to the picture today I  don’t know who looks worse I or my trophy. Sergey stayed to cut meat and sent me to the Base. I  shoud have to be in a hurry because didn’t have the flashlight and was tired but in any case  I looked like a disabled person, going down with two trekking poles. The guys  who waited us near the car, switched on light to illuminate the road. I figured the star and the rock which would use if I loose the way while coming to the car. But it was not dark because of snow.  But one unpleasant thing had happened in any case. I slipped on the wet stone and fell, waited for a while and   went on going. Sergey overtook me when I wasn’t far from the car. He used the Ibex like an anchor because it slipped on snow and could be used like a sled or brake depending on the situation. At last we reached the car! All team congratulated me with the trophy. It was the they who informed Sergey about the herd which moved to our direction. I ate the energetic gel, we loaded all our equipment and the trophy and drove to the Base. Hot soup and fried meat waited for us there. We celebrated the birth of the new Mountain Hunter and I, from my side, thanked Andrey for his help because It was him who arranged everything. After a tasteful dinner  I went to bed and slept all next day. Andrey was going to get super trophy with horns not less than 140 sm. But there was not such size male and we decided to fly back to Sant -Petersburg. I write this report sitting in the airplane and feel and miss the mountains and want to come there back. I think that in a year I’ll try it once again.

Just over 8,500 hunters traveled to South Africa in 2018 for a hunting safari. In total they spent almost $108 million in trophy fees alone. When adding daily rates, the total came to almost $134 million. The figures do not account for any additional travel-related expenses hunters may have invurred while in the country. The figures were released during a presentation by the Department of Environmental Affairs  of South Africa’s Mpho Tjiane during the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa Convention and AGM held in Bela Bela, South Africa this past November. Limpopo countries to lead as South Africa’s most popular hunting province with 3,927 clients in 2018. The number grew by 527 from 2017’s total of 3,400 hunters and 2016’s 3,300. The Eastern Cape followed in second place with 1,510 hunters, a difference of more than 2,400. North West saw 1,004 clients in 2018. Kwazulu Natal, Northern Cape,Mpumanlang, Free State, Western Cape, Gauteng followed in descending order. Four provinces saw increase in the number of hunters. The United States remains South Africa’s greatest source of hunting clients. In 2018 5,030 hunters going on safari to South Africa were Americans. Denmark came in as a far second with only 452 hunters, followed by German at 332. The number of American hunters has also continued to increase, going from 3,790 in 2016 to 4,774 in 2017 and jumping another   in 2018. Overall the number of Americans hunting in South Africa has grown by just over 32 percent since 2017. Most of those hunters, a whopping 2,405 or 47 percent, went to the Limpopo Province. The second favorite province among American hunters is Eastern Cape (923 hunters) followed by North West with 572 hunters. Limpopo was also by far the favorite of hunters from Denmark, Germany, Spain and Canada. The top 10 species hunted in South Africa continue to be impala, warthog, kudu, common blesbok, common springbok, blue wildebeest, gemsbok, Burchell zebra, nyala and waterbuck in that order, with very little variation from year to year. When looking at key species, the Cape buffalo is the most common species hunted,, with 1,129 buffalo taken in 2018. It was also the top income generating species for the third consecutive year, bringing in 213,526,468 Rands (about  $14,456, 768). Lion were third place in the most hunted key species, with 358 taken, a bit less than ostrich (424 hunted). Roan (319) and crocodile (187) followed key species harvested. Hunters took 56 white rhino and only 2 black rhino. Elephant accounted for 39 trophies taken while hippo showed 64 animals hunted. Only 6 leopards were taken in 2018, reflecting the very restrictive quota. After Cape Buffalo, sable antelope were the top income generation. Producing 204,988,407 Rands ($13,878,700). Kudu followed in third ($7,978,578) and then nyala ($5,658,009). Lion came in fifth place at $3,210, 874  for 2018. That is down from $7,496,904 in 2016 aroun when US Fish and Wildlife changed the requirements to import lion trophies to the United States. Not surprisingly, when looking at the province that generated the most income, Limpopo was the overwhelming winner, brining in 624,635,279 Rands ($42,290,811), more than twice as much as the runner up, Eastern Cape with 247,179,174 Rands ($16,735,218). Limpopo’s hunting income has also increased each year since 2016. When looking ar general hunting numbers in 2018, South Africa saw a increase of about 30% in the number of hunters visiting this hunting destination since 2016. Safari Club International

The border between Catalonia and Valencia is so called the mountain region of Spain and very beautiful place. The weather, in the mid of November, isn’t comfortable. Rain drizzles from time to time and frost is in the morning.  My friend Sergey and I arrived from Belarus because wanted to get the trophy of the Beceite  Ibex, one from four species habituated in Spain. It’s always interesting to visit the new place, to meet new people and to get acquaintance with new culture… I had to mention that hunting lands, where we hunted, wasn’t large but the animals density was really high. We went for a hunt twice in a day, in the morning and in the evening, and I detected nine trophy size males while we were  looking for the best one and countless number of females with youngsters. Huntign in Spain isn’t difficult and all hunters know about it, but there are some moments which adds complexity to the hunting process. I talk about the great number of people who are hiking, driving bikes or picking up mushroom there. Telling the truth I was surprised  that picking wild plants and mushrooms is as  popular in Spain like in Belarus. Many years ago that mountain region was  densely populated with people and moving up and down in the mountains we noticed and not once the signs of former presence of human beings such as abandoned villages, detached chalets and haciendas, agricultural terraces, not talking about the old road system which still exists there. It’s not the secret why people left that area. It’s more comfortable to live near the sea because of the mild climate and it’s easier to farm there and to fish. But a couple of centuries ago it was dangerous to build settlements near the sea because the pirates made regular raids on civilians and people should have to hide in the inaccessible places. When the danger was over people descended from the mountains and all villages were deserted. The influence of the environmentalist lobby in Europe grows from year to year and it adds more problems to the local hunters.  We talked with the locals and they said us that the State authorities don’t allow them latitude, though the Ex-King of Spain is the  avid trophy hunter. We monitored the group of Ibex, which was going down to the valley, when noticed the car. The guided asked me to cover weapons just in case, though everything was legal and we had all necessary permits. That case reminded me, our ordinary Belarus hunter who is intimidated by lots of rules and different kinds of authority's control. The hunting legislation in Spain is the strictest one among other countries in the Western Europe and the guides there is the most terrorized ones.  There are three kinds of police which can control the law’s implementation in the hunting sphere. The demands to the hunting users include the installation of the informational boards,  making roads, salt licks, digging and maintaining fire reservoirs in the most remote mountain areas. It’s interesting to note that it’s prohibited to sow crops for feeding of the wild animals. They say, that it’s done to protect the local bio types, the less human beings interfere the wild nature the better. But the owners of hunting lands find ways around these restrictions. They rent the nearest land for farming. I could hardly believe that any vegetation grow on that inhospitable land. There were just macadam under our feet. It was morning when we detected the group of Ibexes on the slope. There was one big male among females and youngsters. The guide an I decided to ascend and to get it. The approach was easy because all slopes were covered by the thick forest consisted of pine trees and mountain oaks. It took us some time, to come to the place. But we didn’t find the herd  there. The guide wasn’t perplex at all and asked to follow him. We went through the bushes and came directly to the animals.  I had no idea, how he could find the way there. Unfortunately we saw just the horns because animals were hidden in the bushes and there wasn’t any opportunity to fire.  That morning we hiked about eight km. Then the rain started and we should come back because all ibexes disappeared in the thicket.  Next day we found the same group, the animals were moving directly to us.  It was about 270 meters to the male and I was preparing to shoot from the rented shotgun Browning X-Bolt.300 WinMag when the guide asked me to wait for a moment. He assured me that the male would come to us in any case. But we lost the best moment for shooting when the herd descended to our place while the male stayed alone for a moment. I observed it through the binoculars and didn’t notice that the rest of the group approached us 30 meters and considered us with the interest. They didn’t wait and signaled danger. My Ibex jumped aside following them. I didn’t have any second and should have to shoot. The distance to the goal was about 300-310 metes. I aimed, shot and missed! Few minutes I couldn’t see the male then found. It run behind the young males and wasn’t wounded. I aimed once again and shot. The goat ran to the forests and I decided that  missed  the second time.  But another guided who watched everything through the scope told me that I hit its belly. One of our team went to the place where we saw the goat last time while the others went back to the camp. The guide, who left, found blood on the stones but didn’t chase the ibex. He allowed the animal  to lay down somewhere. Our host in the camp congratulated me with the successful hunt and told that there wasn’t any case when they lost the wounded animal. Next day the young guide took  his hunting terrier and went for the trophy. He found it while we went for another hunt. Sergey took very interesting Ibex. It had small horns but all guides declared  unanimously  that it was the eldest male  they had ever got. It was about 15 years old. Thus we took two trophies of Ibexes and my friend shot two selective individuals.  There is an outbreak of epizootic among Beceite Ibexes .  The sick  animals looked unattractive, the bodies covered with scabs and they almost don’t have hair. They reminded foxes or wolves when they got scabies. Sergey took such two samples. The guided supposed those animals could hardly live more than one week. Recently there was an abundance of wild boars but most of them died because of African swine fever. Spain was one of the first countries in Europe which felt the consequences of epizootic. The only way to prevent the spread of the disease was to shoot boars. I want to share with some more notes which made during that trip. I consider the Spanish guides are close to the embodiment of  Ideal Guides as we all imagine them. They are professional,  correct and responsible. You have to respect them and to treat them as equal.  We accommodated in the ordinary farmer’s house and eat plain food but it was tasty and good quality. Each day we used clean car. Few words about the funny story that happened to us there. Before I’d get the trophy I asked the guide to cut me the piece of meat and he asked for what purpose.  The friend of mine lived in Barcelona and I wanted to present it to him. The guide smiled when heard my explanation and decided that I want to make fun on him. -          No. I want to make him a present. – I replied. -          A piece of meat? Goat meat? What harm has he done for you? Later  he explained me his reaction.  There were hungry times in the early reign of Franco. People should had to poach to survive and shot almost all chamois, deer and boars and only goats left. The reason was very easy. The meat of wild goat smelt so awful that nobody could eat it even being hungry. Only dogs and vultures could eat it. Two species of vultures habit that area and the guides are responsible for feeding them . As you guess we  moved to Barcelona without meat.

The editor of our magazine Vladimir Tikhomirov celebrated his 80th anniversary on February 14. Our readers know him by his articles about hunting in Russia and Germany, and about European gunsmiths. But anniversary is the reason to tell about his life outside of hunting world and journalism. He was born in Moscow in 1940 but soon his family relocated to Kasimovsky district in the Ryazan region. The Great World War II had started in a year. After finishing school in 1958, he entered Moscow State University of Fine Chemical Technologies named after M.V. Lomonosov. Being on the third year of the University Vladimir chose the diploma’s theme which was devoted to the radiation chemistry. The head of the lab V.D. Orekhov advised him to listen a course of lectures in Fiztech. The practical part of the diploma was done in the lab of Karpov Institute of Physical Chemistry. Being a students our hero was keen of sports such as gymnastic, athletics, ski, shooting and biathlon. Each time he should have to pass all exams in advance to take part in summer or winter training camps and was also responsible for the sport life in the Institute. After graduating the University he was assignment to the organization which made researching in the sphere of changes in the structure and performance of materials under the influence of ionizing radiation. All studies were done by the requests of our space and rocket industries. The young scientist needed to study all theoretical, and experimental aspects of the radiation physics that’s why he had no choice but to study the technical translation from English, French and Japanese. At that time he got acquaintance with the leading scientists such as A.P. Aleksandrov- the President of the Academy of Sciences of USSR, N.N. Semenov- the Director of the Institute of Chemical Physics, G.N. Flerov- the Director of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and others. In 1971 he defended his PhD thesis in the chosen field. All his projects were connected with the usage of strong sources of ionizing radiation. Such work allowed him to have two month vacation per year which he spent taking part in the volcanic expeditions or in the hunting trips in different regions. Last twenty five years he hunted with dogs in the Altai Mountains. Several time he even worked as the brigadier with two local hunters. The hunters surrendered production to the state and it gave them the right to buy the rifled weapons. At the end of 70s he became the Member of the Academic Board of radiation physics of a solid body. He had lots of business trips to different scientific institutes in Russia and Soviet Republics. Vladimir was lucky to take part in variety of projects devoted to problem in the space and rocket industries. In 1984 he joined the scientific team of Karpov Institute of Physical Chemistry, leaded by now late Academic Y.M. Kolotyrkin. After the state coup he started the cooperation with two others Academic institutes. His income at that time was very low but continued to work thanks to different grants which allowed to survive but required a huge number of paper work. At the beginning of 2000s he left the science having more than 130 publish scientific articles and 35 certificates and patents. His love to hunting and nature found the reflection in his articles at the end of 70s when he started to write for the local newspaper. Later in 90s he began to translate hunting articles and joined as the interpreter to the team of the publishing house "Friend”. He has collaborated with many periodical hunting publications during the last years but in 2014 he became the editor of our magazine “ The Magic of Real Safari”. The Editorial Board congratulates Vladimir Tikhomirov with his 80th anniversary and expresses a special sense of respect. We all wishe him great health, long active years and positive events. Fabbrica Armi Luciano Bosis, Brescia, Italy Dear Mr Tikhomirov, We know that soon will be your 80th birthday. We are writing this letter to send you our birthday wishes and to wish you many years ahead of successful work due to your great professionalism, competence and kindness. Wish you the best, Luciano Bosis Gardone V.T. Italia. Caro amico! Accetta sinceri auguri per il Tuo glorioso anniversario! Per me è sempre stato importante sapere il Tuo giudizio da imparziale specialista con profondo talento di conoscenza ingenieristica che distingue le specifiche di produzione delle armi, e aiuta i lettori a fare la giusta scelta! Voglio augurarti salute, positività e successo nel lavoro. Für die Firma Peter Hofer Jagdwaffen war und ist es immer wieder eine sehr große Herausforderung, sich mit ihren einzigartigen Kreationen weltweit in den unterschiedlichsten Kulturkreisen zu etablieren. Die Mentalität und die Jagdgepflogenheiten des jeweiligen Landes standen für uns bei der Kreation unserer erlesenen handgearbeiteten Jagdwaffen stets im Vordergrund. Bereits seit dem Jahr 2000 ist die Firma Peter Hofer Jagdwaffen für viele sehr versierte Jäger und Sammler in Russland tätig. Schon zu Beginn seiner Präsenz in Russland hatte Peter Hofer das Glück, Vladimir Tikhomirov kennenzulernen und hat in all den Jahren ein sehr freundschaftliches, fast väterliches Verhältnis zu ihm aufgebaut. Für Peter Hofer gilt Vladimir als wohl der am besten informierte Jäger in Punkto Waffen und Waffensysteme. Herr Tikhomirov wird daher von Peter Hofer immer wieder zu Rate gezogen, wenn es darum geht, seine Texte in ein fachlich korrektes Russisch zu übersetzen. Oft ist es so, dass gewisse Fachbegriffe in anderen Sprachen nicht existieren und daher umschrieben werden müssen, oft wird sogar der deutsche Begriff verwendet. Der Wissensdrang von Vladimir ist ebenso grandios wie einzigartig. Wenn er uns in Ferlach besucht, ist er immer bestrebt, sein waffentechnisches Wissen zu erweitern und kommt aus dem Fragen häufig nicht mehr heraus. Jedes Mal, wenn ich ihn treffe, erfüllt es mich schon beim Händedruck und der Umarmung mit Dankbarkeit, denn ohne Vladimir Tikhomirov hätten die Leser unserer Artikel nicht so viel Klarheit über die komplexe Welt der Waffentechnik erlangt. Wir beten zu Gott, dass Vladimir mindestens noch einmal so alt wird und wir ihn noch sehr lange als tollen Freund und Lektor an unserer Seite haben, um dem hoch interessierten russischen Jäger auch weiterhin von unseren handgefertigten Kunstwerken berichten zu können. Wir wünschen Vladimir Tikhomirov auf diesem Wege alles erdenklich Gute zu seinem bevorstehenden 80. Geburtstag und bedanken uns für seine langjährige Freundschaft. Mit freundlichen Grüßen Hofer Peter It’s not easy for any company to open new markets with different cultures. But we always take into account the hunting traditions and the mentality of the country for which we produce our handmade production. We started to work with Russian hunters and collectors from 2000s. And from that time I was lucky to get acquaintance with Vladimir Tikhonov. Over the years, we became more than friends. He is the most qualified hunting expert, who knows most of hunting systems. I always consult with him when need to make the correct translation to the Russian language. He's one of the few, who understand how the weapon works and can explain it to readers. I can explain his unique knowledge by excellent technical education and his passion to arms. He is open to the new knowledge in this sphere. Each time I welcome him with gratitude because he helps our readers to understand clearly the most difficult aspects concerning to the hunting arms. I pray to the God that Vladimir will live at least as long and stayed my friend. I wish him great health and thanks to our longtime friendship. Your friend Peter Hofer. Our first meeting with Vladimir Tikhomirov, which happened several years ago, influenced me much. I realized that met the very experienced hunter who travelled all around Russia and was impressed by his rich inner world. He is the real collector and the keeper of the best we have in Russian culture and nature. Unfortunately the man in our modern life is far from the Nature and Vladimir is the best example of the man who not only knows much about it but respect it and can use its’ gifts. He is the expert in picking up wild plant, has deep knowledge about wildlife and vegetation. His respectful attitude to all life on the Earth is in his nature. I can characterize his treatment to the Nature just by one word “Do no harm”. You can listen to his stories endlessly and someday I want to read the book which will be devoted to him. Please accept my heartiest anniversary congratulations. I wish you great health and luck. Valentin Pazhetnov. My Dear Vladimir Sergeevich! We sincerely congratulate You on your anniversary and wish great health, endless energy, optimism and new plans! I couldn’t but admire your articles and deep knowledge of the hunting arms’ theme. Thanks to God I met you! I cherish our friendship and your support. Respectfully yours Ludmila Vlasaeva on behalf of the team of Schools of gunsmithing. L. Vaseva. First time I met Vladimir Tikhomirov was in 2006, on the high-precision shooting competition, organized by the Safari Club. I read his articles before but never met him personally. I know him as a highly qualified specialist in the hunting arms sphere. I know him as the experienced hunter, who fluently speaks several foreign languages, including German- the language of teh country where all leading arms industry is concentrated. He personally know the most of European gunsmiths. Not lots of people can boast of such a " portfolio” but at the same time he is one of the modest people I’ve ever met. I enjoy each times when can talk to you because each our conversation is useful and gives me a lot. Eighty year is the age of early wisdom, that’s why I wish you long life and great health. Michael Dragunov- the leading structural engineer of the Izhevsk mechanical plant, honored scientist of the Udmurt Republic. One of the most experienced and well-known gunsmith Vladimir Tikhomirov celebrated his 80th anniversary on February 14, 2020. We happily join to the congratulations and wish him great health, interesting projects and hundreds of exciting articles. Editorial Board of the magazine “ Kalashnikov» Many years ago I invited Vladimir Tikhomirov to be the expert in my hunting program on the radio “ Radio of Russia”. To say that our broadcast was bright and interesting would be an understatement. We all listened to his stories about the past, about adventures and hunters life in the Siberia or Kamchatka’s expeditions in a one breath, not to mention his memories about friends and colleagues, the world-class gunsmiths. I could tell a lot about him as about a family man, an experienced hunter who saw a lot, about the patriot who loves his Motherland or about the scientist who worked for the good of his country. But all these description could be united in one phase, he is the GOOD MAN. I’m grateful to Providence that could meet such a GOOD MAN as he is! I wish you great health, success in all your projects and one more thing which we always say in our hunting world “Best luck!” Respectfully yours Nikolay Mamulashvili, the political commentator of Radio Russia, author and host of the program " Hunting luck!» There is hardly to find the more open minded, curios person than Vladimir Tikhonov. Probably these features of the character helped him to become one of the best hunting arms expert in Russia. His professional knowledge makes a strong impression. This man is a walking encyclopedia All his articles are filled with love to Nature and men. Probable the time, he spent in Altai helped him to find the life harmony and at the same time he is very modest and friendly. His activity as the hunting expert influenced Russian hunting magazines. The most worth is the series of the articles published in the magazine ‘The Magic of the Real Safari”, where he describes his hunting experience, opens a deep layer of modern history, introduces his inner world, full of love and respect for all living things. He is the real Hunter in the best meaning of this word. Dear Vladimir Sergeevich! We thank you your high appreciation of our job and production and congratulate you with 80th anniversary! We wish you long life! Daniela Fanzoy, vice-president of “Johann Fanzoj” company! Dear Vladimir! I congratulate your with your anniversary! I really value our cooperation and enjoy our communication. I wish you great health, success and reliable partners! Respectfully yours Osvaldo Manzoni.