The hunt was organized in the period from 30.04.2018 till 01.05.2018г. At the first day we found the herd of males in 2.5- 3 km from us. We approached several hours and I managed to get 14 years old trophy of the Mid Caucasus Tur. The distance was 450m. After the short rest in the camp I harvested one more trophy of the Caucasus Chamois (120m). Thank you very much to the company which organized this hunt.
I hunted for Pyrenean Chamois in the National Park Posets-Maladeta on the boundary between Spain and France.The weather at the first day was awful. It was rain with squally wind, reaching gusts up to 30-40 m / s. I saw enough chamois but all of them were far, more then 400m and I couldn’t make accurate shot. If I had my own gun the hunt would finished quickly but I used the rented one. After 5 hours walk in the wooded cliffs we noticed old male and decided to come closer to shoot. We came at the distance 150-200m ( the rangefinder couldn’t define the distance in such weather) and I shot. The goat ran in 10 meters away and stopped. I shot once again and missed. Moreover I’d hit my forehead by the sight. After it we decided to try once again in the next day. We were at the mountains early morning. The weather was clear but windy. We met the trophy male when it was 650 from us and spend three hours trying to come closer. At last we approached it to 245m. I remember my last experience with the gun and shot when saw the black circle. It doesn’t influence on the accuracy. I hit to the right place. Thank you very much to Stalker Group and personally to Evegeny Haritonov for this hunt.
Our guide in this hunt was the owner of the company “J&P Agent” Josef Tomlaynovich with two assistants Ivan and Milutin. The hunt was organized on the low mountains (about 500masl) on the Otok Dugi Island. At that period of time (beginning of May), animals were active in early morning when you could see them on the open places. During the hot daily hours they preferred to hide in the impassable bushes. We were lucky to notice from the road the group of Ibex and went around the hill and approached them from the top. I made the hole in the horn of my trophy from the first shot. Only the third shot could stop it and Milutin made the back-up shot. When it became hot we made a stop for a lunch in one of the small home restaurant on the berth. The sea food soup and cuttlefish in stewed potatoes were very tasty. After 5pm we went for a Dalmatian Sheep. We observed some females with yeanlings. The terrain was rocky, overgrown with dense hard bushes. The experienced which I gained in the morning with the rented Rifle Sako 300 wm helped me to get the 5 year old male of the Dalmatian Sheep from the first shot. Ivan and Mulutin were happy because it became dark.The organization of the hunt had clear order. The accommodation in the outfitters apartment with all conveniences. I could’t judge about meal but all dishes in the restaurant were fresh and tasty. This hunt is very popular among the Americans and Germans but there are not many hunters form Russia but they start to visit.
I planned that hunt in a half of the year before. I happened thanks to Nikolay Kulinkin (MHC) who accompanied me. Thank you very much to Alexey Podtayzhkin (Ibex) and local outfitter Samsher (Global Safari Nepal). I dreamed for a long time to conquer one of the most difficult among the high mountain hunts. All videos and reports written about it can’t reflect all emotions. They give just meager outlines for understanding what is expected. In the reality everything was more interesting and harder. It wasn’t simple hunt. It was the Hunting adventure. In spite of the fact that the helicopter delivered us to the height 3500m, every day we trekked from 15 to 20km and climbed from 3500 to 4800 masl. Thanks to SHERPAS (from capital letters) and other team members I carried just small backpack with some necessary equipment and the gun (totally about 10 kg). The team organized everything very well, all processes (accommodation, meal and other) were on the high level. The weather during the hunt was stable. It was clear at ealy morning, we could see stars when woke up, than it changed to fog about 11 am, and it became snow- rain- hail at 2-3 pm. In the evening it was clear once again. The temperature was +15-10C. I got my sheep on the height 4600m from 300m distance. It became 10-11years old male. The last three days I devoted to the hunt for muntjac but didn’t see any male. Once we saw a female muntjac and even a leopard. Nikolay harvested nice trophy of sheep, 13 years old male. He came back to the camp in the morning at that time. Later he got one more trophy of Tahr. Unfortunately I didn’t have license for the Tahr because of late booking but it’s reason to visit this place once again and test myself.
After a brief search, we noticed a large male chamois grazing under the top of the mountain. The distance was 320m, angle 30 degrees. I decided to shoot though the position wasn’t good. I used rented Tikko T3, 300 wm, less then 3.5 kg and 185 gr Hornady cartridges. It was tested on the distance 200m. I accounted the distance 250m using my angle data.I got it but my uncomfortable position became the reason why the sight cut the face and I had to ask doctors for a help. The trophy was old goat which is got to the TOP 20 SCI list by the preliminary estimate. Thank you very much to Stalker Group and personally to Evegeny Haritonov for this hunt which I’ll never forget.
After two hours of the slow walk I got 10 years old male. The distance was less than 100m. I has known that the hunt on Majorca has the feature. You can’t shoot the animal which stand against the sky. The hunter has to see what is behind it.Thank you very much to Stalker Group and personally to Evegeny Haritonov for the organization of this hunt
Everest is the highest mountain in the world. Its height is 8848 masl. Hunting in the Himalayas is considered to be one of the most difficult in the world because of the logistic and you have to be in a good physical condition. First time I was going to visit Nepal in 2016. I couldn’t do it because of the busy work schedule and changed dates to 2017. I made prepayment and thought that would take part in the hunting trip in April 2017. But there was the state election in Nepal and all guns were prohibited to bring into the county at that period that’s why I cancelled it. At last I’d got the acquaintance with Maxim Vorobyov who brought to life my hunting dream in 2018. We chose the departure date April 2,2018. At the beginning it looked very logical but then I had to change the date to April 5th. The main problem was that I didn’t enough time for hunting and thought about the cancellation of the trip. The final decision I made when Maxim called to his local outfitter Amrid. He assured us that it’d be possible to make all hunts in 1-2 days. The populations of the Himalayan Tar and Blue Sheep were very high there and these two species were my aims. At heart I wanted to hear these words because dreamed to take part in this adventure. The expedition started on April 7,2018. I, Maxim and our cameraman Alexander Rozhkov had just one week for the whole trip. Now it looks like a mad adventure! First of all I arrived to Moscow from Ekaterinburg, then to Doha only then we flew to Katmandu – the capital of Nepal. I have to tell you how much time we've lost in the customs in Nepal. If somebody is going to Nepal with his own guns I recommend flying on weekdays and choosing the early flights. You’ll need the whole day to pass the guns through the customs and then to visit the local Administration where you have to get the temporary permit for the hunt. All these procedures take 4-5 hours. Unfortunately I couldn’t finish all formalities in the one day because we arrived in the evening . Next day on April 9th we contiued solving this problem. You needn’t be in a hurry if you have time but it wasn’t our situation. All foreigners have to make registration of their arrival in the airport’s terminal and to buy the visa. The purchase bill will be checked on the passport control. It didn’t take much time but there were lots of the arrival flights in the evening and we lost time staying on the line while some people went without waiting lists. Probably it was the feature of the local way. We left guns in the luggage storage at the airport because the registration procedure hadn’t been finished yet. Amrid showed us Katmandu and we drove to the hotel. April 9th. We arrived to the airport to take our weapon. There is the communism in Nepal and it influences on the way how people use to work. Amrid informed of the custom officers that we need to take our guns. Then this guy sent this information to another officer and he sent to one more. They transferred the information four times to the Chief Officer and back. It was a pity that I couldn’t make video how they worked but it was funny. The whole procedure took about 4 hours! At 2 pm we were on the helicopter place. We weighted our luggage and ourselves and loaded to the chopper. There were 5 people and equipment. We were lucky that we had the new one which flied just 100 hours before. The weather changed we had to land in a half way to the hunting area, in the Pokhara town. We spent the night there. Next morning we arrived to the main base. The whole camp team, which consisted of 22 guys waited us near the landing place. There were some PH, cooks and Sherpas. We all hiked to the hunting area. The total way was about 14 km with the climb 1600m. We started at 10 am and made the first stop at 3.30 pm. It was in two hours hiking from the Tahr’s habitat. It was April 10 when we arrived to the first camp on the height 3100 masl. April 11, we woke up at 3 am, had breakfast and went to hunting in an hour. It took us two hours to walk to the elevation 3500 masl. The guides went ahead on reconnaissance and we followed them. 8 a.m., the elevation 3800 masl. The guides detected the tahrs and made us the signal. We has to climb the steep cliff which looked very slippery. I and my operator made the decision to went around by the grassy slopes. Maxim and Amrid solved to storm the rocks. We all came to the top at the same time but from different sides. The guide, who waited us from our side, told us that the male, which he spotted, ate and lay down for the rest. We had to wait when it stood up from behind the bushes. It was not usual that there were some bushes on slopes but it compensated the lack of the oxygen on such elevation. It was 10 am. The distance to the animal was 300 meters. At the same time Maxim and Amrid found 4 more tahrs on the back side of the slope. It was noon but the Tahr still lay that’s why we decided to change the location and went to the animals found by Maxim. We started to move when the guided told us by radio that males disappeared and they didn’t know why. The weather became to deteriorate. Snow storm started. At 3 pm I offered Amrid to scare off the male which had rest in the bushes. One of the guides came to its place and threw a stone. I prepared to fire. It was hard snow, the sight was fogged. I aimed how I could then I made the shot and missed. The Tahr ran away. The circumstances were stronger than us. It was 3 pm. It ‘d be dark at 6. So we made the decision to go back to the camp. April 11th was over and we had just one hunting day left. Next morning we got up at 5 am and went to the Blue Sheep’s habitat in two km from us. We moved along the river’s bed about 5 km and didn’t find any sheep. The guided suggested to climb. On the height 4100 masl we detected 4 males one of which had the trophy size. The distance to them was 850 meters. We solved to go from the other side and reduce the distance. The snow and fog started while we were hiking but we went on climbing. At last we ascended to the height 4350 masl to the place where the sheep were seen before but they didn’t stand and wait for us. They went and withdrawal in 600 meters. The fog lifted but I didn’t see the whole group of males just 5 from the ten. While we were discussing which of the males had trophy features the fog covered the slope and we lost them. So we had to descend to Maxim and Amrid. We gathered together and discussed that it was too recklessly to hope to take two trophies in two days. It was the hunt and nobody could predict everything. The nature had its own rules. The hunting time was rapidly over and I agreed to add one more day till April 13. At April 15 I would have to be at home in Ekaterinburg. It was 11 am. We saw sheep but they went away. We knew that the Tahrs inhabitated in the different side but we didn’t have time. The nerves were strained to the limit. I thought that Nepal wasn’t like Europe and not even like Caucasus. I had to lay more time for it. My dream to get these desirable trophies made me to take such mad decision. So I thought at that moment. I was very pessimistic and influenced to the whole team. But suddenly one of the guides told us by radio that he spotted the sheep. We couldn’t lose that chance. We went down to the height 4000 masl and noticed the group of animals. It consisted of females and young males. I felt happiness that we found them and was disappointed that there wasn’t the trophy I needed. But my guided who examined the herd, detected the big male among them. I started to prepare for shooting. The distance was 292 m, the angle -18 degrees. I didn’t wait when the male would turn to us and fired to its spine. I made the shot at 12.10 pm. The sheep ran few meters and fell. I hit to its shoulder blade. I got it! My trophy was 10 years old Blue Sheep. It was a miracle! An hour before we all were sad because the hunt was failed. I accused myself of being unreasonable. But we dispelled the myth that it was impossible to take the trophy of a Blue Sheep in a one day! Everything is possible if you really desire it. Lets’ back for the hunt. We did the quick photo shot and went for another trophy. The guides informed that saw a good trophy size male while we were hiking to their direction. But we still didn’t know whether it stayed there or not. We made a short stop in the camp on the way to the tahr’s habitat and went on at 3.30 pm. It was a tough way and we had to climb that steep cliff once again. We didn’t have time to go around and I climbed it. Telling the truth the guides helped us much. I gave my gun to one of them. The weight of the rifle was 12 kg and I didn’t want to lose the speed. The cliff wasn’t so steep as I though yesterday and was eve drier that I expected. We reached the top but the Tahr wasn’t there. We moved to the next slope and I felt euphoria when saw the lonely male which grazed not far from us. The distance was 300m, the angle- 10 degrees. The only complication was that its color was the same as the bush. That’s why I couldn’t find in through the sight. Then I caught it through the sight and made the shot. The bullet hit to its shoulder blade but just wounded. The Tahr ran to our side. I fired once again but the just touched it and it went on running. The third shot was final and it fell. I got 14 years old male. All team started to congratulate me. We debunked one more myth. It’s possible to take two trophies in the one day in Nepal. I got it! The hunt was over. We came back to the camp in a high spirit. The Sherpas had to bring trophies to the camp because it was late and we couldn’t do it by ourselves. We had dinner and went to bed. The trophies wasn’t delivered yet. Next morning we'd known that sherpas couldn't bring trophies to the camp because one of them (the Tahr) was so heavy that they left it to the half way between the camp and the heliplatform. At 9 am we went to the helipad and found our trophy on the way. Now we had time to consider all bullet hits. The first one was into the shoulder blade, the second one just touched it, and the third and fatal one hit to its head. We made lots of pictures and went on to the helipad. The total climb at that day was 2610m. We walked 18 km and it took us 10 hours. It was night when we reached the helipad. Next morning we loaded all equipment and staff into the chopper. It successfully landed at Katmandu in some time later. I flew back to home on April 15th. Being at home I looked through the video which we made when observed the first four Tahrs. Did you remember that they’d disappeared and nobody understood Why. We revealed that secret. Four tahrs were pasturing when felt the danger. They moved when the leopard jumped out from the Bush and started to chase them. The camera captured this moment. If the leopard hadn’t hinder me I would take my trophy at the first day. But I’m happy that it happened. Thanks to the leopard I’s found much bigger and older male than the first one. We spent one week for the whole trip including the flights. On April 10th we arrived to the helipad in the mountains and flew back on April 14. We were four days in the mountains including two days of the transfers. So it was very fast and risky hunt in Nepal. P.S. Sometimes the hunt in Europe takes much more time. It was very extreme and well organized hunt. I got nice trophies and these memories will stay with me for the whole life. Thank you very much to Maxim Vorobyov, Amrid and the whole team for the impeccable organization of the hunt. I want to visit it once again because are fully satisfied by their professionalism and hospitality. It was a pleasure to be among such good guys. I reached my goal!
In a week after I arrived from Pakistan, I had to return, because the hunt in Quetta was at least opened. I had only three days for the hunt and 31 March was the last hunting day. I flew without the gun directly to Quetta, for not to lose time for takin gun permits in Islamabad. The problem is that all the formal gun permits are available in Islamabad. The organazers promised to provide me with three different carbines on my choice. What I did. The plane arrived early in the morning on 29 March and we left to the lands soon after. We were driving about five hours and arrived to the base camp, placed in the area of hunt on Urial and Markhor. They live nearby. There was no time for working up. We promptly zeroed in the carbine: my choice was 300 WM; and left to the mountains, where the guides observed the gropup comprising three Markhors. The elevation took us about one hour and a half, the elevation was 2800 meters a.s.l. Markhors were resting and basking on the warm sun. We decided to take a rest as well, because the guides thought that it would be better to wait for the animals to raise and choose the direction of the move. The distance to the animals was about 500 meters and I would shoot with my carbine without thinking, but I decided not to take such a risk from the unknown gun. The animal raised at 14:30 and to spite us moved in the opposite direction. I thought that we should choose the route and catch up the animals, however, the locals decided to assault the mountain trying to overcome the animals and wait from the opposite side. It is very hard to find the animal, when it left from the sight, as it is always in the mountains. We elevated to the ridge, walked around the cliff, where the Markhors were, but seen nothing. It was a pity, that the trophy disappeared from the view. The mountains were steep, hard and cliffy. We had to move up and down. As a result of the hopeless search we decided to return to the camp. As it happened many times, we hoped to see the animals on the way back, when it became darker. The sky heard our preys and one of the observers told us that he has seen a group of Markhors is some time. In 30 minutes of move we noticed it as well. It was a combined group of animals slowly grazing below us. It was obvious, that the group is moving up as it was evening and, as everybody knows, Ibex elevate to the cliffs for the night. We had very gainful position, because we were above the goats and they were moving towards us. It was noticed, that males in this group were not of striking size, but I decided to shoot. The relation on the trophy choice can be different, but I had cases, when I lost everything when started to consider the variants. As they say, the one should be happy with what is sent from above, of course, in some limits. The males were of the average level and it explained why they were in the general group. Old males prefer to take apart at this time of the year. The shooting promised to be hard, under the great angles. As a result, the animals approached on 300 meters and appeared just right under us, the angle about 35 degrees, that meant minus 100 meters when targeting. I decided to shoot, because the carbine has been shooted for 200 meters. The first shot was close, almost “licked” the Markhor, the second shot was direct. We approached the animal in almost darkness after the hard going down. The goat was injured, the bullet hit the vertebrate and his back part of the body was paralyzed. Then the long going down. I have been “walking” for 7 hours in the first day. It seemed that organism still remembered the loadings, which it had in the mountains of Karakorum a week before, but the first day is always a bit hard. Early in the morning next day, about 6:00 AM, we moved for the hunt on Urial. The peculiarities of the hunt on Urial at this time of the year is that the rams go down for the fresh green grass. The hunt is not the most hard at this time. And it was as it was predicted. We drove about 20 minutes and reached an abandoned village. The slopes were covered with green grass, which tempted the animals. Two males were noticed at once, they were coming for the food step by step. Moving forward took us 20 minutes, when we managed to approach the distance of about 150 meters. The wind was lucky and I made a shot of a high quality. Whole hunt took us about one hour of time and I haven’t even sweated. As a result, it took less than one day for two trophies.
Давнишняя мечта осуществилась - добыл в Узбекистане барана Северцова. Это произошло так быстро, что не успел ощутить все «прелести» горной охоты. Трофей достался в первый же день в полдень благодаря выстрелу на 270 метров. Это старый 12 летний самец , который лишился почти всех своих зубов. Удивила и порадовала плотность зверя. За световой день, проникнув вглубь ущелья хребта Нуратау всего на 5 км, мы увидели 23 барана. Из них практически треть были трофейными ! Охота была прекрасно организована хорошо известным многим в России Олимом Назаровым.
It was one of the most difficult hunts in my career, by all the criteria. Long logistics, many days of walk, great heights, significant physical work. The driving itself took two days; many hours and two days of walk to the base camp on the heigh about 3800 meters a.s.l. The population of the sheep is good. That explained, why me and Magidov Sergey had successful hunt at the first day and we did it almost simultaneously on the opposite ridges. The organization quite well thought-out. On the way back we used the option to fly a helicopter of the Pakistan Air Force. It is possible to use it for getting to the base camp as well, but the weather was bad in our case and we couldn’t get directly to Gilgit (about 45 minutes of drive) and was the reason of the many-day, but interesting trip. I want to note, that in general this journey was unlucky. Some more trophies were in plans in Kvette, but due to dishonourableness of the subcontractor of the Profi-Hunt, Turkish company Shikar Safaris, to the last moment we didn’t know if we are allowed to receive the permit for the hunt on Urial and Suleyman Makhor. Mr. Kann gave out desirable for valid and told us that the documents were received. The one should always work out all the moments when he works with this company. I tried to hunt on the Kashmir Markhor, but two days of search gave no results and we couldn’t see anything good. Warm and early spring in the mountains – it was about 25 degrees at the light period of the day, could be the reason, why old males migrated somewhere. I had to get on the highest point, about 3000 meters a.s.l., but neither we, nor observers, who were on the neighboring ridge, have seen nothing proper. Two young males and a lot of females gave us the point, that the animals are present here, but, probably, we were unlucky.
The hunt was organized in the period from 1st to 7th of March, 2018 in Spain (Ronda-Gredos).We harvested two Ibexes at the first day. Ronda Ibex (250m) and Southeastern Spanish Ibex (340m). Then we drove to the Gredos region, it took us about six hours and in two days (according the law the hunt opened from the March 6), I got Gredos Ibex from the distance 80m.
