My last mountain hunt in 2016 had been in Yakutia. It wasn’t hard to get this trophy though that period of time was considered to be risky and the success level wasn’t high because of the high snow cover and low temperature. Fortunately there wasn’t much snow at that time. We always used our tracks to come back to the base. The temperature was -40C but you couldn’t realize it because there wasn’t any wind and humidity level was low. The outfitters Alexander and Konstantin Motoriny suggested me to hunt using their hunting base. We drove there by Kamaz using the frozen riverbeds like roads. It took us two days. The hunting base - wooden cabins (one for the hunters, canteen and bathhouse) had everything we needed to stay there. We used ice to make water, wood burning stove to cook and generator for electricity. Our cook Kirill made good home cooked dishes from meat and vegetables. My guides including Konstantin were two local guys. The father of Konstantin Motorin also stayed with us on the base. I say about the staff for purpose it’s very important to understand that when the weather is so extreme and you mustn’t switch off engines of cars, the more people take care about the base the better. In such situation the hunter had to deliver himself up to the mountain and made the accurate shot. We saw sheep from the first day. On the day 2 we climbed to the mountains 700m just near the base and trekked by its ridge using the path made by sheep. There were many fresh tracks. Telling the truth I was tired and all that way felt as if I made the feat following them. Suddenly Konstantin send a signal that he noticed a male under us. I took off the backpack and creeped to stone shelf on the cliff edge. There I could observe eight animal including one stag. The male wasn’t huge but I didn’t want to risk looking for the monster one. I wasn’t sure that we could find better trophy. The distance was 125m, angle 45 degrees (but it wasn’t important at that moment), the height 2000 masl. I used Blazer R 8300 wm. The soft Italian crampons which I’d bought in Sporthit beforehand, really helped me. I put them on the winter boots (Salomon). I also used extra underwear Sitka. I was wet after climbing but the temperature on the top was also low and better to be dry. I saw some more sheep later and even bigger ones but my trophy was much better because I got it already.
The hunt took place in Tajikistan in November 2016 year. We left to the hunting lands just after arrived. We started to go up to the area of hunt early in the morning after the night passed. It took 4 hours for the trip. Not the most difficult mountains, but suitable enough. We noticed a group of rams just after started the move. After the rest in the base camp, we decided to walk around the local gorges and try to find the morning group. We managed to do it in about one hour and a half. I hit the ram from the distance a bit more than 300 meters with the first shot. Later in the evening I managed to take a wild boar from the distance 600 meters just near the camp.
When I just started to hunt in the mountains I assumed that the Kuban Tur would be my first trophy in the Caucasus. But it was the other way round. I got the Dagestan Tur first, then the Mid-Caucasus Tur and only in ten years I was lucky to get the nice trophy of the Caucasus Tur. I got 12 years old male in the first day of the hunt.
It was very difficult hunt. I spent seven days in the saddle on the height 4000 masl. It was cold during the day and terrible cold at night ( -20-25C). A couple nights we camped out. The rifle SAKO 75 cal. 300wm, cart. RWS with bull. CDP -10.7 gr. The approach to the trophy was along a narrow mountain range. I fired twice from 204 m and got two Ibexes. The total impression- UNFORGETTABLE!!! Each mountain hunter has to feel it.
In November, 2016 I hunted with my friend and his son in Spain. We were going to get three species of Ibexes: the Ronda Ibex, Beceite Ibex and Southeastern Spanish Ibex. I finished the hunt quickly but my partners had to work harder. The total trip took 5 days and we got 9 trophies. I consider it to be the serious result even for such kind of hunt. Both of my southern Ibexes got silver level. Thank you to the outfitters Ilya Dmitriev and Pedro Alacorn.
I arrived to the small town located in 100 km from Malaga on November, 2. Next morning at 8 am we drove to the mountains. The landowner and his assistances went out and climbed to the nearest hill. The herd of females and 3 Ibexes pastured there. One of the males was trophy size and I decided to shoot. While my friends were looking for the right position I fired from the place where we stood. The distance was about 350 m and I hit to the place. The bullet hit the bone and I got the trophy from the first shot. The whole hunt took us 40 minutes, without any walking and chasing. The trophy had 63 sm horn what meant Silver by SCI classification. Same day we transferred to Gredos, about 600 km from that place, spent a night there and went to the mountains. It was my second failure in Gredos. It took us about 1.5 hour to climb to the position. We noticed the group of females and one young male there which grazed in 500m from them. I waited for the old one which had to come and was going to shoot to 500-800 m distance. But the rain started and the top of the mountain was covered by fog. In thirty minutes we couldn’t see anything. We waited two hours but the rains went on and we decided to descend. It took us 1.5 hour to go down to the car. We all were dripping wet. Gredos is located in 70 km from Salamanka and 2.5 hours’ drive from Madrid. But we drove to Barcelona (900 km) and it was rainy all the way. In two days one of my guides send me the pictures of the Ibex which the next hunter got on that place in a day after us. Best regards.
The hunt took one sunny (-3-5C) day. We started at 8 am, the director of the rest base “Indzhir” where we spent the night, delivered us by the motor boat to the hunting area. I and Alexey Kim, each with his guides went to different destinations. Me and my guide Vladimir (58 years)- very experienced PH, who supported lots of hunters form Norway, climbed to 1000m. There we saw the group of Ibex which fed not far. The position wasn’t good for shooting and I remembered the words of Edward Bendersky “ Don’t shoot, when you aren’t sure and don’t have comfortable position”. Telling the truth I didn’t dare to shoot something disturbed me at first it was grass in front of the sight, then I couldn’t decide which Ibex to choose. I fired at last and missed. The cartridge passed lower and it surprised me much because the distance was about 300, angle 45 degrees. All animals ran away. We checked the place when they were and didn’t find any blood. I sighed with relief.Vladimir found the second group in forty minutes. Two males which laid on the grass stood out from the rest. Suddenly the black one stood up and took the position which suited for the shot. The distance was 300m. I remembered about the missed shot and fired a little bit higher and heard the characteristic slap. The Ibex fell down. Its horns were 101 sm, I was satisfied.Next day we had time to test our guns on the distances from 500 to 900m and it happened that my binocular was tuned to measure the distance in yards not in meters ( after Alaska hunt I didn’t change it) and this misstep saved life of my first Ibex.The hunt was organized very well, everything worked like clockwork. All guides are professional. Transport: motor boat, quad bikes, Niva. Hunting base had several rooms (five or more) with the wood burning stove in each. Meal: two nice girls Kristina and Julia cooked good. There were some radio station but we didn’t use them. Sun battery provided us with electricity and worked well. The population of Ibex is high because me and Alexey saw lots of them and it was its rut time.
I hunted in the North-Ossetia hunting farm. At 6 am we drove to the hunting area -Karmadonskoye gorge where noticed the herd of Chamois which pastured on the slope. It took us 40 minutes to climb to 1700m height. I approached 360m distance. I got the trophy from the first shot and it was the last one for getting the Russian Mountain Hunting Award.
It was one of the most difficult hunt for me. I had to overcome steep climbs in the mountains on slippery ice, deep snow. I was very tired when it was time to shoot but could to mobilize and made the one but accurate shot from the distance 250m. The gun: Los-7, cal. 308WinMag. I was very satisfied by the trophy which I got after such ordeals.
It was hard but interesting hunt. I saw lots of wild animals and not only turs but bears and chamois. Thanks to the landscape and my army skills we approached turs 20m and I got the trophy.
Before the tripI decided to visit Tajikistan and hunt for the argali Marco Polo when I’d been in Azerbaijan and hunted for the Dagestan Tur. Thus I solved to do it and contacted Stalker group company. Its’ representative called me in a week and suggested to take part in the hunting trip at the beginning of the season in October.Arrival DayI left home on October 8th and flew directly to Dushanbe where landed in three hours. The local outfitter Nikolay and his son Dashish met me at the airport. From there we drove to the cozy eastern restaurant to have lunch. We had a long way to go, about 12 hours we had to drive to the village where would stay for a night and then drive once again to the hunting area. About 600 km we drove on asphalt but then it ended and I appreciated the comfort of our car Toyota Land Cruiser. The gravel road leaded along the boundary with Afghanistan and went through the mountains. The driver said that it wasn’t repaired from the Soviet time. There were some parts covered by asphalt and some parts of the road were even in the good conditions what proved that the quality of the Soviet roads was high but there were some parts without any sign of the cover. So I guess that it depended on the contractor who did it. Let’s come back to my trip. 12 hours later we arrived to the house of Iskander, one of the Nikolay’s sons and stayed there for the night. Next morning on October 9th we got up at 6 am because we had to drive 500 km more to the sheep habitat. The total distance from Dushanbe to the hunting area was 1150 km. We said thank you to the family of Iskander, took tasty apples which grew in his garden and continued our way from the height 2300 masl.The road passed near the Chinese border and we could see lots of posts and fences. We met a huge group of Marco Polo, about 100 animals, which consisted of females with babies. The guys tried to banished them from the border but unsuccessfully and we went on further. At 3 pm we arrived to the camp and found that all staff was examining the surroundings so we didn’t’ want to waste time and had tested guns. It was necessary to do because I didn’t know how the rarefied air could influence to the shooting accuracy. We put the target on 300 meters and did the correction a half of a minute. It meant that the bullet went to 7 sm above than on the plain. That time I felt oxygen starvation for the first time, it was accompanied by headaches, dyspnea and total discomfort.Day #1The long-awaited hunting day had come. At 6.30 am Iskander, I and three of his guides drove by UAZ to the hunting area. In two km we met a big lynx and they suggest me to get it. I refused because my goal was to take Marco Polo. The first group of sheep we detected 30 minutes later in 3-4 km from the camp. There were several good males in it but we had no opportunity to come closer because they grazed on the open area and could notice us very easily. We drove by.Then I spotted 5 males which lay on the slope in 1.2 km from us and we decided to approach them. We hiked about 2 km and were crossing the gorge when stumbled on the lonely sheep and frighten it. It ran away from us and all other 5 males followed it. All our efforts had gone to waste. That way in the highlands made me to feel all “the beauty” of the mountain’s climate. I was in the good physical condition but that walk was very hard to me. The rarefied air was the reason of the dyspnea as if I ran long distances. I needed to have rest every 50 meters of walk but noticed that felt much better when we were going down. My body was thankful for it. After that unsuccessful approach we moved to another gorge. Iskander seeing how hard it was for me offered to stay near the car while he and the other guys would check the surroundings. He promised to call me if they detected good trophies and we would join them. They called us in a half of an hour and told that they found them. There was a group of females and cubs which pastures near the hill on the top of which the males settle down. Our strategy was to go between females and didn’t discover ourselves. We moved around in small dashes by 50-70 meters, I couldn't run more and reached the foot of the mountains on the level 4200 masl. But it wasn’t the end of the difficulties. The rock consisted of loose rocks, and we had to climb 300-400 meters.At last we reached the height 4571 masl. The distance to the sheep was 600 meters with the angle +15 degrees. I set the gun, aimed but the breathe interfered me to focus. The cross in the sight moved from side to side. But I pulled myself together and held the breath. A few seconds passed and they all congratulated me with the trophy! It was pure delight. I got the trophy from distance 600 meters by the first shot and on the height 4000 masl. Thus I got the King of Sheep- Argali Marco Polo.Rahim and Iskander brought the trophy to the place where we made pictures. Then we delivered it to the camp and celebrated the hunt.
Muflón MÁME v nasej poľovnom revíry. Normálne by som loviť kazdy rok. Zatím to je moj najväčších. ABY bolo potom krásny afternoon.I isiel na prechadzky . Po dvoch hodinách som uvidel Barana Štyri ovce . Pristúpil som na 40 METROV, príjemná ja protinarážacia Chytil. Na MA 215. 15 CIC bodov. Som Chytil 17 Baranov, ženy na mladých. Teraz som skor odísť chytiť RAMS kamarátmi.
It’s a short report how I tried to get the Ibex. I wasn’t lucky with the weather. On the fifth day we found the herd of male on the height 2800masl. I shot from the distance 400m, angle 35 degrees and missed. The bullet was upper a little bit. All other days we met just females. But I received good experience and that was good. Respectfully yours, Kanatbek.
It was the interesting and facinating hunt. I got the trophy on the second day from the distance 488m by the second shot. Rifle Blazer R93, cal 6.5*55. Thank you very much to Daud and Adamey for the organization of the hunt.
I was glad to get the license for this rare species of the argali. Thank you very much to my friends from Uzbekistan. The hunt started at the early morning but we managed to find rams about 4 pm after we trekked about 30km. We noticed 3 males on the rocks in the bushes. The shooting distance was 200m. I harvested the biggest one by the first shot. It was 8 years old ram. Both of its horns were damaged but it but it didn’t detract the value of the trophy. It was my 27th sheep from the Sheep of the World List by the MHC version
I hunted in Austria for 5 days. I’d arrived at 12.15 pm and got my fist trophy of the mouflon at 6 pm. It’s horns were 92 sm. The shooting distance was about 50 m and I had to fire fast. Next three day I spent looking for the Alpine Ibex. We saw one 10 years old male but I decided to find the bigger one. The guide told me about 12 years old Ibex which lived there. I waited it the whole day but it didn’t appear. I’d visit this area once again. I got the Alpine Chamois(96 points) on the same place, not far from the town. The shooting distance was 250m. It was a pity that I couldn’t shoot the Ibex. There were lots of tourists who liked hiking. Best regards.
Kamchatka had the leading position in my wish list of visits and I planned the trip there beforehand. I put the bid for the hunt in April-May. It was my first visit to that amazing land and I asked the hunting agency in Moscow to organized the trip without the usage of the helicopter. Then I paid for the hunt and the agent gave me the contacts of the local outfitters Evgeniy and Semen. I called them and we arranged all details: terms, how I would hunt, transfers, accommodation and etc.My hunting trip started on September 2nd when I had flown from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The flight took 8 hours and I was tired when we landed. It happened because of the time difference between those two parts of our country. It’s hard to get used to the time lag for a human body but fortunately the local time is several hours ahead it’s easier. The outfitter met me and my cameraman Alexander at the airport we took the luggage, guns and drove to the first point in our trip, to the village Milkovo. That place was located near the mountains. But before driving to the village we visited the fish market and bought the local delicatessen some fish and caviar. The way to Milkovo took 4 hours, there we changed the city cloth to the hunting ones and loaded all equipment which we’d need in the mountains. The next part of the way was to drive to the river and crossed it by the motorjet. The four wheelers waited for us on the opposite shore and we moved to the first camp. In two hours being totally tired we arrived to the place. Fortunately there was a wooden bath, which was built close to the shore. Water procedures washed away all traces of fatigue and we being in a high spirit, went to sleep. Next morning on September 4th, we loaded everything we needed to stay in the tent camp and drove to the hunting area. The way took an hour and a half. Two guide’s assistants waited for us there. The guys set the common tent which we used as the canteen and two tents where we’d stay. I used to travel with my own tent. It’s more comfortable for me. The first time when we went to the mountains was after the lunch, examined the nearest slopes but didn’t find anything. We came back to the camp when the fog had covered the surroundings. The pouring rain started at night and didn’t stop for a minute two days (Monday and Tuesday). The mountains were spread by the thick fog and it was out of the question to hunt in such weather. The sky become clear at the Tuesday’s evening and we almost ran to the mountains. It was about 5 pm when we started to observe slopes. One of us detected the only group which consisted of three females and babies when suddenly the fog covered everything and the rain joined. There are no smoke without fire and there are no fog without rain on Kamchatka. We went back to the camp and started to study weather forecast for our region for the next few days. According all of them it’d be foggy next few days and they were right. Next morning we climbed the gorge and examined the “mountains circle” on the opposite slope. Semen detected 3 males which had trophy size and grazed in 840 meters from us. They stood near the fir grove and could disappear there at any moment. We could try to shoot from such distance 840 meters with the angle -16 degrees but decided not to risk and approached around them. We did it in an hour but the place where we saw them last time was covered by fog.It was 9 am and we solved to wait when the weather would become clear. The fog lifted in an hour and we observed three males which lay below us in 340 meters. I had to shoot immediately but I did the fatal mistake! Instead of shooting I started to help my operator to set the camera to make the video of the future success. Time was passing on. We did it at last and I tried to choose which of the male to shoot and aim. And than the miracle happened as if the mountains decided not to give me none of sheep. The fog covered everything in a second. It was a pitch dark. We waited and waited but nothing had changed. In two hours it lifted for a moment and we saw that there weren’t sheep on that place anymore. They moved to unknown destination and we couldn’t define where because it started rain with snow. We had no choice but went back to the tent camp.I was coming back very dejectedly because realized that lost good chance. We had the excellent visibility, the comfortable position and distance. I was sure that I would hit the male if I fired. We could celebrate the trophy that night already, would seat around the table and tell hunting stories but the scenario was different.We couldn’t predict the future and didn’t know the price of that decision.The next day Thursday we spent in the tents and could hike only in the evening. Semen had the principal stance not to hike in the mountains in the fog because we couldn’t see the sheep but they could smell us and leave to another region. We came back with empty hands. My mood was the same like weather. I was unhappy. I scrolled that moment, when we saw sheep, again and again and blamed myself for it.Our stay in the tent camp was also the challenge. The humidity level was so high that we slept in the wet clothe if wanted to wear it next day and it was the only way to make it dry. We hadn't to make fire because the changeable wind could blow smoke to any side. The camp was located in 500 meters from the sheep habitat. Those were very hard days in the tent camp. At last on Friday morning we saw the blue sky and weather promised to be good. In 2.5 hours we climbed 525 meters from the camp and divided into two groups. Semen went to the right, my cameraman, Pavel and I went to the left. In 500 meters when we parted, I spotted the group of three males and took the decision to approach. I had the bad experience before and didn’t want to taste it once again. Moreover we all saw the coming fog. So Pavel went for Semen while Alexander and I were approaching sheep which stood in one km from us. I managed to close in 550 meters to them. The angle was 34 degrees.I did all corrections which need and fired. The first shot passed above the animal and the group ran. Suddenly one of them stopped and I shot once again. The bullet hit to its back but it was very strong animals and moved for a while. We went down and found it staying near the waterfall. I shot the last time. The trophy was taken.The hunt finished successfully and I hope that mountains forgave our arrogance when we decided to kill two birds with one stone- to get the trophy and to make video. Now I had the only goal to get the trophy and to leave that wet tent.The most significant thing on that hunt was that I found the trophy, approached and chose it by myself. I did the most things by myself and took the decisions. It was my small but very important victory. The hunt was over and we descended to 500 meters to cut the meat and to load the trophy. Same day we climbed to the main camp and I changed tickets to fly home earlier.Thank you very much for the organization of the hunt. Everything was done on the high level and I’ll fly back to Kamchatka once again. Thank you to Semen and Evgeniy and their assistances Pavel and Sergey.
When the hunt for Hangay Argali was finished we changed hunting area and drove to the Gobi desert for the Gobi Argali hunting. It took us 16 hours but roads were good. I was lucky and shot my trophy at the first day. The organization was very good, comfortable accommodation and tasty meal. Also I got maral and one black-tailed and two white-tailed Gazelles. I’m going to hunt with this outfitter in the next year 2018 to hunt for the Altai Argali.
