Отчеты охотников

Sergey Yastrebzhensky recommend me the local outfitter from Croatia who is very professional. By the way the logo of his company is on our site. Croatia is the country where you can hunt for a great number of the mountains animals in their natural environments. Also there are stable populations of red deer, european roe deer, brown bears and a dozen of other animals. I was interested in getting the Dalmatian Wild Sheep and Kri-Kri (Hybrid) ibex. I arrived to Zagreb, met Josef and we drove together to Zaber, a small town in 300 km from the capital. Then we took the ferry to the Otok Dugi Island what meant “ the long Island”.  The animals, which I wanted to hunt for, inhabited there. At the first day I took the Kri- Kri Ibex with dominated genes of the Feral goat ( heavy weight, the length and the color of the wool), it was the atypical trophy with the one horn. The second day I got Kri- Kri (Hybrid) Ibex with the dominated genes of Kri-Kri, its body was as small as the wild goat's body, but the color was red. I had harvested my trophy of the Dalmatian Sheep in the morning of the Day 2. It was the mature male, 10 years old, with the one tooth. Additionally I’d got the nice specimen of the European mouflon. Teh whole hunt took me two days. I’ m going to hunt for Aoudad or Barbary Sheep  which has been introduced here many years ago and formed the stable population.

When the Rating List of MHC was made I started to plan my hunting trips in accordance with it. My first expedition was to the Tian Shan Mountains in Kazakhstan. My friend Vladislav Reznik and Stalker company helped me to organize it. After 4 hours flight we arrived to Almaty. The manager of the local hunting company met us and we drove together to the base. It took us about 8 hours and we arrived to the place at 2am. We got up at 9 am, had breakfast, packed everything we needed and drove to test our guns. I took the rifle Orsis 300wm. Most of the Ibex’s hunts are on the rocks and the distances are not more than 500m what is normal for such gun. The original plan was to ride by horses ( 4 hours) to the mobile tent camp, located in the gorge and go for a hunt from there. But we arrived late and the guides had to make some changes. The locals suggested to check the gorge Aksai first, which was near the main base. Aksai means the white gorge and they hoped that we could find Ibexes there. It was the mid of December when the estrus was over and animals (males and females) gathered into the herds. It took us about an hour and a half to rise to the height 2200 masl. We detected the big group of Ibex which slowly went up along the rocks on the elevation of 2900masl. We determined their direction and followed them. In an hour we approached them 450m but the animals smelled us and were on guard. One of the males distinguished by the big size and I decided to aim it. The first shot hit to its leg. The Ibex ran a little bit and stopped. I missed the second and third shots but the forth one was final, I got it. It was the magnificent trophy, 11-12 years old, its horns length was 120 sm. I was fully satisfied. So, my hunt was finished in the first day. I’d got the hare when we were going down.In the evening in the base, we steamed in the bath with Slava and relaxed after the cold day of climbing. The temperature on the top was -10C with hail. It was the best mountain base where I’d been before. It consisted of the solid brick house with all conveniences and many infrastructural constructions. The owner of the base was the Moscow guy Igor Cherdynzev. Thank you very much to them for the invitation to hunt there. Next day I flew to Moscow and Slava stayed to hunt.

I and my fellows flew to New Zealand in spring, 2008. This wonderful country attracts hunters, from all over the world, the great number of trophies which they can take there. The most desirable one is the trophy of the Red Deer. I took it and put the next goal to get the trophies of the Tahr and chamois. Unfortunately I didn’t find the chamois but got the Tahr. It wasn’t an easy hunt. The mountains in New Zealand are hard to walk. In the first day we spent about 5 hours hiking and saw just young males. I has to mention that the accompanying PH, like in Africa, strictly controls the decision when the hunter has to fire, it makes the good selection. I was tired in the evening and my feet ached me. Telling the truth I wasn’t sure that could walk next day. But in the morning I picked myself up and went to look for the Tahr. We had been rising about an hour and a half when the guided detected the group of males which moved not far from us. The slopes were covered with the forest and animals appeared and hid in the thickets. The guide warned me to be ready to shoot and I immediatly did it when the tahr appeared from behind the bushes and I’d heard the command. The trophy was taken from the distance 180m by the first shot. We came to the trophy, made pictures and take off its skin because I wanted to make the trophy in full size because of the unusual color of its wool. The unpleasant or tragic accident almost happened when we were going back. I used to carry my trophies by myself and not to put it on the guide’s shoulders and did same at that time. The descent was very steep and when we were going down the stones under my feet rolled and I almost fell when happened to catch the roots of the plants. It saved me because if I didn’t do it I would fall from the height 10-15 meters with the heavy backpack. My fellows were more afraid than I was but I managed to went down and carried my load to the car. I couldn’t straighten for a long time when took the backpack off, but after a swim in the cold mountain river, fatigue was gone, as it did not happened. It was the memorable hunt for the New Zealand Tahr.

I asked my colleague the Vice- President of CIC Imbrikh Shubba to organize for me the hunt for the Low Tatra Chamois. He helped me to get this rare license. The fact is that that the population of this species is very low about 100 specimen and only 4-6 licenses are available per year. One more license was auctioned in the Assembly of the CIC in Budapest. Mikhail Borodulin won it but he was too busy on his new work that why gave it to Alexander Shegolev who flew to that hunt with me. It was the end of October, 2013. The way from Vienne to the hunting area near the town Poprad, took us 5 hours. The town was located between the Low and High Tatras.We went for a hunt at 7.30 am next morning . The weather was warm and sunny about 15C. We drove a little bit and then hiked to the chamois habitat. The first male, which we’d seen, was in 200 from us and it ran up very fast through the thick forest and there was no opportunity to fire. That hunt was difficult because of the landscape. There was no meadows, the mountains were covered by thick forest with rocks and it made difficult to spot the animals. But at last we detected the group of males and approached them 200m. I shot by the angle though the thickets. I hit to the front shoulder blade. The chamois jumped up and disappeared in the forest. The guides approved that it was the accurate shot. We estimated the landscape and made the decision to climb and go around the gorge. It took us time to find the chamois. At first I noticed blood on the trees and that bloody track led us down. It was the mark that the male was seriously wounded. It fell to the bottom. The bullet hit its heart. It was the unforgettable descend along the narrow spring, equipped with lots of wooden and metal stairs which settled for the tourists who actively trekked there. We met dozens of backpackers and most of them were young people. I managed to finish the hunt in one day and got my 19th trophy from the Capra List. Alexander took his trophy on the third day.

The hunt for Pyrenean and Cantabrian Chamois in Spain was organized by Profi Hunt company and its Spanish partner Diego Satrustegui with whom I hunted not once. I and my camera man arrived to Madrid on October,22 and immediately drove to the north of Spain. Our 500 km way lay to the Pyrenean mountains on the boundary with France. It was pouring rain all day and night. It finished at 5am and we were going for a hunt at 7am. Our team accommodated in the cozy hotel with the good restaurant. In the early morning after the light breakfast we drove for the hunt. The stars shined in the dark sky. On the half way we met our guide and went on driving. We managed to rise  1700 masl and then hiked. The part of our hiking led through the National Park and we had to carry guns in the closed covers. According the Spanish laws you can issue a power of attorney to the police and transfer to a foreign hunter the right to own rifle if he will provide at the Russian Embassy the  original Russian permit for the storage of rifled weapons in advance. It was easy and I went for the hunt with Diego’s gun cal. 2070 WM. Soon we noticed the chamois which pastured on the territory of the National Park, that’s why we went on further to the destination where we could hunt. We reached such place in an hour and stopped for monitoring. There was the big population of chamois and could see animals on the slopes, on the meadows and in the forest. We were ascending to the group of chamois when stumbled to the lonely male. I approached it 130m and tried to see it better through the forest thicket. At last I took the comfortable position and made the accurate shot. The chamois was taken. It was very interesting trophy, the mature male about 14 years old. From the hunter’s point of view it was the best shot because this male gave all its best genes and began to deteriorate, as we could judge by its horns. On the same day, it was decided to move to another Cantabrian chamois hunting area, which was located 500 km to the South-West.

I hunted for the New Zealand Chamois in March, 2014. The hunt was organized in one hour drive from Christchurch. During my previous trip to that country I didn’t hunt for the chamois that’s why flew once again. My wife Zhanna and the youngest daughter Dasha accompanied me plus Sergey and Maria Razroeve agreed to join us. Everything was organized by Profi Hunt company and the local outfitter KiwiSafari. Rodon and Match who were the representatives from the local company met us at the airport and we drove to the Hanmer village and accommodated in the cozy hotel. We had our own cottage. First two days we spent looking for the males but met just females with cubs. On the Day 3 I found the trophy and got it from the distance 100m. It was the mature male with damaged horn but I was glad because to take not typical trophy was a good luck for me.

The hunt for Carpathian Chamois was organized by Profi Hunt company at the beginning of November, 2013. The outfitter in Romania was Florina, responsible and pleasant guy, who being a young man worked in the hunting farm which belonged to Nicholas Ceausescu. Many years passed from that time but the most of monumental buildings and constructions were built at that period. Romania is a member of the European Union from 2007 but doesn’t show any economic success. The son of Nicholas Ceausescu jokes that his country won’t have enough color soon just to paint all buildings which his father has built. In 1989, as a result of the rapid revolution, the power of Ceausescu was overthrown, he and his wife Elena were shot right at the walls of the state institution in front of a crowd of militant public. It was the end of another socialist regime. It ruined like a house of cards. But let’s come back from politics to hunting.Hunts in Romania has long been famous for its organization and variety of trophies. There you can harvest red and roe deer, bears and wolves. There are good hunting for birds. But I and my fellow Viktor Kim arrived to hunt for the most big species among chamois- the Carpathian Chamois. The hunting region Ardzhich was in 200km to the north- west from Bucharest, in the southern Carpathians. The weather was beautiful, it was about 15C above zero and no wind. It was a pleasure to be in the mountains in such weather. It took us some time to test guns and then we drove to the place from where we needed to climb. The whole group was divided into two and we started to ascend. The rise from 1400 to 2100 masl took us about an hour and a half. Almost immediately we noticed the male and followed it. The chase took one more hour and we managed to approach it 300m being invisible. I fired from the someone else’s gun, cal. 7*64, with the old sight 1.5 *6*42 Zeiss. There was the inscription, engraved on the receiver “ Special for Nicolaus Ceausescu”. The first shot was higher than needed but I took the trophy by the next two ones. The distance was 380m. The trophy was rated in 111 CIC points what corresponded to the Gold Medal. That trophy was significant for me because I’d got the next level “Super-20 Capra” and became the third Russian hunter who had it. Next aim to get “Super- 30” and “Super-40”. Viktor Nikolayevich had got hit trophy too and came close to the World Capra Slam. Then we were going to Macedonia and flew there by the charter flight.

The hunt for this subspecies of chamois was organized in the National Park near the Riana village. We had permits for the hunt there and were accompanied by two officers who worked in the park. That park was a habitat of Gredos Ibexes, red deer, roe deer, wild boars, chamois, there was a big population of wolves and brown bears, hunting for which is forbidden everywhere in the European UnionThe bears, except Spain, dwell the Transylvania’s mountains, Romania and Tatra (Slovakia). I was instructed to shoot if see the wolves. The weather wasn’t well and the forecast, which predicted rain for the whole night and next day, was correct. All next day we moved under the rain and observed mountains only when the fog disappeared from time to time. At some point we decided to dismount from the horses and climb to the place where the lonely male was detected. We hiked about 30 minutes when noticed it. I approached it 200 m. I got it by the first shot. It was the male 5-6 years old. So despite the bad weather conditions I executed the plan to take two subspecies of chamois in Spain: Cantabrain and Pyrenean.

I got the trophy of the Caucasian Chamois during my November trip to Krasnodar region. I has to mention that I took this trophy on the territory of Karachay-Cherkessia because this species listed in the Red Book of Krasnodar region.  The hunting farm “Solenovskoe” bordered with Karachay-Cherkessia and I had the permit for getting a chamois from that region. We rode about 3 hours by horsed to the hunting place where detected the trophy males. I was really lucky at that hunt. I got my chamois from the first shot from the distance 320m. I was glad because wanted to collect all trophies to be nominated for the “Hunting Five” award. I managed to won the First Prize.

The hunt for the Balkan Chamois was organized by my Serbian friend Milun Radenkovich. It took place near the boundary between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the reservoir which separated these two independent countries. Being there we took part in the local hunting festival, devoted to the opening for the hunting of hares. 500 hunters from different regions of Serbia and Serbian Kraina (autonomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, inhabited mainly by ethnic Serbs) gathered in the restaurant. All of them had treated warm to the Russian hunter. Next morning we loaded to the ship near the Hatep settlement and went upstream the Drina River. The hunt was organized in such way that we monitored the rocks from the ship and could fire if find the good one or make a stop and follow the trophy by the land. We detected the chamois, then I went down to the rocky shore and looked for the animal I had seen. I was impressed when the male jumped down from the rock, flew about 30 meters and hid in the bush. I made the accurate shot from the distance 40m but we were shocked when reached the trophy. The trophy male had just one horn and its last leg was almost atrophied. We withdrawn from the nature a weak and sick animal, and then joked that it was the sanitary shooting.We spent lots of time with Milun Radenkovich drinking his own wine. We drank from early morning till night but felt well. There was the full home of guests, Italian hunters at his home who arrived for a feather hunt. Serbian music sounded in the hospitable home and everybody liked it and admired it. Thanks to him and his friends for a warm welcome and an interesting hunt.

My friend the Honorary President of CIC Piter Shram invited me to take part in the hunt for the Alpine Chamois on his hunting area near Salzburg. We accommodated in the beautiful, small and cozy hunting base, located on the height 1000masl, which was located on the Alpine meadow. Unbelievable but there were two restaurants nearby, where we had dinner together with the backpackers who stormed the Alpine paths. The specific of this hunt is so that it can last all day because this goat sleeps at night and is active during the day hours unlike the other animals. After 45 minutes of hiking along the slope we went to the traditional place where Peter used to hunt and stopped there. In a half of an hour I spotted the chamois which grazed on the slope. Piter gave me the rifle 243cal which is optimal for such hunts. I got my trophy from the first shot from the distance 280m.

We arrived to the place where were going to hunt and accommodated in the comfortable 5-star hotel “Magdalena”, located on the golf club territory. Next morning at 7 am we drove to the mountains. The local mountains weren’t high. The habitat of the Ronda Ibex isn’t wide in the comparison with the other Spanish goat’s habitat. This species has small horns.We climbed to the height 1500masl and started to observe the surroundings. We actively hiked along the ridges but watched some groups of females with cubs. At noon I detected two males but Diego examined them and said that they were young. We spent almost the whole day looking for the trophy size male. At 6pm we were going back and stumbled upon the herd of 6 males. Mountains respect walkers and we hiked enough to find our males. Diego and I chose the biggest one which was in 360 meters from us. I made three shots and they all hit it. It was not the most outstanding trophy but the normal one and I didn’t have choice in any case.

The hunt for the Persian Desert Ibex wasn’t planned but happened during my first trip to Iran in December, 2013. I’ll tell about that trip in more details in the separate report but now I’m going to tell some words about my 23rd trophy from the Capra List, Persian Desert Ibex.As I’ve mentioned above this species inhabits on the territory of Iran and looks similar to the Bezoar Ibex which dwells from Iran to Dagestan. The main difference is in the horns’ color. The bezoar goat has dark horns while the horns of Persian Ibex are light. But the horns of both Ibex have same form and only experienced hunters can see the difference. Telling the truth I didn’t know about it while the Iranian guided had explained it to me. It was the fifth day of my hunt in Iran, we drove about 300m to the Ibex’s habitat. All hunting area in Iran are state and all hunts are strictly regulated. I was ( by the words of the locals, and I can’t check it) the first foreign hunter in Iran who harvested the goat in that area. The population of this animal was very high, we watched big herds of these animals on the rocks and could choose the trophy. I managed to make the picture of my future trophy how it stood on the rock. Then we drove to it by car. The Ibex crossed the road and was going to the nearest mountain massif. I got it by the first shot from the distance 150m. I took the great trophy with the horns 106 sm each.

When the hunt for Gobi Argali was finished we drove back to Ulan Bator because planned to transfer to the other hunting area from there. But our flight was cancelled and we didn’t know why. That’s why we were forced to rent the car to drive to the place. At 6 am on September, 6.2014 we started. Our driver the local guy Timur was 63 years old, spoke Russian a little bit. I won’t describe in details but his driving style made us to be suspenseful all  13 hours while we were in the way. We suggested him to help and change drivers several times if he was tired but unfortunately he refused. We were heading into the destination to Bayanhongor town and then to the settlement Zhinst. We didn’t see any settlements, there were pastures and Mongol yurts everywhere and we received these landmarks. We met our outfitter Zorik, an experienced 55 years old man. Viktor Nikolayevich Kim successfully hunted with him in two month before us and it instilled additional confidence in the result. We woke up at 5.30 am and drove to the hunt in a half an hour. We saw lots of females and young males but the group which we needed was found by Zorik at 1 pm. He informed us and we decided to gather and continue the hunt altogether. After the discussion we resolved to make the corral hunting. I took the position on the opposite hill, the distance was about 300m, that was usual for me but I didn’t suppose that the goats would rush at a gallop without stopping. I fired to the running aims but unsuccessfully.  We estimated the direction where they ran and followed them by car along the mountains ridges. I gunned to the running Ibexes from the distance 300m and got the biggest male by the first shot. It was the worthy trophy 84 sm or 33 inches. Zokik happened to be the interesting guy who spoke good English. Next day we had to drive back to the capital where were going to meet Tukso and hunt for the maral with him. We had enough time for it. The fact was that the hunt for marals was closed for ten years because the population was critically reduced. But from 2013 they started to hunt once again and I didn’t want to lose such opportunity. But this is another story.

When the hunt in Romania was finished all our group including me, Victor Nikolayevich and the cameraman Oleg Laptev transferred by the charter plane to Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. We were going to hunt for Kri-Kri Ibex and Feral Goat there, Victor Nikolayevich wanted to take the Balkan Chamois. The representative of the local outfitter by the name Blagoi met us at the airport and we drove to the hunting area. After arrival to the hotel we changed clothes, divided into two groups and drove to the hunt. My group used the motor boat, we were crossing the lake, sailing to the mountain massif on the opposite shore, when noticed the group of Ibex which stood on the rocks. We discussed how to reach them and went. The ascend took us half an hour then we watched animals about two hours. We waited that they would come close and I could fire. I had the Serbian rifle Zastava7мм Remington, which I didn’t test before, just checked the trigger. It was a little tight for a mountain gun but I’d get over it. I studied the sight very carefully because it was settled to the yards and It took me time to calculate the distance. 100 yards were about 90 meters. Blagoi observed the trophy and concluded that it was the average one that’s why we decided to look for another one but the local guide who came a little bit later checked it through the sight and said that one of the males had trophy size and could be rated to the medal, probably silver. I decided to fire. I got my Kri- Kri Ibex by the first shot from the distance 350m but it wasn’t the end of the story.I need to tell you some details about the object of our hunt. Bezoar Goats lived in the Balkan Mountains for a long time, their habitat extended through Turkey to the Caucasus mountain. In Russia these animal live near the boundary between Dagestan and Azerbaijan and its population is about 1000 specimen. But they are listed in the National Red Book and the hunt is prohibited. During the First World War there was the hunger in Balkan region and soldiers and the local utterly destroyed all mountain goats in that region. It’s a well-known fact that the last goat was killed by the Bulgaria soldier in 1918. A few years ago, a subspecies of the bezoar goat "KRI-KRI" was brought to Macedonia to restore the population from the Greek Islands. It’s lighter than the ordinary Bezoar Goat and has smaller horns. The golden trophy starts from 60sm and more. Lets’ come back to the story.I wasn’t satisfied by the first trophy which was about 40 sm and next day tried to get the bigger one. At 2 pm we went up to the top of the mountains and moved to the place where could meet the big male. The local guide Toni told us that several times he met the goat with horns more than 80sm. The mountains at that region were covered by thick oak forest and there were not many places where we could observe or shoot to the animal. We waited for it near the small lawn, the distance was about 300m and if it come I’d shoot at an angle. We spent there about an hour when I noticed the Ibex in the bush. It stood there for a while and came to the lawn. I fired sitting and got it by the first shot. It went a few meters though was wounded and I made some more kill shots. The male had excellent trophy size, one of the horn was 78 sm and the other was 75sm. Great result. Toni considered that this trophy belonged to the best ten trophies taken in Macedonia. Each trophy hunter is proud of his trophies and dreams that they’ll take high positions in the ratings. Thank you very much for this successful hunt for this amazing Ibex.

This hunt was organized by “Profi-Hunt” company in February, 2011 in Turkey. We hunted not far from the village Datka on the south-west of the country.  The hunt took place at an altitude of 400 meters in a mountain range near the sea. Three days we were looking for the trophy size male but didn’t meet one on the shooting distance. I admitted that would come back home without the trophy. I stayed at the hotel and each morning we drove to the mountains searching for the good male. In the evening of the third day (the penultimate day of the hunt) we trekked in the new mountain massif when noticed the group of animals, it included about dozen females and two males, one of which old and big had ash color and good horns. We became the witnesses of the fight between these two (old and the young one), for supremacy over females in the herd. There weren’t any opportunity to come close at that time and we decided to try our hunting luck on the next, the last day. On the next morning we went about an hour and came to the place where the herd was seen the last time. Just imagine our surprised when we found the old male which pastured alone while the herd with its new leader had  rest in 400m from it. It's a philosophy of life. The old gave the way for the young one. The fact was that I couldn’t find the comfortable position for shooting. The animal was on the opposite slope and it was difficult to approach it, moreover we didn’t have time for it. Leading by our hunting instinct and inner voice we started to go down moving parallel to our Goat. The distance between two slopes was from 300 to 800m, in different places but we couldn’t predict where the ibex would come or could I take the comfortable position, that’s why we just walked. The conditions were not well because it was hard to go in the mountain forest. Thorns, ivy and shrubs made it difficult to move. Sometimes I crawled trying to cross the barriers. Suddenly we saw our goat which stood on the rock near the precipice. It stood still in all its glory in that beautiful ash color and with big horns, as waited for its destiny. It was not good to fire from that place and through the bushes but I realized that it was my only chance when I could get it. I measured the distance- 385m made all calculation and believed that could do it. Such distance wasn’t the limit for my gun. The Ibex waited for me while I was preparing. The roar of the shot swept through the gorge, the herd jumped up and ran away. My trophy was knocked by the powerful bullet of 338 WM. I took aim once again and made the final shot to the neck, though the first one was accurate. Fortunately the male didn’t fall into the abyss but fall back. I was very satisfied. During all four days I had the only chance to make the only shot and it was successful. But then happened not tragical but very unpleasant situation when I discharging my gun made the accidental shot. The bullet hit in a meter from the gun and fortunately didn’t touch anybody. This is a lesson for me for the rest of my life.  At the beginning we thought to find the shortest direct way from one slope to another but when came to the precipice understood that it’d be impossible.  We had went back up to the slope where made these pictures. We had a short rest there and decided to come back to the cars. My guides took the trophy next day when I flew back to Moscow. That’s why you can see the guide, not me on the pictures with my trophy.

Each hunter in his life had situation when he was lucky and was given a unique chance. I can say without exaggeration that my hunt for the Alpine Ibex belonged to such statistics and I used the situation. The hunt, as always, was organized by the Profi Hunt company and its Austrian partners. Bernhard and Phillip were young Austrian outfitters who had the PH license and worked in Africa. They spent 5-6 months per year there working in Namibia, SA and Tanzania. We met our friends Victor Nikolaevich and the operator Vasily and drove to the hunting area, in 170km to the west from Vienne.  It took us about two hours to get there. After accommodating in the small but cozy hotel, we had lunch  and drove to the hunt. It was 4 pm. Telling the truth we estimated our chances to find the male as not high because we all imagined the Ibex had to inhabit on the height in the mountains but we didn’t have enough time to go for a long distance. Moreover the weather conditions were not well, it was rainy and all slopes were covered by fog.  But our guides showed no signs of concerns and we followed them to the mountains. Moving by the  extensive network of roads I realized that it wouldn’t be the hardest walking hunt. I treated it like the relax after the numerous hunts over the world when we had to walk hard and long. Bernhard, I and Vasily made a short stop on the slope and moved toward the shooting tower which was located not far.  There were two meadow bald spots in the forest, one in 200m and another in 500m from the tower. There we started to  wait for the animal. Just imagine how surprised I was when in a couple of minutes the old male came to the nearest one. It was crossing it moving  up to the slope. Everything worked like a clock.  I tested the rented gun beforehand and it took just few seconds to fire. The first one went  right through his heart, the second shot turned him around, and the third shot him dead. I used 7mm on 64 cal., not the biggest one that’s why I fired three times. I wanted to rule out the situation when we would have to run in the forest trying to get the wounded Ibex. The goat had good trophy size horns, estimated in 203 points and took the 37th position in the TOP 40. The thick base of the horns, their symmetry and the length plus the significant collapse made them good. I passed not more than five minutes when we left the car and the hunt was completed. How can I tell other people that the mountain hunts are hard after this case. I thing that the hunting god gave us favor for our labor in the previous trips, the fate sent us such gift Thanks a lot for this.

I’ve harvested the subspecies of Altay Ibex during the hunting trip to Gorny Altay in the fall 2010. The hunt was organized by the local company “Uch-Sumer”. All staff consisted of  qualified, experienced guides, who used to work with the foreign hunters. My guides were Viktor Adisovich and his son Sasha, young guy who worked in the police, later I gave him my “Leika” with the rangefinder as a gift. We tested gun on the main base, located on the Katun River and flew by helicopter to the mountain camps. Konstantin and Sasha Shegolev left us first. Each hunter was accompanied by two local guides, all of them were local, easy communicative guys who loved and knew their work. I, Viktor Nikolayevich, Andrey and Nikolay flew to the next base in ten km from the first one, where we left the first group. As the flights were in the first part of the day, we take off all equipment and at 5 pm, rode to scout the area and try to get used to the horses. To set to hunt in other words. We were riding about an hour when our guides noticed the marals which pastured in the valley. The group consisted of two males and some females. We didn’t have time to approach and came back to the camp. I was accompanied by operator Alexey who made movie about the hunts in that area. He was a good guy who took part in lots of expeditions but not hunter. He chose the clothes which made lots of noise and I had to take it into account when looking for an animal. Next day I managed to take two Ibexes. The first one I shot when it was running from the distance 470m and the second goat we found in the mountain range where its herd had rest. I approached  it 100m. Altay Ibex is the smallest one among the Siberian Ibexes. The size of my trophy was one meter and it was good for that area, moreover it took Bronze by the CIC estimation. The population of these animals is stable and even grows like the population of the Altay Argali. This species is listed in the red book though we know about the fact when poachers with the help of the local police make hunts there.It’s possible to get this trophy in Mongolia though the number of the licenses is limited. I and Viktor Nikolayevich are going to visit this country and try to harvest this expensive, but nice and prestige trophy.

I had to work with this sub-species of the Southeastern Spanish Ibex. The first attempt to get it, took us two days but we didn’t see any male. We drove long distances by the mountains roads trying to find these animals but unsuccessfully. We saw just females with cubs and none of the male. The fact is that in March all males prefer to pasture separately from females they flock into their own herd and it’s difficult to predict how they will move. There was no rain for three month already when we arrived. The vegetation was very scarce and food base wasn’t enough for all. We thought that males looking for nourishment went down closer to the springs. Spending two days without any result we changes the location and drove to the Ronda area and then was going to drive back and try one more time. The second time we arrived to the small village Torens, I think it was called that name. The local hunters told us that observed the group of males during the last few days near the river. We started at 4.30 pm, and walked actively across the gorge. At the end of the day at 6pm we detected the group of males on the opposite slope, three of them were young but the last one was old male with good horns. The distance was 320m and I got it by the first shot. We all saw how it fell as knocked down, turned over several times  and hidl into the bushes. We all were glad that found and got the trophy. It took us about 45 minutes to drove around the gorge and went down to the goat. And then we all, experienced hunters received the lesson. We descended to the Ibex and left rifles in the car thinking that it was over. I saw lots of blood the tracks when we were reaching it but imagine how we were surprised when the goat felt us, jumped up and ran down to the bottom of the gorge. We were frozen by the suddenness. I decided to run back to the car and take the rifle. It was getting dark and we didn’t have much time. I began to follow the tracks of the wounded goat down to the river having the rifle at the ready. The slope was steep and free-flowing, moreover it was all covered by the thorny Bush. I managed to go down the river when after the sunset at the twilights. We came to the decision to come back to the cars. Climbing was even more difficult than the descent. We reached them at the dark. Diego and the local hunter Andreas were upset that we didn’t find the goat but I was absolutely sure that the guides would find it easily next morning. It was wounded and lost lots of blood. So it happened. Hunting dogs found it next day very quickly, the guides sent me  pictures by phone when I was in Madrid already. The Spanish Helmet was assembled, and I collected the required number of trophies for Capra World Slam, established by the Sheep Hunters Assosiation. Now I’m going to harvested 12 sheep and get another honorary award – Ovis World Slam.