The hunt took place in the best hunting farm in Kazakhstan, Tastau, on the border with China. The ibex was taken in summer, in August, at an altitude of 3450 meters.
In search of Billy.
Snow goat hunting in Canada is an example of conservation hunting that provides an incentive to conserve and manage wildlife resources in a sustainable basis. The money raised from the sale of licenses is used for conservation purposes and provides income and employment for local communities, thus benefiting the social aspects of the local population.
Hunting snow goats in British Columbia. Day four. We've been sitting in ambush for five hours now. We're waiting for Billy, the North American name for male ungulates such as white-tailed deer, mountain sheep or snow sheep. While I have time, I'll start writing a report.
Last night we watched this handsome fellow with a telescope from camp. It was rushing down from the top of the lifeless cliffs of the famous Rocky Mountains to a cosy clearing on the edge of the forest. In the morning, like hunters, we came to the spot hoping that Billy would be grazing peacefully where we had seen him. But sadly he was not. The Indians we hunt with believe that the goat has gone to rest in the rocks and will return to graze in the evening. This behavior is typical of goats, especially where there are many hunters or predators. But there seems to be neither in this area. I hope they are right, but it seems to me that the animal has just moved into the neighbouring hollow, and if I were hunting alone, I would certainly visit all the interesting places during the day. But the hunt isn't mine, it's Geordie's, he's hunting first. He's been here for ten days! According to the first plan, he should have finished the hunt by now and come with me to make a film. But it turns out that British Columbia is not as rich in animals as it is in wildlife. I wanted to put some clever idea in the report about active searching or something, but one of the guys whispered quietly: - "Here it comes".
My Spanish friend and mountain hunting partner Jordi and I planned this hunt eight years ago. And every year something has prevented us from doing it. We managed to go to Nepal, Pakistan, the Sayan Mountains, Argentina, New Zealand and other great places for mountain hunting, but not to Canada. Mountain goat hunting was interesting but unaffordable, the price of mountain goat has doubled over the years. Last year we decided we couldn't put it off any longer, the years were ticking by and it was clear from some of the reviews that hunting in the mountains of British Columbia was not going to be easy. Hiring was also a problem, all the outfitters in the area were booked up several years in advance.
The solution came at a hunting show where Jordy and his company, Aventura Boreal, were exhibiting. Last year the guys from Takla Outfitters came to the Paris show for the first time and that's where they met. There weren't many photos and videos, but it turned out that the hunt would take place in the center of British Columbia, which you get to by floatplane, and then backpacking. Daniel, a friend of Geordie's with whom we had hunted in Nepal, a doctor by profession and a very intelligent and pleasant person, decided to come with us. But when we booked, the organizers said they could only lead the group with two hunters. Once again we had to change the plan and draw lots. So, the first group left at the end of August and I arrived in the first days of September. Danny had left by then and Jordy and I continued to hunt. All of these details I give for an understanding of what will be waiting for you in Canada when hunting snow goat.
August turned out to be hot and the Spanish hunters' hunting ground was "completely dry". During ten days of active searching, they only managed to find one female ibex. Finally, on the last day, fate sent Daniel an old male black bear, for which we also bought licenses. At base camp the guys had Starlink, thank God for Ilon! And the day before we left, Geordie called me to let me know how things were going. But by this time the euphoria of training and preparing for the expedition had completely cut out any receptors for doubt, my blood was full of endorphins and I told him that if there was even one mountain goat out there, we would find it! The light bulb went off, rifle hire is legal in Canada. The outfitters are real North American Indians from the Takla tribe. Jayden is only 24 years old and David, our outfitter, is 17. Jayden already has special training and a hunting guide license. The age is young, but it's not my policy to judge by age. He seemed like a bright lad and, as time went on, an excellent hunter and guide.
Indians, as indigenous peoples, have been given the opportunity by the government to manage large areas of land and have priority rights to use wildlife. This practice exists in many countries, including the USA, Russia and Japan. In the course of communication it became clear that the boys had previously worked and gained experience in other camps and had only tried hunting on their own a year earlier. When we met, it was obvious that they were a little nervous because the first group had no chance of pulling the trigger. Our group also brought cameraman Bret, who was with us the whole time and the footage of me is his work.
The guides decided to move to another site with more challenging terrain, but not yet searched for beasts. This was the camp at Lake Montase. My plane was the first to arrive, and when Geordi did, I had time to get a good look at the camp. It's just three buildings: a hut with a kitchen and a few sleeping cabins. Everything is very simple: in the middle there is a cooker and four shelves with foam mattresses, a bathhouse and a toilet, like a "latrine" but with internet)))), thanks to Ilon!
The base is situated on a very picturesque lake of glacial origin. In these mountains, white tongues of perpetual ice sometimes stretch for tens of kilometres. Its milky blue softly shades the dark coniferous forest of spruce and fir. Often at dawn, in complete silence, it reflected the sky and the red rocky peaks surrounding the depression. There never seemed to be a time when this landscape was repeated. The magic of the wilderness found itself in this beautiful place.
The hunting strategy was determined as follows: in a motorboat we moved from shore to shore of the lake, studying the open spots of the mountain ranges from different angles. If we found Billy, we would set up a fly camp and head up into the mountains with our backpacks. There was plenty of mountain space around, so we enthusiastically set off on a search that lasted three days, with breaks for food and waiting for good weather. By the middle of the third day, there was only one Billy left in the property, found by Geordie on the far boundary. The detached double-humped mountain was 15km in a straight line from camp, which made it unattractive to approach, as satellite imagery did not bode well on the way there. We thought about choosing a closer massif and climbing it, as there was certainly not much to see from the lake.
The weather was great that day, everything was beautiful and peaceful, but the team was a bit down, so I decided to go fishing in the afternoon. Despite the opaque water and the skepticism of the Indians, I managed to catch a couple of big trout, which lifted everyone's spirits. Taking this as a good omen, everyone took up their binoculars again. And right from the pier of our base camp I see Billy coming down. Fantastic, we had looked down that slope many times and seen nothing, where did he come from? Goat looked "stunning" in his hooligan outfit, with his swaggering walk and square head. For the rest of the day we took turns watching this circus to see what the snow goat was up to. Judging by his behavior, he was in no hurry and was actively grazing in the bowl of the high mountain circus.
The plan for the morning was clear to everyone. In the rucksack: tent, sleeping bag, inflatable mat, changeable and warm clothes, rain suits, optics and accessories, freeze-dried food and other necessities. We left the extra gear on the ledge of a cliff and walked lightly out to the pasture. Billy was nowhere to be seen, Jaydon had chosen a staging area where we waited for five hours, and just as I was starting to write my report and criticise his chosen tactics, a male appeared. Apparently he was resting directly on the ice, 800 metres above us, and had probably not come down in the morning. What a beast, there are no words to describe how good he was. My Spaniard suddenly got nervous - it's his experience - he's a very emotional guy)). The guides also got excited and began to offer counter-movements through the bushes. It was a good thing that the animal was 800 metres away, and while it took its time to come down to the meadow, everyone had time to cool down and prepare for the shot. It was agreed that the hunter would take the shot as soon as Billy reached the grass, which was two hundred and a little metres away. "Camera, motor"....
After an excellent hit, the goat flipped in the air and fell spectacularly on its back. Jordi was very moved and even cried a little. This hunt was a dream of his childhood, he went step by step to it for 50 years, starting with his father's stories about the wildlife of British Columbia and ending today with the attack of this impregnable mountain. We finished late, night had fallen on the mountains, but the adrenaline had given everyone energy and, after consulting, we decided to descend to base camp, where there are warm cabins, hot food and a bottle of bourbon. According to the laws of Canada, a hunter who has taken an animal is obliged to use all of its meat. The trophy, hide and horns can only be taken if the entire carcass is removed from the hunting site. At the time of reporting the use of the licence, the hunter or, as in our case, the guide, must show the evidence to the Forest and Game Department. The Spaniard carried the hide with the head, and we sorted out the meat. It didn't seem small, going well under the mountain.
A little more about Canadian laws. Interestingly enough, they have no restrictions on hunting many species of game living in hard-to-reach places, such as snow goat. Each citizen is allowed to buy one licence per year. Hearing this at the beginning of the trip, I had a suspicion that maybe this is the reason for the low numbers of animals, but now I realise that the reason is something else. First of all, it is the very low quality of natural objects in the northern territories of our planet.
The next day we spent resting, preparing our equipment and studying the biocenosis of the areas around the lake. In general, the altitudinal zonation and plant species diversity of these areas are similar to those of central Kamchatka. The mountains are up to 2500 m high, at 1400 m there is a zone of coniferous forest - mainly spruce and fir, pines are rare, then there is a forest tundra of low-lying alder, mountain ash or spruce forests)). Yes, here, instead of cedar, there is stilted tundra spruce, the same not bending and not breaking, but a little more vertically oriented. Above - alpine zone, and below - lichen tundra. There were not many animals: brown bear, black bear, marmot, and it seems to be a black-necked marmot, as in Kamchatka. There were droppings and traces of moose and wolves. Interestingly, almost every time we crossed the forest we met traces of snow goat activity, and of different freshness. So it is likely that some of the animals remain in the forest or perhaps migrate from one mountain system to another. This behaviour is common in some regions for chamois and ibex. Among the birds, black grouse, blue grouse, Canada geese and black-fronted mallards were frequent visitors to the lake.
The weather forecast showed a good window of a few days and a decision had to be made on how to proceed. In the evening one of the boys seemed to see movement on the distant hill where Geordie had taken the first billy, so we decided to head there. It turned out that two kilometres from this mountain, on another lake, there was a farmhouse and a path that had once been cut there. The plan was to leave our things and provisions there and go up the mountain to hunt. The path turned out to be more or less suitable, but only up to the hut, beyond it was a dark, stormy taiga, a big obstacle course - a torture for travellers. So we decided to carry all the equipment up and set up camp in the hunting area. And again, litres of sweat, gritted teeth, broken knees, scratched elbows. The result: 22 km through the taiga and a vertical climb to 1400 metres. In the evening, as we sat down to study the site, a strong wind came up and the air smelled of cinders, bringing smoke from the south, from areas where natural fires are raging.
The second day also passed in a veil of smog and without results. Except that we managed to find some relatively fresh goat tracks. Days of fruitless searching do not inspire optimism. To be honest, I wasn't prepared for this, I couldn't understand it in my head: you sit with binoculars and a telescope for 24 hours and - nothing. And it is clear that there are no poachers here and there is no "disturbance factor". If I had known that such a number of animals was here, I would never have gone on such a hunt... I reassured myself with the words of my zoology and game science teacher - "If you don't see an animal, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist". It was hidden from us by the vastness of the Rocky Mountains.
Another morning brought good news. The rain that had fallen during the night had cleared the atmosphere and the mountain ranges 20 km and further away were visible. The snow goat was like ice cream, so white that it was visible in the telescope from 22 km away. Of course, my new Swarovski is a unique piece and definitely a future bestseller, but 22km!!!! That was the distance from which we managed to spot three mountain goats this morning. It meant nothing to us as we were already 16km from base camp and walking to this range was not an option, but it did give us some optimism. British Columbia has raised the curtain! It's here.
On the way back to base camp I'll tell you a bit about optics and other equipment. The Spaniard is an ambassador for watering cans, I have Swarovski, the guides have Vortex, and the cheapest range at that. I used the new 17-40x56 tube for the first time, which I received as a sample a few days before the flight, along with a smartphone adapter. A pair of iPhone 11 and Swarovski gave our operator Bret, who was carrying a good Sony 300 model, a light for long distances. Brightness and quality were more than adequate, and the weight was half that of other telescopes.
Clothes: Sitka guides, like Geordi, get them from the manufacturer at a -50% discount, the marketing is very effective. I have a basic Altitude Bora suit - it is the best expedition kit ever. How many countries and mountains have I climbed in it? From the same HardShell Takur range, of course. The insulation layer is made of synthetic material. In a relatively warm season, when rain is possible, it is better than down. Boots: Meindl, Boreal, Kenetrek.
We have an interesting collection of backpacks. With all the heavy loads we've had to carry, it's not an easy question. David and I both had Schlumberger backpacks. Jayden praised his Stone Glacier and the Spaniard had a Mystery Ranch frame.
Three of the tents were MSR. Incidentally, the legendary "Hubba Hubba" model with the best weight/reliability ratio recently appeared at the Outdoor Centre Almaty. And a Qu for the guides. Everyone has down sleeping bags: The Indians have Marmot, I have Polish Pjack and Jordi has an unknown Spanish brand. They all have inflatable sleeping mats: Therm-a-rest, Klymit and my Mountain Equipment.
All the equipment proved to be very good.
Having recovered a little from the distance we had covered, in the morning we took boats to the opposite shore and began to descend a new high mountain gorge. By this time it had cooled down considerably. We were heavily loaded with food and equipment, and there were two and a half days before the seaplane flight to the district centre - the town of Smithers. The flying camp was set up on the edge of the forest and we immediately went in search of Billy. I won't go into the details of the fruitless search, but believe me, we worked very hard. But what to do when there were no signs of the animal's presence: tracks, droppings, hiding places, paths, broken grass... Nothing... Of course, the difficult terrain - not everything is visible, of course, a lot of vegetation and vast expanses. But where is anything to indicate the presence of animals in this place! At lunchtime on the second day, after a short but very cold snowstorm, with the beauty of British Columbia as a backdrop, I record a video saying that it didn't work. I drink tea and fall asleep, basking in the sun at the prevailing altitude. A kaleidoscope of dreams spins in my head, the sun breaks through the thick veil of heavy clouds and warms my sides. The pyramids of the Rocky Mountains, silver from the first snow, play with the glow of star energy. The azure surface of the high mountain lakes is covered in a thin velvet of mist, giving off the heat absorbed in the hot summer to the crystal clear air of the green valley. Flocks of wild geese buzz in the sky, bringing all living creatures the news of the imminent arrival of winter.
The baribal's alert nose knew that a long-awaited prey awaited him. The fat carcass of a snow goat would be a welcome addition to his vegetable diet before the harsh winter. Step by step he stalked his prey, when suddenly, from a neighbouring tree, a nutcracker roared sharply, warning everyone of the predator's approach. The old goat had long led a mysterious life, hardly moving, eating little, finding plenty of vegetation in the dense thickets of the spruce forest where he lived on the edge of a rocky cliff, which he sometimes used as a shelter from predators. The alarming news came from a forest bird. Billy got up and took his time making his way to the safe haven. The black bear, realising his position, made a sharp dash for it, but the goat, clinging to tiny ledges on the vertical cliff, was already out of reach. I don't know what the real story was, but it is an undeniable fact that at two o'clock in the afternoon (and there was usually no movement before five o'clock) Billy jumped onto the vertical cliff to escape the bear. They were both spotted by Jaydon, who was the only one of the group to continue searching for the animal. Of course, we would have found it by five o'clock, when we would have started watching again, but then we wouldn't have had time to hunt before dark. And so, without wasting a minute, we split into two groups, some of us going to the camp for provisions and tents, and we with the guide and cameraman - to the goat. We moved very fast, where we could walk - we walked, the hardest part was, as usual, the passage through the forest, but even there we kept up the maximum speed, checking Billy's position from time to time. By now he had settled down on a steep ledge and fallen asleep. The Indian, despite his youth, was doing everything as if it were in a textbook: measuring the wind speed, calculating the risks, in short, demonstrating the highest level of skill. We emerged from the bottom of the cliff at 380 metres, the goat no longer asleep, but still lying down. While we were setting up the camera, the telescope, of course, we did not remain unnoticed. The loose, stony road from which I wanted to shoot was also treacherous. The angle was almost 45 degrees up, and when I settled down, the rocks underneath me rolled down. Also, because of the angle, there was no stop and the buttstock was actually hanging in the air. By this time Billy had started to move, so after regaining my balance for a moment, I fired. The sights split my forehead, but it was a hit. The beast did not fall, so I fired again. It fell and fell silent, but then it twitched and jerked and flew down the cliff. Silence, we look at each other, smiling but silent.
Each of us had already imagined a thousand possibilities of what would happen if nothing happened. Each of us, as we tore our veins and shattered our knees jumping on the rocks, thought, "What if it goes away? "What if one of us breaks a leg, hits a sharp branch, falls off a cliff?" Millions of events have preceded this moment, thousands of hours of training, miles of steps on mountain ranges all over the world. Experience gathered little by little by our teachers, parents and mentors. What it's for: kilos of lost health, bloody blisters, cold nights, burnt faces. All this life-long rebirth is Sansara, a return to the origins of all living things, the instincts instilled in us by the Creator. We live with the spirit of wild nature, it is our element, we read the signs, guess the weather, train our will and endurance. It's not someone's marketing strategy that guides us, but triplets of chromosomes soldered into our genetic code by millions of years of evolution.
In the darkness we take our prey down to the river, the boys come to the meeting point, there are a few tents and provisions. We warm and dry ourselves by the fire. I'm in a kind of stupor, I just keep quiet, Geordi explains it by emotional devastation, I nod silently. No, I just don't want a reverse rebirth, a noisy city, contrived goals. If Sansara exists, I would like to stay here in the next life, or in an equally wonderful place, as a hunter in the form of any animal.
P.S. On the way back, carrying the hunted animal, we came across three goats grazing peacefully at a distance of 150 metres. British Columbia said goodbye. Video of the hunt.Dzhumaliev Kazhym, 17 September 2023, somewhere over the North Pole.
The hunt for a Siberian bear took place on the border of Koryakia and Magadan region. The trophy was a hitchhiker, as we were looking for sheep in the mountains. A 338 calibre shot immediately stopped the beast from a distance of 250 meters.
After a successful trip to the Magadan region in August 2023 for Kolyma snow sheep, I decided not to slow down and try to take all the Koryak sheep on the list this year. The weather in September made adjustments and I had to sit in Anadyr for three full days waiting for flying weather. On the second day of the hunt a 12 year old sheep was taken from a distance of 180 meters; (Blaser R8, 300 win mag, bullet 210 Berger VLD Hunting). After taking this trophy we flew to Kamchatka and on the first day of the hunt in Kamchatka a Koryak snow sheep was taken. The 13 year old sheep was shot at a distance of 220 meters; (Blaser R8 300 win mag, bullet 210 Berger VLD Hunting).
After a day's rest at the main base, we set off to hunt Yakut sheep. It took us a couple of hours to get to the place where we were going to set up camp, and on the way we met another member of our group who was returning from a successful hunt. We spent an hour setting up camp, had some tea and went on a reconnaissance /hunting. We walked a little more than 4 kilometers through the mountains, assistant had time to go around three more times, but we did not find any fresh sheep tracks. The weather was perfect, 0/+2°C, visibility was excellent and there was no wind. The lynx tracks indicated that the sheep had moved from this area. We returned to camp, spent the night there and moved on to a new spot the next day. The weather was not pleasant, snow was falling in flakes, fog, low clouds, wind 5-7 m/s. We travelled 10 km on the quadricycle "Sokol", then we walked 5 km along the stream. We saw a female deer and some young males. We crossed a little further and at a distance of 700-800 meters we found a good trophy. The wind was good, so we started to climb up to cross its movement. We chose a position, distance 375 meters, angle +18°. First shot, sheep turned and stopped after a few steps. Second shot, and a great 15-year-old trophy of Yakut sheep taken! Thanks a lot, Afanasiy! Excellent living conditions, superb equipment and tools, large population of Okhotsk and Yakutian snow sheep!!!! Stayed for moose hunting!
This was my second attempt to hunt Himalayan bear. The first time I hunted in Primorsky territory in 2022. But then a female bear with a cub came to the bait and I, of course, did not shoot. This time I hunted in Khabarovsk region. Everything went quickly enough. The hunt took place on a high tower. There was a lot of space and three of us with huntsman and operator were comfortably accommodated. We went up somewhere around 17.00 and at 23.15 the bear came to the bait. The animal behaved very cautiously, apparently he heard all our preparations and was on the alert. A few shots of 30-06 calibre stopped the bear.
Охотлись в августе - сентябре 2023 года на Камчатке на трех баранов (камчатского, корякского и чукотского)добыть удалось (по погодным условиям) только корякского! На следующий год вернемся за Камчатским и Чукотским!
We had planned and booked this expedition for next year. But the company "Stalker" sent us a hot offer and we decided not to postpone this issue and gladly accepted it. The logistics were not the easiest. We took a connecting flight to Novosibirsk (there are no direct flights until October), jumped in the car and hit the road. We drove 700km along the Kolyma Highway, spent the night in an intermediate camp, spent another 4-5 hours on the road in the morning and finally reached the main base! We spent the night there and then it took 2-3 hours to get to the camp. We set up camp and went hunting around 13:00. We started by looking around and noticed a group of sheep at the top. After a brief discussion of options, we began to approach the sheep. We got within 50-60 meters of them, they spotted us and ran away. The first shot was a miss. I shot at about 17:00. At a distance of 280 meters I fired a second shot and wounded the animal. Everything happened very quickly, I was shooting on the net. The sheep disappeared behind the ridge. There were three sheep, we looked for a long time for a place where they could come out and from a distance of 760 meters I shot a third time. For a long time we walked along the opposite slope looking for the sheep by the blood trail. It turned out that he had gone down a very steep slope. As dusk approached, we decided that Afanasiy and I would descend the gentle slope and the second, younger huntsman, Onanii, would go after the trophy. We descended to the stream at dusk and returned to the car in total darkness. We waited for the huntsman with the trophy cape and returned to the camp. We walked 13 km through the mountains, I was tired but satisfied! Thanks to Afanasiy for the excellent organisation of the hunt! Okhotsk sheep taken, we will prepare for Yakutian sheep hunting (after a day's rest at the main base).
On the first day of the hunt for the Okhotsk sheep after 5-6 km of the way, I together with the hunt organiser Fedor Chernyshov managed to find 2 trophy males at a distance of 1100 meters. Thanks to Fedor's professional qualities, terrain features and favourable wind, we managed to get 110 meters closer to sheep and to identify one very trophy male. I should say at once that I did not set such a task for Fedor (though he successfully coped with it), it just so happened that they were right under us. Although it is not an excuse, it was extremely inconvenient to shoot. All in all, I probably made the most offensive mistake of my hunting life! Eventually, after the shot, we were able to see from the tracks that the sheep had crossed the valley where we were camped. Fedor suggested that the sheep had crossed to the neighbouring ridge and were grazing there. The next day we travelled along the tops of this snow-covered ridge, inspecting the slopes and crevasses on both sides. Finally, after 1.5km of searching, we could see their tracks and after 500m Fedor found our sheep from yesterday resting after the morning feeding. We made a small climb to the top of the ridge and the sheep were almost below us. From a distance of 377 metres and at an angle of -26°. I managed to shoot the sheep that I had missed the day before. Many thanks to Fedor for the right attitude to hunting, high organisation of the tour, excellent knowledge of the terrain and the habits of the animals!
