Отчеты

It was a bear hunting over bait. On the first day the animal did not come out, but on the second day, after 5 hours of waiting, the bear appeared!

I took my long-awaited Anatolian chamois and it was my 10th chamois from the World Chamois List. The hunt is physically demanding, the ascents and descents are hard, the chamois population is small and I only took my chamois on the third day of the hunt. There is a lot of snow in the mountains and many bears that chase the chamois to the tops in search of food. I shot from a distance of 194 metres at an angle of -37°. The hunt was organised for me by my friends, Nimrod Hunting Tours.

Tahr hunting.

The trophy of the Bezoar (hybrid origin) Ibex can compete for the title of Best Trophy of Turkey.

In November 2023 I took a Tien Shan Argali in Kyrgyzstan at a distance of 600 metres, angle -19°, and a Hume’s Argali at a distance of 317 metres, angle +8°. The hunt was hard.

In Murghab they restricted my water intake and treated me with something. After a few days they brought me down. It took me a long time to find the film with the photos from that hunt. Other people had packed my things and not everything was found immediately. It was several years before they sent me the rolls of film and the Zenit camera with the telephoto lens I used at that time. I'm glad I was able to go down this difficult road. In those days, not many hunters knew about altitude sickness and I was lucky that I didn't delay my descent.

Film about this hunt After successfully taking the Bukhara markhor trophy, our team set off after lunch for the next trophy planned for this trip - the Bukhara urial. These animals are about 30% smaller in size than the markhor. The horns of male Bukhara urials can be up to 100 centimetres long. When we reached the gorge we quickly spotted a lone male of notable trophy qualities on one of the slopes. As we approached, the whole team got the impression that the male had no intention of leaving and was calmly grazing on the grass. The distance was 505 metres, but after making adjustments and aiming, I realised that shooting from that position was uncomfortable. I wouldn't be able to get a good shot from there. I changed my shooting position, made all the necessary calculations and adjustments. The new distance was 480 metres. The rifle was a .338 Lapua Magnum. I took the shot and it was a miss. The bullet flew a few centimetres above the urial and hit the rock behind it. It passed so close that it left a nick in the animal's fur. The male began to move along the gorge, then stopped and I shot again. Another miss. The second bullet went to the right of the urial. At a distance of 456 metres, the third bullet hit the target perfectly! When I analysed the shots, I understood the reasons for the misses. It was probably an error in measuring the distance. The rangefinder was not measuring the distance to the urial, but to the rock behind it. These few extra metres caused unnecessary vertical clicks. But experience teaches us well, and as I like to say, "Hurry up. There's no need to rush, it's better to check several times before you shoot. Nevertheless, the Bukhara Urial was taken. The shot went straight into the shoulder. The hunt was fast and comfortable. The weather was favorable and the landscape simple. Accommodation and food in the camp were of high quality. This type of hunt is perfect for bringing family or friends to relax, enjoy and contribute to conservation. Every trophy hunter plays a part in the conservation of wildlife. Thank you to the whole team for your coordinated and excellent work. The hunting farm is well maintained and it's evident that you care for the territory, protect the animals and maintain the population of these beautiful mountain ungulates. This was my first visit to Uzbekistan and I was delighted to get to know this country. I am confident that many more unforgettable experiences of real mountain hunting await us in the future!

10th chamois.

The weather was -10°C and it was snowing. We had to walk a lot. We covered about 10 kilometres before we spotted two males. We managed to get within 370 metres of them. I had to shoot from an uncomfortable position because the angle was +30°. The first shot fatally wounded the animal. Two hundred metres later I took Severtsov Argali. It was a 10-year-old male.

I hunted for the Amur brown bear in the Khabarovsk Territory, in the area of the Kur river. The hunt was organised by Vadim Valentinovich Atroshchenko. Everything went very successfully; the bear was lured out for about an hour. I shot from a distance of two metres.

The hunt took place in the province of Yazd. After zeroing the rifle, we set off for the habitat of the Esfahan mouflon. For about 2 hours, at a distance of about 2 kilometres, we observed several groups of males in different directions. We identified the most interesting group for us and began to approach. We circled the mouflons from the downwind side and approached to a distance of about 900 metres. There were 3 adult males in the group. One was lying quietly while the other two were grazing behind the rocks. We decided to wait until they came into sight so that we could judge their trophy qualities. As the grazing mouflons emerged from behind the rocks, it became clear that the lying mouflon was the largest of them all. The distance to it was 886 metres. I made all the necessary adjustments and took my shot. The bullet hit the centre of the mouflon's body. It jumped up and disappeared behind the rocks. We immediately set off in pursuit of the wounded animal. At a distance of about a hundred metres, it noticed us and tried to flee despite its serious injury. I immediately took up my shooting position and successfully hit the fleeing mouflon with a second shot. The eight year old mouflon with its commendable trophy qualities will be a great addition to my trophy collection. I would like to thank the organisers for a superbly organised hunt. Every year the level of organisation gets better and better.

On 10th and 11th February I hunted a Barbary sheep in Morocco. The hunt was led by Renaud Degri Du Du Du and was very well organised, thanks to the reconnaissance that had been carried out beforehand. We set off for the mountains early in the morning, stopping at the gendarmerie to register our cartridges and passports. By 10am we were at the beginning of the climb and spent a couple of hours looking for animals. We identified the biggest sheep and from a distance of 440 m and at an angle of 22° I fired. The animal fell on the spot. Special thanks to Ilya Dmitriev for organising the hunt!

It was an excellent and very challenging hunt for the Markhor. After breaking my leg, it was difficult to move through the mountains. The 12 kilometers were tough, and the shot was taken at 688 meters. The Markhor fell into the ravine, and we were only able to get it at night.

For many days I watched the weather forecast and waited for it to change radically for the worse, because that's when the big ibexes would come down and move away from the bad weather. On 20 November I looked at the weather forecast for 22-25 November and it promised snow for the first 2 days with temperature changes of 10-14°. Such changes heralded a good time for hunting (kansoar). So I left for Ucharal town early in the morning of 23rd November, it was pouring in the town and in the mountains, according to the guides, it was snowing and there was a strong wind. All the way there was just a wonderful atmosphere. On arrival, we drank tea, told hunting stories and started preparing for the mountains. After packing rucksacks and everything we needed, we had dinner and went to bed early. We got up at 5am, there was fresh snow and frost outside. We went to the hunting site and spent the first day just exploring the area. We decided to move the search for a trophy to another canyon. On the second day we set out as early as possible, climbed to the highest point, it was cold and frosty. We explored all the gorges and finally saw an excellent group of ibexes, about 30 animals, mostly females. We discussed how to approach them. I would like to say a few words of praise about the outfit that served me perfectly: camouflage from Kryptek dalibor 2, skyfall colour, for hunting at this time of year is just great, the bottom two layers of clothing also from Kryptek, shoes from Crispi mountain gtx. We spent an hour and a half approaching the ibexes very carefully so as not to frighten them. Eventually we got to a distance of 607 metres. I decided to shoot at that distance. We measured the distance, the angle, made corrections and I was ready to shoot. I hit the target the first time! The ibex fell on the spot and we shouted all over the gorge. It was a happiness beyond words. As we walked towards our prey, every second that brought us closer to the long-awaited trophy seemed like an eternity. As we approached, I truly understood the greatness and strength of this animal. Now I have even more respect for every ibex.