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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.

This hunt was a part of my trip to Tajikistan in November 2012. It was organized by Jury Matissinon well-known outfitter in that area. We flew from Moscow to Osh- the town in Kyrgyzstan and then by helicopter to the base camp, located near the lake Karakol, on the height 4200m. Sergey Uspensky accompanied me during that trip.  We spent the night in the base camp and early morning drove to the gorge where the big herd of Argali was seen before. Argali Marco Polo was our main target in that trip. We drove about 4 hours in the bed of the dried river when noticed the young wolf but didn’t shoot it because all our rifles were in the car’s trunk. Pretty soon we arrived to the place from where started our two hours trek up to the temporary camp on the height 4500m, made scouting there and went to sleep. It was -18 degrees at night and I was lucky to spend in in my warm sleeping bag. We all got up at 7am, had light breakfast and climb along the gorge. The group of Ibexes was detected in two hours, they were feeding on the slope. I estimated the situation and made the decision to approach them. We successfully did it and I fired from the distance 100m. After the first shot the gun jammed, the inflated cartridge case stuck in the chamber and I could not make a kill shot. At the same time Matisson noticed the group of sheep which pastured in a half of km from the place where I shot. Because of the Rose of Wind, they didn’t hear any sound and continued to feed. But that was another story. We left the goat and start another hunt. Next day  the guides took it.

By the classification of the Capra Club, the Siberian Ibex, harvested in Kyrgyzstan, is considered to be Mid Asian subspecies. I hunted for it in October 2009 and remembered it because of  the unusual way how I got it. We rode by horses when detected the old male which pastured on the slope. I approached it  the shooting distance and  started to aim. I made the mistake which forgivable for a beginner but not for me, I took the uncomfortable position for shooting. If you didnt' take the right position It’d influence to your shot. My leg stumbled when I fired and the bullet flew far from the goat. It disappeared in the rocks. I went to look for it, descended by the steep slope and suddenly noticed it staying behind the rocks. Telling the truth I saw just its neck between stones and its back.  It was unacceptable for me to shoot in its backside that’s why I targeted to the neck, seen in the crack between stones and fired. We hear the roar from the shot and stones will painted by the blood, it meant that I did the accurate shot and got the trophy. When went down, we found the goat in the cave where It lived. So it was. The goat was old but  I couldn’t say that it had good trophy size. Its horns were less than 90 sm, that’s why I decided to come back and try to harvest bigger one  in some time. I’m going to make it in the mountains of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan.

This hunt was organized during my business trip to Madrid. I had business meeting with the CIC representatives there. The guys from the Profi Hunt company organized everything very quickly and with good quality. My old familiar Diego, who took  part in the wolf hunt in Saratov with us, met me from the Spanish side. But that was another story. A Gredos Ibex is one of the forth Goats which inhabit in Spain and is the biggest one, that’s why I decided to start to collect my Spanish Slam from it. When we drove to the hunting area Diego reminded me about the restaurant which is belonged to the Family Kandidos. This wonderful place is known because of its main dish, fried suckling pig, which they cut by the plate to show how good and qualitatively it is cooked. Fortunately it was on our way and we visited it to taste it. I was glad to plunge into the centuries-old history of this institution. That restaurant, located near the ancient bridge built  many centuries ago by the Romans, is a cultural monument  and the pride of its town. Everything was very tasty and I could get acquaintance with the representatives of this old family. In the evening we arrived to the hotel and went to bed because the hunt would start at early morning. I arrived to  Spain with  Viktor Nikolaevich Kim who always supported all my hunting offers but that is another story which I’d tell later. We tested our rifles and moved to the mountains, the part of the way we drove by car and then walked. It should be notice that Spanish mountains are very comfortable for walking in the comparison with the mountains where I used to hunt before and the density of animals there are high. It was one of the easiest hunts in which I took place. We went to the region where the guides observed the big male before. We saw different males while walking but in an hour our group came to the needed place. I and guides watch surrounding using the binocular and noticed the herd of animals, our male was pastured among them. I fired from the distance 300m and hit by the first shot. The beast fell on the stones and didn’t give the sing of life. That was the Golden Trophy. In March 2012 I’ll try to harvest other three sub species of Spanish goats to pretend to the Capra World Slam by the version of the North American Association of the Ovis Hunters.

The hunt for Beceite Ibex was organized by Profi Hunt company and their Spanish partner Diego and took place in November, 2012. I flew to Madrid from Nurnberg where visited big Hunting Show IWA-2012 and we drove by car to the south-west from the city. The the hunting area was in  350 km from Madrid and it  took us 3.5 hours. The heights were from 1200 to 1500masl. The local guides monitored the herd of males from the early morning, the one of the Ibex had huge horns, locals called such animals “Monster”. We moved to the area where they were seen but while the guides met us the herd moved to the nearest forest and disappeared. We noticed them just when they were far behind us, the males felts us and ran to another forest. After a while another group of the local guides found them in 500 m from us. We got into the car and drove to the pointed destination. The males peacefully grazed on the lawn. The shooting distance was 300m. I defined my male from the group, made the shot and missed it. Once again, I am convinced that it is necessary to test a new weapon, feel its trigger check optics, but we have disregarded this iron rule, as the result I missed the shot. I felt that my shot wasn’t good. I used Remington cal. 270, Ultra Super Light, the sight with the variable multiplicity  Swarovsky 4 to 12. We didn’t see any males at that day. Spent the night in the cozy comfortable 4 star hotel “Black truffle” and early morning drove to the mountains. I insisted on testing the gun and made some corrections by vertical.  We found  males in the first gorge, one of them had the trophy size and we tried to approach. The goats were moving in the bottom of the gorge and came to the opposite slope at last. The distance was 170m. I got it by the first shot and made the second one just to be sure.

The hunt for Mallorcan Wild Goat was organized by Profi Hunt company and Diego Shartrustegi on Majorca, Cape Formentor, in July,2013. We started at 6am and went to look for a trophy male  on the mountains in the picturesque north-eastern part of the island. I was accompanied by the local guide Gabriel. At the first day we saw lots of males and one of them was even trophy size but decided to continue our searching because Gabriel observed much bigger one in that region before. At 10.30 am we finished our hunt because all animals went to the forest trying to hide from the sun.  Next day in the morning July 23rd, we found the group of males, one of which had good trophy features. I took the comfortable position and waited when It’d appear once again but it didn’t come. We climbed to the top where the males grazed before but didn’t find them because the goats came to the forest. After the short discussion we decided to come back later in the evening, climb to the highest top and wait when the goats would come to the mountains for a night. At  7.30pm we noticed the lonely male who were going up to the mountains. I fired from the distance 178m and got it by the first shot. Then Gabriel asked me to shot one more young male with the untypical  color. This goat has been removed according the sanitary shooting. The distance was 180m and I got it by the second shot.

During my hunting trip for a chamois in New Zealand I decided to harvest the local feral goat. We were climbing about half an hour where noticed some grazing males when our guide John saw the black male goat which pastured in the sheep’s herd a little bit lower then we were. We estimated the trophy and made the decision to take it. While we went down, the male hid from our sight for a while. I took the comfortable position and tried to find it,  watching into the sight. Suddenly I noticed black animal which stood behind the bush and prepared to fire. But when it came out of hiding it happened to be sheep not goat. I doubted that we’d seen the goat before though we all, including guides were sure that it was the goat. John also realized that it was the sheep but was ready that I’d shoot by mistake. Thanks to my experience which didn’t disappointed me I didn’t shoot without seeing the target clearly. That is one of the main hunter’s rule. We looked around and saw our goat on the slope I approached him not to be seen and fired. I got this trophy from the first shot.

Hunt for the Feral Goat  more belongs to the rated than applied hunts. Not difficult conditions make it easy and available for lots of hunters. Hunt for Mallorcan Wild Goat is one of them. We arrived to the area of its habitat and started to look through binoculars on the slopes. Soon we found the goat and I got it by the second shot. It was the good trophy for the “Super-30” list, because it’s included only to the that list, according to the rules. The Mallorcan Wild Goat can be included to the list “Super-20”. I managed to captivated Viktor Nikolayevich Kim to become the member of “Ovis” and try to get results. He harvested Kri-Kri Ibex and Himalayan (introduced) Tahr and made the plan for “ Super-20”. One more Russian hunter will be presented in the results tables of the Ovis Assosiation.

After finishing the hunt for the Blue  Sheep in Nepal, Artem and I moved to the area where we were going to hunt for a Himalayan Tahr. My camp was located on the height 3200malsm, Artem’s camp on the height 3460m. First day we climbed to 3900masl and 4250 on the second day. It made us tired and add some correction to the hunt process. The landscape consisted of the steep slopes and all  ascents and descents took a lot of efforts. In the first day we didn’t see any tahr though spent 6 hours looking into the binoculars. In the evening we contacted with the Artem’s group and they told us that saw some male and even tried to fire but missed. Sheri made the decision to join that group and hunt together. I wasn’t sure that they were glad but both hunters (I and Artem) harvested our desired trophies. In the morning I, Sheri and another local guide rose to the top. In went up any strength left. We spent about a week in the mountains and I felt the accumulated fatigue and legs just refused to go up. Only the will and the desire to quickly achieve my award led me go on.  There was a protracted and steep rise. At last we reached the top and started to observe the surroundings. One of us noticed the group of females and a male. I missed the first shot, the bullet went higher. Artem fired at the same time to another male and theses shooting made  move other animals which located in the  in the crevices of the mountain range. I found the tahr which was rapidly descending from the steep mountains and began to aim it. I hit the moving male from the distance 550m. My guides left me and ran directly  to the trophy. I realized that could not go down with the gun, slopes were very steep, and started to look for the more gentle descent. I was really angry for them at that moment. I did not despair, gathered my strength and found the path which led me to Artem’s group. We both got the trophies. Later in the camp I explained to my guide how dangerous it could be to leave the hunter alone. All people are different and somebody not being in good physical condition could be in panic and make the tragically mistake.

I got the trophy of European mouflon in June, 2006 in Bulgaria. The local outfitter was Stoayn Trifonov. The hunt was organized in the mountain area where we waited the male in the backstage located on the paths where they used to go. I harvested it by the first shot, cal. 30-06. The trophy was rated for the Gold medal.

I got Esfahan Mouflon and moved to another hunting area near the Kochmar town in 1200 km to the east from Esfahan.  It was a long trip with the stop for a night but interesting and not tedious. In the morning we drove for a  hunt. In the first day we walked a lot, watched the binoculars looking for males but saw just females. In the evening we detected the group of males and decided to find them on the next day. On the second day we drove to the mountain massif from the other side and started climbing. It took us about an hour and a half. There we found the herd of sheep, males and females together. We approached them and it took us more three hours. The sheep grazed in such uncomfortable place that it was difficult to shoot. The distance was about 550m by the high angle and we couldn’t come closer. I decided to fire and missed. All herd ran away. During the next two hours we tried to reach them but animals smelled or noticed us and we didn’t get any results. We descended three hours. It was a hard walking day. Next morning my legs ached with fatigue and the locals decided to spare me and organized a search for the male in the hills, not in the mountains. They were sure that there would be the group of sheep and were right. In forty minutes we noticed the group of four males, the eldest one was 7 years but I didn’t have choice because it was the last hunting day. I harvested it from the distance 250m by the first shot.

The hunt for so called Mid-Caucasian Tur was organized by the Profi Hunt company in September,2013 in Karachayevo-Circassian Republic. The fact is that, the biologists didn't classify this subspecies, they’ve defined two main species of Dagestan or Eastern Tur and Kuban or West-Caucasian Tur. The Ovis Association distinguished this subspecies which inhabit on the boundary between these two, which I mentioned above. Being honest its horns are different in the shape from the other species horns. They aren’t like the horns of the Dagestan or Kuban turs, they have their own specific form. The base camp was located on the height 2000mals and represented a Kosh (log house), which belonged to the local hunter Edward. He was born and grew up in that area, he knew it like his fingertips, knew the habits and behavior of animals in different periods of their life. Edward made all biological activities, left salt and monitored the population. Eduard produced a very good and positive impression of his modesty and neatness. It was obvious how sensitive he was to the nature, knew and loved it. At noon we arrived to the hunting area and went to the salt lick to observe how turs would come for feeding in the evening. We finished at 8 pm and went back to the camp. The original plan was to rode by horses along the gorge to the Georgia boundary but when they understood that I’ d climb to steep Caucasian mountains we changed it. Edward suggested to storm the adjacent mountain because was sure that the big group of turs inhabited there. The ascent from 1950m to 3110m took us three hours. The path led through the mountain forest first and then through the mountain meadows. There were snow at that height. We had a short rest after the climbing and notice fresh tracks of turs. After that we defined where they could be and followed them not forgetting about the wind. Edward who always went ahead us was the first who spotted the males. Ten animals stood tight on the top. We managed to crawl to them to 200m. Using the sight I designated two males which were bigger than other. One of them stood higher than others. I aimed but suddenly the other animals felt something. Probably it was the wind or they heard how Edward moved with the camera. They stood up and closed my male partially. I had to fire to the body of the leaving tur. The second shot I made when the group was running and the bullet hit the rock. I was sure that I made the accurate shot and told Edward about it. He trailed the tracks and saw the bloody track in a dozen meters. It separated from the group and led down, under the rock. At the same time I heard a scree of stones. The rest of the herd was on the opposite slope already in a km from us. I went up about twenty meters and detected the wounded tur under me on the rock. I made the kill shot. All other actions were as always but I remembered how we delivered the trophy to the base camp. Edward told us that he never left the meat of the harvested animal because it was a sin and not ethically. The hunting luck could leave us if we did so. We gutted the internal cavity, sewed it up with rope against the dirt and dragged the carcass down. Later in the base camp we cut meat and cooked tasty roast with onion.

The hunt was organized in the hunting area which belongs to the Solenovsky Hunting company of the Krasnodar region. The outfitter was the local association of hunters (RORS) and PH Sergey Solotuhin, who knows and loves his business and the history of hunt in his region. We spent the night on the main base and then moved to the mountain base. We drove up about two hours by the bed of the mountain river and then rode by horses six more hours. The weather changed several times while we were riding, the last two hours it was snow. The hunt took place at the beginning of November and was difficult because the estrus didn’t start yet and the most animals preferred to stay in the mountain forest where it was hard to detect and approach them. When we woke up in the morning, the weather didn’t change. It was still snow and strong wind blew, all mountains were hidden under the cover. We decided to go up just for luck, to the destination where the group of males was seen two day ago. About an hour we rode by horses to the height 2400m and then walked to the edge of the ridge looking for the males. We all went to different sides. I came to the end of the rock and detected two males which had rest in fifteen meters under me.  I estimated their sizes and made the decision to shoot not waiting for the guides. The trophy was got by the first shot. I used by favorite 338 WM. Unfortunately it fell into the abyss and it took us three hours to descend by the steep slope to the bottom of  the gorge, looked it and then lifted it. The weather was awful and we worked hard while lifting it to the horses. The trophy was got the Grand Prix and it was a big luck with such unpredictable and complicated hunt.

The hunt took place in Azerbaijan in summer 2010, in the Kuba region. Everything was organized by the local outfitter. The first night we spent in the base camp then drove by Urals  to the mountains, about an hour and a half. The rest of the way we walked up to the height 2200masl. It was the corral hunting. The first male was harvested from the distance 320m. the second one from 100m. The trophy on the picture is estimated for the Bronze medal. We went down to the river and cooked shish kebab from the fresh meat in haste.