Reports

This is my second trip to the mountains and my first mountain trophy. Last year I was in a neighbouring gorge, but without horses and carrying a 30kg rucksack myself. Due to my inexperience I took a lot of things with me and although I had prepared for several months, I didn't get to the cave where we spent the night, but literally crawled there in the evening. However, I took a tur, but it was not a trophy. But I gained experience, which I used on this trip. It took us about 4 hours on horses to get to the base camp. I would say not even on horses, but on panthers, seeing how they climbed up a steep slope, loaded with bags and people, despite the heat of 30°C. We continued on foot and on the first evening we came to a mixed group of males and females with young. I chose the biggest male. A shot in the neck from a distance of 250 metres and the 8-year-old trophy was taken. But half an hour later I regretted it a little - on the neighbouring hill a group of fifteen trophy males came out for their evening meal and there was someone to look at. But... there was only one licence and it was already closed. However, this does not detract from the joy of taking your first mountain trophy. And it certainly does not diminish the range of emotions and inspiration one gets from gazing at the majestic landscapes of the Caucasus mountains.

We were very lucky with the weather, although it was a bit hot for this time of year and for climbing with a 20kg rucksack, but the sun was good for the soul.  The climb took about 6 hours with stops for binoculars, we climbed from 540m to 1800m and covered about 9km. On the way we only saw a few females and young +- six-year-old males. It was far from the mating season, the terrain was forested and adult ibex were in a group high in the forest.  Early in the morning we headed for the observation platform in the 'blazing sun', but on the way we unexpectedly came across a large group of trophy ibex in the forest. The huntsman knows this herd well, there are only 3 old ibex among them and this particular grey-haired old man was about 25 metres away! It could have been a record short shot for mountain hunting, but the group of ibex was bunched up and it was risky to shoot, you could also wound the male behind him. Besides, I was in Kabardino-Balkaria a month ago and the hunt ended for me on the first evening, so I did not want to deprive myself of the pleasure of spending a few days in such beautiful places. The ibexes spotted us and went deep into the forest, they did not come out into the open that day. In the morning, the plan was to walk quietly from the hut to the open area ("blazing sun" in local parlance), listening and hoping to find them in the forest. And so it was. And again, incredible luck! Out of 40 males in the only group of ibex in the area, I could only see and approach two, one of which was still a productive male and the other was the same grandfather I could take yesterday morning from a distance of 25 metres) now it was 80 metres away from us in a narrow place between trees and branches. A few centimetres to the left or right and it was already covered by plants. I chose the moment when it was looking at me, standing still, unaware of who was in the woods.  The shot was clearly in the heart and ended his long life. A thin and emaciated old male, as it turned out on closer inspection, might not have survived the coming winter and certainly would not have left any offspring. Incredible views of the Sayan Range and the Yenisei River, unforgettable emotions and impressions, and a magnificent trophy of 98 cm - something that will stay with me forever.

It was the fastest hunt ever. It was an 8 hour drive from Khabarovsk to the base camp. Then we had to hunt a bear from an ambush at a bait station. We planned 8 days for this hunt. When we arrived at the camp, we decided not to drive into the camp, but to go straight to the bait station and put food in the barrel. The hunter said that he and I would approach carefully and see if the bear was already feeding. We took our weapons and headed for the ambush. As we approached, we saw a bear coming from the other side. We waited a few minutes for it to come out into the open and I fired 4 shots at the animal. It rolled behind the bushes into the ravine. We went down and saw the wounded bear lying behind a bush on the other side of the ravine. It could not move, but it raised its head and looked at us. I fired a control shot. The bear was taken!

We flew to Mineralnye Vody where we were met by a hunter Daniyal. After loading our luggage into the car, we drove to Tyrnyauz and then set off into the mountains. The first day we got up at 3am, had tea, a snack and headed up. We saw turs, 2 times they came up to 30 metres. There was a strong wind, the turs were in the forest, but unfortunately we could not take them on the first day. We went down the mountain and moved to another gorge. The second day was also a night hunt. The climb was difficult and at dawn we reached the top, where the guides found a group of trophy turs at a distance of 482 metres. The first shot was a miss, the bullet travelled 20cm higher. By the second shot at a running tur the trophy was taken! I would like to make a special mention of the team that organised the hunt for us: Daniyal, Shahman Aliyevich, Akhmat. Everything was very professional, correct and comfortable. The living conditions were excellent. Comfortable, warm house, bedclothes, stove - all this helped a lot to recover after coming down from the mountains. The density of tur was high; we saw large groups of both males and females. We enjoyed the hunting, the communication with the organisers and the nature of the Caucasus.

Watching the mountains before the climb, we didn't see any animals. We started moving and halfway up I saw two males grazing in the fold just behind and to the right of me. The chamois were grazing in the fold, so they had not been visible before. I had to shoot quickly and handheld as we were on a steep slope and had to shoot in the opposite direction. The distance was 180 metres and the second shot was successful. As we were climbing at dawn, within a minute of taking the shot, the sun came out from behind the mountain at exactly the same angle as the chamois. Had I not seen it at the right moment, or had I waited for the sun to appear, I would have been left without this trophy, as the sun would have blinded me. This was probably the most memorable part of the hunt.

I took a Siberian ibex in Sayani. Had a good approach to a herd of ibex in the mountains. Shot from a distance of 200 metres. The weather was perfect.

At the invitation of Oleg Shemyakin, my friend Mikhail and I visited the Khabarovsk region. As a result, we enjoyed fishing and I managed to take a rare Amur (Ussuri) subspecies of moose.

Прилет в улонбато получение оружия и в путь охота проходила в районе Гоби Аймак .Приезд в передвижной лагерь обед ,трофей уже был найден.Подход занял минут 40 -час,растояние до цели 402 метра ввод поправок в прицел выстрел охота состоялась.Фото на память и в путь в программе еще два трофея следующий трофей хангайский козерог.

At the invitation of my friend Mikhail, I hunted at the Toropa hunting farm in the Tver region in early April. This is the time of year when bears actively visit bait stations to replenish their meagre diet with protein after hibernation. One bear came out just before sunset. A male brown bear was taken at a distance of 300 metres with the first shot from a .308 Win caliber.

I had been planning to take a Kharaulakh sheep for a long time, but each time there were urgent matters that forced me to postpone it until next year.  But finally, having made a decision based on the principle of "what you have to do when work interferes with hunting", I found myself in Yakutia. We flew with my friend to Yakutsk, transferred to the An-24, which took us to Tiksi, where we were met by Vladimir Alekseev, who was well known to the members of the MHC.  And in less than an hour the Mi-8 took us to the hunting camp. The camp is located not far from the Khara-Uulaakh river, practically in the middle of the mountain massif of the same name. On the first day of the hunt, we met several groups of females with lambs which, realising their invulnerability, grazed at a distance of 250-300 meters from us. I would like to point out that many people think of Yakutia as a vast, monotonous, snowy desert. However, the reality is quite different - at this time of year we saw incredibly picturesque landscapes. All the colours of the rainbow were there! On the second day we saw a trophy sheep lying on the ridge of the opposite mountain at a distance of 1200 m. I was unable to determine the average wind direction with the necessary accuracy, which led to an unsuccessful attempt to take it. On the fourth day of our hunt we noticed a group of 7 males, among which 3 sheep were clearly distinguishable by their horns.  After a long approach we came to a ridge, on the other side of which sheep were resting. A shot from the shoulder of Evgeny Kharitonov, who was with me, this time with an AX 300 NM rifle (tripod left below), brought me a beautiful 9-year-old trophy! I would like to highlight the extremely professional work of the entire team of Vladimir Alekseev. The accommodation, the food and the whole service in the hunting camp deserve the highest praise. I would like to thank Vladimir Alekseev and his team for a wonderful, emotionally intense hunt. My thanks go to Evgeny Kharitonov, who gave me a shoulder to lean on during this expedition. I would also like to thank Lyudmila Baranova from "Stalker Group" for her organisational support.

At the beginning of the season I hunted in the Koryak highlands of Chukotka. It was my first mountain trophy this year. It wasn't the biggest one, but what the spirit of the raven god Kutkha gave me, I didn't deserve any more ). I shot at a distance of 180 meters with a calibre 300 WM.

It was windy and the temperature was +4°C. We found a group of turs at a distance of 1100 m. We decided to wait for the turs to come down, but unfortunately they didn't. Apparently the turs were comfortable on peaks or, more likely, it noticed us and kept a safe distance from us. After waiting until 16:00 we decided to go to the turs ourselves. The way was very difficult, we had to move through the gorges out of sight of the turs, it was very difficult, but we managed to get to a distance of 440 meters. I made all the necessary measurements and at the moment of the shot, the turs found us and started to climb higher up the slope to cross the peak to the other side of the mountain, but me and the very professional huntsman Novruz decided to cut the turs' path, which was physically very difficult to do. Novruz is a sporty guy, he moved very fast on the slopes with my 9kg rifle on his shoulder. And it was difficult for me to keep up with him and to walk carefully on the rocks so as not to make too much noise, but we cut the path anyway, but the turs were 860 meters away from us at the top of the mountain. I measured, corrected and decided to shoot, as we would not have another chance, the shot was fired and the turs disappeared, Novruz shouted: "I've got him", the tur stumbled, rolled down a few meters and pulled himself together and went over the top to the other side of the mountain. It was getting dark and we decided not to follow the tour in the dark, but to wait until the morning, which was reasonable. Once again I was unlucky - I didn't get to see the trophy. In the morning we were disappointed by the weather, it was cloudy and rainy and we did not dare to go to the mountains, it was too risky. Once again I was left without a photo of the tur in the mountains. This is the second trophy I have left in the mountains. The next day we had to fly home, but Novruz promised to get my trophy. The following day was sunny and he kept his promise.