Arriving in Kathmandu in mid-April, I joined a group with hunt organiser Asif Ilyasov of Global Safari Azerbaijan and cameraman Anton Astashin. We flew by helicopter into the Himalayan mountains of Nepal. Within two hours we were at our first camp in the Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve near the village of Dhule.
In the morning we sighted in our weapons at 100 and 300 metres (everything was fine) and then ventured deeper into the reserve. After a five hour journey we reached our second camp. Our first target was the blue sheep. We were accompanied by a local group of 23 people (gamekeepers, a manager, a cook, camp staff and, of course, 13 Sherpa porters).
The next morning we got up at 4:00am and began our ascent into the gorge an hour later. Shortly after we spotted some females and, unexpectedly, I spotted a small group of rams that even the head gamekeeper had missed. I signalled to them and we all started watching them through binoculars. The gamekeepers began to whisper excitedly, which was a good sign. We crouched down behind a small rise in the mountain. At that moment we clearly saw a worthy sheep, but the group was either lying down or grazing, unaware of our presence. Our sheep lay with his back to us for a long time. We waited for it to get up and turn towards us. Soon he stood up and began to move slightly to the right, exposing his side to us. The rangefinder showed 446 metres. I waited for it to stop and took the shot. It was a perfect hit; the sheep stumbled to the left, stopped, stretched and then fell over, rolling down the hill. Cheers and congratulations from the gamekeepers followed immediately! The Blue Sheep trophy in Nepal was taken on the first morning of the hunt after an hour's climb! It was a truly impressive trophy - an 11-year-old sheep with 24-inch horns! Despite hunting at an altitude of 4500 metres, we all breathed easy.
As the hunt was successfully completed early in the morning, we decided to move on to the Himalayan Tahr area. We spent the whole day travelling, which took 12 hours with a break for lunch. We could have stayed and rested, but we felt quite well. The next morning we got up at 4:00 and headed for the mountains. That day we saw several Himalayan tahrs and even some gorals, but we couldn't track any tahrs; they kept disappearing into the forest. We returned to camp in the evening.
The second morning of the tahr hunt started even earlier. We got up at 3:00 and left camp at 4:00. This time we went to the right of the gorge and within an hour we spotted a group of three tahrs, one of which was excellent. They were grazing at a distance of 346 metres. I took up a comfortable sitting position as the shot required aiming across the gorge. I placed my right elbow on my right knee for stability. I fired and the tahrs scattered in all directions. A cloud of dust and debris rose behind my target and I thought, "Did I miss? But when we checked the video, we confirmed a clean hit. Gamekeepers descended and found my 12-year-old (13-inch) tahr within 20 minutes. The trophy was shot at an altitude of 3400 metres. The Himalayan Tahr became the 30th trophy on my CAPRA list. I was extremely pleased with the organisation, the hunt itself and the service. My sincere thanks go to Asif Ilyasov of Global Safari Azerbaijan for his outstanding work - he really knows how to organise a serious mountain hunt. My 100% recommendation!
