Reports

Next trip I spent with my friends and flew by the invitation of my friend Igor Dontsov. I arrived a little bit later than the guys. They were lucky to get snow sheeps. Due to the lack of time, I decided to hunt on the moose and on the reindeer. Me and Sergey Uspensky marсhed on the mountain hills searching for the deers. We managed to find two amazing males, resting on the plateau. Next day I took two moose, when moved along the river. I managed to take amazing trophies in two days. The weather was nice. The days were sunny.

After the end of the hunt in France, I flew to Valencia to hunt on Iberian Mouflon. The area of the hunt was close to Valencia city, near Ayora and Confrentes towns. It was private lands with opened territory, what is important for this trophy. There are a lot of closed farms in Spain. The trophy, taken in such area can’t be counted in the rating of CMH. We have seen a lot of sheeps at the first day, but I tried to make as comfortable shot as it was possible due to the reason of uncertainty in the rifle, given by the organizers. To make the story short, I overtook the luck at that day and it turned out from me finally. I have also taken a very nice trophy of the red deer. Local ranger was surprised, that such a good trophy male appeared in the lands, however, he gave a signal for shooting. The next day tactics repeated. Early get up, going to the lands. Even the parking site was the same in the forest. The route was the same as well. After 300 meters of walk we have seen a male standing on the distance 110 meters from us. Direct shot in to the heart stopped the sheep and he could run for about 60 meters.

I took 11 years old Alpine Ibex from the 60 m distance. I looked for and waited it for 6 hours. It’s a nice trophy ( 173.6 points by CIC).In 3 hours we drove to the new place and spend a night there. We got up early and went to hunt for Alpine Chamois.We left the car at the 1600m height and walked. In thirty minutes we noticed the group of animals.I shot from the 270m distance and missed. I had the rented gun and probably it was the reason.Fortunately in 15 minutes we met one more chamois and I took it from the same distance. It was 10 years old male.Thank you very much to all staff. They are professional. Thanks a lot to Stalker group for this hunt.

The hunt took not more than one hour. We reached the maximal height by car, then walked not more than 30 minutes along the gorge. A group of chamois has been detected a once. I took the trophy with a single shot from the distance 160 meters.

I flew to Khakassia to hunt for Sayany Ibex. The plane arrived at 8.45 and after taking the luggage we loaded it to the helicopter, which belonged to the AeroGeo company) and flied to the mountains. The weather forecast wasn’t well and the outfitter told me that the pilots wouldn’t fly such weather but our captain was the director of the company Alexander who is the very experienced pilot especially in the mountains. The helicopter was AS350. In an hour we landed on the base Bazoga. It’s located on the shore of the Sayano-Shushenskoye reservoir. There we changed the cloth, took only necessary equipment and flied to the top. Landing we noticed the herd of Ibex. Most of equipment was left on the landing area and we trek to the hunting base. It was safe to leave things there because locals who collected horns retired that area already. It took us 4 hours to walk to the hut. The evening intelligence showed that there were two herds nearby about 25 animal including 2 trophy size males. The cabin was quite suitable for stay: stove, bunks and there was the spring near. The door of the cabin was open on purpose because the Master of Taiga could break it. We decided to check other sunny places in the morning. All team got up early, at 8.20 we saw the herd from 14 males including two big ones. I shot from 340m, angle 27 degrees and heard the specific slap but didn’t see how it fell. We decided to shot one more time. The distance was 370, and the Ibex fell. We came down and found two old Ibex ( 12 and 11 years old). Made pictures and cut the meat. It took us three hours to rise to the pass once again. We called to the helicopter company and they told us to be on the definite place at noon tomorrow morning. One more night in the cabin and 4 hours walk to the landing area. We saved about 4 days using the chopper. I want to note the excellent work of the guide Vladimir , he is very professional! Thanks a lot to Stalker group and Evgeny Haritonov personally for this hunt.

My next hunt in Mongolia was traditionally organized by Tukso, a good friend of mine. As usually, he was hospitable and responsible in the organization of the hunt on the Altai Ibex. Soon after the flight from Moscow, we started to register on the flight to Hovd, placed in the western Mongolia. After that we drove about 200 km by cars to the south-east by the splendid asphalt road, almost to the base. The base was placed in the gorge with rare for this season of the year mountain river. In the evening of the first day we started for the reconnaissance. Soon after, we found plentiful groups of Ibex on the different slopes of the mountain ridge. We managed to notice a group comprising six old males, grazing separately from other Ibex in the lower part of the mountains. In the morning of the next day we woke up at 3:30 and went to the mountains soon after the breakfast. A 2.5 hour elevation on the top of the mountains was ahead. Here we hoped to hunt. Two cars went up and one stayed below for the search of the goats and coordination of the crew. After four hours of search, when we have seed different groups of the gouts, we finally managed to find our group of six males. They were grazing almost at the foot of the mountain. We started to think the plan of approach and decided to organize the herding. A group went towards us and stopped at 10 meters before us. It was very uncomfortable to shoot for me: the goat was standing not very well, or the second goat was at the shooting sector. Then, at some moment, they found us and left to the neighboring ridge, separating on two groups: four and two males. Tukso recommended to shoot at the first goat, which leaded the whole group. The goats were running without stop after they noticed us. It is not an easy way to shoot at the running goat. At first I thought that I missed all five shots. However, the ladders found out that my male crossed the ridge and stopped, enclosed to the cliff: this behavior told about the wounding. While we were approaching him, our goat went a bit more and fell down to the bottom of the gorge. An old male of 13 years was my 43th trophy from the list Ibex of the World. Thanks to Tukso and his squad for the outstanding organization of the hunt. I hope that it is not the last hunt in the beautiful Mongolia.

I am grateful to my friend Tobak Aleksandrovich Yakovlevich for the help in organization of the expedition. The hunt on the Cyprus is prohibited since 1945 year, when the number of Mouflons reduced to 15 animals due to active hunting of the British aristocrats and local farmers. At that distant 1945 year two nature reservations were established and the hunt on the sheep was prohibited totally. Nowadays the population is not endangered and the number of the animals is about 3000 – 4000. It is impossible to tell the exact number of animals due to thick  vegetation in the Troodos mountains. At the first day of hunt me and my wife climbed on the highest mountains in the area on the height 1250 meters above sea level. We have seen fresh footprints beds of the animals. Observation with tube and binoculars gave no result. The next day we started early in the morning and drove along the river hoping to see Mouflons near the watering. When the lunch time came, we elevated higher in the mountains, almost at the same area, where we were in the previous day. At first, we managed to see fresh footprints of the group of animals and then we found them on the distance of about 60 meters. The animals were in the shadow of the leafed trees on the mountain slope. I had enough time to make several shots and a short video record. I think, that it is a great luck to find the Sheep in such a thick mountain forest. This was my first wild life photography on the CITES Sheep and I must admit, that emotionally and physically it is not less interesting and hard than rifle hunting. I hope, that it will be not the last in my expeditions. The coordinated of the area, where we found the animals: 35.03.58.95 и 32.63.07.41.

It wasn’t difficult hunt, organized on the private hunting area.  I made the approach and shot from the distance 200m.

This hunt was very short. We flew from Moscow with Sergey Magidov on Friday. In the morning we were in Islamabad. After that we went by car for about an hour and a half to the hunting base. After one hour, we were in the area of hunt, where I got the sheep. The male of the age 10 years was 31 in my list of Sheeps of the World CMH. The morning and the evening of the next day we with Sergey Magidov spent searching the sheep in the other area. We met the sheep sometimes, but it was impossible to make a shot due to the complex shape of the mountains. At 10 o’clock the organizers decided to change the area of hunting and we went to the new place by car. We arrived to the beautiful place in the river valley after three hours of drive. The hunt took about one hour. Sergey took a nice trophy of Punjab Urial as well. Hence, we had a hunt of the holidays in Pakistan. I want to note splendid organization and thank Profihunt and Shikar Safari for it.

We attempted to find a Bezoar Ibex at the first day but saw just few groups of sheep and some young Ibex. That area was typical for goats habitat. There were steep rocks with deep hollows where Ibex could hide and it’d be hard to spot them. In the morning of Feb.14 we went about the mountain and climbed to the highest one 2760m. Being on the mountain we noticed the herd of Ibex, including not less than 15 males of different age. Most of them had distinctive light color. Animals were on the opposite rock and we couldn’t approach them. The distance was about 700m and I decided to shoot. I had the composite gun Proof Research 338 LM. Telling the truth I don’t fully understand how it works. The advantage is its weight but I can’t say that it stable works on the long distances. I accounted the ballistics twice using two different ways but the bullets hit slightly below the goat. We defined the destination where the goats ran away and made the decision to change the position and continue at the second part of the day. The animals had to be calm. I want to mention the fact that I became the first hunter in that area. Nobody hunted there before. That territory was leased to private individuals, what is the exception for Iran. There are not more than four hunting farms like that in the country. After the noon we came back to the place which checked before and found our group of males. The first shot was made from the distance 330m , all other from 550m. I got 7 years old Ibex which could be my 40th trophy form the MHC List- World Ibex. It could be because I still wait the results of the genetic expertise of the Ibex, which I got on Pamir. It has to confirm can we relate it to the Himalay subspecies or not. Waiting for results.

After three years of delays the hunt in Iran was opened already. The hunt was organized in the private hunting area in 40 minutes’ drive from Yazd to the north-east.  At the first day we found 4 males. The weather was awful. It was rainy with fog and strong gusty wind that’s why I decided to come as close as it was possible.  We approach 300 m from the leeward side. I got the sheep from the first shot. It’s my 30th trophy form the MHC List.

I arrived to Tashkent on November 19th. The hunt started next morning. After four hours of riding we arrived to the place where the guides had seen sheep before. It was foggy and we couldn’t continue and had to ride back. It was still foggy next day and we spent it in the kishlak located in an hour drive from our base. In a day the weather wasn’t well but we decided to try. We trekked about 6 hours and climbed 800m. When we approached the area without the fog the guides noticed the group of animals with two trophy size males. I shot from the distance 458m and angle 27 degrees. Unfortunately the ram fell  into the ravine and damaged the horns’ tips. I bring my appreciation to Ulugbek, who allowed me to get the privilege for this hunt. Thank you very much to Olim Nazarov who organized everything and special thanks to Evgeny Haritonov who supports me in most of my trips.

I did this expedition at last. Thank you very much to Dmitry Medvedev- candidate of biological Sciences, the Presidents of the Fond “Snow Leopard” who took part in this trip. Thank you very much to Zafar and Attobek Bekmorody, the co-owners of the Murgab company, who  organized this exciting and interesting from a scientific point of view hunt.  We wrote before in the” Magic of real  Safari” that there is one more specie of argali with the distinctive horns ‘form which inhabit in Tajikistan.   I won’t  go into scientific terms and descriptions as part of this report , it’s to early to sum up the results. We have to do great scientific work to study the specific features of this argali but you can judge about it by the picture. I got 9 years old sheep which had a number of differences. On the second day of the hunt I got 9.5 years old Ibex. It had white saddle in the back of the body. Its color was characteristic for males which inhabited in Himalayas but not for Mid-Asian Ibex. We took samples of geomaterial for tests.  After examining this question and  the reading the Atlas of mountain ungulates files we could conclude that the procured goat could be treated to the transitional form of the Himalayan subspecies which inhabit in the region of the Vahansky corridor on the boundary with Afghanistan and Tajikistan, where the hunt was organized. This transitional form inhabit on the boundaries of inhabitation of two species (Mid Asian and Himalaya) Ibex. We took samples for tests which will show  what kind of the goat I’ve got. The base camp was located on the height 4200m. I took the medicine and it helped me to adapt and feel well. It was my last hunt in 2016. Totally I got 12 mountain trophies in this year. Happy NewYear

I hunted in the North-Ossetia  hunting farm.  At 6 am we drove to the hunting area -Karmadonskoye gorge where noticed the herd of Chamois which pastured on the slope.  It took us 40 minutes to climb to 1700m height. I approached 360m distance. I got the trophy from the first shot and it was the last one for getting the Russian Mountain Hunting Award.

Before the tripI decided to visit Tajikistan and hunt for the argali Marco Polo when I’d been in Azerbaijan and hunted for the Dagestan Tur. Thus I solved to do it and contacted Stalker group company. Its’ representative called me in a week and suggested to take part in the hunting trip at the beginning of the season in October.Arrival DayI left home on October 8th and flew directly to Dushanbe where landed in three hours. The local outfitter Nikolay and his son Dashish met me at the airport. From there we drove to the cozy eastern restaurant to have lunch. We had a long way to go, about 12 hours we had to drive to the village where would stay for a night and then drive once again to the hunting area. About 600 km we drove on asphalt but then it ended and I appreciated the comfort of our car Toyota Land Cruiser. The gravel road leaded along the boundary with Afghanistan and went through the mountains. The driver said that it wasn’t repaired from the Soviet time. There were some parts covered by asphalt and some parts of the road were even in the good conditions what proved that the quality of the Soviet roads was high but there were some parts without any sign of the cover. So I guess that it depended on the contractor who did it. Let’s come back to my trip. 12 hours later we arrived to the house of Iskander, one of the Nikolay’s sons and stayed there for the night. Next morning on October 9th we got up at 6 am because we had to drive 500 km more to the sheep habitat. The total distance from Dushanbe to the hunting area was 1150 km. We said thank you to the family of Iskander, took tasty apples which grew in his garden and continued our way from the height 2300 masl.The road passed near the Chinese border and we could see lots of posts and fences. We met a huge group of Marco Polo, about 100 animals, which consisted of females with babies. The guys tried to banished them from the border but unsuccessfully and we went on further. At 3 pm we arrived to the camp and found that all staff was examining the surroundings so we didn’t’ want to waste time and had tested guns. It was necessary to do because I didn’t know how the rarefied air could influence to the shooting accuracy. We put the target on 300 meters and did the correction a half of a minute. It meant that the bullet went to 7 sm above than on the plain. That time I felt oxygen starvation for the first time, it was accompanied by headaches, dyspnea and total discomfort.Day #1The long-awaited hunting day had come. At 6.30 am Iskander, I and three of his guides drove by UAZ to the hunting area. In two km we met a big lynx and they suggest me to get it. I refused because my goal was to take Marco Polo. The first group of sheep we detected 30 minutes later in 3-4 km from the camp. There were several good males in it but we had no opportunity to come closer because they grazed on the open area and could notice us very easily. We drove by.Then I spotted 5 males which lay on the slope in 1.2 km from us and we decided to approach them. We hiked about 2 km and were crossing the gorge when stumbled on the lonely sheep and frighten it. It ran away from us and all other 5 males followed it. All our efforts had gone to waste. That way in the highlands made me to feel all “the beauty” of the mountain’s climate. I was in the good physical condition but that walk was very hard to me. The rarefied air was the reason of the dyspnea as if I ran long distances. I needed to have rest every 50 meters of walk but noticed that felt much better when we were going down. My body was thankful for it. After that unsuccessful approach we moved to another gorge. Iskander seeing how hard it was for me offered to stay near the car while he and the other guys would check the surroundings. He promised to call me if they detected good trophies and we would join them. They called us in a half of an hour and told that they found them. There was a group of females and cubs which pastures near the hill on the top of which the males settle down. Our strategy was to go between females and didn’t discover ourselves. We moved around in small dashes by 50-70 meters, I couldn't run more and reached the foot of the mountains on the level 4200 masl. But it wasn’t the end of the difficulties. The rock consisted of loose rocks, and we had to climb 300-400 meters.At last we reached the height 4571 masl. The distance to the sheep was 600 meters with the angle +15 degrees. I set the gun, aimed but the breathe interfered me to focus. The cross in the sight moved from side to side. But I pulled myself together and held the breath. A few seconds passed and they all congratulated me with the trophy! It was pure delight. I got the trophy from distance 600 meters by the first shot and on the height 4000 masl. Thus I got the King of Sheep- Argali Marco Polo.Rahim and Iskander brought the trophy to the place where we made pictures. Then we delivered it to the camp and celebrated the hunt.

I was glad to get the license for this rare species of the argali. Thank you very much to my friends from Uzbekistan. The hunt started at the early morning but we managed to find rams about 4 pm after we trekked about 30km. We noticed 3 males on the rocks in the bushes. The shooting distance was 200m. I harvested the biggest one by the first shot. It was 8 years old ram. Both of its horns were damaged but it but it didn’t detract the value of the trophy. It was my 27th sheep from the Sheep of the World List by the MHC version

Kamchatka had the leading position in my wish list of visits and I planned the trip there beforehand. I put the bid for the hunt in April-May. It was my first visit to that amazing land and I asked the hunting agency in Moscow to organized the trip without the usage of the helicopter. Then I paid for the hunt and the agent gave me the contacts of the local outfitters Evgeniy and Semen. I called them and we arranged all details: terms, how I would hunt, transfers, accommodation and etc.My hunting trip started on September 2nd when I had flown from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The flight took 8 hours and I was tired when we landed. It happened because of the time difference between those two parts of our country. It’s hard to get used to the time lag for a human body but fortunately the local time is several hours ahead it’s easier. The outfitter met me and my cameraman Alexander at the airport we took the luggage, guns and drove to the first point in our trip, to the village Milkovo. That place was located near the mountains. But before driving to the village we visited the fish market and bought the local delicatessen some fish and caviar. The way to Milkovo took 4 hours, there we changed the city cloth to the hunting ones and loaded all equipment which we’d need in the mountains. The next part of the way was to drive to the river and crossed it by the motorjet. The four wheelers waited for us on the opposite shore and we moved to the first camp. In two hours being totally tired we arrived to the place. Fortunately there was a wooden bath, which was built close to the shore. Water procedures washed away all traces of fatigue and we being in a high spirit, went to sleep. Next morning on September 4th, we loaded everything we needed to stay in the tent camp and drove to the hunting area. The way took an hour and a half. Two guide’s assistants waited for us there. The guys set the common tent which we used as the canteen and two tents where we’d stay. I used to travel with my own tent. It’s more comfortable for me. The first time when we went to the mountains was after the lunch, examined the nearest slopes but didn’t find anything. We came back to the camp when the fog had covered the surroundings. The pouring rain started at night and didn’t stop for a minute two days (Monday and Tuesday). The mountains were spread by the thick fog and it was out of the question to hunt in such weather. The sky become clear at the Tuesday’s evening and we almost ran to the mountains. It was about 5 pm when we started to observe slopes. One of us detected the only group which consisted of three females and babies when suddenly the fog covered everything and the rain joined. There are no smoke without fire and there are no fog without rain on Kamchatka. We went back to the camp and started to study weather forecast for our region for the next few days. According all of them it’d be foggy next few days and they were right. Next morning we climbed the gorge and examined the “mountains circle” on the opposite slope. Semen detected 3 males which had trophy size and grazed in 840 meters from us. They stood near the fir grove and could disappear there at any moment. We could try to shoot from such distance 840 meters with the angle -16 degrees but decided not to risk and approached around them. We did it in an hour but the place where we saw them last time was covered by fog.It was 9 am and we solved to wait when the weather would become clear. The fog lifted in an hour and we observed three males which lay below us in 340 meters. I had to shoot immediately but I did the fatal mistake! Instead of shooting I started to help my operator to set the camera to make the video of the future success. Time was passing on. We did it at last and I tried to choose which of the male to shoot and aim. And than the miracle happened as if the mountains decided not to give me none of sheep. The fog covered everything in a second. It was a pitch dark. We waited and waited but nothing had changed. In two hours it lifted for a moment and we saw that there weren’t sheep on that place anymore. They moved to unknown destination and we couldn’t define where because it started rain with snow. We had no choice but went back to the tent camp.I was coming back very dejectedly because realized that lost good chance. We had the excellent visibility, the comfortable position and distance. I was sure that I would hit the male if I fired. We could celebrate the trophy that night already, would seat around the table and tell hunting stories but the scenario was different.We couldn’t predict the future and didn’t know the price of that decision.The next day Thursday we spent in the tents and could hike only in the evening. Semen had the principal stance not to hike in the mountains in the fog because we couldn’t see the sheep but they could smell us and leave to another region. We came back with empty hands. My mood was the same like weather. I was unhappy. I scrolled that moment, when we saw sheep, again and again and blamed myself for it.Our stay in the tent camp was also the challenge. The humidity level was so high that we slept in the wet clothe if wanted to wear it next day and it was the only way to make it dry. We hadn't to make fire because the changeable wind could blow smoke to any side. The camp was located in 500 meters from the sheep habitat. Those were very hard days in the tent camp. At last on Friday morning we saw the blue sky and weather promised to be good. In 2.5 hours we climbed 525 meters from the camp and divided into two groups. Semen went to the right, my cameraman, Pavel and I went to the left. In 500 meters when we parted, I spotted the group of three males and took the decision to approach. I had the bad experience before and didn’t want to taste it once again. Moreover we all saw the coming fog. So Pavel went for Semen while Alexander and I were approaching sheep which stood in one km from us. I managed to close in 550 meters to them. The angle was 34 degrees.I did all corrections which need and fired. The first shot passed above the animal and the group ran. Suddenly one of them stopped and I shot once again. The bullet hit to its back but it was very strong animals and moved for a while. We went down and found it staying near the waterfall. I shot the last time. The trophy was taken.The hunt finished successfully and I hope that mountains forgave our arrogance when we decided to kill two birds with one stone- to get the trophy and to make video. Now I had the only goal to get the trophy and to leave that wet tent.The most significant thing on that hunt was that I found the trophy, approached and chose it by myself. I did the most things by myself and took the decisions. It was my small but very important victory. The hunt was over and we descended to 500 meters to cut the meat and to load the trophy. Same day we climbed to the main camp and I changed tickets to fly home earlier.Thank you very much for the organization of the hunt. Everything was done on the high level and I’ll fly back to Kamchatka once again. Thank you to Semen and Evgeniy and their assistances Pavel and Sergey.

Once again I decided to hunt in the Caucasus. It was the long and hard climbing and good tur’s population on the top. I has to mention that the population of this animals is stable and I’m sure that smth can't seriously threaten to them. I got the trophy from the first shot from the 550m distance. It was 12 years old Tur