Статьи членов клуба

В 12 выпуске журнале Магия настоящего САФАРИ на 74 странице опубликовано рекламное объявление компании ProfiHunt с предложением срочно бронировать охоту на аудада , нубийского козерога и эритрейскую газель в Судане. Особо подчеркивается , что успех добычи близок к 100%При этом прилагаются фотографии трофеев 10 летней давности добытых Михаилом Поповым.На прошлой неделе я вернулся из Судана, где благодаря Сергею Ястржембскому вместе с ним , принял участие в первой за последние 10 лет охоте на указанные виды.Краткие выводы по итогам прошедшей охоты.1. Шансов добыть гривистого барана за 14 дней практически нет. Ни самок, ни ягнят, ни тем более самцов мы не встречали. За все время мы пару раз видели старые следы. 2. Трофейного уровня козерога добыть можно, но при условии если вы привезли своё оружие, а не с тем оружием , которое арендовали на месте. Один раз ( за наши 7 попыток ) Сергею Владимировичу повезло увидеть трофейного качества самцов, но стрелять из арендованного оружия на дистанции их нахождения было бессмысленно.3. Эритрейскую газель добыть действительно можно. Мне это удалось.Рекомендации:Ехать при условии разрешения на ввоз собственного оружия.Не рассчитывать на добычу гривистого барана.Все подробности этой экспедиции читайте в будущей статье Сергея Ястржембского.

In June 2020, Afanasy Sleptsov, from the Even Life company, suggested his help in registration of my snow sheep trophy in the Record Book of SCI. According our preliminary estimates it could claim the title of Champion by SCI system. And I asked Afanasy to organize hunting trip for the snow sheep on his hunting ground. We agreed to organize it in September. In August he hunted with a guy from Yakutsk who got nice trophy. I chose Afanasy because of the trophy’ quality he could provide. It’s always risky to hunt with new people. In September two more hunters from St. Pete and I arrived to Yakutsk. Afanasy met us at the airport and invited to his house. The shaman, he invited beforehand, made a hunter rite of passage. We thought It’d help us. The weather was fine and we flew into the hunting area at the same day. It took us the whole day to drive by car to the base though we flew the part of the way. I’d remember for a long how we drove those 69 km by stones. On the third day we arrived to the mobile camp. It had been set already and the local guides told us that detected the group of good sizes males. Next early morning we went to the mountains for hunting. We climbed the top and didn’t spot the group of males, they talked about. But decided to look for them on the next tops and ridges. In one km from us we noticed three groups of females with babies. There were not any signs of males. We resolved to check other places but with the same result. In the evening we came back to the camp and suggest our guides to divide into two groups and to examine the surroundings without us. The news, they told us next evening, gave us with hope. On the fifth hunting day we left the camp, rose the mountain where the guides watched the sheep and didn’t find any. Several groups of females were grazing there.  We asked the evens what was going on and they confessed that didn’t see any trophy size males at that area and inform Afanasy about it before our arrival Afanasy preferred not to tell us the truth but lied that the guides found the males and everything was under the control. The best variant was to transfer our arrival to the other dates. We made the decision to finish the hunt and to fly back to Yakutsk. Afanasy demanded on payment for the second part of the trip. I suggested to compensate our travel expenses and to transfer the hunt for the next year. But he didn’t agree. My hunters did what he asked. Dear colleagues! I don't recommend to book hunting trips with Afanasy Sleptsov - the owner of the "Even Life" company, not to be disappointed and not to lose time as we did.

The hunt was organized on the hunting grounds of RORS in the North Ossetia in the end of November. I hunted for chamois. I was impressed by the beauty of local mountains and gorges. The trophy was got on the height 2700 masl from 320m distance. Thank you very much to Alexey Aziev and his team and to the Stalker company ( Juri Morozov) for the organization of this adventure.

I hunted on the Koryak highlands where got the Kolyma Snow sheep. It’s in 200 km north from Manila. The hunt wasn’t difficult though we could detect the sheep just in the last day and got nervous because of the lack of time. It was the lonely male which had rest on the slope. The shooting distance was 240m, cart. 338 LMThank you very much to my guide Evkum and to Konstantin Kallin for the organization.The hunt was organized by the Stalker company (Yuri Morozov).

In September I hunted for the Chukotka Snow sheep on the Korayk highland. The hunt was organized by the Stalker company and the local outfitter Konstantin Kallin.The mountains there weren’t steep but it took us about an hour and a half to approach the sheep. The shooting distance was 300m and I got the trophy by the first shot. The used cartridge 338 LM.Thank you very much to Gennady and Evkum.

At the end of August – beginning of September I hunted for the Koryak snow sheep. The hunt was organized on the Koryak highland. My guide Anatoly Silin detected the male and we began to approach. The climbing from 900 to 1300 masl took us an hour. The group of animals grazed on the opposite slope in 670m from us. I used 338 Lapua Magnum and got the trophy from the first shot. Thank you very much to Konstantin Kallin for the impeccable organization and to Anatoly Silin for his optimism and energy!

The weather was merciful to us in that trip. We arrived by chopper in time and the visibility was great. There were two groups of hunters in different camps. In the first day we saw lots of sheep tracks but didn’t spot any animal. Next day we went to another gorge and found four males. Two of them had trophy size. I shot from Blazer 300 WinMag. The shooting distance was 215m. The sheep ran about 100 m, after I hit it, and fell down. It got dark while we fetched the body and skin it that’s why decided to sleep there. It got colder at night and started raining. Fortunately, we took primus with us and could drank hot tea. Next morning, we came back to the camp and I flew away to Milkovo. Thank you very much to my guide Vladimir and the outfitters.

The border between Catalonia and Valencia is so called the mountain region of Spain and very beautiful place. The weather, in the mid of November, isn’t comfortable. Rain drizzles from time to time and frost is in the morning.  My friend Sergey and I arrived from Belarus because wanted to get the trophy of the Beceite  Ibex, one from four species habituated in Spain. It’s always interesting to visit the new place, to meet new people and to get acquaintance with new culture… I had to mention that hunting lands, where we hunted, wasn’t large but the animals density was really high. We went for a hunt twice in a day, in the morning and in the evening, and I detected nine trophy size males while we were  looking for the best one and countless number of females with youngsters. Huntign in Spain isn’t difficult and all hunters know about it, but there are some moments which adds complexity to the hunting process. I talk about the great number of people who are hiking, driving bikes or picking up mushroom there. Telling the truth I was surprised  that picking wild plants and mushrooms is as  popular in Spain like in Belarus. Many years ago that mountain region was  densely populated with people and moving up and down in the mountains we noticed and not once the signs of former presence of human beings such as abandoned villages, detached chalets and haciendas, agricultural terraces, not talking about the old road system which still exists there. It’s not the secret why people left that area. It’s more comfortable to live near the sea because of the mild climate and it’s easier to farm there and to fish. But a couple of centuries ago it was dangerous to build settlements near the sea because the pirates made regular raids on civilians and people should have to hide in the inaccessible places. When the danger was over people descended from the mountains and all villages were deserted. The influence of the environmentalist lobby in Europe grows from year to year and it adds more problems to the local hunters.  We talked with the locals and they said us that the State authorities don’t allow them latitude, though the Ex-King of Spain is the  avid trophy hunter. We monitored the group of Ibex, which was going down to the valley, when noticed the car. The guided asked me to cover weapons just in case, though everything was legal and we had all necessary permits. That case reminded me, our ordinary Belarus hunter who is intimidated by lots of rules and different kinds of authority's control. The hunting legislation in Spain is the strictest one among other countries in the Western Europe and the guides there is the most terrorized ones.  There are three kinds of police which can control the law’s implementation in the hunting sphere. The demands to the hunting users include the installation of the informational boards,  making roads, salt licks, digging and maintaining fire reservoirs in the most remote mountain areas. It’s interesting to note that it’s prohibited to sow crops for feeding of the wild animals. They say, that it’s done to protect the local bio types, the less human beings interfere the wild nature the better. But the owners of hunting lands find ways around these restrictions. They rent the nearest land for farming. I could hardly believe that any vegetation grow on that inhospitable land. There were just macadam under our feet. It was morning when we detected the group of Ibexes on the slope. There was one big male among females and youngsters. The guide an I decided to ascend and to get it. The approach was easy because all slopes were covered by the thick forest consisted of pine trees and mountain oaks. It took us some time, to come to the place. But we didn’t find the herd  there. The guide wasn’t perplex at all and asked to follow him. We went through the bushes and came directly to the animals.  I had no idea, how he could find the way there. Unfortunately we saw just the horns because animals were hidden in the bushes and there wasn’t any opportunity to fire.  That morning we hiked about eight km. Then the rain started and we should come back because all ibexes disappeared in the thicket.  Next day we found the same group, the animals were moving directly to us.  It was about 270 meters to the male and I was preparing to shoot from the rented shotgun Browning X-Bolt.300 WinMag when the guide asked me to wait for a moment. He assured me that the male would come to us in any case. But we lost the best moment for shooting when the herd descended to our place while the male stayed alone for a moment. I observed it through the binoculars and didn’t notice that the rest of the group approached us 30 meters and considered us with the interest. They didn’t wait and signaled danger. My Ibex jumped aside following them. I didn’t have any second and should have to shoot. The distance to the goal was about 300-310 metes. I aimed, shot and missed! Few minutes I couldn’t see the male then found. It run behind the young males and wasn’t wounded. I aimed once again and shot. The goat ran to the forests and I decided that  missed  the second time.  But another guided who watched everything through the scope told me that I hit its belly. One of our team went to the place where we saw the goat last time while the others went back to the camp. The guide, who left, found blood on the stones but didn’t chase the ibex. He allowed the animal  to lay down somewhere. Our host in the camp congratulated me with the successful hunt and told that there wasn’t any case when they lost the wounded animal. Next day the young guide took  his hunting terrier and went for the trophy. He found it while we went for another hunt. Sergey took very interesting Ibex. It had small horns but all guides declared  unanimously  that it was the eldest male  they had ever got. It was about 15 years old. Thus we took two trophies of Ibexes and my friend shot two selective individuals.  There is an outbreak of epizootic among Beceite Ibexes .  The sick  animals looked unattractive, the bodies covered with scabs and they almost don’t have hair. They reminded foxes or wolves when they got scabies. Sergey took such two samples. The guided supposed those animals could hardly live more than one week. Recently there was an abundance of wild boars but most of them died because of African swine fever. Spain was one of the first countries in Europe which felt the consequences of epizootic. The only way to prevent the spread of the disease was to shoot boars. I want to share with some more notes which made during that trip. I consider the Spanish guides are close to the embodiment of  Ideal Guides as we all imagine them. They are professional,  correct and responsible. You have to respect them and to treat them as equal.  We accommodated in the ordinary farmer’s house and eat plain food but it was tasty and good quality. Each day we used clean car. Few words about the funny story that happened to us there. Before I’d get the trophy I asked the guide to cut me the piece of meat and he asked for what purpose.  The friend of mine lived in Barcelona and I wanted to present it to him. The guide smiled when heard my explanation and decided that I want to make fun on him. -          No. I want to make him a present. – I replied. -          A piece of meat? Goat meat? What harm has he done for you? Later  he explained me his reaction.  There were hungry times in the early reign of Franco. People should had to poach to survive and shot almost all chamois, deer and boars and only goats left. The reason was very easy. The meat of wild goat smelt so awful that nobody could eat it even being hungry. Only dogs and vultures could eat it. Two species of vultures habit that area and the guides are responsible for feeding them . As you guess we  moved to Barcelona without meat.

Why our people don’t like others who have shotguns? It’s the rhetorical question, which gains popularity nowadays. Ordinary citizens, who know nothing about shooting, don’t like hunters and the official authority treats to them like to enemies, we can judge so according their acts. What is the reason? Let’s start from the excessively strict actions, which have to regulate the ways of shotgun usage. The shotguns licenses for keeping and bearing arms are issued by tate authorized bodies represented by departments of the Ministry of internal Affairs and Rosgvradiya, for getting it you have to have the hunting ticket, the license and hunting permit. Plus you need to have the license for keeping and bearing arms from Rosgvardiya. But there is one interesting moment! This license doesn’t give you the right to shoot! You can keep and carry your gun! But bearing shotgun doesn’t mean shooting. If we check the meaning of the word “bearing arms” in the Ozhegov's dictionary we won’t find it. According Russian dictionary “bearing arms” is the same like “carrying smth” it means that gun's bearing is the separate action from shooting. To bear, in Russian linguistic, doesn’t mean that you can use what you bear, to shoot in our case. It’s clear but it’s sounds ridiculous. You can bear arms, if you have such license, but you don’t’ have rights to use it. If you have rights to keep and bear arms you should have rights to shoot and nobody could argue it. Does it mean that you can shoot where you want? Does it meant that ROH (license ) don’t limits your rights for firearms usage? Does it mean that if you have such license, issued by the state authority, nobody could limits your shooting rights? Unfortunately its’ not true. We know about cases when the representatives of the authorities wrote administrative reports for shotgun's testing in the hunting lands. There are several cases of judicial practice when the authority have confiscated hunter’s weapons. We’ve analyzed those cases and the whole pictures looks so as if judges don’t try to get to the bottom of the cases but execute the order of another government agency for charges, penalties and the confiscation of the weapons. Probably it’s a new way of control of hunting or compulsory measures of reduction the numbers of gun’s owners. The friend of mine told me about the cases when the authority confiscated guns by somebody’s order. When one person wanted to have the gun which another hunter had, he paid for special people to organize the forced confiscation. You’ll be surprised when know that the authors of the restriction of testing guns in the hunting lands are the explanations given by the officials from the licensing and permitting department of Rosgvardia, those people, who give permits for having a shotguns. The Deputy head of L&P department of Rosgvardia A. Z. Dishekov wrote in his letter from 14.11.2018 №3/180000094299, that “ the term Hunting, doesn’t include the testing hunting weapon and shouldn't be organized on the territory of the hunting lands”. But we have to note that this Department is the structural unit of Rosgvardia, belongs to the Federal Executive authority and it doesn’t have rights to give the explanations of the Federal Law, especially which the question doesn’t belong to its responsibility. All questions about hunting are in the responsibility of the Ministry of Natural Resources of RF. It means that all explanations given by the Rosgvardia offices aren’t legal. This is an abuse of authority. We can’t understand the logic of that letter. According the Law “ Hunting is the activity connected with finding and tracking and chasing of the object of the hunt (which belongs to the hunting resource), taking, primary processing and transportation ( i.5 art.1 FL “ About Hunting and hunting resource conservation…”) and it doesn’t include the words about shotguns’ testing, that’s why it can’t be done on the territory of the hunting lands. A.Z. Dishekov refers shotguns’ testing to the training activity. It’s really surprised. If you want to practice shooting you have to test the gun, to be sure that it works well, test it once again with the sight and to shot for the different distances. After that you can practice shooting. We admit that the link to the item 62.1 The rules of circulation of civilian and service weapons has done on purpose (resolution №814 of RF Government) but it has no connection with the shotguns testing. Only sportsmen, like pidgeon shooters pentathletes, biathlete can train shooting. Testing guns isn’t the same. For example the hunters wants to check the new gun, how it works and he has the right to do in during twelve days after the purchase. Where will he do it, if there is not the shooting gallery in the village or the town where he lives? We want to refer to the " Standard rules for safety when handling hunting weapons... on the territory of the RSFSR” from 05.05.1983. There we can find the definition of gun’s testing “ Gun’s testing has to be done in the special places or organized in the area enclosed by the natural ravines or shafts, in some cases it can be done on the open area but the hunter has to see the whole distance” . Why we ignore the experience of the previous generation of specialists? Why do we destroy everything to the ground and create the new acts which don’t reflect the objective processes in the society and are not logical at all. Why don’t we use the experience which we alreday have? It looks like somebody want to pressure and to influence the hunters. These people forget about historical reality. The Civil code of the Russian Federation obligations must be fulfilled properly in accordance with the requirements of the law or legal acts, if there are not equal conditions or demands, they have to be fulfilled in accordance with the traditions or usually imposed requirements. The definition of the tradition in such case is, the usual rule of conduct established and widely applied in any field of business or other activity, not provided for by law. It’s no matter is it fixed in the law or not. Let’s ask ourselves, who were the best snipers during the World War II? The right answer is Hunters who helped to neutralize the whole enemy units. How do you think, have the Siberian hunters had the special places for testing guns? They still don’t exist in the most villages of Siberia and Far East. Where do the small nations of the North test their guns, though their lives depends on their skill to use hunting weapon. There are not special shooting galleries in Taiga or Tundra but the locals check their guns in any case. If something is wrong with the gun’s sight when the hunter is in hundreds km from the nearest settlement of people, will he need to drop everything and to drive back to the special place to test it? It sounds absurdly! Does it meant that all Siberian and Yakutsk hunters are lawbreakers. Hunters always tested weapons in forests, ravines and swamps in the Imperial Russia and in the USSR too. There were not any problems with it. This process was logically and legally justified. One more question. Why do we destroy it? I don’t talk about the Siberia but nowadays our State don’t provide the normal conditions for hunters and other shooters to test the shotguns. There are not enough numbers of special places, shooting galleries in each settlement or each town. The todays’ legislation don’t take into account existing realities and don’t make the condition for the implementation of legal provisions. Where are new shooting galleries or special places? The classical hunting writers pointed to the fact that we have to take into account the historical customs of the locals. We all agree that hunting land is the area for hunting. It means that there we can shoot. If the hunter misses, does it meant that shot is illegal because he doesn’t have the trophy. It can be so, according to the logic of officers who treat to shotguns’ testing like to the separate kind of activity but not hunting. When USSR existed all hunting question were controlled by the Soviet power. I’ll show some examples of normative-legal acts established in the Soviet Union which have regulated the connection of hunting and shotgun testing. The model hunting rules of RSFSR have been validated by the Order 66 of the Main Department of hunting and nature reserves from March 1st, 1974. “According to those rules it was prohibited to bear with loaded guns, shooting in the populated areas, shooting to the invisible or unclear target, shooting to the sounds and rustles, under the height of human beings, shooting birds with the usage of the smoothbore rifles in more than 35 meters, shooting when being drunk. There was a remark to this point: Testing shotguns had to be done in the special places or in the places with natural barriers such as ravines and ditches, to prevent accidents, far from the people’s settlement. Somebody had to control the process while the gun’s testing. The shotgun’s testing was prohibited when organized in not special places or when the hunting season was over”.   It means that hunters could check their weapon in the shooting galleries and other places too. The new model hunting rules were ratified on January 4th, 1988. They allowed to test hunting weapon in the special shooting galleries, hunting lands when the hunting season was opened and the hunter had all necessary permits from Gosokhotnadzor. The hunter should have to comply all security measures to prevent any accident with humans or animals. Unfortunately all these rules had been cancelled. What did we get in return? The book, written by E.V Sheingold “ All about hunting weapons” was published in 1978. There is the chapter “ The Verification of shotguns in accuracy, sharpness and stable operation”. There we can find the detailed description of shotguns’ testing process and concrete recommendations. The author tells about the situation when shotgun’s testing is obligatory: after the purchase when you have to compare the factual results with data in the gun’s papers, cases when the hunter has to define the actual hitting results relative to the aiming point, when you test different types of cartridges, after the gun’s repair, if you change thy type of the cartridges, when you change the shooting buckshot to bullets. The test has to be done in the windless weather but in the season when you are going to hunt. If it’s windy you need to test the weapon the special fenced place or in the ravine. There are not any word about training shooting. The shotguns’ testing depends on the hunting season. It’s a technical reason. The testing process connects with the shotgun production and hunting. All these documents describes the testing hunting weapons. There is a remark in the edition, published in 1988, that shotgun test can be done only by hunter, not trainer or trainee. It is an independent type of shooting, and does not refer to training shooting. The new “Hunting rules” had been verified on November 16th, 2010 by the Order 512 of Ministry of Natural Resources. These rules don’t have the reference or the definition of the shotgun’s testing. But there we can find the restrictions, listed in the p.16 of the Section I “Generalities” and in the p. 53, of the Section VII. We don’t find there the prohibition to test guns in the hunting lands during the hunting trip or season. According our legislation, the shotgun testing isn’t prohibited and even officially provided and allowed. "Standard safety rules for handling hunting weapons and conducting hunts using hunting firearms on the territory of the RSFSR" 1983. It means that the given information about the illegality of the shotgun’s testing in the hunting lands does not comply with current legislation and existing customs of Russia. According to the well-known decree #288 from April 12th, 1999, Ministry of Internal Affair, about administrative regulations of the provision of state services for issuing a license to a legal entity for the purchase of civil, service weapons and ammunition, ratified on May 11th, 2012. And the addition #5 to the current Order , established form 2019, there are seven kinds of shooting: training shooting, training shooting, control shooting of firearms with a rifled barrel, checking the combat of weapons and their shooting, shooting competitions, performance of official tasks. Six kinds of shooting stipulates by the Order of the Ministry of Natural Recourses #19 from February 25th,2019. The instruction to the Order describes of accounting, storage, issue, use and transportation of weapon including hunting shotguns used as the service weapon, and special means. These kinds includes training shootings, studies, control shooting of firearms with a rifled barrel, shooting of weapons, checking how it works, performing official tasks in the departments of the territorial authorities of Rosrybolov (p. 2. 15 of the instruction). The instruction has lots of links to the Order #288 of Ministry of Internal Affairs of RF. It means that it helps to execute this Order #288. We also want to write how the another State Authority Rosleskhoz of RF treats to that situation, we can find this information in its Order #98 from June 17th, 1996. It’s written in the Chapter 7, about the procedure of testing barreled rifles, that all training shootings have to be done after technical checking and testing shooting. Thus it means that all explanatory information which equate testing shotguns as training shooting contrary to the norms Chapter XII and pp. 62 and 62 (1) of the Resolution #814. Hunting is separate from training shooting. The statement, that shotguns’ testing is regulated by p. 62(1) and has to be done only in the shooting galleries, is not true. This p. 62(1) doesn’t regulate the usage of hunting weapons. All these sections 62 and the Statement #814 is about the usage of hunting weapon on the hunt. It’s strange that “Rostec” is involved in resolving contradictions in the legislation. The specialists from the State corporation “Rostec” reported on the meeting, which took place on April 18th, 2019, that there are several problem areas but their correction doesn’t’ affect public safety, but can make life much easier for market participants. They pointed to the problem that shotguns testing before a hunt is illegal equated to illegal shooting. It was decided to make the special commission under the leadership of M. M. Khubutiya to define all problem questions in the weapon legislation, to prepare the proposals and to transfer the Government of RF. We can't say who had initiated such decision. What does Rostec have to do with shotgun testing? The citizen has two weeks to register the new weapon. He has two weeks to be sure that it works well, to check it, to identify hidden defects, to test it. After that he has to make the decision to register it or to give back to the shop or to replace it. The citizen should have to have the right to test the gun apart from time of the year and a hunting season. He mustn’t depend on the existence or the absence of shooting gallery in his settlement. He can use the special place somewhere on the nature but need to follow safety rules. We insist that the Ministry of Natural Resources has to reflect the information about shotguns testing in the Hunting Rules or better in the Law about “Hunting and conservation of hunting resources…” Why don’t they use the rules accepted in USSR? They still actual and reasonable. There have to be special places for gun’s testing in each hunting land. These place should be fenced by natural ravines or earthen shafts. We want to analogy with other implementations of legislative acts and responsibility for violations by citizens in other areas of daily life. It is necessary to correlate responsibility for violations of the administrative Code and the criminal code of the Russian Federation committed by both hunters and all other categories of citizens, including drivers. According to the statistic, there are from 23K to 25K traffic accidents per year. But no one has thought to deprive a driver of a car for a offence. We know about 24K cases of domestic violence when people use household utensils to make damage but we don’t treat to irons, pans and kitchen knives like to weapon. Why is there such discrimination to the hunters?

When I remember my hunt for the Chamois in the Austrian Alps , it reminds me the ski mountain trip. I visited lots of alpine chalets and noticed and not once the small horns which decorated the walls of those nice apartments. Each time when I saw those decoration I asked myself where did they habitat? Rising the mountain by the ski lift I saw the hoof prints but had never seen the chamois.  At last I decided to hunt for that outlandish animal which habited on the slopes where we skied.  It sounded romantic, isn’t it? I got the chance to do it on the New Year Party organized by the CMH, when won the slot from the ProfiHunt company “Hunting for the chamois in Austria”.  I gotta hand it to the outfitter and personally to Artem Veselov, - all the conditions and wishes were  done in the full accordance with the slot. I wanted to take my family  and one more condition was that I wanted my daughter took part in the hunt. It imposed the restrictions to the dates of the trip, we could hunt just in the dates of the school vacations, though the Austrian consider August and November to be the optimal time for hunting . In a week before the departure Artem send me all recommendations and contacts of my Austrian PH Uve.  I contacted with him and discussed all details. He suggested me to rent one of the rifles which he had. and I’d chosen Blazer R93, cal. 300 WM. At the beginning we were going to hunt in the area which belonged to Uve, near Rissek but then he changed the plans and suggested to organize everything in the nearest hunting lands, which belonged to his friend Ulrich. It was October 5th, when we arrived to Carinthia near Muldorf. Uve waited for us at the place and accommodated in the cozy 100meters apartments with the valley view. Nice restaurant was located in the next house. The next three days should be devoted to the hunt. In the morning we had breakfast and I tested the gun. I was surprised by the way how we did it. We just descended to the valley, drove about 1 km from the highway to the small lake, surrounded by the the houses. The aim was put on the opposite side of the lake.  The way to Ulrich’s land leaded through the deserted rocks, covered by high coniferous forest. The parts of forest were changed by rocks and bright green meadows with cows. Sometimes we met wooden cabins. It was very picturesque.  Ulrich lived there with his wife, five kids and cows. He wasn’t at home and nobody left the home to say us Hello when we had arrived though all family members were in as we knew later.  We waited for the host, wandered around the yard and considered the antlers of different sizes which were everywhere.  Those animals were hunted by the host and his guests from almost from the house. Ulrich arrived in 15 minutes and told us that was reconnoitering the surroundings but didn’t find anything. He looked like I imagined. He wore Austrian hunting hat and leather trousers.  We discussed where we’d drive and moved along the deep gorge to the hunting land. In a half of an hour we stopped, hiked about 200 meters when the guide detected the chamois which grazed on the opposite slope in 400 meters from us. Ulrich was not in vain on checking the surroundings before our arrival.  We should have to descend along the slope and to go through the valley. It wasn’t hard and soon we came to the old hunting sit-in located near the cut forest but there wasn’t our chamois. We began to move to the right discussing where it could be and spotted the male on another side of the logged forest. The chamois moved from the one edge of the meadow to the other one and was in 100 meters from us. Uve referred to me that I had to decide what to do because it was the male (as I wanted) and had trophy size. I could hardly hear what he told me because watched the male which had good size and was ready to run away. Uve and Ulrich was really glad that I did the accurate shot because not all clients could fire accurately. But the distance  was just 100 meters… It was short and luck hunt but it was wild and honest hunt in the same time. We were lucky. I got really nice trophy, it’s horns were 23 sm each. We didn’t estimate its age but it was clear that it was old. That trip agreed my idea that the value of  hunting trips was not in only in getting trophies but in the opportunity to plunge into a new atmosphere. So we had enough time to travel around Carinthia and enjoyed the Austrian hospitality.

Well- known zoologists V. Geptner, A. Nasimovich and A. Bannikov wrote the fundamental work of “Mammals Of USSR. Artiodactyls” and set up the idea to acclimatize chamois in the Crimea mountains. It was in 1961. At first glance it looks very attractive because the Crimea Mountains look like the Alps in Europe and we all know that chamois habitat there since time immemorial. Moreover we know that chamois acclimatized well in the New Zealand where they hadn’t dwelled before. The fact of introduction of this species to the new territory, allowed us to hope that they would settle in Crimea. We found the report about the expedition in Crimea written in 1858 by the zoologist from the Kiev University Karl Kessler, who wrote :”… the population of chamois in the Crimea mountains is much higher than the deer’s one”. Relying on this information and wishing to increase the number of biodiversity of mountains ungulates in Russia, the Club of Mountain Hunters considered appropriate to make the scientific research of this problem. We signed the agreement with the FSBI “Federal Center of the development of hunting” for making the preliminary researching of possibility of reintroduction of Chamois in Crimea. According to the agreement the officers of FSBI and other involved professionals had to make the analysis of the historical habitat of chamois in our country, in particular in Crimea. The specialists had to study the opportunity of (re)acclimatization of chamois in Crimea. They had to study special faunal sources and to make the analysis of documents but the most important thing was to define the optimal territory on the peninsular which will be enough or optimal for the acclimatization of chamois. The needed territory must have minimum number factors which can limit the population. For example there have to be small number or full absence of big predators and low anthropogenic impact, it must have lots of pastures and other analogies with the habitats of the Caucasian chamois. All desk and field works are finished already and main specialists (the specialist of the 1st category S. Ponomarenko, the leading specialist T. Sipko) prepared the report “"Crimea-the territory of the probable historical range of chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra L. 1758) and the prospects of its introduction into the established ecosystem”. In accordance with the 1st Part of the Federal Law #9 ,art. 33 from 14.03.1995 “About specially protected natural territories”, the introduction of living organisms , in order to acclimatize them, is prohibited on the territory of the Natural reserves. The only variant which we could use in the Crimean Natural Reserve was to (re)acclimatization. After we’d studied the historical literary sources and consulted with the specialists from the Crimean Federal University we excluded the possibility of habitat of chamois on the peninsular. We admit that Karl Klesser, whose report we mention before, was mistaken when called roes like chamois. Probably it happened because people from the Eastern Europe called roes like srnčy. It sounds like chamois in Russian. The data of the paleontological researches didn’t prove the idea that chamois habituated there before. It meant, that we can talked just about the introduction of chamois to the territory of the hunting lands. The specialists explored the potential biotypes for chamois habitat on the territory of the Natural Reserve and made visual estimations on the 130 km route. The most of pastures are used by the ungulates which historically dwell there such as deers, roes and mouflons. The density of their population is 64 animal per 1 thousand ha. The serious damage especially in winter is caused to ungulates by feral dogs. Moreover wolves came there in 2014. The rocks which are the natural shelters from predators occupy just small area which is not enough for the living of big chamois population. The idea of introduction of chamois to the area of Natural Reserves didn’t find the support. In the end of June the officers explored the territory of two hunting lands “Alushtinsky forest land” and “ Hunting area “The cold Mountain”. The route distance was 143 km. Alushtinsky hunting area- Demerdzhi Yayla is protected area and all kinds of hunting is prohibited there. It has good food supply and there are enough places where ungulates can refuge. According the forecast of our experts about 85 animals can habit there. The ridge Karabi Yayla can became the home for more than 100 chamois. Those two centers has square 4 861 ha and located in 4 km from each other. The micro population of 200 chamois could emerge in that place someday. We has to note that one of the specialists , the candidate of biological Sciences, head of the laboratory for monitoring of focal ecosystems A. I. Dulitsky, gave the negative estimation of the project of acclimatization of chamois in Crimea. His main argument was that the territory of the prospective acclimatization is too small and densely populated by other ungulates. The addition of chamois would lead to the ecological problems. He reminded about the unsuccessful resettlement of bison in Crimea. Now it’s clear that there not enough food for those animals on the peninsular. The FSBI “Federal Center of the development of hunting” wrote the report based on the researches they did. We print here the full version. Conclusion According the data received from the literary and questionnaire sources the Crimea peninsular is not the historical habitat of Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra L. 1758). The results of the researches didn't confirm the approval that Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra L. 1758) had dwell Crimea before. The following conclusions concerning the acclimatization of Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra L. 1758) on the territory of the Crimea peninsular made on the base of the modern explorations. They are: 1. The mountain ridges of the Crimean Mountains, located on the territory of the Natural Reserve, were examined in the period form 28th to 30th of May, 2019. They were checked by the following characteristics: food supply, interspecific trophic competition, the availability of places where you can hide from predators. On 28th of May,2019 they explored the mountain Malay Chuchel, Nikitskay and Yyltinskay Yaylas. The distance of the route was 91.2 km. The pastures on the mountains slopes are eaten by the ungulates which habitat there and the food supply isn’t enough for the new species. The population density of ungulates which reside in Yyltinskay Yayla is less than on the mountain’s slopes but there are not places where chamois can shelter from the predators especially from the stray dogs. Protective conditions are not well. The herbage in Nikitskay yayla is better than in other places and there are some natural rocks which can protects animals from dogs and wolves. That place can suit for the small population of chamois. On 29th of May,2019 the officers checked the western and southern slopes of the ridge Chatyrdag yayla with the top Eklizi-Burun. They trekked about 14 km and found lots of places where animals can shelter. There were many rocks and ledges. The natural competitors of chamois in that place are deer, roes and boars. There are enough food but only for a small group of chamois. The ridge Babugan Yayla has the most tough condition for the habitat of these ungulate in winter. The predators, which habitat there, are dogs, wolves, foxes and raccoon dog. Thus, after examining of all slopes the most suitable are Nikitsky Yayla, the southern and western slopes of the Chatyrdag Yayla ridge with the top of Eklizi-Burun. 2. The acclimatization process has much influence the well-established climatic and environmental conditions in the territory and we must realize that the resettlement of animals which have never habitat in Crimea before could cause great damage to the biocenosis of the Peninsula. The new species will add extra load on the forage base which is barely enough for the existed species. The specialists consulted with the scientists from the Tavrida national University and Crimean agrotechnological University. The scientific community is against the importation of chamois to the peninsular because this species will ruin the existed ego-systems and biocenoses. The multi-directional positions of the scientific community, ecological and state organizations can be the reason of negative situations and conflicts. Given the above, we can conclude that the acclimatization of Chamois on the Crimea peninsular is inexpedient”. The Club management analyzed the report of the specialists and the expert opinion of the zoologist Dylitsky and came to the conclusion that the project which looked very perspective doesn’t’ have sufficient grounds for implementation now or in the future. The CMH doesn’t seek to implement all its’ ideas if they aren’t supported by the Science. We know the cases when people, leaded by their own desires, made the illegal introduction of the alien species and it came to the dramatic ecological crisis if some regions. The CMH rejected such practice and implement the plans in accordance with the principle of " Do not harm”. That was the reason why we ordered the scientific research of this idea perspectives. We took into account all negative estimations and the project won’t be realized. But our readers know that it’s not the only projected under the auspices of our Club and we will keep you informed.

  УНИКАЛЬНАЯ ВЫСТАВКА ФОТООХОТНИКА В "МИРЕ ФОТО" 17.06.2004 17.06.2004Владимирский охотник Дмитрий Встовский рассказывает горожанам истории своих путешествий. Через фотографии. В выставочном зале "Мир фото" открылась выставка, куда вошли лучшие кадры, сделанные Дмитрием за последние 14 лет. На них - горный Алтай, республика Тува, кавказские хребты, Якутия и вологодские просторы. Эти места, по словам Дмитрия, делают людей чище и добрее.Выставочный зал "Мир фото" не смог вместить всю 14-летнюю летопись путевых заметок охотника и фотографа Дмитрия Встовского. На земле осталось не так много мест, где сохранена первозданная красота природы. И в эти почти дикие места Дмитрий отправляется на несколько месяцев. Как правило, далеко и очень высоко.Дмитрий ВСТОВСКИЙ, охотник и фотограф: "Иногда ждешь по несколько часов. Есть снимки в Монголии, горы Алтая, которые я ждал часа два-три, не помню уже, когда солнце будет на таком уровне, когда оно даст хорошие тени".Созерцание природы, - считает фотограф, - пробуждает в человеке лучшие чувства. Он как буддийский монах медитирует, а результат восхищенного созерцания - десятки отснятых кадров. В горах Таджикистана однажды удалось получить представление о том, как может выглядеть красная планета Марс. Горы в лучах закатах - зрелище не для слабонервных. В дорогу Дмитрия манит уже не профессия, и даже не страсть к приключениям, это уже привычка.Дмитрий ВСТОВСКИЙ, охотник и фотограф: "Слушать природу нужно, журчание рек, пение птиц, рев морала, например. В природе очень много звуков, которые могут успокоить человека, и когда ты учишься различать их, тогда ты понимаешь всю эту красоту".Жаль только, что остановленные мгновения нельзя услышать. Горная тишина или восход и закат солнца, - утверждает Встовский, - тоже могут зазвучать. И он это слышал. Друзья советуют - напиши о своих приключениях книгу, иллюстрации уже есть. То, что запечатлел Дмитрий Встовский, не удавалось и самым именитым профи. Почти 5 тысяч метров над уровнем моря, где аппаратуру приходится греть собственным телом, где обгорает лицо, где снег не тает, а испаряется, где не горит огонь из-за разреженности воздуха и одолевает горная болезнь. Высота просто так не дается - горы нужно покорять. А это искусство на грани риска для жизни.Дмитрий ВСТОВСКИЙ, охотник и фотограф: "Бывают такие места, могут понять только альпинисты, когда карниз шириной в полступни и нужно пойти или отступать назад, но мы такие люди , что отступать не привыкли и идем по этим карнизам".Подойти к диким животным на 30 метров - все равно что устроить охоту на буйвола в Африке. Опасность на каждом шагу. Животное не может ждать, когда фотолюбитель выберет нужный ракурс. Удачный кадр получается, когда окружающую действительность понимаешь и головой, и сердцем.Элеонора Лемм, Евгений Журавлев. ТВ-6 Владимир.С видеоматериалом можно познакомиться здесь.https://youtu.be/J9W7J1BjbLQ https://youtu.be/RiMWyLd1Gg4

Good day! I’m the beginner and need your help. Wil you advise me what kind of caliber is better for the mountain hunts?

The New Year Party was traditionally organized in December in the yacht restaurant Chaika. My fellow Sergey Mazurkevich with whom we seated at the table was awarded by the Russian Mountain Hunter Cup. I suggested to fill the ladle by Champaign and everyone had to drink from it to the winner. The sparkling wine symbolized all sweat which he shed in the mountains while had got thirteen trophies. When it was my turn to drink from the ladle I thought to myself, If I could take the missing quantity of trophies in a one year. After coming home I made the list and counted how much trophies I needed to finish the list. If I wanted to win the award I had to get 10 trophies! It was too ambitious goal. I’d been in Kamchatka twice and didn’t even see the sign of sheep. That experience didn’t’ t inspire optimism. Because if I wanted to achieve the goal I had to bag 6 kinds of snow sheep not counting the other ones species. But as they say, the eyes fear, the hands do or another variant - no harm in trying. My plan was to get six trophies in 2018: Kamchatka, Koryak, Chukotka and Yakutia Snow Sheep plus Sayan Ibex and Dagestan Tur. If I didn’t do it in the one year I would continue the next. I could implement the plan, not in one but in two years. And it hit off… I was training hard, went to the swimming pool twice a week, ran on the treadmill with 40 degree lift angle. I’d bought all necessary equipment which didn’t have and made the schedule of flights. Thank you very much to the Aeroflot team, everything was organized on the high level. Kamchatka Snow Sheep I was planning the trip to Kamchatka when encountered the problem which was called “ The World Football Cup in Russia”. Most of the airports in Russia had been closed for weapons movements. As one of my friend said, it didn’t bode well. But I had no choice. The only way which I could use was to fly through Novosibirsk. Fortunately there was the direct flight from Minsk to that town but I had to wait the connection flight to Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky for one more day   but it was the little thing. Before the flight I've recived the confirmation from the aviation security of the Novosibirsk that could fly with my weapon. After arriving to the peninsula I'd need to fly further to Palana. The problem was that there were not every day flights to that remote place and I'd spend three days waiting. But there's nothing to do we’d have to wait. I was going to hunt there for Koryak and Kamchatka Snow Sheep and had time limits. Thus, the adventure had started. The flight Minsk- Novosibirsk- Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was according the plan. I received the luggage, the gun. Suddenly when I was ready to leave the airport, I’d heard thee announcement on the loudspeaker that the flight to Palana was delayed till 3 pm, though it had to leave in an hour before our arrival to Kamchatka. It was the good sign. I could save three days and ran to the tickets office without hesitation. -Do you have tickets to Palana? - Yes, we have. But there are some problems with the plane. We are not sure if it can fly today. I didn’t care about those problems, called to the local outfitter, got his answer that we could fly earlier and changed the ticket. Then there were several moments which reminded me our Soviet Past. I’ve heard about it before but you will never understand or feel it until you find yourself in this situation. All passengers loaded their luggage to the plane by themselves! I’d hardly believe that it could be so. It was good that the locals knew the process and everything was done very fast in the routine way without any protests. The plane Yak-40 was elder than I but I knew those unkillable Soviet technics. Then we got into air pits several times while flew above the snow-capped mountains. The local outfitter met me at the airport and the ATV’s driver Michail, who happened to be my countryman, agreed to drive to the mountains immediately. It was evening when we arrived to Victor’s base. I saw lots of bears while we were driving and I made video with one of them from twenty meters distance. I has to note that it’s not really dangerous to make such videos when you are sitting on the ATV, which is like a tank. Next morning the Koryaks Anton, Viktor and Denis rode by horses to set the mountain camp. I spent that day having rest and checking/testing the rifle and wasn’t bored. The huge female bear with cubs passed near the camp and the big male followed them in a while. Viktor and Denis came back at the lunch time while Anton stayed in the mountains. His goal was to make the monitoring of the surroundings. We also packed all things, saddled horses and rode to the Base camp. All the way to the place I confronted with my horse Mashka. First time, she fell in the swamp and I flew upside down. Then Mashka noticed it and used this trick from time to time testing me. She could stopped on the dry road and kneeled down checking what I’d do. I had to show who was the master, she understood and took it. In the late evening we arrived to the place. The guys made everything in the best way we eat dinner and went to sleep. It was 6.30 am when we left the camp and started to climb under the cover of low hanging clouds. But suddenly the sky cleaned, all clouds lifted and the sun shined. The picturesque views appeared all around us. Almost immediately we detected the group of sheep in one km from us. Anton, our guide, suggested to come to the stone scree where the sheep would come later. Viktor stayed on the place to monitor the animals and to coordinate our movements be radio. We reached the needed place and waited. The minutes dragged painfully long but my doubts about the wisdom of that actions rose each second. Finally our patience was exhausted and we decided to go forward to the animals. The local mountains elves- pikas started to whistle from different sides. There was the full orchestra of them when we reached the big stone. We looked out very carefully and spotted a small bighorn beneath us. Anton connected with Viktor who told that there was the bigger one but it stood above us. We waited for while the second male would appear over the ridge. The distance was 300 meters. Probably it heard the whistle of pikas or smelt something but it began to move up. Being in despair I shot to the running goal and missed it. But there was a silver lining because suddenly the sheep stopped. Probable the shot echo confused it. It froze and began to listen. I measured the distance - 386 meters, made the correction, spin the reels on the scope and fired. We all heard the characteristic slap. It fell like a log into the gorge. The trophy Number 1 was taken! Kamchatka Snow Sheep The flight back to Petropavlovsk was in time. In a day my friend from Ukraine Jury with his grandson Egor arrived there. We all were going to drive by bus to the village Maysky and the by chopper to the Storozh River. Thus it happened and we could even set the camp before the darkness. In the first hunting day I saw four bears, one of them even came to 15 meters to my guide Vladimir. But he was so keen in examining the surroundings that I had to whistle to attract the attention the guide and the bear. When the wild guest understood that there were two humans against it, took the decision to leave and we went back to the camp with empty hands but without any problems. Next morning we decided to go to the Damn Nose, the place where Sergey Volochkov got the good sheep in the last year. My guide was sure that we’d find animals there. At first we climbed the slope then went down to the river and crossed it. I found the bear’s bed near the huge stone and a fresh pile of dung. None of us felt comfortable. We tried to hike making as much noise as it was possible. We talked loudly and stamped feet. Then we went up once again. 200 vertical meters and it wasn’t the easy exercise but at last we reached the glade- which was the home of pikas. They immediately let us knew that we were the uninvited guests. The next part of the way was the rise to the lonely rocks, my guide called them Mates, but I wasn’t sure that it was the official name. We'd done it and decided to drink tea which took with us. It was cold, the weather changed from rain to wind every fifteen minutes but we had to move further. In two hundred meters Volodya sat down and send me the signal. I saw the clear silhouette of the sheep which stood on Kirin, so the Koryaks called the ridge. The distance was 1100 meters. We relocated to the next slope and began to rise. The sheep was grazing on the slope moving from us. Volodya and I waited for a while and started to follow it. We roamed only when it couldn't see us. It appeared once again and we fell down like a log. It seemed as if it noticed something because looked to our side from time to time. The distance was 700 meters. I wished it was closer. That distance was exorbitant for the shot with the factory cartridge. Twenty minutes we were lying and waited when it’d hide behind the horizon than jumped up and ran after it. Suddenly the next bighorn appeared, we fell as if on cue and the fog covered us. Was it good or not? The name of the place was the Damn Nose and the name justified itself. All those actions took place on the height 2000 masl. It was dangerous to move with zero visibility but we hadn’t time to wait. Nobody was sure that the mountains would clear but we had to go down and marked the control points in the GPS in any case. But the fog lifted! We judged that the animals could be in a nearby valley and went there. Volodya suggested to make a stop and make the saltlick because took 5 kg of salt for those purpose. Soon the wind began to catch up with the clouds, spun in the rhythm of the waltz. We had to move faster if want to detect the sheep earlier than the fog would cover the slope. And Voloday found them and we all laid down once again to the ground. There were two adults and a young male below us in 175 meters. The youngest one watched to our side and obscured the old one. I needed to fire or they would leave. The first one made a step aside, the angle-30 degrees. I couldn’t take the comfortable position and decided to fire from knees. The Shot! The bighorn fell and suddenly nine of them appeared from behind the slope. O my God! We didn’t see them. They gathered into the group and didn’t know where to run. I pulled out the camera and began to make video. So they stood for a moment and slowly moved away. Then we made pictures and cut meat in "the very comfortable" conditions: rain and hail. It was really cold but we didn’t notice it and I was happy! In 2016 I visited Kamchatka two times. In the first visit I couldn’t even fly to the mountains. It was rain during all ten days and not the single chance to fly. At the second time I hunted in the Deep Cleft and didn’t see any male during 12 days. Each morning we climbed to the mountains and hiked not less than 10 km per day. And the last third attempt was successful. I got two sheep and one of them (Kamchatka Snow Sheep) got the Gold level. Thank you very much to the outfitter and very experienced guide Vladimir for that interesting hunt! Chukotka. The Koryak Snow Sheep. Few days of rest at home and next flight to Chukotka. After meeting at the airport we used the ferry to get to Anadyr. I was surprised by the capital of that Cold province of Russian. The town was like from fairy tale. The colorful houses and buildings, built on the stilts in that the edge of the permafrost, looked like toys. The sight of them cannot but please the eye even in the most severe cold. I was really lucky with weather. There were fogs and rains but it was utter nonsense for those region. The helicopter waited for us outside the town. The sky was overcast by clouds but the pilot told me that he knew what to do. Telling the truth I had some doubt but in twenty minutes we happened in the clear sky. The sun was shining and tundra shimmered with bright colors, as if it had been purposely dressed in festive attire. It was the paradise for the photographers. You don’t need to choose the angle and a perspective just push the button. The first day in the Base camp we had rest and tested guns. I can’t say anything interesting about it. Next day we moved to the mountains. It took us long time to cross the ridge, we saw several females with babies and wild reindeers. The guided told me that they had seen males a week ago but we didn’t’ meet anyone. My mood began to fall the memories about failures in Kamchatka came flooding back. After the lunch my guide Mikhail offered to check the next slope where he saw males last time and we found three of them there! How didn’t we notice them in the first time? The guides knew the territory pretty well and suggested to make the corral hunting. Timofey would pushed animals from that place while Mikhail and I wait for them on the ridge. They had to go there according the plan. An hour passed. The place, which we chose for the ambush, wasn’t comfortable. It was surrounded by thick bushes and I got nervous. Mikhail noticed my condition and said to be patient because the sheep would approach very close. And so they came. The distance was 100 meters. They crossed the pass and moved slowly to our side. -              Which one I must shoot? -              The first one. Seventy meters! The shot! I had the feeling that bullet hit to the stone and I shot once again. Stone! What an armor-piercing sheep was it! I was afraid that it’d leave behind the ridge and decided to fire the second one. The guided told me that they had one more license and the season would be closed soon. I made the shot and noticed that the first and the second one fell together. O my God! By the way the second one had bigger horns. Chukotka left a lasting impression and I want to come there back. Hope I can do it. Magadan. Kolyma Snow Sheep. I flew back home and checked my list. If I want to win the Cup, I need to bag Kolyma and Okhotsk Snow Sheep, Altay Ibex and West Caucasian Chamois in KCR. I bag the last trophy in Abkhazia but needed one more just for the safety sake, and decided to increase the rates! The process went, I had not to do it slow down. I found free time in my calendar and began to call to the local outfitters and tried to arrange the hunts. Thanks to my club fellows who gave me contacts. The first guy I remembers was Alexander Klazyn from Magadan. He is my countryman and i'd talked with him about the hunt before. It didn’t’ take us much time to arrange all questions and soon I flew there. After arrival to Magadan we sailed by boat to the hunting area. I had to confess that wished to leave that boat as soon as possible because didn’t trust the sea transport. I’m the man of land and hate when the deck moves underfoot and you move automatically. The rock looked very impregnable from the sea but it took us just two hours and we climbed 500 meters. We watched the group of young females while rising, they looked at us but were not afraid at all, as if they saw human beings at the first time. I couldn’t stop wondering the modesty of the feed base. The grass was almost not visible, there was only the cedar woods as far as the eye could see. If I hadn't seen the females sheep before I could think what we were doing there? Then we noticed the lonely male which stood in some distance and looked like entranced. It was the lunch time and the sun was already hot. My guide Vasily invited to have rest and to drink some tea. He promised that we met sheep after the breather and was right. First we detected two young males and then spotted the Big one which stood above us! It was huge, athletic “Man”. We didn’t’ need to estimate its horns. It was the real male! The shooting distance was 225 meters with the angle 90 degrees. I fired and missed, as I thought at the first moment but noticed the blood which fountained from its neck. I hit it but wanted to make the second shot just for safety but Vasily stopped me. We dropped backpacks and started to prepare for the climb by the vertical wall. It could be high and dangerous. But the miracle happened. The sheep made just one step and fell from the rock. My breath caught in my throat because I thought that it’d damage the horns. I come close with the sinking heart and found that they were intact! The right one was fine but the left one didn’t’ t have the tip but the male lost it not now. I got really nice 10-11 years old trophy! The Kolyma Snow Sheep is taken! To be continued.

https://youtu.be/raRXduqnA7M

At the begging of October 2019 I became the first foreign hunter who arrived to Uzbekistan after the Government of this country had accepted the new rules of trophy hunts for the rare species. Uzbekistan, along with Tadzhikistan, became the country which made real steps towards the regulation of the trophy hunts and did it for purpose of the rational usage of the natural resources. The company Falcon Hunting Solutions, which is responsible for the organization of hunts for foreigners, including the hunts for the rare species, was established by the decision of the the Cabinet Of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2018. For today it actively develops the sphere of ecological and hunting tourism in the country. They formed five hunting Game farms and created the system of the biotechnical and security measures there. All Game species of Uzbekistan inhabit there. The hunting grounds cover all landscape zones: such as mountains, wetlands and deserts. The company launched the program of conservation, breeding and resettlement of animals listed in the Red book. The kennel for breeding Severtshev sheep was made on the Nuratinsky ridge. They are going to settle and reintroduce Bukhara deer (Hangul) to the places where they lived earlier in the floodplain of the Syrdarya river. There are plans to breed other species too: markhor, Tien Shan mountain sheep, saiga antelope, Ustyurt urial and the others.The specialists of the Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan together with their colleagues from the Institute of Zoology of Tajikistan recorded the number of Severtsev sheep. The scientists had found animals in the places where nobody expected to find. A new expedition, which has to define the habitat and number of population of Bukhara mountain sheep and markhors, listed in the domestic and international Red Books, is scheduled for October. Falcon Hunting Solutions , the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Ecology and Environmental Protection and the State Committee of Forestry of the Republic of Uzbekistan signed the mutual cooperation agreements in the sphere of development of the ecological and hunting tourism in the country.The International Convention CITES provided them a quota for two permits for Bukhare markhor per year. Lots of specialist and animal rights activists in Russia just discuss and argue about ways how to protect and develop while all these thing are successfully realized in other countries. It’s difficult to account the direct affect of these decisions but we know that the average investments from the hunting tourism to the economy of Tadzhikistan, which realized the same programs, is more than 5M dollars. Probably, it’s not big money for our country or the international grants, received from so-called Green organizations, are much bigger but the question has not yet moved from a dead point.But I have to note that all these investments are targeted and come to the definite companies and organizations which provide people with the stable income, create new jobs, buy technics, protects animals and host lots of biotechnical and other events which are very important for the hunting economy. I’ m absolutely sure that none of them can count on the worthy of funding from the State and it means the they won’t have the opportunity to organize everything on the high level and make in full. We know the alternative of it is the destruction of wildlife. The economic interest of the individual user, local communities and tribes creates a real protection mechanism which is more effective than the unnatural system of prohibitions and restrictions, which doesn’t stop the poachers. Let’s come back to the hunt. The first part of our expedition took place in the Surkhandarya province of Uzbekistan. The local outfitter Bekhruz Abdishukov met us at the airport of Termez, then we drove to the Hatak village located on the boundary with Turkmenistan. I have to note that all needed papers such as permits from the authorities of Uzbekistan, including the border service and national security services, were taken by our outfitter in time. The hunt for sheep was organized in the border area but for a Bukhara deer in the neutral zone in the Amu Darya floodplain on the border with Afghanistan.It was the early morning when we went for a hunt for Bukhara urials and markhors. The hunting ground represented the mountain plateau rugged by the steep canyons, a favorite habitat of horned goats. Urials traditionally prefer to stay on the more gentle parts of the upper plateau or in the lowlands of canyons. We spent some time moving along the ridges looking for the goats. The first goal, we detected, was the lonely Bukhara Urial, which had day rest in the shadow. It was really hot and the temperature reached 25-30C, animals were active only in the early morning and in the evenings. The sheep was taken be the first shot, made from the distance 350 meters at high-angler trajectory. The luck was on our side and going down to the valley we spotted the lonely markhor. The shot, from the distance 400 meters, stopped the animal. It was the nice 12 years old male with excellent chest and beautiful symmetric horns. The first hunting morning was very successful. I didn’t want to waste time and in spite of the sleepless night in the plane and car I took the decision to move in the evening to the next hunting area, located on the boundary between Uzbekistan and Afganistan, where were going to hunt for a Bukhara deer. The way to the one side took us about two hours. At the sunset we arrived to the place. None of us , the outfitter and I, knew how we would hunt there. We realized that had to approach to the animal at night but it was all. Nobody hunted there before us. Strict borderguards checked all our papers and compared with the lists, they’d received earlier. They accompanied us to the hunting place. The first attempt wasn’t successful because all area was covered by the high reeds. That area was the original habitat of the Turan tiger, the last of which was killed in the mid of 50th in the last century. We watched lots of tracks of roars and deer, that was reassuring. We moved to the ground coated by the low shrub vegetation - Tugai. There we could monitor the surroundings and listen to the roar of the stags. In twenty minutes we noticed the silhouette of a bull and heard another one. We managed to approach it 30 meters from leeward and made the accurate shot. The trophy didn’t have good trophy features and it pushed us to thought that the population is in the stage of degradation. Due to the limitations and isolation of the area there is a closely related inbreeding.If nothing is done we’d lose the population of this rare Bukhara deer in future. We took the genetic samples, thanked the boarderguides for their support and drove back to the base camp. The result of the first day was three planned trophies. Next day we arrived to Tashkent and they drove to the north –east of the country to the boarder with Kyrgyzstan. Pskemsky ridge, which is the part of the Tian Shan mountains, is located there. We were going to hunt for the Siberian Ibex, the CMH identified its rating position not long ago. It was warm at the beginning of October and Ibexes stayed near the snow borders on the height from 3000 masl. We started from the altitude 1200 masl. Three hours we rode by horses and then climbed by foot three hours more and reached the height 2700 masl. The Ibexes were visible against the snow. The first two groups consisted of females with babies but then we noticed one more group of four males which grazed not far from them. It wasn’t good sign at that part of the year because the rut season would start in a month and the bigger males preferred to stay far from the females. Only the youngsters used to stay close to the herd. But we had no choice and went to that group hoping that there would be a trophy size goat. We could approach 700 meters and no more. The animals started to move from us. Using the scope we found one male which was estimated by our guides like 7-8 years old male. I decided to fire and got it from the distance 705 meters. I remembered with a kind word my prefabricated munition of 338 Cal, which is very stable in speed unlike the fabric cartridges. The accurate calculation of speed plus my experienced helped me to use the only chance to get the Ibex, which became the 51st in my CAPRA collection. The way back by foot to the foothill took me 2.5 hours. But telling the truth I did it with pleasure. Usually I lose some kg in such expeditions but Uzbek cuisine is so tasty that I had the chance to gain some extra weight. I deliberately refused to ride by horses and hiked about 10 km to the base camp. So ended my fast and vivid hunt in Uzbekistan. The guys were kidding that they’d got new hunting standard, “ two days, four trophies, and one of which is from 700 metes”. Thank very much to the local outfitters and wish them success in the new destination of the trophy hunts. The first pancake wasn’t lumpy, for usAll staff prepared well and worked very professionally. There are lots of sightseeing in Uzbekistan, which you can discover after hunting. The pearl of the East Tashkent, magnificent Samarkand and Bukhara. All cities are clean and cozy. Uzbekistan is famous by its ancient history, culture and hospitable people. I really think that Uzbek cuisine is the best on the East. Here the Tamerlane's warriors created the recipe of the fantastic pilaf. I’m so glad the new hunting destination appeared in our schedule. It became available for the hunters thanks to the wisdom and foresight of the Uzbek authorities.

Dear Club members. We all have experience of taking part in hunting trips, organized on the different levels. We know positive and negative examples of the local outfitter’s work. Our proposal is to elaborate standards of the hunting trips organization which we are going to promote among our partners. We will be grateful for your suggestions. Edward Bendersky

23 июля 2019 года в Ростовской области, Миллеровком районе, Хутор Хмыгово, добыл сурка выстрелом на 2010 м. 338 LM, 300 gr. Berger OTM, 910 м/с. ШмидтБендер 5x25x56 PM2. Винтовка GM от Геннадия Кожаева. Корректировщик - Вова Гребенюк.До этого ставил рекорд в 2011 г. - 1629 м, но уже спустя пару-тройку лет он был перебит. Клуб двухтысячников открыт!

Вот мы и снова на гостеприимной земле Северной Осетии (Алании) на которую прибыли для охоты на дагестанского тура и кавказскую серну. Мы это я, как организатор всего тура, охотник из Находки Канатбек Курмангалиев, член КГО и охотник из Хабаровска Леонид Казанцев. Ребята по возрасту намного моложе, но у них не было такого опыта горных охот как у меня, тем более в таких сложных для охоты горах Кавказа. Пришлось помочь им подготовиться к этому туру советами по поддержанию хорошей физической формы и с подбором снаряжения для охоты. На это ушло около шести месяцев. Канатбек имел представление и опыт горных охот на Алтае и в Киргизии. Однако, как он сам мне позже сказал, что эта охота превзошла все его ожидания и представления о сложности горной охоты. Читатель сможет в этом убедиться, прочитав это повествование до конца. Всегда приятно встретиться со старыми, не по возрасту, мы всегда молодые, а по сроку знакомства друзьями. На базе Верхняя Саниба нас радушно встречал всё тот же персонал, с которым я работаю уже на протяжении многих лет. Каждый из работников уделяет должное внимание гостям. Атмосфера на базе и во время охоты самая дружелюбная. Приехали на базу уже по темну, но традиционного осетинского застолья никто не отменял. Наш самый главный шеф – директор хозяйства Цара Угалыкович Созанов вместе с супругой Наташей радушно встретили и усадили за богато накрытый осетинский стол. Традиционные тосты, немного воспоминаний о былых охотах, немного инструкций и напутствий, обильные кушанья. Вряд ли может быть что-то приятнее на Земле, чем оказаться окружёнными вниманием и заботой близких тебе по духу людей. Но время приближалось уже к ночи, и надо было хорошо отдохнуть перед следующим, много обещавшим охотничьим днём. Было решено хорошенько выспаться, отдохнуть, а утром проверить точность своего оружия и ждать приезда проводников, с которыми предстояло подниматься в горы. Как выяснилось чуть позже, на базе уже находились два охотника из США, которые тоже приехали охотиться на тура. Мы познакомились с ними на следующий день за завтраком. Одному из них было 54 года другому, которого звали Рон – 58. Рон – сухого телосложения, среднего роста с приветливой улыбкой на лице был всего на год моложе меня. Второй же охотник, не смог запомнить его имя, выглядел несколько загруженным лишним весом при среднем росте около 175см., был мало разговорчив, но интересовался перспективой охоты в горах.        В район охоты выдвинулись ещё днём сразу после обеда. В этом же районе планировался тур для охотников из США. Я уже не раз был в том районе охоты, куда мы прибыли всей командой и знал, что такое гора Джимара. По одному из её склонов, я уже имел счастье подняться с охотником из Казахстана Жайсаном Сыздыковым. Ту охоту я описал в одном из моих рассказов ранее. Прибыв на место, откуда вся группа должна была расходиться я полагал, что мы с моими охотниками пойдём тем же путём, по которому мы поднимались с Жайсаном. Этот путь был очень сложный и требовал немало усилий. А с учётом того, что подниматься предстояло, как часто это бывало, в полной темноте, то сложность подъёма ещё более нарастала. Много раз уже поднимался в этих угодьях в темноте, но что меня и моих охотников ждало в это раз, я даже представить себе не мог.      Нам показалось, что американцы сильно уступали нам в физической подготовке. Наверное, именно по этой причине проводники после некоторого, немного бурного обсуждения, решили изменить общий план охоты и повести американцев по наиболее простому подъёму. При этом поменяли и состав команд проводников. Американцев повели даже уже не по маршруту, который был намечен для нас, а по более пологому склону. Ну а нам достался самый трудный из тех, который я когда-либо проходил в Осетии.      Перекусив и выпив чая, отошли ко сну около 7 часов вечера. С ледника в долину, где мы расположились, спускался туман, который принёс изрядное количество влаги на наши вещи и некоторый озноб нашим телам. В 22-30 старт подъёма. Вещи в рюкзаки и в путь. Основное снаряжение оставили в одной из машин, плотно закрыв двери и кузов УАЗа-«головастика».      Ночь, звёзды на антрацитового-чёрном небе, цыганское солнце слегка показалось из-за гор и скрылось, под ногами россыпи валунов, о которые постоянно задеваешь носками горных ботинок. Шли с фонарями, но их не включали по причине высочайшей степени конспирации от возможного обнаружения турами. Минут через 40 движения подошли к подножию горы. Впереди по курсу на высоте около 2000 метров, а мы начинали подъём в высоты около 1000 метров, виднелись ледники. Ребята не знали, и я им до поры не говорил о том, что печально известный ледник Колка, сошедший в ущелье Кармадон, находился как раз за соседним хребтом. В глубине души я понимал, что мы к счастью не в Кармадоне, но размытые очертания ледников заставляли принимать к сведению факт их возможного схода.      Долина закончилась, и начался непосредственно подъём. Самое тёмное время суток. Хорошо, что в темноте мы не видели его крутизну. Белым днём и в трезвом рассудке, только кинув взгляд вверх, мы бы усомнились в возможности вообще забраться по столь вертикальному склону. Да к тому же и с теми особенностями горного рельефа, который невозможно оценить, находясь внизу. И так, с 23-10 и до 6-30 часов утра мы вместе с тремя проводниками Асланом, Гией и Джамалем карабкались вверх по каменной сыпучке. Камни были острыми и скользкими от замёрзшего на их поверхности конденсата. Временами из под ног впереди идущего вылетали, хорошо заметные в темноте, искры от удара камней друг о друга.      По дороге помогали друг другу, когда вдруг под впереди идущим съезжала вниз горная порода, или летели камни по ногам. Идущему сзади приходилось втыкать в сыпучку свой посох, чтобы предотвратить соскальзывание вниз впереди идущего.      Шаг вперёд и пару метров назад. Так выглядел местами наш подъём. Дикое напряжение ног и рук. Сердцебиение высокой частоты. Всё это в кромешной темноте. Проводники иногда сбивались и не могли найти проход между скалистых прижимов. Как это всё мне было знакомо по нескольким восхождениям такого же характера. Возвращались, обходили скалы и шли дальше. У меня большой опыт горных переходов от гор на Камчатке до Памира. Но там всё происходит в основном в дневное время. А тут ночь, крутизна со всеми вытекающими … .      Проводил многих зарубежных охотников в горах, но в таких условиях, в которых мы оказались в этот раз я ещё со своими охотниками не был. Думаю, что вряд ли кто из иностранцев смог бы выдержать такой подъём. Скорее всего, они уже через полчаса подъёма послали бы в мой адрес весь свой запас ненормативной лексики, развернулись и пошли бы обратно к машинам, обвинив меня во всех земных грехах. Такое уже было в моей практике. Единственное исключение могли бы составить норвежские охотники. Это – крепкие и выносливые ребята с хорошей в основном физической подготовкой. Был у меня случай, когда мы с одним молодым норвежцем, который был раза в 2,5 моложе меня карабкались примерно в такой же крутой склон в Саянах, перенося на себе кроме снаряжения и оружия ещё и канистры с водой, т.к. на верху воды не было. Но там хоть было за что зацепиться протектором горных ботинок. Горы были покрыты слоем плодородной почвы и кустарником. Здесь же на Джимара – только камни в разнообразных фракциях от огромных валунов до сыпучки.      Я был очень рад в тот момент тому, что со мной были наши молодые ребята с русской закалкой, хоть и с казахскими корнями один из них.??? Около 4 часов утра услышали грохот. Часть ледника с соседнего склона оторвалась и с гулким грохотом понеслась вниз по граниту в долину, откуда мы пришли. Как раз там у нас стояли машины. Через несколько минут ещё один сход ледника. Мурашки по коже. Абсолютная тишина в команде.      Из-за крутизны подъёма часто останавливаемся, чтобы успокоить выпрыгивающее из грудной клетки сердце. Высота уже за 3 000м н.у.м. В 4-30 на связь вышел один из проводников американцев. То, что доложил нам Аслан, один из наших проводников, заставило нас задуматься над смыслом происходящего и жизни в целом. Один из американских охотников умер! Как потом оказалось, этот охотник вообще не должен был даже близко приближаться к горам по состоянию своего здоровья. Уже чуть забрезжил рассвет. Можно было разглядеть лица членов нашей команды. Каждый пытался осознать произошедшее. Не знали даже как на такое событие отреагировать. В группе воцарилась напряжённая тишина. Все ощущали некую дисгармонию и переживали за коллегу охотника.   Этот случай ещё долго будем обсуждать позже в лагере. Мы уже ничем помочь той команде не могли. Прошли уже почти две трети пути, и надо было спешить, чтобы оказаться во время в нужном месте. У погибшего были другие проводники, которые позаботились о необходимых в таких случаях мероприятиях. Они вызвали полицию и МЧС.      «Другие придут, сменив уют на риск и непомерный труд, пройдут тобой не пройденный маршрут!» В голове крутились эти и другие слова из песен В.Высоцкого о покорении горных маршрутов.        Помолчав и отдав дань ушедшему в мир «вечной охоты» коллеге, продолжили свой нелёгкий путь. Жизнь продолжается вне зависимости от потери товарищей. И мы на это не сможем повлиять никоим образом.      Так, почти на ощупь мы шли в вершине хребта горы Джимара, местами продвигаясь и на ногах и на руках. Над скалами уже показались огни Владикавказа. Город жил своей жизнью. Мы шли своим путём. Когда совсем рассвело мы смогли оценить часть того пути, который прошли. Только от одного взгляда вниз могла закружиться голова у неподготовленного человека. А мы это уже прошли. До сих пор, вспоминая этот маршрут, с трудом осознаю, как мы смогли его пройти с рюкзаками и оружием за спиной!      Ближе к вершине рельеф начал выполаживаться, и идти с одной стороны стало легче, с другой стороны высота была уже почти 3 500 метров. Сказывался недостаток кислорода. Часто подступала одышка.      Вот, наконец, мы на вершине хребта. Проводники осматривали противоположные склоны, где, по их мнению, можно было обнаружить туров. Но в этом месте туров не оказалось. Мы двинулись вправо вдоль хребта. Мимо нас метрах в двухстах пробежали самки с козлятами. Когда поднялись на хребет Джимара, то перемещались вправо низко пригибаясь, чтобы не быть обнаруженными турами. Нашли валуны и скрылись за ними от ветра в ожидании туров. Ждали около часа. За это время успели уже изрядно подмёрзнуть. Холодные камни и пронизывающий ветер, залезающий в любую оставленную для него щель, сделали своё дело. К тому же за время подъёма изрядно вспотели, и не вышедшая из одежды влага способствовала быстрому охлаждению организма.    Как только определились с местом, где необходимо было дождаться туров, тут же переменили одежду на более тёплую, которую взяли с собой. Опыт многолетних восхождений подсказывал мне, а я, в свою очередь, моим охотникам о необходимости иметь хорошую тёплую сменную одежду в такое время на таких высотах. Этот опыт очень нам помог в той ситуации.      В бинокль увидели стадо туров около 50-60-ти голов, двигавшееся в нашу сторону с противоположных хребтов на нашей стороне Джимара. Они шли как раз с той стороны, где должны были охотиться американцы. Аслан и Джамаль повели охотников на исходные для выстрела позиции. Я остался наблюдать с более высокой позиции. И вот через ближайший к охотникам хребет плавно его перетекая, двигалась целая «река» туров различных возрастов. Зрелище со стороны было завораживающее. Расстояние для стрельбы очень комфортное метров 70. Как только появились трофейные самцы, раздался первый выстрел, которым Канатбек остановил трофейного тура. Туры от неожиданности стали метаться в разные стороны, не понимая откуда для них исходит угроза. Леонид сделал пару выстрелов, одним из которых серьёзно ранил своего трофейного тура. Тур немного просел, остановился и перевалил через следующий хребет. К сожалению, для всех нас этот тур ушёл вниз, и добрать его в этот день мы не смогли.      Фотосессия на память, лёгкий перекус, трофей в рюкзак, мясо по другим рюкзакам и отправляемся в обратный путь. Оставаться долго на скальнике и на холодном ветру не очень, мягко говоря, приятно. Спускаться по тому пути, по которому мы поднимались, не могло быть и речи. Спуск был ещё более опасным, в плане того, что можно было бы просто сорваться в низ, не имея страховки. Пошли вниз противоположным склоном. Но и там спуск нельзя было назвать прогулкой. Если подъём занял у нас 7 часов, то спускались мы с поклажей около пяти часов. Главное спустились уже спокойно. Но это не означало, что спускаться было легче, чем подниматься. На чрезвычайно сильной усталости с большим грузом за плечами нас иногда покачивало на переходах через всё ту же каменную сыпучку.      Пока спускались, заметили птиц круживших над местом, куда ушёл раненый тур. Это – верный признак того, что зверь дошёл. Успокоили Леонида, переживавшего за выстрел. Его тура проводники нашли на следующий день и привезли на базу. К сожалению, птицы здорово испортили шкуру и мясо. Но, зато трофей не пропал даром, благодаря нашим проводникам.      Леонид смог добыть ещё и серну в последний охотничий день. В общей сложности мы были на ходу с рюкзаками и оружием около 13 часов. В заключении хотелось бы подводя итоги отметить, что такого трудного подъёма за всю мою практику я не проходил, да и вряд ли можно будет найти подъём сложнее. Да и по реакции проводников мы поняли, что даже они не ожидали, что подъём будет настолько сложным. Средний градус подъёма был около 50, а местами приходилось ползти буквально на четвереньках по склонам и камням на 70-ти градусном склоне. НО! МЫ ВСЁ ПРЕОДОЛЕЛИ НА ПУТИ К ЗАВЕТНОМУ И ПОЧЁТНОМУ ТРОФЕЮ!!! Хочется поблагодарить за помощь в охоте проводников Аслана, Джамала, Гию. Огромное спасибо выражаю Созанову Цара, Караеву Казбеку и Наташе Созановой за тёплый приём и внимание, оказанное нам в этой поездке.      Охота не была долгая по продолжительности, но по сложности с охотой на тура в Осетии вряд ли может сравниться какая-либо другая охота. Многие даже местные жители, с которыми мы позже контактировали, не могли представить, как мы поднялись по тому маршруту. Но, как говорится, дорогу осилит идущий!