The bare rocks of the the Sayan ridge sank in the milk of the low clouds, whirlwinds moved fast along the fluffy gorges and flew up to the harsh "gendarmes" of gray granite. The hunters stood on the steep ledges, letting their faces to the warm flow of the rising air. They smiled happily and the amazing picture of the Yenisei River, trapped in the rocky gorge, opened under their feet.
The professional traveler is always searching for the place, where no man had ever set foot, where human beings didn’t spoiled the masterpieces created by the Nature or God. My family asked me, Why did I want to go to the Sayan. And I replied without hesitation: “ I want to see it!” The Sayan Mountains are very different, from the one side on the West, it has Mid Asian landscape but from the other side behind Altai, the Eastern Siberia is the Kingdom of the mighty Yenisei, which filled the space between the steeps. The combination of the severity of rocks and the softness of water, the turquoise of the sky and the emerald of the summer taiga haunts me from my last visit to the Baikal Ridge and makes me look for such places in different parts of the world. Last year I came across to the photo report of the Swedish hunter where he showed the unknown places of Russia. I took me some time to know what hunting place was mention in that report and who was its owner. I ascertained that that area was very popular among Scandinavian hunters and all good dates had been booked for the next three years already.
I need to mention that I promised my Spanish friend to organize the hunt for the Altai Ibex but it was closed in the national parks of Kazakhstan and I couldn’t kept this promise. That’s why I suggested him to try to get the trophy of the Siberian Ibex. The outfitter recommended November as the best period but Jordy had lots of work at that time, that's why we had just one possibility to hunt in August. Fortunately we were able to arrange it. We knew that Ibexes preferred to hide in the highlands at that time but it couldn’t stop us. The countdown to the end of August 2018 began.
It took us long time to reach the place. First of all we flew from Almaty to Moscow and then to Siberia, then we drove about two hundred km by car to the Yenisei River and several hundred km went upstream by high-speed boat.
What could you feel when left the civilization and the nearest human settlement was in hundreds km from us? You are right- HAPPINESS!
ACCURATE SHOT
The base camp was done in the Scandinavian styly, very clean. In the evening we got acquaintances with the guides and early morning went up to the mountains. The temporary camp was decided to set at the watershed, the tents, food and water had been delivered there already. We climbed and carried our sleeping bags and tents in the case if we had to move between bare rocks (goltzy). We detected some herds of Ibexes when stopped for the first time. They included young males and female with cubs but it was a good sign.
Finally we came to the place where vertical one km rise started. We made several stops and even drank tea while climbing. The powerful thunderstorm with hail, thunder and lightning covered us on the top. We waited out the weather under the piece of polyethylene which our guide grabbed just in case.
We observed Ibexes while ascending – some groups, from 2 to 15 animals, grazed on the open spots after the rain.
In two hours before the sunset we reached the temporary camp. We didn’t have time to set the camp because went for the reconnaissance and encountered nose-to-nose with the group of young males which pose before us and went down in 200m lower. Suddenly the herd of males came out of the forest where we were going to spend the night. It included more than a dozen and a half of males from 5 to 8 years. I has to remind that the trophy of the Siberian Ibex is smaller than the trophy of the Mid Asian one. The champion of Altai Goat has 135 sm, thought the champion of the Tian Shan has 160 sm. We weren’t upset by the absence of the old male because our adventure had just began and we took pictures and video with the great pleasure.
The day came to the end, Ibexes grazed in 200m below us. Suddenly the group of animals led by the old male appeared from behind the cliff. Its white neck was clearly visible in the twilight. We checked its size in the optics. It had the trophy size. Jordy decided not to tempt the fate and it was the professional decision. If you find the trophy , take it! I had to make video and assist him if necessary. The goats huddled together but he made the shot at last. The Ibex fell like a log.
Accurate shot! We were happy, hugged and congratulated each other. We made the photo shoot in the last rays of the sun, cut meat and came back to the camp. That evening was continued in the culinary and folklore way. We cooked the liver and the tenderloin, drank Rom and narrated hunting stories.
ADVENTURES
In the morning we packed up the camp leisurely and started to descend , we had to make primary trophy processing and kept meat. The sun was burning mercilessly. I didn’t know who that, but I tired more than in a day before while climbing.
In the camp we had rest, swam and steamed in the bath. Our cook Vasily created culinary masterpieces and fed us in every way. In the evening we went for fishing with spinning rod. The locals treated it with some skepticism, but when r we caught excellent perches in a half an hour, they also armed with tackles.
Next day Jordy decided to stay in the base he wanted to hunt for a roe deer in the evening. I and our guide Vasily went to the mountains at 5 am. The first aim was to get the mountain camp and take some things and food from there, the second one to move to another hunting area.
We rose by the southern slope, it was hard because we carried water. In the half way we noticed deer, two more males fighted in the bushes and we could hear them. It was hard to scramble without the path but we did it in two hours.
It was a pity that I didn’t understand well our outfitter and took not the right backpack. It seemed to me that we'd set the booth near the river and would go up for a hunt each morning, that why I took just the small assault backpack. If I knew that out trip would be in the trekking style I’d choose the bigger one.
So, my backpack was covered by equipment and was bloated like a barrel.
There was the climb once again. Sometime the path led by the ridge but mostly through the forest. Taiga in this part was very different, sometimes it was light, nice and not cluttered but sometimes it looked like the dense forest from the horror. Trees were covered by lichens, overgrown with mosses and thickets of rhododendrons. In a couple hours after we left the first camp, the disaster almost happened.
We were walking and talking with Vasily when in twenty meters from us the bear rose up. It was the big, black male. I tear the rifle and click the shutter reflexively, the bear stood on the hind legs but then turned and ran away. Nothing extraordinary, the bear slept when we disturbed it. We went on, when noticed something flashed in the bushes in two hundred meters from us by the right side. The bear ran away to the left. I said to Vasily that something was wrong. We chose to come the open glade because there weren’t trees or bushes. I took off the backpack and we waited. Soon we saw the crouching bear, it tried to reach us behind the scrubs. We moved like the bullet to another side of the glade and the bear hid in rhododendrons. Vasily was very surprise because it looked like the bear hunted for us. “Let’s wait and see- I suggested.- If it appear from the other side I’d shoot”. In thirty seconds the bear came from the bushed definitely to our backpacks.
I looked to his eyes and understood that he was thinking whom he would eat first. I realized that I should pay two thousand dollars for the bear’s license and we’d lose two day going down and up and fired over the shaggy head. He jumped up in surprise and rushed away. Suddenly in three hundred meters the wolf, whom we also disturbed, pop up and disappeared in the forest while I was deciding to fire or wait for the bear attack.
-!!!... !!!! – Vasily cried to side where the bear ran away.
It was the first time in his life when the animal behaved in such way and the third in mine. Just imagine what can happen if we don’t have rifles?
We took a little breath, cursed the clubfoot and went on.
It was the hot day and we drank a half of all water we had before we reached the camp. At 5 pm we set the camp and went to scout. Unfortunately we didn’t see anything at that day, just females with cubs. We were so tired that went to sleep after eat a little bit of soup.
THE OTHER MAN
We got up before dawn, drank the rest of the water and went to check other places. The mountain crest was littered by the burned woods. Probably the lightnings often strike here. To walk through such windbreak is a special pleasure. The grass brained the fallen trunks of the fir trees and you can fall and scrap your feet on the branches there. We tried to step on the trunks only and jumped from one to another like equilibrists.
In few hours we observed several km of the rocky slopes where the Siberian Ibex inhabited but detected just females and young males. According the map it wasn’t the main mountain massif there and I hoped that we’d move to the next location and tried to look for the trophy there because the next place looked more promising. I hinted my guide about it but he avoided the question what looked strange. At last he broke down and confessed that we couldn’t move to that place because THE OTHER MAN was there at that time! It explained the activity in the base camp and why the main manager was so mysterious and other things. It was shown on TV later.
The guide felt very uncomfortable but I calmed him and said that we’d find our trophy here. And really at 9 am we spot a trophy size male in three km from us in the gorge. We knew what to do next. While I prepared Vasiliy distinguished the sleeping maral and it rose our mood even higher. We just needed to came back to the tents, find water, shift the camp and spot this goat once again in the evening.
And we did so!
TO FIND WATER
Most of all I worried how we’d find water in the forest. I remembered Confucius’s words about the black cat but Vasily ensured me that we would find wet spots- the natural puddles. In Russian he called it “mochazhina” and it sounded similar like “urine” and it confused me. Moreover I didn’t see any puddle while we crossed the forest, it was absolutely dry. I was afraid that we’d lose the last strength trekking in the forest and wouldn't find any water.
But we found it in an hour when we went to the camp #3. The “mochazhina” was the ordinary puddle with green water. There were plantations of the wild blackberries and cowberry about it. We arranged a halt and boiled tea! It made us peaceful and calm.
Taiga around us was light. A thick carpet from mosses and lichens softened our steps, mushrooms of all colors and shapes burned like the bright decorations on the green velvet of the grass, cranberries and stone berry glowed ruby color under the sunny rays. Sharp pyramids of rocks stood under the crowns, like in the lost world of Cameron's "Avatar".
Sometimes a stone capercaillie soared with the loud noise or a flock of grouse flew with the thin squeak. I really wanted to believe that we were the pioneers here. Though I realized that it wasn’t true. The forest saw people and not once. Vasily spent here more than thirty years. We came to the small top and found the geodetic beacon there. It was settled in 1932. The time of the pioneers ended between 30 and 60 years of the last century, when geodetic and geological expeditions meticulously investigated and described in detail the entire territory of the vast USSR.
The sharp whistle and movements in the forest interrupted my thoughts. “What’s going on once again?”
But it happened to be a musk deer- small deer with the long fangs instead of horns hid in the thicket, near the rocks. It stood there for a moment and disappeared in the twilight forest.
-Taiga opens before you- said my guide with respect.
- Ya, it opens- I agreed and joked- but hope I won’t strangle in its arms.
My friends say that hunting luck loves me but if you spend so much time in the forest as I, it will love you too. One old hunter said that the God of Hunt pays us for doing good and because we love Nature.
I liked this thought but could devoted much time to it because we arrived to the camp #3. It was about 3 pm. We set the camp , take on sleeping bags and fell asleep without hind legs.
The body during the days of the expedition ordeal exhausted but isotonic “Isostar” helped much. The humidity there was high like in tropics, we constantly sweated and lost electrolytes which had to be restored. I drank about three liters of water each day plus some tea and soup. I didn’t have appetite and eat just carbohydrate bars, chocolate and rusks.
THE TROPHY
I prepared everything for the evening hunt, cleaned the barrel of the rifle with the soft ramrod, greased the swivels with the lard and wiped lenses. We were ready.
It would became dark at 7.56 pm according my Garmin, but thanks the low cloud the twilight started at 7pm. The first males appeared in ten minutes but they all were too young.
They made strange maneuvers coming in and out from the forest in 60 meters below us. They used to hide in the forest during the day because the sun beat down mercilessly. I guessed that it could be colder in the Zailiyskiy Alatau at that time.
It was almost the sunset but we didn’t see big males yet. Suddenly the youth gathered together and moved to the other decay. We also decided to change the place and ran to the left, there was the slope with the dominant rock.
In the twilight I saw the trophy males which came from the wood and started to graze. We approached them and did it so fast that the sweat filled my eyes. I made the final approach alone, left the guide on the ridge. The only thing which I worried was to have enough light to see the aiming mark ( I didn’t remember when changed the battery last time in my old Wortex). The information for those who needed: I used the rifle Christensen Arms custom carbon 300 Win Mag; Vortex scops Viper 4-16x50; Federal ammunition 180 gr Accubond; Kryptek gear; Shlumberjack carbine 2500 backpack; Harris bipod.
There were two big males at first but I found just one when reached the place from where I could shoot. I meant that I didn’t choice.
I took the comfortable positon but at the last moment the Ibex jumped up and disappeared. I changed the position and spot the other goat. It was that the good-looker which we observed before. I took the aim at its shove and fired without hesitation. The males and a couple of females ran away just the one female left and watched to the bush. I looked through the sight and saw that I got it. Vasily shouted to shoot because it ran away but I showed him that we won!
We made pictures before the sun went down, cut meat and hoisted the head on the nearest tree to prevent the wild animals would damage it. Then we gathered the last force and went up six hundred vertical meters along the slope which was covered by the thorny Bush. We arrived to the camp late at night. The forest path was lit by the Moon and it wasn’t scary to go. We could only drink some “puddle” tea and went to sleep.
In the morning we had to work once again, we packed the camp and went back to the trophy. It took us six more hours to get the boat. We stopped just once in Vasily’s cabin.
In the evening after the bath we drank some wine, which Jordy took from Spain, and told our stories. My fellow didn’t seat quiet too and got the good trophy of the Siberian roe.
I had to add just one thing. Our outfitter was Prohunt. KZ, thank you very much to them for this adventure.
