Отчеты

In August I hunted in Yakutia. We were lucky with weather. I’ve got the trophy of Yakutia snow sheep. It became 11- years old ram. Thank you very much to Afanasy Shishigin and my guide Yakov Kondakov.

On August 23rd, 2021 I got the trophy of American mountain goat (male) on Alaska. It wasn’t a difficult hunting. We saw about 10 animals during two days of hunting. I had a choice. We climbed up to 1000 meters. We hiked during day hours from the mobile camp where had been delivered by light plane. The shooting distance was 200m, the rented rifle - Sako, cal. 300 WM.  The outfitter - "Fejes Guide Service Ltd". This company is know not in the USA but also abroad. The owner Sam Feyes made comfortable conditions for hunters and fishermen in his lodge, had boats and planes to deliver customers to the mountains and to the coast. Sam isn’t only a manager but the experienced pilot and hunter at the same time. He is very sociable, pleasant in communication, attentive to customers. His company maintains close contacts with the Russian company "Stalker Group".

The hunting took place on the lands located in the Middle ridge of the Bystrinsky district of Kamchatka at altitudes from 1200 to 1600 meters. The guides made a reconnaissance of the alleged location of the sheep and the next day after our arriving to the camp, we moved to the hunting . At the beginning, small Polaris cargo quadrics with the formula 6X6 were used on the way, and then the path was already on foot. In total, we covered 15 km on foot that day. I was worried about the shot (it was my first mountain hunting), but I was worried also about my physical training. Fortunately I overcame that route quite well (regular 8-9 km running affected me). We arrived at the place at noon and by 5 o'clock we detected three males grazing on the slopes (in the so-called "circus"). The guides estimated the trophy qualities, and began to plan the tactics of the approach. At that moment, the distance was 650 meters, not attainable for me yet. We descended a little from the ridge and moved to the left under the cover of the ridge. As a result, we managed to get to a distance of 240 meters from where an accurate shot was fired at an angle of 35 degrees and a crosswind of 3.5 m/s. My first mountain trophy was got in the very first day of hunting. It became a Kamchatka snow sheep at the age of 9-10 years. It is also worth noting the excellent and well-coordinated work of the guides! In total, the whole hunt took 3 days, including the hunt itself, the road to the camp and back! And in general, the whole hunt, taking into account flights to Kamchatka and back, was 5 days, although it was originally planned for 13!!!

On August 23rd I arrived to Kamchatka and we drove to the base camp immediately.  It took us 3-4 hours drive from the airport. The camp was well organized, the each hunter had its own tent with the cot and a stove. There was a shower tent near the river. The first night I slept well. The next morning we tested our guns and moved to the hunting lands. We had only guns and necessary equipment for few days. The first day we hiked about 8 km and climbed 600-700 vertical meters. That night we spent on the slope. In the morning we got up and began to ascend. We rose higher and went on going by the tops of the rocks. In five hours we detected a sheep in 1 km from us and started to approach. We could reduce the distance to 500m and I made a shot.  I hit the target but the ram still stood and I shot the second time. It was the final. The used rifle Blaser R8, a bullet Berger 210.  I want to note a good organization of the trip and the high density of animals.

In August 2012 I hunted for a Kolyma snow sheep on the Kolyma highlands. The rainy and windy weather delayed our flight to the remote and inaccessible hunting lands. We flew from Chukotka only when it became possible. We walked a lot before detected the male. It was eating mushroom that came in abundance after the rains. I got the nice 14 years old trophy. The shot was done from 580 m at the angle. I consider that hunt to be an average difficulty except its logistic. My personal thanks to Sergey Tyutchev who accompanied me.

He hunted the Koryak bighorn sheep in the southeastern part of the Penzhinsky district in August 2021. The weather was rainy and windy, which made it difficult to fly to the land and forced, as they say, to seize the moment. The grounds are inaccessible, and a turntable was indispensable. They flew into the grounds from the direction of Chukotka. Early in the morning, in the fog, we noticed a group of six rams, the oldest of which was killed. Shot 450 meters with 300 Norma. Hunting of medium difficulty.

In mid-August, we went to Taimyr with Yuri Viktorovich Vasiliev. Our goal was to get the muskox. We were going to make that hunt in 2020 but the coronavirus pandemic prevented it. The trip was organized by the company "Profi Hunt", personally its general director Artem Veselov. The muskox lives in several regions of Russia, but licenses for its production can be obtained only in Taimyr. This rare animal is under special control. There were only 20 licenses were issued for the muskox in 2021. The logistics of such a trip required careful planning. We could fly from Norilsk but it turned out, that flights are often canceled there, and we were advised to fly from Krasnoyarsk. Therefore, the route turned out to be Moscow – Krasnoyarsk-Khatanga. Only a charter flies to Khatanga from Krasnoyarsk, and tickets had to be taken in advance. We arrived to Krasnoyarsk normally. Yak-42D flied to Khatanga. The interior amenities of this plane leave a lot to be desired. There were no empty seats, and 1 kg of overload cost 250 rubles due to the end of the summer season. It took us 3 hours flight. After arrival to Khatanga, we reloaded our luggage to MI-8 and flied to lake Taymir, Cape Sabler. The hunting lodge belonged to Yuri Zhdanov, a helicopter pilot and a local outfitter. It took us one hour and forty-five minutes to fly there. The lodge consisted of one main building and several small ones. We accommodated in different rooms with hard beds. Then we tested the gun on 100m and ate lunch that consisted of soup and salted char. Several notes for everyone who is going there. You have to be prepared for the fact that the diet there is very poor: deer meat and Arctic char due to the lack of food delivery to Khatanga. On the same day, we found a single muskox near the base. I shot form 306 m distance and all four bullets hit the aim. The bull walked a little and collapsed. We concluded that it was an excellent trophy, a very old gray-haired muskox after examined it close. Yuri Viktorovich got his bull the next day.  Our trophies are in the Top 5 SCI according to preliminary estimates. Additional I could get the trophy of a reindeer not far from the camp. The shooting distance was 437m. It was also an excellent trophy with taste meat that we used for soup. So, all our tasks were completed. But we couldn't leave Khatanga as we planned. There were flights just two times a week and we had to wait several days to leave it. There was just one cafe in the rural locality and it has the specific time schedule. Nobody saw us off. We took with us luggage and frozen meat and fish. And had to pay for overloading once again. But it was cheaper just 100 rub per extra kg. We had to make a veterinary certificate for the trophies, and send them separately. Unfortunately Yuri Zhdanov's son Ivan let us down. He was responsible for that part of the trip but he turned out to be an irresponsible performer. The plane from Khatanga arrived in Krasnoyarsk late, but we still managed to catch our flight to Moscow. I thank the company "Pro Hunt" and personally Artem Veselov for organizing the hunt.

My second trip to Kamchatka was successful. I did the only one but an accurate shot despite on the whims of the weather: angry wind and torrential rain, endless fogs. My trophy became 9 years old Kamchatka snow sheep. Great thanks to the High Hunt Pro company. I wish “no fluff, no feather" in the coming season to all teammates and hunters.

We arrived to the place, set the camp and stormed the dominant height to search for the coveted trophy carried away by the excitement. There were only pictures and thoughts in my head, if everything worked out today. But several hours of observation did not bring results. The places were gorgeous, sheep-like. All the slopes were cut by long-term trails. We decided to go down to the campsite. to set up tents and to arrange everyday life. We put up two tents there and settled down. The cook made the chic dinner from the fillet of a sheep taked on the eve. There was a dispute about whether it was worth to take meat to the hunt (hunters are superstitious people). If we were not lucky in the hunt, the culprit was determined, it was the cook who did that dinner, and we all ate it. A fox came to the camp in the evening. Probably it was the fox that balanced all the signs. At night, a strong wind rose and lasted all the next day. In the next morning, we had breakfast and went to the mountains. A group of males was detected after several hours of observations. The approach to the shot took an hour and a half. The distance was 480 meters. Two hits and the trophy of the Kolyma snow sheep was obtained. I got one step closer to the Award. Many thanks to Alexey Alekseev for organizing this wonderful adventure, everything was on 5+.

I got Dagestan tur in Dagestan. It was very interesting and had hunting. We rode by horses 10 hours and overcame 36 km distance to the tent camp. After it we climbed 7 km one way.

It has sense to think about Spain in a spring when the hunting season is over in most regions of the world. I decided to go there for the trophies "Mountain Goat of Besait” and "Mountain Goat of Gredos". That time I chose a local hunting outfitter in Spain. My choice was based on positive feedback I read in the Internet, and I did not have to regret this decision. I had already hunted in Spain before, and knew the general organization of such an event. My flight from Estonia (Tallinn) was canceled a few hours before the scheduled time, and I had to take a flight the next day, so I began to doubt that I would have time to hunt twice. Mr. Augusto Rodriguez Zafra met me at the Madrid airport. I got my weapons at the customs office, and we drove east from Madrid. The hunting land was located a little north of Valencia, in the municipality of Castelfort. We found a place to test the gun and managed to walk a little before dark in the same evening. The landscape was not particularly mountainous, there were gentle ascents and descents. In the early morning of the next day, we went to the place where a group of animals had been seen a few days ago. After a few hours of walking, we saw several males, and there was one trophy size one. But the animals noticed us and ran away while the huntsman was trying to explain to me which animal to shoot . But the huntsman knew the territory perfectly well and was sure that the animals had gone to a certain direction, and suggested to make a circle to arrive to the expected place of their next stop. After 40 minutes, we saw the animals down in the valley, I managed to hit an 11-year-old Beceite Ibex and from a distance of 185 meters . After hunting, we decided to relax in the cafe-bar of a small nearby village, and I was surprised how many people decided to take a break from work and, to have a glass of wine at the same time we came there. People treated me very warmly, and took told about their hunting affairs. The next morning we left Castelfort. After 7 hours’ drive we arrived to the next place where I was going to hunt for a Gredos ibex. In the evening, we accommodated in the hotel and had a great time in the restaurant, where we tasted excellent local dishes and wines and discussed the plan for the next day. I had to get up very early in the morning, it wasn't even dawn yet. It took us an hour to drive to the place. The hunt took place in an area called Villarejo del Valle. Augusto carefully prepared for that hunt: we were accompanied by two local hunter-guides and two students from the local zoo college, who had been observing animals moving along the foothills for the previous couple of days. The landscape in that region was significantly different from where I got the first trophy. It was very mountainous and higher above sea level, the ascents were longer and steeper but the views were magnificent. No wonder “Gredos Ibex” is considered to be the most exclusive of all four ibexes found in Spain. At dawn, the interns settled down with their binoculars on the mountainside, and we went to search on the opposite side. The reconnaissance did not let us down, and soon we noticed a group of males. We were cautiously approaching them in the direction of the mountain top, looking for a suitable one. It was risky to get too close, that’s why I fired from a distance of 280 meters and hit a 10-year-old Gredos ibex. The guide told the students in detail about the principles of determining the age of the animal and the features of measuring the length of the horns when we came down from the mountain. That time we also celebrated a successful hunt in a local restaurant. I was particularly impressed by the hunt for Gredos ibex, as well as Augusto’s preparation in order to make the hunt for the guest as effective as possible.

At the end of October, 2019, I hunted in Karachaevo-Cherkessia near the Uchkulan village. Hunting was organized in public lands. We used horses to drive to the mountains. It’d be too hard without them. The shooting distance was 480 m at the angle 27 degrees. I doubted if I hit it or not because the tur ran very fast after shooting. It was a strong animal and ran about 50 meters more. I liked the nature. My personal thanks to Khasan for his jokes and sharp eyes! I hope to come back again and to get more serious trophy. I know they are there.

At the end of November, 2019 I hunted at the Elson hunting lands. It was cold about -15C. There was snow in the mountains that’s why we drove when it was dark from the valley side towards Azerbaijan border. Then we climbed by foot to the place where the group of animals had been seen a day before. The shooting distance was 780 m, 338 LM at the upward angle. The trophy became 13 years old male.

I realized my dream about hunting for the endemic Kri-Kri ibex in Greece. It took one hunting day and we managed to finish everything before the authority announced the international quarantine. The hunt was organized on the Atalanti island on November 6th. That kind of hunting differed from others in the time limits and the gun’s choice. You can hunt there with the shotgun only. Time allotted for hunting is from 8 am to 4 pm and just one day. If the hunter don’t get the trophy, he should be transferred to another part of the country.The density of the animal’s population is high there. I’ve got 6 years old male.

It was interesting hunt in the North Macedonia mountains. It was twilight when we could approach the animal. The shooting distance was 218 meters. I fired at 11 degrees angle from above. The used rifle Blaser R-8 cal. 300 Win MAG. Thank you for a good organization.

It was the very interesting hunt in Dagestan. I heard a lot about the animal’s density and good trophy characteristics of animals, dwelled there. But one thing is to hear and another one to hunt there! I traveled with son. In the first day we detected the group of 30 males but the wind changed our plans. Later in the same canyon we found the second group of males. The wind was not on our side and the animals began to run from us. Fortunately, I was in time to made all calculations and made the accurate shot. The shooting distance was 348 meters, the shot was done at angle 31*. My trophy was nice 11 years old male which I got by the only shot.

The continuation of my hunting adventures in Kazakhstand. When the first part of the trip was over we drove to the Alakul district of Almaty region. It took us 17 hours. At 5 am we arrived to the place where were going to hunt for the Dzungar ibex. We spent two hours in the fold with the shepherds and then went to hunt. The number of animals, we saw after leaving the base, made us to forget about long and tough ways and even about the fold.  There was a great variety of animals for all tastes. I didn’t have time to look for the biggest male and got the one which had a good size. I fired to the running aim form 260 m distance and at 35 degrees angle. The fist shot stopped it and the second killed. The hunt took less than two hours from the time we left the fold and came back. The weather was -5C. Thank you very much to the outfitter Aziz Akbaraliev and to my guide Jumagali. Personal thanks to Artem Veselov and to the Profi Hunt company.