Reports

We walked 17 km through mountainous terrain during that hunt. The guides worked very smoothly, they found a group of Marhors,  and corrected our movements by radio. It helped us to approach  450 meters. Then it was possible to reduce the distance to the target of 318 meters. A good shot and the beast was taken. Many thanks to all the organizers and guides of this hunt. She will be remembered for a long time!

I managed to approach 100 m and got my trophy of the Caucasian tur.

On the third day, I got my trophy on the third  hunting day, the distance was 490 m, the angle was -30 degrees .

Первый лось, которого выманил сам.

It was a difficult hunt for the Kuban Tur.  The first trip in early October did not bring results: I spent 7 days in the mountains, the weather was awful,  snow and fog...  A great desire to receive this year's "Russian Caucasian Prize" made me return to the KCR a month later. That time the weather was on our side: tt was cloudless sky and complete calm.  It was the most difficult hunt in my memory. The first day  we just walked. The camp was located at the  altitude 2100 m. At  3 am we started climbing, and over the next 25 hours we covered 26 km. The total vertical climb was 2.5 km. It was a very difficult route along the stone Russians, steep ascents, where the snow depth reached 1 meter on the northern slopes. We had overcome 2 passes 3200 m above sea level.  The herd, we found, consisted of 17 animals. I got the trophy  from a distance of 240 meters.  Gorgeous trophy, 14 years old.

I wanted to hunt that chamois in the wonderful republic of North Ossetia for a very long time. In addition, that trophy closed my list of trophies allowed to be hunted in Russia in the Caucasus. The weather was  perfect. I was accompanied by professionals. It took us just a hour and a half to make a shot after getting out of the car.  The shooting distance was 370 m with an angle of -19 degrees and that shot marked the successful completion of the hunt! I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who helped organize this wonderful hunt!

That hunt for the Central Caucasian tur in Kabardino-Balkaria began at 4 a.m.. At  the beginning we drove by car, then switched to horses, and only then from a height of 3000 m. n.m we began climbing on foot.  We detected the male on the opposite slope in an hour after climbing the ridge from a height of 3,500 m. at a distance of 1,200 m .  After a short discussion we  left the observers, and went  to shorten the distance along the open slope, from a distance of 700 m. We went down into the gorge, theen rose and happened to be at the distance  320 m. Unfortunately the male noticed us, and while he was taking up a position, the tur was already up. I had to shoot on the move. The sound of the hit was heard, the tur fell over the ridge. Observers on the radio confirmed and congratulated. The trophy turned out to be a 14-year-old Mid-Caucasian tour. That was my 13th trophy on the list of the CMH Mountain Hunter Cup. Cristensen Arms rifle, 300 WSM, 175 gr Berger VLD Hunting. 12 out of 13 trophies were taked with that rifle. Many thanks to Hing Hunt Pro for the excellent organization of hunting. I met those guys at the CMH New Year's Eve party in 2017. From the beginning, the guys helped me get a Mountain five, then they convinced me to achieve better results in reality and helped me get all the trophies of the Mountain Hunters Cup.

That chamois hunting in North Ossetia began at dawn. We detected two chamois very quickly, the first one was at a distance of 1200 m, the other at 780 m. We decided to shorten the distance. We managed to approached 560 m. to the first chamois at a slope of + 40 degrees, but it noticed us. I did not have time to prepare for the shot while I had a chance that's why we decided to go up further to the second one. We went around and approach it from above. Climbing the steep slope took 5 hours, but the chamois was not found. Then we decided to go down and barely found the only place to descend. We returned to the camp by dark. The next morning, events were developing rapidly. The chamois was immediately discovered from the camp, we immediately moved to that direction. As a result, we approached the distance to 380 m. and I got it with one shot.

It was with great pleasure to come back to hunt in Kazakhstan in the hunting farm "Granitogorsk", located on the border with Kyrgyzstan. It was snowing heavily the day before my arrival and the mountains were covered with a stable snow cover. But then the weather improved and promised sunny and frosty days, at night up to -20 degrees. I chose the longest and highest route, I wanted to work a little and walk around. In the morning we started from a height of 2400 meters, to the Kumbel pass, located at an altitude of 3400 meters. It took us about 3,5 hours to climb. Large groups of argali were spotted on the upper plateaus, hunting for them is prohibited in Kazakhstan. The animals, apparently realized that and let us to approached a distance of about 150 meters. We climbed to the top, a magnificent picture of snow-capped mountains and valleys opened up to us. Tactics were very optimal to approach the animals from above. Finally our long search for ibexes was finished with success by 1 pm, when we noticed a group of ibexes below at an altitude of about 2700 meters. There was a long and stealthy descent down to the distance of the shot. We were able to approach the distance of 600 meters unnoticed, at an angle of 25 degrees. I ​fired the first shot at the most adult male from a not very comfortable, but still stable position I missed it. The reason was not entirely clear. Apparently, the reason was in my new carbine, which I took with me on a hunt for the first time, it hadn't yet been fully studied and shot by me. Then we began to chase animals in an attempt to use a second chance. In an hour of pursuit, we found a group of males resting on the rocks. There were not particularly outstanding trophies in it, but I decided to shoot at one of them at a distance of 420 meters. I shot twice and hit it the ibex was got, but then it fell from a steep cliff and broke off the ends of the horns. The approach to the trophy on the steep slope also made me sweat. As a result, I got 10 years old male in a sufficient labor hunt. We found two more large males with horns about 120 cm when we’re going down, but I did not hunt more despite having a free license.   That day I walked 22 kilometers through the mountains, which took 11 hours.

In September 2021, I managed to visit Yakutia (Sakha Republic) where hunted for the Yakut snow sheep. I was lucky to get a trophy of snow sheep. It was 10 years old male. I got acquainted with the changeable Oymyakon weather, local beauties, and the local animals. I was really impressed by meeing such interesting, enthusiastic people. Everything was organized on the high level. Many thanks to the head of the club Afanasy Alekseevich Shishigin, thanks to my guide Yakov Kondakov.

November was warm and it allowed turs to be on the tops of mountain ranges. We ascended 3000 m and began to look for the animals monitoring the slopes. It made possible to find good males by the evening. I shot at a short distance completed the campaign.

I was going to visit Dagestan in the last year, but  had to postpone the trip to the beginning of November this year. Dagestan was greeted with warm and rainy weather. It took us  5 hours drive from Makhachkala to the village of Khnov in the Akhtyn district on the border with Azerbaijan where we met the hospitable Elson Mahmudov and his family. The weather allowed us to go to the mountains only on the 3rd day. We got up  at 3 am and rode to the mountains. Horses in the mountains were of great help. By dawn we were at the camp, where we had breakfast and then  went in search of turs.  We saw several groups of turs during the day, but something prevented us to come closer. We noticed a group of three turs on the way back to the camp, one of which was good.  Then there was the rapid ascent and approach to the distance of the shot. The distance was 297 meters. I shot and a tur was got.  I would like to note the professionalism of Elson's team. Many thanks to the guides Zaur and Ruslan. Thank you for the warm welcome!