Reports

I hunted for the Mid-Asian Ibex in the Tien Shan mountains in October. The altitude, where the hunt took place,  was 4000 masl. I shot under 27 degrees angle from 260 meters. The Ibex population at that area is stable but you’ll need time to find the trophy size male. 

Hunting for the Siberian Ibex near the Sayano-Shushenskiy nature reserve border. The altitude was 900 masl. The weather was fine, +7°, no wind. Hunting was organized at the end of October, the rut time. That’s why we could approach the trophy easily. The shooting distance was 240 m, at the 13 degrees angle. The horns size is 100 cm. 

I’ve just arrived from my hunting for Koryak Snow Sheep. The shot was done from the distance 330 m (300WM). I flied there though Anadyr and then by the chopper to the hunting area. The taken trophy was more than average for that area and I’m satisfied.

The hunt was organized by OK Sonor and High- Hunt company. The scouts spotted the group of sheep beforehand. I was accompanied by 5 guides ( two of them went ahead to check the surroundings and had detected the sheep). The other guides and I went about 5 km and were having rest on the mountain pass. Then we moved to the hunting area and began to approach the sheep. I shot from the distance 540 m across the gorge. The sheep had fallen on the place where it stood.  The rifle -300 WinMag. Blazer, 210 Berger. Thank you for the good organization of the hunt.

It was the mid of February when I and my wife Angela arrived to Iran. My goal was to get three sheep. It took us three hours to get the shotguns in the airport of Teheran and then we drove by two cars to the north, to the Northern Kharasan. All transfers in Iran are done by cars. We drove about 14 hours before reached the place. Weather was awful. Next morning started with guns’ testing. The aim was off and the gun shot in 10 sm lower and 2 sm left. It’s allowed to take just thirty cartridges to Iran and you can use for testing only three of them. I used seven and had to approved that usage separately. Weather in the first day was bad, It was raining. We watched several groups of animals with good males in them but the guides advised to look for the bigger one. Next day the weather changed and we moved to the mountains. The first animals, we met, were the group of boars but then we detected the herd of sheep and one more later. I found trophy size male and we began to approach. We ascended three hours and came to 800 meters. There was no further to go and we decided to wait. Four hours passed and the part of the group started to move to the right . The second part, we were interested in,was traveling to the left and we could came closer. But something scared them and all animals started to run away. The distance was 450 meters and increased. I took the position and shot. The distance was 470 meters. The male ran 20 meters and fell. We measured the horns. The left one was 99 sm and the right one -80 sm. I was really glad. Last time, when hunter took the male with such horns, was 30 years ago!We drove to Birzhent,South Khorasan, where I was going to hunt for Afghan sheep. We had the extra day because managed to finish the previous hunt earlier, and Israfil suggested to show us the town. We visited Akbariyeh Garden and the local market. The international Media released the information about the spread of Covid-19 in Iran that day. All museums were closed. Next day we moved to the mountains. First two hours I saw just several groups of females and youngers that’s why we relocated to the new territory in 20 km from that place. It was about 10 am when I detected the group of sheep lead by the big male. We approached it about an hour and came to 180 meters. I used my own gun P93. It has portable handle made by Russian producer Pavel (White Wind). It has 300 WM, bul. 208 Grey Eld. It was the first time when I used those bullets but they didn't dissapointed me. The sheep ran 20 meters and fell. It was the excellent 12 years old male of Afghan Urial. It was my twentieth sheep by the Club list!For the third sheep, Esfahan sheep we drove to the town Melme, in the Esfahan province. We arrived to the settlement and spent there some time sightseeing. Next morning our group moved to the Base near the town. It was a small three floor house with one bedroom on the last floor. It was chilly but we switched on the heater and it became warm. Toilet was outside. The cook Rasul followed us from the very first hunt . I had to mention that he cooked better than in the restaurants. There are three days for each hunt in Iran, than the hunter should change the location. It means that you can’t to start the next hunt earlier even if you have finished the previous one. Next morning we drove to the mountains and spent half of the day looking for the right male. We observed lots of sheep but not suitable ones. At last one of us pointed to the male who was in the group of twenty sheep but we wanted to come close to consider it. The animals were moving from us. I decided to fire. The distance was 410 meters but the problem was that sheep didn’t stay on the place but were traveling. I took the decision and shot. The sheep jumped and disappeared behind the hill. We ran to the place and found lots of blood there. It ran in 25 meters and fell. I was relieved because nobody wanted to chase the wounded one. It was old 12 years old male. It’s left horn was 76 sm and the tip of the right one was broken and was just 72 sm. Surprise.Israfil told me that they have the extra license for the Shiraz Mouflon and we needed just one or two days for hunting, it meant that we had time to try to get it. Thus we drove one again to the base near the town Banavat, Farce Province. In the next morning we divided into several groups and moved to the mountains. One of the guides who rode a bike spotted the group of males and informed us. We ascended to the top opposite to them and began to monitor. The distance was about 800 meters but suddenly they were scared and sheep ran up and to the left. We found one more herd which grazed in 200 meters behind us. The wind changed and the last group smelled us and also started to run away. We had no choice but to go up to the top of the opposite mountain. We detected several groups there but they all moved to different directions. We followed one of them and came to 300 meters. I took the comfortable position and shot. We were going to the place where the sheep were when noticed the lonely sheep, slowly went down. I shot once again and it fell. I took the excellent trophy of 10 years old male. Thank you very much to the Stalker Group company, to Israfil, Amir and their team!

Shiraz mouflon is the rarest endemic of Iran which habitat in the Yazd province. I waited nine year before got the chance to get that trophy. The hunt was organized in the Broyie reserve called by the name of the Broyie mountains.In the first day we spent five hours looking for the trophy size male and found it. Unfortunately I couldn't take the comfortable shooting position and missed from the distance 570 meters. It was the only opportunity that day.Next day I got the nice eight years old male from the distance 500 meters. It could be ranked into the top ten byt the SCI list. On the next day I was lucky to take the additional trophy of the Jabir gazelle which is in 5 inches bigger than the registered record. Thank you very much to the Stalker company and personal thanks to Vadim Plaksin who accompanied me in that trip.

We spent the night in the hotel and next morning at 6 am drove to the hunting land Darmin reserve. That area, about 70ha, is the habitat for about 2K animals. In two hours we detected the group of animals and there were several trophy size males. The herd was slowly moving up to the gorge. Unfortunately the males we were interested in, gathered in one group and if I shot using my Scenar 250 gr Lapua 338 LM I would wound several of them.  I desired to finish the hunt and fly back home that’s why decided to aim to the lonely male though it wasn’t the biggest one. The shooting distance was 660 meters. Wind 4 m/s. I didn’t take it from the first time and we spent two hours chasing it. Thus I got a good 8 years old trophy. I want to mention the organization of hunts in Iran. Thanks to the income from trophy hunts they managed to create an effective system which support hunting business and protect animals. Thank you very much to the Stalker company, Jasmin Safari and my personal thanks to Vadim Plaksin for his help and support during that interesting hunt.

It was my first hunt in Iran and it left just good impressions. I was impressed by hospitality of natives, interesting culture and traditions, enjoyed local cuisine ( they don’t drink alcohol but I could bear it). The local mountains are really good for walking and the animal’s population density is really high.  The trip was organized by Eric Muller (huntgeo) and he did great job. Highly recommended. I did what was going to take. In the first day I got the trophy of the Persian Desert Ibex, next day was lucky to take the Kerman Sheep. The aim which I reached on the Day #4 was Esfahan Mouflon. Thus I closed the list “30 Ibexes” according the Club classification.

After the lucky hunt for the Vercors Chamois in the weekend, we drove to the Chartreuse mountains for hunting for another kind of chamois inhabited there. We were driving by the mountain serpentine from one village to another and then arrived to the place, the last one as I thought but was mistaken. We stopped neat the chalet and I saw that the office of the National Forest (ONF) was located on the first floor there. It was five a.m. but one of the officers waited for us there. We took the necessary permits, listened to the instruction and had a cup of coffee. According to the rules, hunting in the state forests or the reserves should be done under the control of the ONF staff member. We changed the car and drove by the new one which belonged to ONF, arrived to the border of the reserve and then hiked up to the mountain. The Chartreuse mountains is near the Vercors mountain massif but there’s a lot of more snow though it'd almost melted under the rain. It took us an hour and a half to  reach the first gorge where we detected the group of chamois. Hiding behind the bush we carefully considered the animals. The authority representative nodded and I shot. The distance was 170 meters. Thus I got my trophy of the Chartreuse Chamois.

I’d got the male of the Armenian mouflon in Iran. The trophy was taken on the island Cabagan, the Urmia lake. The weather wasn’t well, it was snow and wind but sometimes we saw the sun. I shot from the distance 425 meters and got 10 years old male. That day we hiked about 20 km.

At the beginning of February I hunted in Iran.  The Afghan Urial was taken in the Southern Khorasan, the Transcaspian urial was got in the Northern Khorasan. The weather was nice but sometimes it was strong winds with gusts up to 5 m/s. The both trophies was taken from the short distances from 230 to 280 meters. The altitude was about 2500 masl.  We hiked a lot when looking for the trophy of the Transcaspian urial. Everything was organized on the very high level. All team  worked hard. I should mention the good job of my guide Amir, the interpreter Masum (whose contribution to the hunting process can’t  be overestimated), our cook Rasul and the driver Mohamed.  The trip was organized by the outfitter  Esrafili Shafizade, who is wildly known in the hunting world.

At the beginning of this year I was invited to the hunt in France. Our goals were trophies of the Vercors and the Chartreuse Chamois. That trip was organized by one the well-known and the most professional hunter in France, Renaud Desgrées du Loû. We'd flown to Lyon and then drove Grenoble. After checking in n the hotel, we had dinner and discussed our plans. In early morning we moved to the mountains. Hunting for the Vercors chamois was arranged in the PARC NATUREL REGIONAL du VERCORS. It took us about an hour to ascend to the top through the thick forest. It was windy that didn’t like. We spend several hours looking for the worth trophy but didn’t find any. Then we detected the group of animals which grazed in about one km from us. We could approach them but the guides said that the group pastured on the land which didn’t belong to them and it was prohibited  to hunt there. I was really surprised and upset. We stood there for a while staring to them but then decided to go back to the car.  I was almost resigned, that the hunt was over but was looking around while coming back and hoped to find the trophy chamois. It was about 300 meters to the car when we detected the male which grazed beneath us. I examined the trophy carefully and decided to shoot. I made the accurate shot but  it was getting dark and we all decided to come back for the trophy next day (Sunday) and did it. It was much harder to reach the place where it was than to go to the place from where I shot yesterday. But I was in a very high spirit and could move heaven. Thus I got the Vercors Chamois.