The idea to go hunting in Tajikistan for the trophy of Marco Polo argali came to me in the summer, during the hunting trip for the Dagestan tur in Azerbaijan. I realized that I just needed to visit the Pamirs. I contacted the Stalker Group company, and received an offer to go to the opening of the season in early October. It took me one week.
The day of arrival.
On October 8th, 2016 I flew from Yekaterinburg to Dushanbe. The local outfitter Nikolay and his son Dalish met me in the airport where I’d arrived in three hours. Just after the arrival we drove to the restaurant where I tasted Eastern cuisine. After it we should have to drive not less than 12 hours to the place where we had to stay for a night and then to drive to the hunting area the next day. The journey of about 600 kilometers was overcome in comfortable conditions, on a Land Cruiser car. I especially appreciated the comfort of the car in the middle of the journey, when the paved road from Dushanbe ended. It happened quite abruptly, as soon as we reached the Panj River, which runs along the border of Tajikistan with Afghanistan.
The way lay through the mountains, the road was difficult and had not been repaired since Soviet times, as the driver said. Asphalt was still present in some places, and some sections of the canvas were surprisingly well preserved, what indicated the high quality of the road surface created during the Soviet era. There was no trace of the road-apparently in some places. I guessed it depended on the contractor who performed road work.
Let's come back to journey. Twelve hours later we arrived to Iskander's house. He was one of the sons of Nikolay and stayed for a night there.
The next Sunday morning we got up at 6am because we had to drive 550 km more to the hunting land. The total way from Dushanbe to the Marco Polo habitat was 1150km!
We thanked Iskander's family and took the tastiest apples growing in his yard, and continued our journey from the altitude 2300 meters above sea level. The road passed near the Chinese border, there were many towers, border posts and fences. Already at the entrance to the hunting camp we met a large group of Marco Polo sheep, about 100 animals and my soul was seized with excitement But it consisted of ewes with lambs only. The outfitter tried to drive them away from the Chinese border, but it was unsuccessful, and we went further.
It was 3pm when we reached the camp located on the height 410 masl. The outfitter’s assistants went for went out to reconnoitre. There was no more than three hours of daylight left, and the most reasonable thing was to spend testing our guns. It was necessary to find out empirically what correction to make due to the rarefied air at such an altitude. We set the target in 300m. At this distance the correction was only half a minute at that distance, it meant that the bullet went only 7 cm higher than at home on the plain – in Yekaterinburg. I planned a further hunt using those verified parameters.
I felt oxygen starvation for the first time at that day. It was accompanied by malaise, pressing headaches and shortness of breath.
The first day.
On Monday, October 10th, the first hunting day came. At 6:30 am, Iskander and I and our three assistants drove out on the UAZ to search of our main target – the Marco Polo sheep. A fairly large lynx caught my eye in two km after we left the camp, and the guys offered to take it. But I preferred not to waste time and said no.
In half an hour later, at a distance of 3-4 kilometers, we detected a large group of argali. The guides noticed several males with worthy trophy characteristics. But there was no way to approach them – the animals were in an open area and would easily have found us. We had to look for others.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before I noticed five sheep lying on a mountain slope a little over a kilometer away from us. After a shot discussion we decided to go them around.
The way to the ridge was about two km, then we crossed it and met the lonely ram that ran away. Unfortunately, the five that we were approaching, rushed after him, and all our efforts were in vain…
That two-kilometer path, which turned out to be useless, made me feel "all the charm" of the highlands. It became a serious test for the body despite my good physical fitness. The thin air provoked such shortness of breath, which happens only after kilometer runs in a fast cross. I had to make stops every 50 m to take a breath. At the same time, I noticed that the descent was much easier, my body accepted it with gratitude.
At 2pm the guides went to check another gorge. Iskander saw my condition and offered to stay at the car with his assistant Rahim. He promised they would contact us by radio f worthy specimens were found.
The radio was alive in a half of an hour. The guys said that had found sheep.
We went about 700-800m and detected the group of animals on one of the elevations. They pastured on both sides of the mountain slope, and between them was a mountain peak. Those most worthy specimens of males were just behind it. Our strategy was to walk exactly in the middle between groups of ewes with lambs, without frightening them, and to climb to the mountain top to see the males.
We moved with quick short runs, 50-70 meters, as far as I had the strength and health to keep up with Iskander, we were moving towards the goal. Finally, we reached the foot of the mountain at the level of 4200 meters, where another difficulty was: the slope consisted of large stones, as if scattered by a careless giant, and we had to climb another 300-400 meters.
It was hard, but we could reach the height of 4571 meters. The distance to the sheep was 600m with the angle 15 degrees. I set the carbine, took aim, but my breathing didn’t allow me to concentrate – the cross in the sight grid was constantly "walking". It was necessary to completely gather myself and hold my breath. At last, I could do it.
In a few seconds, I was already being congratulated on a successful shot! I couldn't describe my condition at that moment, but it was a true delight. One of the highest mountain sheep in the world- the King of Sheep - Argali Marco Polo was taken from the first shot at an altitude of more than 4000 meters, at a distance of 600 meters.
Then, Iskander and Rahim got to the trophy, lowered it three hundred meters, where we did a photo session with congratulations. Then we transported the trophy to the camp and where had a gala dinner dedicated to a successful hunt.
The second day.
The second day of hunting in Tajikistan became a "Day of mistakes” for me. It started at 5am when we woke up and left the Base at 6.30. Then everything went wrong. I think, that the reason was the accumulated fatigue, combined with a lack of experience in shooting at high altitudes in conditions of oxygen starvation.
I analyzed that hunt and came to the conclusion that It was not the best time to take the trip to Tajikistan: after a week of hunting in Kamchatka, I returned to Yekaterinburg just a few weeks before on September 10. I had accumulated a lot of questions about work by that time and had to go on business trips three times. As a result, I returned to Yekaterinburg on Friday, October 7, and flew to Tajikistan the next morning. To be honest, I came to Tajikistan pretty tired, and there was a difficult adaptation to the highland The maximum height of my mountain hunting was 3500 meters above sea level before the Tajik Pamir. All those factors prevented me to achieve the second goal on the second day – to take the trophy of the Central Asian ibex…
In an hour after we left the camp, we spotted a group of ibexes, and decided to approach them from the right. We hiked about 2 km and ascended 350m. There was an interesting male among the group. The distance to the herd was one km. I took the decision to shoot because the horizon was just 6% that made the shot easier. I had the experience in such shooting – I have experienced such trajectories in the shooting gallery, on the range, on the plain hunting for roe deer, and I thought that everything should work out here as well. I verified all the calculations and corrections before the shot, taking into account the height and degree of inclination, distance. But didn’t make the correction for the horizon. It takes about 1.5 minutes per kilometer (about 60-70 cm in centimeters). We hold our breath and follow the bullet that flew over the ibex, fell on the ground and hit it with a shockwave. After it, the male disappeared from sight. There was an assumption that the bullet could have caught him, but after I realized that didn’t make a horizontal correction, I had to accept an unambiguous miss.
The second mistake happened in the evening. That time I made both horizontal and vertical corrections, but set only 0,8 degrees instead of +8 at the weather station due to inattention. It was more than 25cm. We all saw clearly -I watched it in the scope, the guys through the binoculars, that the bullet flew over the ibex's mane. If I had taken into account the parameters, a record distance shot would have taken place – 1071 meters! Apparently, that record was postponed for the next time.
That was the end of the second day of hunting and the fourth day of my stay in Tajikistan.
The third day.
On Wednesday we drove to another hunting area and I was impressed by its nature. The terrain was radically different from the previous one and gave the impression of some unreal, cosmic landscape.
It didn’t take much time to detect the ibex but it was small and we were not interested in it. The male was just 3-4 years, the distance to the animal was about 250-300m. It laid on the rock, and would be too easy prey. We agreed to continue hunting and it wasn’t difficult. After 40 minutes, we found a group of ibexes which began to move from us.
It was one more test for my body – a run after ibexes at an altitude of 3960 meters. I observed the distance that could help me to make an accurate shot when we reached the place where it was possible to observe a group of animals rising in a straight line. Iskander defined it through the binocular. At the beginning it was 570m. The ibexes were moving from us and ascending the peak. They were going to the right by the gorge, the angle was 16 degrees. The distance was constantly changing. I set the carbine on the stone, aimed but the sun shined just straight to my eyes. Iskander selflessly made the decision to shield the sun with himself. He blocked the sun and measured the distance simultaneously. It was 780 meters. 800M... Then the ibexes divided into several groups. We had to make the decision what male to choose. I chose the goat that was darker than others. The distance was 800m when I shot. The ibex jerked and fell after it had walked a few meters. It was my new record for the range of a shot on a mountain hunt! As the guides said later, a successful shot was fired for the first time in their hunting farm at such a distance and at such an angle.
Unfortunately, we weren’t impressed by the trophy qualities when we got to the trophy. Its size was only 80 cm (a young male 5-6 years old). Iskander was extremely upset, but I calmed him down and explained that I was quite satisfied and the distance of the shot was much more important in that case.
The departure day.
That was the end of the hunt in Tajikistan, and the way back was ahead. We returned back to Iskander's house where we spent the night and on Thursday morning left in the direction of Dushanbe. Nikolai and his son met us again in Dushanbe and escorted me to the airport. I’m thankful to all of them. I would like to thank Nikolay and his sons separately for their Eastern hospitality!
I’m going to return. Everything was competently organized-hunting, accommodation, transfers directly. Separately, I want to note the amazing, unearthly beauty of nature, splendour highlands that is ideal for the long -range shooting.
