Adventurewriter
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Just got back from Kyrgyzstan and hunting Ibex in the land of Genghis Khan. It was a long tough but successful trip. I have been trying to make this happen for several years. The key in Pakistan is for it to be in the dead of the winter when the snow drives them down from the high mountains and you can actually get at them. I thought it was the same in Kyrgyzstan....not so. I could have actually gone in Sept. when the weather is like Sept. Colorado weather instead of the Siberia weather I had to deal with. Oh well you live and learn.
Spent several days in Biskeck the Capitol City....got rousted by the cops for a small bribe....it has the stamp of communist ugliness and for the most part really ready to get out of Biskeck. The trip to the hunting area was a loooong one of about 15 hours driving on crappy roads. The altitude was about 14,000 feet where the hunting was and super steep....and oh yeah was like 15 below Fahrenheit. When we first saw Ibex I thought there was no way we could hunt there. Super steep crumbly cliffs....well that's where we hunted. The horses were amazing and I never thought a horse could do what they did across super steep boulder fields and scree fields...cliffs...you name it. But then much of the hunting was on our feet. It was the toughest hunt I have ever been on. I had two hunters with me. These guys were amazing. "Bek" the best of the two was able to move across the roughest coldest country I have ever dealt with not wearing boots but wool boot liners like strolling in the park. The gun I used was a Russian Kalashnikov semi auto sniper rifle with a crazy old scope with all sorts of cross hairs and Cyrillic (Russian) letters.....but it made 10 inch group ot 250 yard and seemed solid. Bek said most shots at 200 or so.
We saw hundreds of Ibex a day. Our hunting area was a 30 mile mountain range and they take like 3 hunters a year so you might think tha the Ibex might not be too spooky. Wrong....they are like the antelope of the cliffs. If they see you a mile away they make a mad dash for the highest roughest cliffs. Bek had the crappiest pair of binoculars you could imagine and he was awesome at judging. We had numerous chances at what looked to me to be good Ibex but Bek said "No one meter" meaning they would not break 39 inches....40 inches is I think bench mark to the trophy class.
We saw a few noticeably bigger rams but they were much rarer. I was able to take a 47 inch heavy horned Siberian Ibex think with a thick winter coat and a nice beard on day three. He was 10 years old and a loner his horns showing the wear of a long life in a very tough enviorment. It was a tough hunt....add in a 30 hour airline trip each way....came home with a cold and still beat from the whole process. A memorable experince....but next time palm trees might be in the works....
Spent several days in Biskeck the Capitol City....got rousted by the cops for a small bribe....it has the stamp of communist ugliness and for the most part really ready to get out of Biskeck. The trip to the hunting area was a loooong one of about 15 hours driving on crappy roads. The altitude was about 14,000 feet where the hunting was and super steep....and oh yeah was like 15 below Fahrenheit. When we first saw Ibex I thought there was no way we could hunt there. Super steep crumbly cliffs....well that's where we hunted. The horses were amazing and I never thought a horse could do what they did across super steep boulder fields and scree fields...cliffs...you name it. But then much of the hunting was on our feet. It was the toughest hunt I have ever been on. I had two hunters with me. These guys were amazing. "Bek" the best of the two was able to move across the roughest coldest country I have ever dealt with not wearing boots but wool boot liners like strolling in the park. The gun I used was a Russian Kalashnikov semi auto sniper rifle with a crazy old scope with all sorts of cross hairs and Cyrillic (Russian) letters.....but it made 10 inch group ot 250 yard and seemed solid. Bek said most shots at 200 or so.
We saw hundreds of Ibex a day. Our hunting area was a 30 mile mountain range and they take like 3 hunters a year so you might think tha the Ibex might not be too spooky. Wrong....they are like the antelope of the cliffs. If they see you a mile away they make a mad dash for the highest roughest cliffs. Bek had the crappiest pair of binoculars you could imagine and he was awesome at judging. We had numerous chances at what looked to me to be good Ibex but Bek said "No one meter" meaning they would not break 39 inches....40 inches is I think bench mark to the trophy class.
We saw a few noticeably bigger rams but they were much rarer. I was able to take a 47 inch heavy horned Siberian Ibex think with a thick winter coat and a nice beard on day three. He was 10 years old and a loner his horns showing the wear of a long life in a very tough enviorment. It was a tough hunt....add in a 30 hour airline trip each way....came home with a cold and still beat from the whole process. A memorable experince....but next time palm trees might be in the works....
