Date : 5 / 2 / 2015
Location: Extremadura, Spain (Gredos Range)
Outfitter/agent: Shikar Safari Spain
Guides: Carlos & Ricardo

Booked this hunt last minute, as I had a few days available in Spain, between business in Germany and France, and wanted to spend the time in the mountains or forest chasing critters and not stuck in another hotel. I was not disappointed!



Arrived in Madrid very late Thursday from Frankfurt, and was greeted by Carlos and his aide Ricardo, with whom I’d be hunting the 3 planned days for Ibex in the Gredos range. We took a nice drive out of Madrid to a town almost on the limit of the range itself, and stayed overnight in a nice but very simple hotel, as the nicer planned hotel was another hour away and it was already 1am when we arrived.

Up the next morning early, after a quick breakfast, and grabbing another friend of Carlos’ on the way, we were at the mountains around 9:30am, where we met with the Park Rangers and their assistants. All very fun and mellow, nobody was stressed about paperwork and such (a nice change from some trips to Romania…). The head guide, in charge of this part of the park (~20,000 hectares) said he knew where a quite good and very old male was, and asked whether I would be interested in hunting it, or going after a super-trophy animal. I was happy to go find a grand old monarch of the mountains; past his prime and seeing himself in his last winter. So off we went.

These guides & rangers know the mountains and the animals very well, and it didn’t take 2 hours to find him (and another nice macho, a bit younger and with a few more years in him) walking along a high ridge line. Once we confirmed it was the right animal through the spotting scopes, and admired them walking in the sun majestically, we set off for a stalk. We made a nice easy stalk around the ridge lines, gaining vertical meters slowly but surely, and came to a knife ridge not far from where we had last spotted them. Settling to glass, the old macho montes walked out from behind some boulders not 60 meters from where I was standing next to a large rock. The guides confirmed quickly it was the right animal, and a 270WSM shot later, he was down in his tracks.

A 15 year old Gredos Ibex, with worn horns and very large bases, we is a beautiful trophy. I’m very happy to have taken such an animal, and in great conditions, as it was nice and sunny (and the 4 days previous had seen white-out snow conditions, which would have not allowed me to hunt in the same area). Carlos and Ricardo made it an awesome trip. I unfortunately had to cut my trip to only the 1 day, as a personal matter needed me in New York; but I will definitely be back to hunt with Carlos and the team in Spain soon…

Congrats to a beautiful hunt and an outstanding trophy! Sometimes everything seems to fall in its place!

I love the shape of the horns. Great one for a one day hunt.

Spain is a great hunting destination! Looks like you had a superb hunt and took a fine old billy. Well done!

Beautiful creature, congratulations.

They really are splendid creatures!

very nice! in what town did you stay?

Not sure, was very late, and we left very early. But, they had a very nice hotel lined up for the other nights; my fault for flying in so late...

another good one! Congrats

Nice Gredos ibex !

Morten

Thanks guys!

Looking now @ a BigHorn hunt in Alberta...

Lucky you

Morten

Wow! great trophy.