I know I can whack a Bulkharran Markhor in Texas and maybe another variety on a game ranch for $300 an inch.

But how much for a Markhor in Pakistan and Nepal?

Where else are they being hunted?

You would be paying approx.12000 usd in Texas for a 40 incher according to your estimate.You would definately pay much more for an himalayan ibex in Pakistan.Last I heard it was 25,000 usd but now the permits are being auctioned or resold by agents for around 40,000 usd.

Ok,

So that's $24,000/40,000 for a Hymalayan Ibex or for a Markhor?

I had thought Ibex were $15,000.

Most the outfits that list Markhor hunts list them as "Price on Request. If you consider that Bob Kerns Hunting Consortium will list Argali hunts for $80K, then I'd be scared to see what the price of a Markhor hunt would go for if he doesn't even list the price.

They are one of the world's top rated trophies and as such will command a price accordingly. I'd love to hunt them, but on a CPO pay, it ain't gonna happen. I may make Mongolia for Ibex in the next year or so, but Markhor is off my radar.

Mac

Chief Mac,

You know my PR1 pay and your CPO pay put together isn't enough for the hunts we need to go on let alone the ones we dream of!

You killing anything this fall?

Where you at now?

Oh, and I flubbed the test by 2 points and will continue on as a First until I can learn to study.

PMA is 3.8 so that's not killing me. Just need to study those damn specwar parachutes!

PR1,

Don't know if I'll get to do much hunting this fall. I'm starting my last our before retirement which is a recruiting tour in Pensacola. I really don't have any idea what my schedue will be this fall. Since the license apps for my home state of Colorado are due this week, I just put in for preference points for everything except sheep and moose. I'll have to try for those every year since you never know when your name will pop. I've been applying for sheep since 86 and for moose since 88. I'd hate to not pull the tag because I didnt apply.

I'll probably do some deer and hog hunting here in Fl. The deer ain't much here in the deep south, maybe they weigh 110, but there seems to be some pigs to chase. Hogs interest me more than whitetails anyways. I've just never been able to get to excited about them. Must be my western roots. Give me a good mulie or elk any day.

How about you? Anything planned?

Sorry to hear that you missed the test by a couple points. Believe me, I know how you feel. Took me almost 16 years to finally pick up chief. Wish I could tell you the magic formula, but there simply isn't any. Just study and take hard assignments. You never know what they look for when the board convenes. Seems to change every year. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.

QMC Mac

The last I checked, there were only four permits issued for Markhor in Pakistan per year and the outfitters were buying them within the first hour of their availability for $40,000 to $50,000 per permit.

Considering the logistics involved in a hunt conducted in one of the most rugged and remote areas of the world I would guess the total hunt cost would be in the neighborhood of $60,000 to $70,000.

Markhor in my opinion is the holy grail for serious mountain hunters and there are many who wouldn't think twice before shelling out that kind of money for that hunt even considering the fact that the cost is the same for successful and unsuccessful hunt.

D99 I can save you a few dollars. It is 5,000 acre ranch in Texas. Any size, trophy fee $9,000.

They are a cool looking goat.

T,

Those ain't game animals, those are livestock. Nothing more, and nothing less. Bought and paid for livestock. Might as well shoot an angus cow.

A Markhor in Texas isn't anything compared to one in the wild. Markhor are creatures of some of the highest, coldest, wildest and roughest country on earth. Shooting one in the flat lands of Texas while it is eating corn in the middle of a ranch road isn' hunting, it's shooting and killing.

This whole exotic game thing in Texas has gotten out of hand and I believe in the future it will be one of the major factors of us losing our right to hunt.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Mac

I'm with you on the Markhor in TX to a certain extent. I was hunting Turkey on a ranch in the TX hill country a couple of years ago that had Markhor on the place. Those thing are pretty wiley and I think you would work your tail off to get one on this place. According to the ranch manager they have about a 65% success rate on Markhor. We glassed some one evening faaaaaar up a hill. After we started looking closer we could see several 15' up in the oak trees. The RM said they have lost many Markhor that have escaped through the trees onto bordering ranches.

Mike

The challenge of hunting Markhor in Pakistan is the mountains. The majesty of their home in the rugged mountains and the search for a good animal is what makes it one of the most challenging mountain hunts one can experience.

There are 4 species of Markhor in Pakistan. The Pir Panjal or Capra Falconeri Cashmiriensis in Chitral, with a license fee of $ 45000-60000. The Astor Markhor between $25000-50000. The Suleimam or straight horn Markhor around $35000-45000, and the Chiltan Markhor which is protected,and not a true Markhor but a hybrid between the Straight horn markhor and the persian Ibex.

The outfitter will charge for his own services over and above these amounts. The permits are on a bid system.

There are 3-5 permits for each species, a total of around 10-15 permits each year.



The Pir Panjal and Astor Markhor inhabit the most beautiful areas.

Here is a look at where they live. These photos were taken during my recent hunt for the Himalayan Ibex.







A pick up head of a 50+ inch Astor Markhor


The Markhor in Texas are all Capra Falconeri Heptneri from Badakhshan/Bokhara.

Regards
Aziz

I cant believe the price of these hunts $65,000.00 u.s and up !!!!! who the hell can afford to pay these prices to shoot basically what is just a type of mountain goat ? bloody ridiculous .Politicians could easily stop hunting with one of there sayings '' if you cant legislate them out, tax them out ''and vice versa ! just put a tax on a hunt like this until no one, but the very or super rich can afford it ,thats one animal i know for a fact i will never hunt .

quote:

The Markhor in Texas are all Capra Falconeri Heptneri from Badakhshan/Bokhara.

Aziz - Thank you for your educational posts.
Very much appreciated!

That is what SCI, Weatherby award etc has led to, rich collectors , mainly americans that rises the prizes on almost all of hunting here and there...

That's a very informative post by Aziz (as usual). Those prices though...shazam!

Aziz,

Thanks from me also for posting something based on fact.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Aziz:
The Markhor in Texas are all Capra Falconeri Heptneri from Badakhshan/Bokhara.

I agree that most Markhor in Texas are Capra falconeri heptneri, but not all are. Go here: Red Rock Ranch. Click on the "SCI Records" tab on the left. Then click on the "2003" tab. On the right, the 9th picture down is a different type of Markhor and I believe it is Capra aegagrus chialtanensis (Chiltan race). Any comments?

MAC & Skyline,

Painting all exotic ranches with the same ignorant brush isn't fair. I agree that most ranches that have Markhor in Texas do not offer a type of hunt even close to a wild Markhor in Pakistan. However, there are a few ranches in Texas that have VERY difficult terrain. You can bet your ass that you'll work for one on the Indianhead Ranch in Del Rio. Here's their website: http://www.indianheadranch.com/. Check it out, then let us know what you think.

Agreed that all ranches are not the same. 10,000 acres is a fairly sizable piece of property but it's nothing compared to their native range...not to mention the elevation and snow that would make a Texan squirm.

Hello Eland Slayer

The Markhor in the Red Rock Ranch photograph is a hybrid between Capra falconeri heptneri and a goat. Most of the ranches in Texas have hybrid Markhor some have less goat so look more like there wild cousins, others like the one you pointed out has more goat in it.

Chiltan Markhor


These hybrids are tougher and can adapt better to the Texas environment than pure Markhor, they also breed better as the pure Markhor stock in Texas is limited and interbreeding can produce many problems, wild pure Markhor can not be imported to add fresh blood to the gene pool so a goat mixture helps.


Yukon delta is right, their native range and stalking them there is more than half the fun.

The following is a passage from Rudolf Sands book “Those were the days†it gives you the essence of the experience of hunting these majestic animals on their home ground. For the purest there is no alternative.


Regards
Aziz

Aziz,
Thank you for your informative post on the prices and everything concerning the markhors.

With such limited numbers allowed to be hunted, I can understand why prices are so high. Unfortunate, because I'd love to hunt one and can't afford that right now, maybe never.

Do you know if Pakistan has the only huntable population of Markhor, or are there other countries that could allow hunting in the near future?

What a magnificent animal!

Eland Slayer,

Got to agree with Skyline. I don't believe anywhere in my post I painted all ranches with exotics, no matter what state they are located in, with the same brush. My point is that the whole exotic game thing has gotten out of hand and nobody can argue that Texas has the majority of the so called game ranches.

Look at some of the animals they have down there. They are in nowhere nears anthing like their native habitat. Musk Ox, Markhor etc... The exist soley so someone can profit off them. And I don't think you can classify a fenced property of 10,000 acres as free range. If there is a game proof fence, the animals are not free range. Period.

I hunt deer on a ranch back home in Colorado that has a little over 10,000 acres and the only fence it has is a 2 strand barbed wire fence and most of that has rusted away. Guess what? We always take deer and they don't have timed feeders or have every natural predator shot out. I hunt pronghorn on a ranch comprising a little over 140,000 acres. Same thing, no feeders, no fences, no problem getting game. I hunt elk on a ranch that consists of 48,000 acres under the same conditions.

My point is not that every ranch in Texas or elsewhere has a bad program, but you need to look at it the same way the antis will. And if you import exotic game into habitats it is not suited for, restrain it behind a fence, feed it regularly to get it conditioned to coming to the feed and then offer to let people "hunt" them for a fee, it gives all hunters a bad image. And that is one of the things that will eventually lead to hunting being voted out of existance.

In my opinion, game should be hunted in it's native habitat under conditions nature has determined the animal should exist in. Not fenced, fed and protected from all it's natural predators. That turns them into livestock, not game animals. Which is exactly what exotics are classified as in Texas. They are considered livestock and that is why they can be shot year round without regard to a state mandated season or bag limits.

And before you ask, yes I have hunted Texas, had a good time, but it sure aint like hunting back home in Colorado. I'd rather eat an unused tag than have my game taken under those conditions. Come north to any state and earn an elk or deer under true free range conditions, packing the quarters out on your back and maybe someday you'll understand where others and myself are coming from.

That's all I have to say on the subject, because I don't want to hijack Seth's post.

Mac

Hello Dphillips

Pakistan is the only country that has been given a Cites quota for Markhor. The Bukhara Markhor are found in three nature reserves: Kugitang in Turkmenistan, Surkhan in Uzbekistan, and Dashti Jum in Tajikistan, and are all protected and no Cites quota is given to any of these countries.

Regards
Aziz

Thank you, Aziz

Dave

Hey Aziz, I too enjoyed your pictures and descriptions of the Markhor. Thank you for posting them. Good hunting, David

I may have missed it in someone else's post, but wild markhor hunted and taken in Pakistan, in my understanding, cannot legally be imported to the U.S.A.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong... While you may hunt there and kill/take a markhor, you cannot bring it back to the U.S. with you.

DPhillips unfortunately you are right. Although Cites has issued permits to Pakistan and a Markhor trophy can be taken to Canada, Mexico and Europe, it can not be imported into the United States because Markhor’s are on the U.S. endangered species list.

Hopefully this will change soon; populations of all species of Markhor are increasing in Pakistan and the benefits of trophy hunting are very clear in this case.

Regards
Aziz

Thanks Aziz for the informative post.

I have hunted Pakistan which is also my native country and with the community based trophy hunting program being followed there, the population of Markhors is definitely coming up and hopefully with a substantial population increase, we will see more opportunities of hunting these magnificent animals who favor the breath taking and most inhospitable terrain a hunter can imagine.

quote:

Originally posted by Aziz:
DPhillips unfortunately you are right. Although Cites has issued permits to Pakistan and a Markhor trophy can be taken to Canada, Mexico and Europe, it can not be imported into the United States because Markhor’s are on the U.S. endangered species list.

Hopefully this will change soon; populations of all species of Markhor are increasing in Pakistan and the benefits of trophy hunting are very clear in this case.

Regards
Aziz

I hope it will change soon, as well, Aziz. I don't have a lot of faith that our USF&WS will allow importation in the near future, though. It has become quite a beaucracy that is increasingly being crippled by organizations that are bent on "loving animals into extinction" I'm afraid.

Once their intentions are published in the Federal Register, the environmental groups and the anti-hunting coalitions spend a deal of resources and time campaigning to stop just this sort of thing from happening. Even to the point of litigation after the Record of Decision is issued.

hi guys,some videos u will enjoy about the animals in their natural habitat in pakistan,,,
http://www.wildlifeofpakistan.com/wildlifevideos/wildlifevideo.html

Hunting a Markhor in Texas surely isn't the same as hunting one in Pakistan. Unfortunately not everyone can afford to or allowed to import into there country.
We do not have any tame Markhor. At times during the winter they can be baited within rifle range of a blind. The rest of the year they are hunted spot and stalk around the draws, oaks trees, and some cedar brush. The markhor are wilder and more difficult to hunt than our native whitetail.
Because of the economic value created by hunters these and other exotics are thriving here. The Chinese Perre David is extinct in the wild but we have a growing population in Texas due to hunters dollars.

quote:

Originally posted by T:
D99 I can save you a few dollars. It is 5,000 acre ranch in Texas. Any size, trophy fee $9,000.

They are a cool looking goat.

Hey T,

why not simply have the owners of the "Game Ranch" kill the animal of my choosing, mount the head and send it directly to my door by Fed-Ex?

Sounds actually more sporting...

quote:

Hey T,

why not simply have the owners of the "Game Ranch" kill the animal of my choosing, mount the head and send it directly to my door by Fed-Ex?

Sounds actually more sporting...

No kidding!!

MG

According to SCI, the USFWS will allow importation of one subspecies of Markhor, the Kashmir Markhor (from the Hunting Report), from Pakistan.

quote:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has just issued a permit for import of a trophy from a subspecies of markhor from Pakistan. This particular subspecies of markhor is not an endangered species under U.S. law, but is listed on Appendix I of the CITES treaty. In 1992, the countries that are parties to CITES agreed that the export of hunting trophies of markhor from Pakistan would aid the conservation of markhors and set a quota of 12 trophies per year.

Here is a letter from my partner in Pakistan;
"We are pleased to inform you that ours is the only firm which has received exclusive hunting rights by the government of Pakistan to hunt four (04) Kashmir markhors in Tushi/Shasha, Ghairat (in Chitral) and (Kohistan). We also have one Astor markhor permit for Kaigah.We have one or two openings available at present. Last year our clients hunted successfully in these communities and achieved trophy sizes between 44 and 47 inches. Ours is the only firm offering these Markhor hunts with CITES approved export papers.
"

Rudolf Sand was a great danish hunter, with experience from around the world and with most game species. I think he hunted markhor 3 trips in a total of 90+ days before he finally connected with a ram of his dreams.

Aziz, do you know were to get a copy of the above-mentioned book?

Anders it is out of print. I got my copy in 1994 from Safari Press.

Regards
Aziz

Some people have not heard of recession:
http://www.nowpublic.com/sport...hor-hunting-pakistan

I have Rashid Jumsheed's amazing book and he hunted Pakistan 3 times and shot 2 Pirpanjal Markhor as well as Astor Markhor & Sulaiman markhor in Afghanistan. All this was in the 80's & early 90s. He was close to the family of the Shah of Iran & his brother Prince Abdol Reza Palhavi who is well known as a trophy hunter of that period. Rashid was the head of Wildlife department for Iran until the late 70's.