I thought I would share a couple of photos from a trip my wife and I did to Kazakhstan in September this year.
We arrived in Almaty the 13th September and spent the following 3 days driving and riding to get into the hunting grounds, which were the Dzungaria Alatau.
After 5 hunting days we had looked over around 16 mature maral bulls and decided to have a crack at this fellow.

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It turned out to be a stalk that started 14:00 in the afternoon with the bull on the ground just at sunset and the guide and I back in camp at midnight.
The next part of the trip was then to concentrate on a good ibex, and after another 8 days of looking over hundreds and moving camp a few times, we settled for this one.

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All in all a great first trip to Kazakhstan that we both really enjoyed. The people were great and worked hard to make it all happen.
I booked the hunt through Westfalia Jagdreisen and I can definitely recommend them. They are very well established in that part of the world.

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bloody nice animals, would like to do that myself one day

Wow... that stag is an absolute brute and the ibex is as well! Superb trophies...

Wow fantastic trophies.

Thanks for sharing.

Dane,
Wow, two great animals, in spectacular country, doesn't get much better. Congratulations on a fine hunt!

Great trophies - which was the tougher hunt and shot?

Did you see much other game (roe?).

Thanks for posting

Hi Dane,

impressive trophies - how much did the maral trophy weight and how long was the ibex ?

Which outfitter did you hunt With ?

I am curious since I have been in the area in 2008 and 2009

My friend and I are looking into booking this hunt for the up and coming year can you please pm me all of the info and costs. Was the ibex hunt on a sliding cost scale, the bigger the ibex the more the cost?
Thanks Jim

Thanks for appreciating it guys.
Even my wife wants to go back there for another hunt. I might just have to give in.

We did se about 6 bears and one wolf during the 13 days of hunting. Two of the bears where mature males, that were available. Apparently the roe deer and boars are down lower in the foothills, so we did not see any of them.
I had shot a couple of wolves and a roedeer in Mongolia in 2012, so was content with the maral and ibex.

The weight of the maral trophy is just under 13 kg, so not massive for that area and the ibex is 48", also not massive for that area.

The outfitter is a company called Alakol Tours. They get 10 maral permits each year and from what I can gather, Westfalia Jagdreisen sells most or all of those. They also get something like 40 ibex permits that are sold through Westfalia and Mistral.

Jim Kelly, PM on the way.

Boghossian,

As far as the tougher hunt, I would say the maral. One reason was due to looking at it for 3 days, while we were looking over others. The anticipation was a killer.
Then the afternoon we went over after him was a bit of an ordeal. I have hunted tahr many times in NZ and these guides will take their ponies into similar country.
The guide them wanted to have a look at a 7 x 7 bull we bumped into on the way over there, but "luckily" he got our sent and disappeared. By then I had my hart set on the 10 x 8 pointer.
The shot on the maral was only 160 meters, so not all that though, but sidling step mountain sides on the way back to camp in total darkness, letting the ponies feeling their way, was an experience.

Yes it is an experience riding in total dark in that terrain - you have to trust the horses. Me to had to do that a couple of times and not being used to horses neither riding in dark it was pretty scary.

The 13 kg maral looks impressive. My weighted 12,2 kg and looks not that big at all. Strange thing ! Good looking ibex as well - but as you say there are bigger ibex around. One German hunter shot a couple of days aheard of us in 2009 an ibex measuring 56,5 inch. He was the first hunter that season in early august.

Alakol Tours and Westfalia was the same operators I hunted with. Did you stay in the base camp made of log cabins ?

I lived in Kazakhstan for 2 1/2 years finishing up February 2013 and truly regret not finding the time to do that very hunt.

That's one thing I really hate about this site is that my bucket list grows everything I read a hunt report! That stag is magnificent. Congrats!

Congratulations Dane, the Maral stag and Ibex are both outstanding.

I shot my Maral stag in Mongolia in 1992, it is a 6x6 but does not even come close to your very impressive trophy.

Regards
Aziz

Beautiful trophies, congratulations.