Murghab, Tajikistan
Hunt dates: October 13 - 26, 2007
Booking agent: Safari Outfitters
Camp: Hot Springs
Head guide: Tolibek
Assistant guide: Donya
Rifle used - Remington .300 Winchester Magnum
Spotting Scope: Swarovski 20x - 60x
Binoculars: Bausch and Lomb 8x - 42
Game taken: Marco Polo Argali, Siberian Ibex
Shot distance: MP Argali - 485 yards
Ibex - 165 yards

My good friend Ron Kreider and I booked this hunt 2 years ago at the SCI show in Reno. The hunt exceeded both of our expectations.

Safari Outfitters - This was my first hunt with Safari Outfitters and won't be my last. I checked with at least 8 references before booking this hunt and all gave them great reviews. I do as well. The hunt was extremely well organized. Clark Jeffs was and still is always ready and willing to answer any questions I have. He even responded (within like 2 hours) to an email I sent him on Christmas day this year with questions regarding our trophies. Sergei Kondratov of Safari Outfitters met us as we got off the plane in Bishkek. He took care of all the paperwork the entire trip and everything went off without a problem. He took care of our passports, gun permits, etc. He got us through all of the military checkpoints as well as several passes through customs. I can't tell you how valuable he was to us on this trip.

Travel - This is as much of an adventure in travel as it is a hunting trip. We left Harrisburg, PA on October 13th and flew to Chicago. It seemed odd to travel west to go east but we were hoping to bring our trophies home with us and Chicago seems to be the most user friendly place to make this happen. We then flew from Chicago to Istanbul, Turkey and overnighted there. (This is where we met two other hunters from the states, Greg Straight and Kirk Edwards.) Safari Outfitters had arranged for Hakan from Safari Tours to meet us at the airport. He took care of securing our weapons and getting us through customs. He delivered us to our hotel and then took us out for a great dinner on the water overlooking (if I remember correctly) was the Sea of Marmara. The following day we toured Istanbul and really had a great day. That afternoon we flew to Bishkek and arrived about 3:00 am. Sergei met us and 5 hours later we were on a plane to Osh. This is where that dreaded van ride starts. The road is in terrible shape with pot holes the size of SUV's. Russia used to fund the maintenance of the road but when Tajikistan declared their independence in 1991 all funding ceased. Our ride was quite unusual. To make a long story short we had a van that blew a transmission enroute and our "ride from hell" took 27 hours versus the normal 16 hours. It just added to the adventure!!!

Altitude - The camp was at 13,400 feet and I had never been above 6,500 feet before. I am 46 and in relativley good shape. I was running about 10 to 12 miles per week as well as hiking about the same. They told us before hand that the altitude hits everyone differently. I took Diamox as directed by my Doctor. I woke up with a slight sinus headache each day but overall the altitude didn't bother me too much. Clark Jeffs constantly told us that no matter how good you think you feel...don't overdue it. I think this is was good advice.



Istanbul was a cool place to visit. The people were very friendly and seemed to enjoy Americans. Hakan gave us a tour of the city Including a mosque.

















In Osh we loaded up on food to take to camp. These pictures are of the open air market where it seems everyone shops. We were told that the people are very private and we should ask for their permission before we take their picture. Almost everyone we asked was ok with it.













This is a shot of the van that lost the transmission on the trip to camp. We were about two hours into the trip when it happened. We waited here for about 5 or 6 hours until other transportation arrived. We had quite a few vehicles that passed us during the wait and not one stopped to ask if we needed help. We were later told that this is the most heavily used road in the world for drug trafficing. The drugs come from Afghanistan and work their way to Kyrgyzstan.





Once we got rolling again we had around 8 stops between military check points and customs. We never had to get out of the vehicle as Sergei took care of everything. The middle of the night stops were quite cold as it was 0 degrees and they had to turn the vehicles off.

This long stretch of road is extremely dry and dusty. It was quite warm in the van when the sun was out but you could not open windows due to the dust. Even with the windows closed the dust found its way in. These pictures are along that long stretch of road.









This was Yuri our driver. He was a lot of fun.





When we arrived in Murghab we were all pretty excited because we knew camp was only about 2 hours away. We were getting close! If I remember correctly this is a village of about 4,000 people. We were told that they have electricity for about 2 hours per day. Again the people were very kind and polite. We had a traditional meal in one of the homes.

















We finally arrived in camp 4 days after our departure from Pennsylvania. We unpacked our gear, shot our guns in, had dinner and hit the sack. Camp was very comfortable with heated rooms, beds with mattresses, good food and a hot springs sauna.

















We woke up the next morning and each met with our driver, head guide and assistant guide then off we went. We drove for about an hour before getting into sheep country. We saw plenty of sheep but they were very spooky. We stopped and glassed for sheep numerous times. When we were glassing during lunch, my guide Tolibek spotted two sheep about a mile and a half away. Even at that distance you could see that the one was a shooter.

Tolibek asked me if I was ready to hike and I said I was. We made a plan to get around and above the sheep and then come down on them as they would begin to feed. I had a GPS and we started the stalk at 13,900 feet. Of course the higher we hiked the thinner the air was. I intentionally took it slow hearing Clark in the back of my head say "don't overdue it or you'll pay for it the next day". We climbed to a height of 16,100 feet. We then found the sheep and slowly started working our way down. They were grazing and we closed the distance to 400 yards. Three other sheep had joined the two we had been watching. The one we were after stayed mingled in with the other 4 and I could not get a clear shot. After watching them for about 15 minutes they started moving at a fairly good pace. Using my range finder Tolibek checked them at 485 yards. They were about to disappear into a ravine when I finally had my shot. After the shot they disappeared into the valley and then we saw all 5 head up the next mountain. There was a good blood trail but the ram was still able to go a good distance. We recovered the ram at the top of the mountain. If you look at the pictures you may see that we broke off about 4 inches of the one side bringing him down off the mountain. The total stalk took about 6 hours.





















The following day we went out for Ibex and experienced the same type of spot and stalk. We found 8 Ibex bedded together on top. We started our hike at 13,200 feet and hiked to 15,100 feet where the Ibex actually were. (I pushed quite a bit harder this day and stayed right with the guides on this hike. They were quite pleased by this telling others about it in camp that night.) This was a much closer shot at 160 yards. It measured 44 1/2 inches on one side and 43 1/2 on the other. This was a great Ibex for this part of Tajikistan.

















If you look hard enough in this picture you can see our jeep in the valley. This was taken on our way up the mountain on the Marco Polo stalk.





You would find these yurts out in the middle of nowhere. They were the homes of shepherds that would herd sheep or yaks.













Breakdowns are just a part of the deal on a trip like this. The terrain is very rugged and tough on the jeeps. The drivers were very skilled in jury rigging and getting us back up and running.





















We hunted very close to the China and Afghanistan borders.





This was a great hunt as well as a great adventure in travel. It was a facinating part of the world to see and I would highly recommend this hunt/adventure. The key here is to be able to go with the flow. Expect delays, breakdowns, etc. If you have any questions please let me know. I hope you enjoy the post.

Doug

Doug,

You went on my dream hunt! That was an excellent report with fantastic pictures and amazing trophies. I am truly envious.

Doug,

Thank you for posting those incredible photos and excellent hunt report.

I cannot wait to see the place for myself.

Keeping my fingers crossed my husband gets selected.

Excellent report and pictures -- an adventure indeed!

Talk about a dream hunt man alive I bet that was a trip of a life time thank you for all the great pictures. Bill

WOW, thanks for sharing the story/pics. Someday I will live out my dream as well. Guess I better get to work!!

quote:

Originally posted by The Slug:
Doug,

You went on my dream hunt! That was an excellent report with fantastic pictures and amazing trophies. I am truly envious.

I couldn't have said it any better. Thanks for sharing. Fantastic sheep you got too!

Outstanding report and pictures Doug!

The picture of the Land Cruiser wrapped in the tarp is classic.

How many days did you stay in the hunting area, and was there things to do after the sheep was down?

Sounds like there are a lot of sheep, did you get the feeling they were pre-scouted?

The guides...personable? Speak any English? Did Sergie stay with your group the entire trip including at camp?

How did the others do in camp, including your buddy Ron?

What is the status of the trophies (assume you were not able to bring them back)?

Again, one awesome Dream Hunt...Dang you!

Congratulations, and thank you for your excellent report and photos.

Did you run into the problem of your guides wanting to establish an amount for their “tip†prior to your hunt?

Regards
Aziz

Congratulations on a great trip. Both your argali and ibex are great trophies. The ibex has a very full beard.

Doug excellent report and pics. Your Ibex is fantastic, well done.

Very nice pics.
One day i have to go there....

Seloushunter

Superb, Doug! Weidmannsheil!
- mike

Thanks to everyone for the nice comments.

Bill - We were only in the in the Hot Springs hunting camp for 3 days. There were 4 hunters and we had 4 rams and 3 ibex in basically 2 days of hunting. They made it clear to us that this was not the norm. Ron and I would have enjoyed staying in camp for a few extra days and maybe hunt for wolves. However, one of the other hunters had been sick from the altitude the entire time in camp and was ready to get out of there. With that long van ride everyone goes at the same time.

It was hard to estimate but but I believe I saw over 1,000 sheep while there. There is certainly no shortage of sheep. I did not get a sense that they were pre-scouted. The sheep are very spooky and the land is so vast I'm not sure how they would keep track of one individual sheep.

The guides were all very personable and a lot of fun to be around. My guide and I hit it off right from the start. He spoke decent english and liked to laugh and joke around. He also worked very hard to get me a good sheep and ibex. My friends guide didn't speak any english but his assistant guide was very well educated and spoke very good english.

Sergei was with us from the time we landed in Bishkek until the time we returned and left Bishkek. Ron and I decided to stay an extra night in Bishkek on the way home to do some sight seeing. Sergei was headed home to Moscow until his next hunt but stayed the extra night to make sure we got on the plane ok the next day. He would not have had to do that. I can't stress enough how important he was to us on this trip. Also he is just a good guy to be around.

All 4 hunters killed Marco Polo Argali and 3 of the 4 took Ibex. The hunter who didn't was sick the whole time we were in camp but toughed it out and killed his MP on the first day. The smallest MP was 56" and the largest was 58 1/2". The Ibex ranged from 32" to 44 1/2".

There were a lot of delays in the paper work by the Tajiks. From what I understand the hunters usually bring the trophies home with them. That didn't happen this year. I do have my Ibex home and at my taxidermist and I hear the Marco Polo have made it to the US. They just need to clear USFW. I'll be happy to have mine in hand.


Aziz - Sergei gave us a very informative orientation when we were in Bishkek. He told us that some of the guides may talk about big tips for big rams. He made it clear that you don't need to agree to anything but was just preparing us for it. Sergei also said that they would work hard for us even if we didn't promise a specific tip. On our first morning out my guide mentioned that he likes the US hunters because they tip better than hunters from other countries. So I decided to play the game and asked him what he would considered a bad tip. He said $500 would be a bad tip but $800 would be a good tip. He worked extremely hard for me and I tipped him substantially more than the $800. There are many others that we tipped as well such as assistant guide, driver, cooks, taxidermist, etc. In a country where they have so little I tend to be a little more generous with the tips. I should add that I never felt pressured into tipping any specific individual or any specific amounts. It really wasn't near as big a deal as I thought it might be.

Kathi - Good luck! I hope your husband draws that tag. I'm sure you would enjoy the adventure!

mho - What is Weidmannsheil!???

quote:

Originally posted by DPS:
mho - What is Weidmannsheil!???

Germanic way of saluting a fellow hunter, and congratulating him on his success.

- mike

quote:

He said $500 would be a bad tip but $800 would be a good tip.

We went into Hot spring camp in December 2005 and on our way we stopped in Istanbul for two days. Our Safari Operator who was also based in Turkey gave us US$ 10,000 Tip money to be delivered to our guide(Atabek). That tip was earlier promised to the guide by an American client in return of a above 60" MP.

When we reached the camp and delivered the tip to the guide he was very happy and said to us that it is a very good beginning to the hunt and also now you know what a good tip is.

We very gladly said yes we know, however at the end we paid what we feel was appropriate i.e. 10% of the hunt cost.

Ahmed Sultan - You are right. I probably should have given more detail when talking about the tips. My guide said that $800 would be a good tip for a ram that was 55" to 56". Mine was 58" and I tipped Tolibek $2,000. I didn't tip him that much because the ram was 58" but because he worked very hard to help me get the ram and then worked equally as hard to help me harvest the Ibex. He told me the biggest tip he ever received was $15,000 for a ram that was 63". I understood that this was prepaid and like Ahmed suggested was incentive paid to find a big ram. After seeing the country it's still hard for me to understand how a specific ram could be pre-scouted and then harvested in just a few days. It is just such big country! I guess it can happen.

That's another good point Ahmed. Be prepared to carry plenty of cash on a trip like this. There are no MAC machines there and in that part of the world they like crisp new issue bills.

Doug

I would love to go to hot springs in November. How do I contact safari outfitters. Great trophy and great story

DPS,

Very glad to hear about the "tipping" situation.We had two friends in the Hot Springs camp that "negotiated" $6,000 and $9,000 tips to their guide. Your tip of $2,000 is much more reasonable.

If you do not mind me asking, how much tip for the assistant guide and roughly what was the total amount of tip for everyone else? Just trying to get a perspective on how much cash to take.

Thanks

Kathi,

I gave my head guide $2,000, the assistant guide $1,000, the driver $500, the cooks $50 and the taxidermist $75. I also tipped Sergei as he was such a critical part of this trip. In all I spent about $4,000 on tips. This was by far more than I have tipped on any other hunt.

I believe the other hunters in our group tipped their head guide $1,500 and I know one of them tipped his assistant guide $5oo.

I hope this helps.

Doug

Doug,

Thank you, I appreciate all the information you posted.

thankyou for the excellent report

Doug - Just to make my self clear, in the beginning of the hunt we told our guide that we would be very happy with a decent average sheep which for that area is above 55". We ended up being lucky and got a 62". Our guide worked very hard and we tipped US$2,500 in total that included our guide, assistant guide and all the camp staff and they were happy.

Usually if the hunt is successful and we are pleased, we tip 10% of the total cost of hunt among everybody involved. For us this formula works every other place and we saw no reason that it should be any different for Tajikistan.

Great trophy and nice pictures!

I wonder how this 'system' evolved in Tajikistan? I have been on mountain hunts in other places and I haven't encountered something similar yet...

Ahmed Sultan - I understand what you are saying and congratulations on that 62"er!!! Our thinking was very similar to yours. We agreed that we would be happy with anything over 54". Anything else was just icing on the cake. My original worry was that if we didn't pay big money up front that we would not get a decent sheep. This really was not the case at all. Clark and Sergei gave us the usurance that the guides would still work hard for us and they did. My understanding is that there are 60" sheep shot each year that don't have pre-arranged price tags on them.

Boghossian - It would be interesting to know how this all got started. I should state again that this really wasn't nearly as big a deal as we all thought it might be. None of us had prearranged anything regarding tips with the guides and they still worked very hard and treated us extremely well.

Doug

diego - I put a call in to Clark at Safari Outfitters and he should be calling you if he hasn't already.

Doug

DPS-

That must have been the hunt of dreams, the sheep and ibex you got are absolutely fantastic! It always amazes me there are animals thriving in such a harsh environment.

Kathi- Looking forward to hearing how you and Rick do, my fingers are crossed that he gets selected.

HE HAS ALLREADY DONE SO. tHANKS

DPS

Thankyou for taking the time to post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the trip and game taken. The scenery is stunning.

I was wondering what make and type of scope you had on board your Remington as the shot on the MP was very skilled and was wondering what you chose to go with?

Many thanks

Jon

Jon

I used the American Line Swarovski 3-10x42 scope which I believe has a 1" tube. I have used it on numerous big game hunts with great success.

My buddy and I knew there could potentially be some long range shooting here. We had booked this trip almost 2 years in advance and spent many sessions at the shooting range. We practiced out to 700 yards consistently. My goal going into this hunt was to get within 500 yards of the animal. I felt very comfortable with that distance. We both had our rifles sighted in dead on at 300 yards.

Doug

That was a very well done story on an amazing trip!

I enjoyed it very much! You did great!

We have a few remaining permits for Marco Polo for this coming season (2008). If you are interested in discussing the details of this once in a lifetime adventure, please let me know!

Yours for good hunting,

Clark Jeffs
(307) 587-5596
SAFARI OUTFITTERS

Kathi,

Just wondering if your husband was selected for a tag for this year?

Doug

USFWS has a new procedure this year. Hunters submit applications from May 1-15. Applications will be drawn at random and numbered. When the approved-hunter list arrives, USFWS will start at the top of their list and search for that name on the approved-hunter list. If he finds it, a permit will be issued and they will go on to the next name on their list. First come, first served is out.

Hopefully, by early June we will know.

Kathi,

I'm not sure I agree with the random part of the new procedure. Regardless I hope your husband is successful. I'm sure you would both enjoy this adventure very much.

Doug

DPS,
What a great read and the pictures were outstanding. Congrats on a super and successful trip.

Fantastic trophies, congratulations.
David

Very nice report and beautiful trophies. Your physical conditioning and ability to keep up with your guides is commendable!

quote:

This was Yuri our driver. He was a lot of fun.

Wait a minute, I recognize that guy from somewhere, but can't place him. Wait a sec, I've got it! Oh my, that's the guy who hung the cat in Midnight Express!

Amazing hunt and pics. Thanks for sharing!

KG

Great hunt report and super trophies. Your pictures were great and really complement the review of your trip. Very interesting adventure in a unique part of the world!