Been home nearly 6 days now.The hunt went well the trip went well. But, my gun never came home. Its a 300 wthby with leou lps scope on it. Airlines cannot find..GRRR Anyone have any ideas??Last seen in Istanbul.thanks for any help...

donutzak,

Call me at 708-425-3552 and we will see what I can do with my contacts.

After being home for 9 days.Weapon has turned up in Chicago.Another reminder why its a good idea to put guns under your homeowners and get travel insurance.Kathi thank you.I would post pic of ibex if i knew how??

Good news about your rifle, seems so typical of airlines the world over.
Re posting pics, you need to host your pics somewhere on the web , ie on a site such as photobucket.com which specialises in hosting photos & files (there are others, photobucket is popular on AR though). Once hosted, you link the address of that pic at your host site to the image link above (wee green pic) & presto, it will be there. Sounds simple & its not a lot more difficult than that. I would certainly love to see pics of your hunt.
Steve

Hope you don't mind me helping out, thats an awsome animal & well worth the sharing. You've every right to look satisfied. To get this up I right clicked the image icon in your post & copied & pasted the image location in properties into the address bar. After opening that page I then copied & pasted the entire image code including the [IMG] brackets straight into my post, you need to include the whole shebag for it to work. Have another look, & you'll see what I mean. Easy when you get the hang of it.
Steve

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Very nice ibex.

Steve,
Thanks for helping me out with the pic post. This was an incredible tough mental and physical hunt. The elevation (lack of oxygen) realy takes a toll on flatlanders like myself.The animal was taken second to last day of hunt. We hunted hard for 7 days till we found this guy. He was with another one just as large.I'm very fortunate to have had the opportunity to chase these magnificent animals.

Please, a detailed hunt report- please, please, please.....

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
Please, a detailed hunt report- please, please, please.....

yeah,wot he said & lots more of those beaut pics, it'll be good practice.

I'd love to know more about location, elevation & stuff like that.
Steve

The travel alone was an adventure in itself. Left home town of Anchorage en route for Bishek. Travel time was nearly 2 full days of flying.Once arriving in bishek,outfitter met us at airport and went on that long drive you hear about. Arrived at base camp,there was another hunter in camp that had been there for a week without any luck. So the next day we traveled 25+ miles to a shepards home via automobile. The wranglers had a head start with the horses and met us there. There was a great feast the first night with slaughtering of a goat. Headed out first light with horses for 5 hour ride one way,which we did every day for a week solid. The outfitter had never hunted this area before. So we very optimistic on what we would find. The number of Ibex in that area was not very high. Plenty of marco Polo though. Saw some dandy sheep.Someday!!
The one hunter did take a nice ibex first day there. So our spirits were good.The temps ranged from -5 to 20 farenheit. It was a dry cold though.But, good quality gear makes a hunt like this! We hunted hard and saw some ibex but,nothing that was over 30 inches.The elevation we camped at was 11,000. We hunted upwards of 14,000 feet.To say this does not take a toll on you is a lie.I currently guide for mt goat in my home state and do between 5 to 7 hunts a year with clients,so I figured I was in decent shape. The lack of oxygen really puts that in perspective. My partner had a shot at a decent ibex the 5th day. it was an awful long shot and did not connect.
The horses in this country are worth there weight in gold. You get up into the valleys with them then its by foot to peek into the bowls.I have very little to no horse experience but, this country is treeless and is extremely easy going with horses. The snow did not measure more then 3 inches. All ibex where found on south facing slopes.
With only two days to hunt our outfitter made the recomendation to move to a new area. So pack it in and head 8 hours to meet with another guide and horses. This area was less in elavation but was quite steep with trees. The elevation was 8000 feet. but, it did have much more snow. We got above treeline around noon. The lack of ability to speak there language it without a doubt a problem. Many drawings in the snow!I spotted a lone ibex sunning himself 2000 feet above us. There was only one in sight and he was small. We had yet to be on top of the mountains and hunting down. I persuaded the guide in the photo to come along to see if there wasnt any more with him. The other guides were reluctant to go as it was steep and it was a small ibex. I informed them that it was our last day to hunt and we should try.Up the mountain we went. It was a mountain goat hunt. Straight up,by this time in the hunt the thin air was not as bad. When we crested the hill we seen the one ibex on from below.The guide started to glass with no luck. I peered over the edge and started glassing myself. these animals are some of the hardest animlas to spot. The black rock with snow makes it almost impossible to find them. unless there are moving. I spotted a few nannies and above them was a nice billy.I informed the guide of there whereabouts. To our suprise he notioned that there were 2 nice males.At 500yds i opted to see if we couldn't get closer as this country allowed for some movement. As they started to feed down after a few hours we made our move. The guide led the way and was very excited as we reached a large rock overlooking where they had vanished. Looking over the rock,exposed both animals broadside at 150 yds,but straight down. My partner and I timed the first shot. Boom, both started running?? We did not compensate for such a sharp angle. Our guns were sighted in for 200yds.We both shot over them. My third shot connected and my partner did not drop his but hit it back in hind quarter low. After much high fives and laughing. We headed down to the ibex.The day was getting very close to dark and we are a very long ways from horses,gear. I had a good idea going up what would probably go down. So I had brought my back pack,sleeping bag and pad.The guide wanted to drag the animal off the mountain. This would have been along drag. After showing him how to cape,quarter and pack the animal in record time. We took off to spend the night among the trees. Great hunt!

Great hunt. I also think it is great in that you taught your guide a few tricks of the trade.

Thanks for that write up, seems like the guide was able to learn as much from you as the other way. Those sort of altitudes get the heart lung rate up a bit don't they?
Steve

Great ibex! Thanks for sharing. Good to hear that everything turned out ok regarding your rifle!

What a great hunt. thanks for posting.

Are those shotshells in the guides belt? What did he carry those for?

quote:

... my partner did not drop his but hit it back in hind quarter low.

Congrats on the ibex. They are one of, if not, my favorite trophies.

What happened to the ibex your friend wounded?

Al, The wounded Ibex was recovered by the guides 2 days later and is being sent to him.They chased it the next a.m and pushed up and over.Our flight was that evening so he had to abandon the chase. They promised to follow up and they did. It ws 39 inches and very similar to the one in the photo. Yes,those are shot shells in his belt.Why,I don't know. other then they mentioned some type of grouse and roe deer. I know I carried his shotgun as well as my gun all the way down for him. The first thing I said to him when I got down was what was the shotgun doing up there in ibex country. No english,no problem he said.

quote:

.I currently guide for mt goat in my home state and do between 5 to 7 hunts a year with clients,so I figured I was in decent shape. The lack of oxygen really puts that in perspective.

Damn! I'm suppose to go in early Dec. for Marco Polo and Ibex in Tajikistan. I've done the mntn goat hunt twice in AK and both times it nearly killed me. LOL I was hoping to hear that with the horses it made the going much easier. Guess I'll really have to work on my getting in shape this season.
Congrats on your trophy. That is one heck of a nice ibex and well deserved.
Look for a PM as I'd like to talk with you more about your hunt.

many times a shotgun is all they have. But there are also snowcock--the grouse you mentioned. I doubt there would have been roe deer up there, though

Did ya get it with the 12g????
you spent too much time in bad company in Nz..HEHEHE

Congratulations, sounds like an amazing hunt. Beautiful Ibex!

Very well done. A challenging and in the end rewarding hunt with magnificient trophy.

Well done sir, a very nice Ibex and it certainly sounds like you had an adventure!

A slightly leftfield question if I may; the cartridge belt the guide has around his waist, what calibre shells are those and for what rifle?

With thanks,

Amir

12 ga

Awesome hunt! Congrats on a real trophy.....and great adventure.

Did they say you would get a 48" and ended up 10" less?

What you got is I think the size to expect on such a trip.

A good tuff hunt I an sure, what area where you in?

Regards Mark

Hey Donut got one too!
Kyrgyzstan Oct 2012

Awesome hunt, as you say, a tough physical and mental challenge. Shot this thing at 4,500 meters after climbing from where we left horses at 3,600 meters. 900 meters might not sound like a lot, but when it's near straight-up and above 3,500 yer sure feel it.
Anyway I was rapt to get such a nice one. It was a close shot. Ambushed them in their bed. Lucky as I had a borrowed gun that wouldn't group 20 inchs at 100 yards. Rusty inside and out, so I know my chnaces were limited. Saw bigger at 400 yards. Totally enjoyed the experience, people, horses even the food. Boiled cubed horse fat aint so bad..... So long as it's topped off with fermented mares milk.
Digs were good. It was cold (-10 C or so) but we were warm.
Logistics of teh hunt were pretty much like what you read on all the hunt reports.
Saw plenty animals. About 200 Ibex total. 40 or so mature males. 5-6 shooters.
Took me 4 days out of 6 to get the Ibex.
For others going there, allow at least 6 hunting days for an Ibex. Often you can see them , but can't get to them, so got to wait them out and follow their feeding patterns. Down in evening, up in morning. Also important to time the wind right. Sensitive buggers to hunt.
Anyway had a ball.
Cheers
Tim.

quote:

Originally posted by TrackersNZ:

Lucky as I had a borrowed gun that wouldn't group 20 inchs at 100 yards. Rusty inside and out, so I know my chnaces were limited.
Tim.

what kind of gun?

Very old..very rusty (Inside and out) M77 in 300 Weatherby. Scope was good. (Leupold VXIII) With a good clean, potentially culd have shot better. (No cleaning gear in camp!) Anyway, I made do, and got the job done, albeit with some limitations. 400 yard+ capability would have been interesting!!

I was kind of expecting or hoping you would reply that it was a mosin nagant.