Client- Larry Shores

PH- Francisco Rosich

Dates- Early December 2016

Rifle- Browning X Bolt 270 with 2x12 Swarovski scope

I actually bought this hunt in an auction a few years back. I forgot about it. One day Hunt Trip Spain contacted me and reminded me about it. I upgraded and decided to go.

We flew into Barcelona. Given where we live, the timing of our flights sucked. Talk about jet lag!

We spent a couple of days on Barcelona before the hunt. There are a lot of interesting this to see. A good example would be going to a place where it has been verified that Columbus met with the king to tell about his discovery of the Americas. That was a very moving thing to me. We saw a lot of other interesting things. The Olympic Stadium for example.

After a couple of days, they picked us up for the less than an hour drive to their house. This house is in a very hilly rural area. It is VERY nice. All around, I could see evidence of wildlife. Primarily roe deer, boar and partridge.

CHAMOIS- Our first animal was the chamois. We drove less than an hour to some private land that HTS has exclusive rights to. There was snow on the ground. It was cold but not bad.

We took off on foot. It did not take long before we spotted some chamois. Actually, we spotted many many more. I was astounded. I had hunted chamois 4 times before. I saw more here in a single morning than I had in all those prior trips combined.

About 4-5 miles into the hike, we spotted a shooter and started moving into position. Of course, This required climbing and the terrain was rough.

As we closed, I saw a bunch of roe deer move off. I figured we were busted. The chamois did not seem to care. We got set up. I could not get comfortable. Adjustments were made, then more and more and more. Finally, I was marginally okay with the shot which was 220 something. Not happy, marginally okay. This is a damn small target. I fired and I missed. Damn it, I knew I should have gotten a better rest.

The chamois started to move, clearly confused. Interestingly, they were closer and more to the left. I shifted and for some reason, this was infinitely more steady. The male stopped on a snow patch at 187. They told me to shoot. BOOM, smack. He was down.

We watched for a few minutes. No problem. I stood up . When I looked back, the chamois was gone! DAMN IT!!!

Well, on the best of days, my balance sucks. This was not the best of days. I grabbed my stuff and took off at speed of light to have look. The ground was rough and I managed to fall only once. I was really worried as I could not see blood in the snow. When we got fairly close, I could see the chamois under a tree, dead. He had simply slid on the snow. What a relief.

We hiked back, packed up our stuff and took off. On the way out, we checked in with the owner. This proved to be really interesting. This property had been in their family since the 1300's. We saw the framed documents where title was transferred. Then they took us into a couple of rooms that had been left as they were in the 1300's. This was absolutely fascinating.

This really made me think of how young the USA as as a country really is.

IBEX- We had to drive south about 2 hours to the ibex area. Again, HTS has exclusive rights.

We parked and I looked up toward the top of the mountains. Oh boy, this might be fun. It was a long way to the top.

We got through the lower bush. When we cleared the bush, I didn't see anything. Odd I thought. We kept on. Nothing. Hmmm. I think I am detecting the local guy is pissed off and puzzled. At least I think I do. My Spanish sucks at best. It is hard to remember what I learned in the early 70's.

We see a few ibex WAY HIGH. The guides seem puzzled. At some point, I point out to the wife that saw one move way up high. Then I thought I saw a flash of white. Then I saw something else. Dogs, f'ing wild dogs. How lucky can I be? Francisco explains to me that they could not figure out why the ibex, which had been there the afternoon before were either gone or moved way high. This is the answer.

We continue over the top. On the next mountain, we start to see ibex, many ibex. We get to good spot and glass. We saw many ibex, some of which I thought were shooters. They wanted me to hold off for a giant. The highlight of the afternoon was watching two males fight.

The next day we went to a different area. We saw many ibex from the road including one that was "the largest we have seen." Off we go to have a look. After 3.5 hours, we arrive but the ibex is gone. I knew it. The wind was all over hell and back. They winded us no doubt.

To add insult to injury, we glassed back from where we came. There was another large ibex not 500 yards from the vehicle. They did not want to go back because if the ibex was not there, we had lost the rest of the day. They wanted to carry on over the mountain. The top had been covered ibex just the day before.

Off we go. Guess what? Nothing! Not a single ibex to be seen. I told the wife that I thought we should have gone back and gone after the one we saw. We were seeing nothing. About 7 hours into the hike, we finally spotted a group of ibex. It was late. They advised that we were going to take him.

We made a big circle and got above him. I had to shoot down hill severely at about 200 yards. I hammered him but not without some drama. I am confident that we passed MANY ibex the day before that were larger, even much larger. I was fine with it. We had just gone on two all day hikes through BRUTAL country with reasonably high elevation (4,000). We did this without the slightest problem.

BIRDS- Francisco loves to hunt birds. We made it out to shoot partridge over his dogs. Damn this is not easy. The country is tough, very hilly and thick. I had never shot these before but I did well. I very much enjoyed the hunt.

SUMMARY- We enjoyed this hunt very much. These are very nice people. The hunting was good. There were no surprises. The hunting was fair chase and physically challenging. Plus there are a lot of non-hunting things to do and

Sounds excellent Larry......also a hunt that you'd heartily endorse?

Absolutely.

Thanks for sharing Larry. What struck me about your trip in addition to your cool photos and story is you're wearing short sleeves, I was in Barcelona and the Pyrenees Mountains, not hunting, a while back at around the same time of year and it was definitely not short sleeve weather.

Thanks for the report and posting up Pics Larry. Looks like a great time and I hope your wife enjoyed Spain, and the hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim@IMReps:
Thanks for sharing Larry. What struck me about your trip in addition to your cool photos and story is you're wearing short sleeves, I was in Barcelona and the Pyrenees Mountains, not hunting, a while back at around the same time of year and it was definitely not short sleeve weather.

The second day of ibex hunting was definitely warmer than I anticipated. I think the warm weather caused a problem. The chamois hunting was much cooler.

Weidmannsheil Larry!

It is a Pyrenean Chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica) or Isard in short - it is the "posh" specie of two.

Now you should come to Alps and hunt "The" Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) next .

P.S. Is there a side view trophy picture?

quote:

Originally posted by mouse93:
Weidmannsheil Larry!

It is a Pyrenean Chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica) or Isard in short - it is the "posh" specie of two.

Now you should come to Alps and hunt "The" Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) next .

P.S. Is there a side view trophy picture?

Yes there is. I will see if I have it on my phone.

I omitted part of the story. I told about taking the initial shot and missing. I am told that this chamois was a really large specimen. They moved off and started coming out of the bush. I was told to shoot the male standing in the snow. I did that very precisely. When we got to it, they realized they had told me to shoot the wrong one.

Thanks for another interesting report Larry.
Any pics of the old house you mentioned ?
What breed is your day pack and any comments on its performance ?
Merry Xmas to you and yours.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I told about taking the initial shot and missing. I am told that this chamois was a really large specimen. They moved off and started coming out of the bush. I was told to shoot the male standing in the snow. I did that very precisely. When we got to it, they realized they had told me to shoot the wrong one.

Mountains and Chamois playing tricks on you - looks like there is always that urge of "right there right now or busted" that ends like that.

But never mind, it is a fine trophy taken the mountain way and any mountain hunter worth its salt will tip a hat to you, knowing "Been there..." then one day you'll be back and it will play the other way."

quote:

Originally posted by Ridgeman:
Thanks for another interesting report Larry.
Any pics of the old house you mentioned ?
What breed is your day pack and any comments on its performance ?
Merry Xmas to you and yours.

Let me check with the wife. She is our official photographer. To be clear, these rooms were two rooms within a much larger structure. It is not exactly a house . I do not know what to call it. Interestingly, on an nearby hill, we could see the ruins of an old castle.

The day pack is a Sitka. It does work well. My only problem with it is that it has so many straps it is near Rubik's cube trying to get it all closed up properly.

Very Nice Larry. Congrats. Love the NOLES hat in the photos...

Congratulations, Larry. Looks like a nice balanced hunt to bring a wife along on! Haven't been to Barcelona since I was in high school but really enjoyed the city.

Congratulations! I must admit, the opening line of this report filled me with no small amount of envy! May I one day enjoy the success you have earned and experience for myself what it is like to buy a hunt at auction and forget about it!

Beautiful trophies, and with my sister having recently moved to Switzerland, I know I have a trip to Europe in the next several years and this gives me some small taste of what I might be able to add on to the visit.

Congrats! Good stuff Larry. That loose rock is mighty tricky.

Congrats larry,
looks like a great hunt.

Larry Congratulations, that was a fun hunt. I enjoyed your report and photos very much.

Regards
Aziz