In March this year I attended the Ficaar show in Madrid to promote my New Zealand Hunting Business

http://www.newzealandtrophyhunting.com/

I had a few days to spare and decided to hunt Beceite Ibex, as I had made a swap with a Spanish Friend a year earlier, for Red Stag and Himalayan Tahr.

The hunt was with a Spanish Outfitter (Salvador) who hunts a concession not far from Valencia. The hunt was based in the small mountain village of Vallibona. A beautiful little village set amongst limestone cliffs. With stone buildings, narrow streets and friendly locals.

The village of Vallibona

The village of Vallibona

We stayed in a local Tavern the proprietors were lovely people, the man of the house was also an excellent photographer and supplied the live Ibex photos in this post.
The food was superb, and I can not fault that great Dry Red Wine.

The setting of the village was extremely beautiful.
We drove to Vallibona from Madrid, a long drive but broken by a lunch sto with some hunters, who had one of the nicest trophy collections I have ever seen. I was drooling over the Ibex trophies, some of the best in Spain.





My guide Fernando who spoke good english (My spanish is not good) was both helpful and knowlegable on Ibex and hunting in Spain.
On the road into the village we saw wild boar (At night)

The next day we drove into the mountains to glass for Ibex. Fernando and I were accompanied by Salvador, the Outfitter and also a local Game Keeper.
There were abandoned, or semi-abandoned farm houses everywhere. The landscape was terraced with stone walls from a bygone era when the area was farmed. Now neglected and overgrown by alpine scrubland. There was a little bit of snow on the ground. Rugged trails suitable for 4WD seemed to be everywhere.
We spotted several groups of females and a few juvenile males.
We drove round a corner, and there was three mature males grazing near the roadside.
Salvador instructed me to shoot the one on the right, I could see the one on the left was quite a bit bigger, so I hesitated and the Ibex bolted for the bush. It was a language mix-up, he meant left. Never mind, on to the next one, I was kind of kicking myself, as I only had a couple of days, and the big males seemed scarce.



This is the sort of animal I was looking for:



A nice big mature male.
we glassed on without sucess, so a little despondent I returned to the village that night, to a great meal and that beautiful red wine.

The next day Salvador had to return to Valencia on business, so we were accompanied by another Game Keeper, Benjaman. He was a local who lived in the village.
We drove the back roads in the vicinity of a small uninhabited hamlet called Castrell De Cabres. This small place was mostly ruins, but did have a small pub that was open for business.
Near this place we spotted a mature Ibex high on a hill overlooking the village, we spent a long time studying him to see if he was up to expectation. It was hard to jusge at 3 kilometres. We decided to pass on him for the moment and look for another, as it was still early in the day. However as the day wore on without any big males being spotted, we opted to try for the Ibex seen that morning.
We drove as close as we could to where we last spotted him, then set out on foot.
About 300 metres from where last seen, we stopped to glass the forest intensively, and sure enough we spotted him. Benjamin checked him over and confirmed he was a shooter, I bellied up closer to an overlooking knob where I had a clear view.


(This photo was taken by the pub owner at a previous date, but I beleive it may be the same animal. The spot where I shot him was also on a rock walled hillside covered by trees.)

The Ibex was in the scrub and accompanied by a smaller male, I had to wait him out, as he was obscured by trees.
Eventually he showed himself. I ranged him at 225 metres and set-up for the shot.
The gun was a borrowed Blaser R93 in 7mm Magnum.
On testfire it was shooting 8 inchs high at 100 metres. (Too high for my liking.) So I aimed low, at Brisket level but centre shoulder.
Boom...and I heard the slap of a good hit. The Ibex bolted, but I knew my shot was good, Fernando was not so sure, thinking I may have missed. I sprinted over the rough ground to where I'd last seen him, and picked up some blood. I found him 50 metres away with a perfect heart shot. Wow.



They do suffer a little from ground shrinkage. Alive they look huge, but are quite a small animal, about the size of a goat, I'd say weighing 40-50 kilograms, maybe a little bigger.
The horns were nice:







Fernando and Benjamin would let me have no part in the caping, so I had to sit and painfully watch, and see the odd slip with the knife...ouch through the cape. I prefer to do my own.
We then set out back to the truck and Castrell De Cabres, with it's great little Bar.



This photo shows the exact location where I shot the Ibex. High on the rock terraces.

Castrell De Cabres was down below us, here is a picture of the village:



The bar was small and the Bar owner told us that we were the first customers that week, it was tuesday.
The walls were lined with preserved meats, and as always there was a flask of Red Wine on the counter. Out of nowhere the barkeeper produced a beautiful meal, of white asparagus and lamb, accompanied by Red Wine. We smoked cigars and reflected on the hunt.



Every bar in the locality seemed to have an Ibex trophy hnaging on the wall, usually set on an ornate carved wood sheild.



We returned that night to Vallibona, happy and ready to increase the local bar keepers profits.

In the village of Vallibona there was also an American guy staying and hunting Ibex, he too had been sucessful that day, so we drank to that.
The next day it was time to leave.



This photo shows our Ibex Trophies, me and the american (Paul)

The people who ran the pub waved us off (This guy is also the photographer:



As did some of the beautiful women from the village:




This was the sign from the pub:



Another photo of the village from above:

[EMAIL]http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/trackersnz/91da41fe.jpg[/EMAIL]

To finish one last shot of a live Ibex standing in a Limestone Cave. This is very typical of the area:




All up it was a wonderful hunting experience, albeit not too physically demanding.
The food and the people make for an unforgetable hunt. Not comparable to any other hunt I've ever done before.
I would highly recommend it as a family style hunt, as there is plenty of things to do for non-hunters, and the cultural experience is great.
The climate is quite nice as well, cold in the mountains, but still swimming in the sea.
This was in March 2006.

Very nice report on Spanish hunting! I have always wanted to go over there and try for all 4 species of ibex and throw in a Mouflon hunt as well! One of these days when I get rid of this Africa bug that I am infected with! I once tried to rid myself of it by staying in your home country for 6 months and that ALMOST did it, but not quite!!!!

Great pics as well! Congrats on a great hunt.

That is a fantastic account.Beautifully illustrated and lucidly written with the hunt set against a village backdrop.Thanks for sharing.


Best-Locksley,R

Very nice!!!!!!! I'd love to do that one day.

Wow! Looks like a really exciting hunt.

Looks Like a super hunt. I like your Rifle too What caliber.

Thanks for an exellent report and beautifull pictures Tracker...
A great trophy as well !

That friendly old cultural landscape so different from my North Western pine an birch woods......

quote:

I like your Rifle too What caliber

Looks like probably a 7mm magnum to me

How on earth did you guess...L.O.L....

Trackers, I love Spain... thanks for sharing!

TrackersNZ, you have a PM.

Excellent report and congratulation on that most satisfactory hunt ... thanks for sharing it with us !

That carved wooden shield makes a very nice mount ! Thanks.