Touring and Hunting in Turkey

Hunt Dates – December 8-18, 2015

Hunt Area – West of Antalya near the town of Gombe in Southwest Turkey

Agent – Neal and Brownlee, Inc. Greg Brownlee arranged the hunt and the touring. www.nealandbrownlee.com , 918-299-3580 or greg@nealandbrownlee.com

Hunting Outfit – Wild Hunting Turkey, owned by Temir Ekenler and Kursat Ekenler (brothers), www.wildhuntingagency.com, email – info@wildhuntingagency.com , + 90 532 614 55 99 or + 90 322 886 00 91. This is a well established, very good and long time hunting company in Turkey.

Travel Agent – Falcon Travel, Stacey Gibson, 210-867-4783, email – sggibson@earthlink.com
Flew on United to Houston (not great), then Turkish Airlines to Istanbul and internally in Turkey. This is a top notch airlines!

Weapon Used – H-S Precision Takedown in .300WM, Swarovski Z6i 2.5x15x44 scope with ballistic turrets mounted in Talley Detachable rings. Ammo was factory Federal Premium 180gr Triple Shock bullets.

Animals Seen – Bezoar Ibex (many) and Wild Boars (2)

Animal Taken – 9 year old Bezoar Ibex

Executive Summary

Why wait until the end to find out the results? I killed a very good Bezoar Ibex on the 3rd day at 425 yards shooting downhill at a 40 degree angle shortening the ballistic distance to 295 yards. The men had pre-scouted several areas and had located two very good, old ibex in the area we hunted. We made a stalk and shot on day 1, which I missed at 500+/- yards. We made a stalk on day 2 but could not get a shot. We were within 50 yards of the ibex but he was under an overhanging rock wall. On day 3, we spotted the same billy, made a long stalk and waited for several hours for a shot. More details below.



The second part of our trip was touring Istanbul and the old Roman cities mentioned in the Bible (Book of Revelations) for several days. I am not sure what I enjoyed the most – hunting or touring. Both aspects of this trip were perfect.



Background and Travel Concerns

I stay in close contact with Jeff Neal and Greg Brownlee on most of hunting I like to do. Greg and I visited about a late season hunt to Turkey or Mongolia for ibex. Either destination promised a good hunt for an animal I have no experience hunting. My wife and settled on Turkey as the weather in Mongolia gets really cold and we are fair weather types not wanting to fly 10,000 miles just to freeze in the wilderness. I was just looking for something fun to hunt that we had not hunted in a place we had not been.

Greg had hunted Turkey previously and really liked the country and the people. He talked us into it.
Then, the Turks shot down a Russian jet and it looked like we were heading into a potential conflict zone along with the Syrian refugee problem going on as well. We researched the issues and decided that we had been in Egypt during the mess there and in CAR during the mess there, so this could not be that bad. In summary, we had no issues, no sign of any trouble and never even saw an armed policeman or military person during our entire stay.

A plug for Neal and Brownlee….


The flights were easy. Stacey Gibson suggested we buy three seats in economy rather than business class. This was a good idea and very comfortable. All in, two business class seats are twice the cost of three economy seats. Turkish Airlines is very good, better than my past experiences with United or Lufthansa on overseas flights.

Organization of the Hunt

I had no experience with Wild Hunting Turkey or the owners Temir and Kursat Ekenler. I was extremely pleased with the service, the attention to detail and their involvement in the hunt. I had asked for pre-scouting to shorten the hunting time in order for my wife and I to do some touring while there. I am always sceptical if you actual get any actual pre-scouting as most outfits know their areas and where the animals usually are. I have no way to verify that the pre-scouting was done. In this case, they sent video footage and pictures of the ibex they located to Greg Brownlee and showed it to me when I got to the country. They did the pre-scouting and did it well.

This is a view of the terrain we were glassing.


While there, my wife or I spoke with them each day on the phone about the hunt and how the hunt was progressing. Further, when I had killed the ibex, they arranged a private tour guide and made hotel and airline reservations for the private touring. Everything went off without a problem. In other words, they did everything they said they would do. I would recommend this company to anyone wanting to hunt in Turkey.

We had a team of six men involved in the hunt. Our lead guide was Alibaba; then two scouters, Mustafa and Vesel; a retired game warden and a current game warden, Muhah (not sure of the spelling) and Nihat; and one guy that looked after my wife and helped with interpreting, Suleyman. All of them except the game warden worked hard to help us. The two scouters were very good and could see ibex through the trees when I could see nothing. Alibaba was enthusiastic and very eager to see that I took a good ibex. He was excitable and fun to hunt with. At times, he got a bit too excited, but that is part of hunting.

Here is the team at dinner.


Ibex Hunting

This was my first ibex hunt. I have done five sheep hunts, one goat hunt and several aoudad hunts. Ibex hunting is basically sheep/goat hunting. You glass, you climb, you stalk, you wait to shoot, you then climb some more. What made this particular hunt different was that we hunted from “above”. We started each day on the top of the mountains and glassed downhill to find the ibex. On previous hunts, we started low, glassed up the mountain then made a stalk to try and get close. Glassing down is not so bad. The stalk down the mountain is not so bad. However, the climb back up is a leg burner.

Ibex are darned hard to see. Glassing is tough and you need the help of the guides to find them. They are much smaller than I realized. I expected a 300 pound animal much like a big horn sheep. That is not the case. Ibex are white tail deer or impala sized goats and not a big target. (More on the “not a big target size” later) They blend in very well in the surroundings and live on the edges of the mountain forest and open areas. They hop back and forth as they move around. You see them one minute, then lose them in the trees. I relied totally on the guides for spotting them. I could see them in the open areas but rarely could pick them out of the trees when in the forested areas. If you go, lower your size expectations. The horns are disproportionate to the size of the body. This will fool you.

This is an ibex, not one we shot, that we glassed.


I was unsure of what to expect on this hunt or how it would be conducted. Basically, you hunt ibex in this area from the tops of the mountains. We drove into the hunt area up into the mountains, found a perch to glass from and then looked for ibex. In our case, we could drive to the top of mountains that were across from each other. This allowed us to look at both sides of the canyon we were above. These mountains ranged about 4500’ from the valley floor to where we glassed from. The mountains were over a mile apart and likely two miles. We could see a lot of the mountain sides.

On day one, the guides located an ibex they had seen in the pre-scouting. We started a stalk late in the day by climbing down about 3000 vertical feet. We placed a spotter on the opposite side of the canyon to help guide us to the ibex. It took a good two hours to get down the mountain to the level of the ibex but we could not get closer than 500 yards. I had a good rest and attempted two shots, both missed.

When you miss, you always question yourself what went wrong. Well, a couple of things went wrong on this first day that I had not experienced before.

1. I sighted in my rifle before we went out to hunt. I readjusted the scope and reset the zero. What I did not do was reset the ballistic turret correctly. On a Swarovski scope, once it is sighted in, you have to zero one of the dials and then reinstall the turrets. I did not do this and hence, I had the rifle zeroed at 200 yards but did not get the other distances dialed in correctly. My fault here.

2. Next, I let one of the guides carry the rifle as we climbed down the mountain. The downhill climb was tough on all of us and we each slipped and skidded a lot. After I missed the shot and I checked the rifle, the Talley detachable ring at the rear of the scout had loosened to the point it was nearly off the base. If you know Talley’s, they are reliable and very tough. Somehow, the wing handle was loosened on the hike to the bottom of the mountain. I did not check this when I set up to shoot. My bad for sure.

3. I had a good rest but 500 yards is a long shot even if I have a 15x setting on my scope and I have limited experience at long range. I felt the shot was good when I squeezed the trigger, but missed low. I shot again, missing low twice. Normally, when I miss, I miss high. Lesson learned – do not shoot at distances you are not comfortable shooting at. My bad again.

The climb out, after the misses was a beast. It took several hours and we finished the last two hours in the dark. Imagine an Okie trying to climb out of a canyon in the dark in Turkey in a steep area and being flat out tired and busted. It was no fun and I struggled to get my boots off at the hotel that night. I was so tired my hair hurt.

Day two started with a trip to a secluded spot to re-sight in my rifle. Sure enough I was shooting low again, so I re-checked everything, re-zeroed at 200 yards, then at 300 yards to confirm I set the ballistic turrets correctly. The night before, when Temir called checking on the progress of the hunt, he asked about my scope. I told him what the issue was and he was very helpful in talking me through the set process and confirming how I should set up the turrets for 200, 300, 400 and 500 yards. We did this and were good to go.

We went to a different area to check an ibex the men found while pre-scouting. We found him in a tough, rocky, extremely steep area that the guides were a little concerned about even trying to climb down. We eased down the mountain and cat-walked all across the rocks trying to get to place where we could see this ibex. Our spotters across the canyon could see the ibex and directed us to within 50 yards of it but we could not see it. We got to the edge of a rock wall overhang and could get no lower or to the side. The ibex was just below us and would not get out far enough for us to see him. We spent all afternoon waiting and never got a chance. Another long climb out in the dark was started. Yuck!

Digression Here

We were staying in the mountain town of Gombe that is straight west of Antalya and in the southwest corner of Turkey. This is one of those little towns with a town square and an open air market. The streets are narrow and made of cobblestone. You could look up and see snow-capped mountains, then look down and see vineyards and citrus groves. This is a farming community and very picturesque.

View from the hotel


We stayed in the local motel, a four story semi modern hotel that reminded us of a youth hostel. The room was fine and we had hot water for showers, wifi and a TV. We ate our meals in the hotel as well. Each night, the meal was different and unique. Here are some pictures of the various meals. Eating with the Turks was fun. They relive the day and laugh and discuss in great detail what went right and what went wrong. I was usually the butt of the comments but I was never sure.

Typical breakfast each day


Dinner


Fish farm in a lake not far from the hunt area and hotel


End of Digression

Day three started like the other two, but we were up earlier and on the glassing overlooks at daylight. It took a bit of time, but the guys spotted the billy from the day before not far from where he had been. This time, he was with a group of females and several males of various ages. The guides all said the area would be tough climb and hopefully the ibex would wander over closer to where we would end up.

We made the “down” climb in an hour or so and set up to watch. It took several hours for the ibex to move in our direction. It was slow and tedious just watching and hoping they would get closer. Our team across the canyon, over a mile away kept watch on them as well.

Finally, the big male worked his way into range at 423 yards actual distance and 290 yards shooting distance due to the severe downhill angle of the shot. I set up and really struggled to set my point of aim. Normally, I aim at the center of the shoulder and let’er rip. In this case, the ibex had climbed into the shade of some trees and was feeding with his torso stretched out as he reached for leaves on the trees. Due to the distance and my over-estimate of his size, I struggled to get comfortable with what I was seeing with my scope on 12x. The ibex just seemed a lot farther than the ranging was telling me. In other words, the ibex looked awfully small in my scope for a 423 yard distance.

Anyway, I settled in and placed the shot in what I thought was the middle of his front shoulder and fired. He dropped down the rock face at the shot and actually rolled a couple of times into some brush. I could not see where he landed but watched to see if he got up and walked out in any direction. I saw no movement but one of the guides said he could see the ibex laying upright as if he was chewing his cud. I could not see him so I handed the rifle to the guide and he fired a shot. Well, that started a bit of mess and was something I would not do twice.

The ibex got up slowly (evidence he was hit) and started walking slowly around the corner of the rock ledge. At that, I set up and fired one more shot that missed then another shot that missed as well. Both shots were hurried. Alibaba, the main guide, got a bit excited at this point and was real upset that I missed a walking shot at over 450 yards. I reminded him that this distance was not a certainty and they we need to calm down and make a plan. We called the guys on the opposite canyon and they watched the ibex walk slowly to a cave and lay down.

The base of this rock wall is where the ibex was first shot, then walked around the corner to the right.


I decided to hand off the rifle to the most fit and agile guide to make a quick climb down and over to the ibex to confirm it was dead. Like any of us, I prefer to do all follow ups on any shot. After looking over the steepness of the rocks we were on and then over to the area where the ibex was, I figured it would take a flat-lander like me about an hour or two to get there, then I would have to somehow get out again, likely in the dark. Mustafa was very quick on the climbs, in great shape and solid hunter. He wanted to go and get this ibex and keep me from hurting myself or creating another problem we would all suffer from. I agreed and he took off.

We then climbed out of the canyon, while Mustafa went to confirm the shot and while the guides on the opposite canyon watched the ibex. It took an hour for Mustafa to get to the area and a little long for us to climb out. We heard two shots and confirmed that Mustafa had found the ibex in the cave and finished him.

This was not how I like to finish a hunt but in light of the terrain, my lack of conditioning and circumstances – I cannot complain.

Mustafa ended up taking a couple of hours to climb out and we waited at the top for him. When he showed up after a long dark climb, we celebrated with hugs and a big dinner back in town. The recovery would happen the next day.

Day four started later than normal and we made the climb down to the ibex. It was treacherous. It was along the lines of a climb in Alaska when you spend half your time skidding down rock slides and trying not to go over the edge of a sheer cliff. I do not know how Mustafa made it down and then back in the dark the day before. The guys got to the ibex well ahead of me and carried it to a place for pictures.







What a magnificent animal! Two things really jumped out at me. First was the size of the body. I expected an animal of about 300 pounds, around the size of a Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. This was not the case. All in, I suspect this ibex was the size of a white-tailed deer or an African impala. They are small, weighing maybe 125 pounds. Second, the horns are way out-sized compared to the body. The horns are pushing four feet in length and are really big. I think the issue I had with judging the distance in relation to the animal size was due to this. I was unprepared and did not have the experience to know what I was looking at. In retrospect, I do not know how I could have prepared myself for this as I have never seen an ibex and was not dialled in to its overall body size.

Examining the ibex, the first shot I made hit him just above the shoulder in the meaty part of his upper back. The shot did not hit the spine or do any damage to vital organs. Likely, the ibex would have bled out in the cave and died but it would have taken some time. Looking at the shot hole, I hit the ibex where I was aiming. I had aimed wrong. With him stretched out eating, I just flat did not know where the shoulder actually was. His body position seemed to mask where the shoulder was and I did not account for that.

Packed out, meat and all!


Got to do the paperwork, even in Turkey, for proper game management


Overall, I was very lucky to shoot and recover this ibex. If it weren’t for the guides and the efforts of Mustafa, we may have lost this super animal. Afterwards I asked the guys how many ibex are lost this way. They said they lose a couple each year due to distance of the shot and the fact the ibex can hide very well. They were well pleased I let Mustafa make the quick climb to find the ibex rather than do it myself. Lesson learned for me – shoot better, know your quarry better and get in better shape. Oh well, seems you learn hard lessons after having a hard time.


Touring

We did a lot of touring after the hunt. We spent two days in Istanbul seeing the major sites there and were blown away by the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia Church, The Basilica Cistern and the Topkapi Palace. I would describe each in detail but you would not read it. I will add a few pictures and links to info on those marvels for you to look over. Further, we toured the countryside visiting the sites of the Seven Churches mentioned in the Bible in the book of Revelation. Each were unique and extremely interesting. In particular, the ruins at Ephesus, Pergamum, Laodicia and Sardis were beyond what we ever expected. Did you know that Turkey is home to more Roman ruins/sites than Italy? Did you know that there are more New Testament Biblical sites in Turkey than Israel?

Public toilets in the Roman era where a bit less private than these days.


For Istanbul, we fully expected a dirty, worn out city with beggars and trash and all kinds of stuff Westerners do not like. All of our false expectations were wrong. We found a world class city in a world class country. I do not understand why the European Union will not admit Turkey (hey, they took Greece and other dirt bag countries) but I think the Turks benefit by not being aligned with Europe. It is a much better place to visit than most of Europe.

Temir organized Umit as our tour guide. This guy was amazing and was a true professional in all aspects of the word. He set up all of the flights, hotels, meals and the site access in a short period of time as we gave him one day notice that we wanted to tour. A private tour costs about the same as a group tour and is far more personal and fun. Do that when you go to Turkey.

The Evil Eye

I do not know about you, but I am not superstitious. I don’t care about black cats or the number 13 or whatever. I do not believe in ghosts or poltergeists or Sasquatch. I believe in God and that evil is real in the form of Satan, but hold no faith in magic spells or anything we can do to “ward off the evil eye”. Well in Turkey, I kept seeing this blue, black and white eye looking design on key chains, coffee cups, signs, in cabs and other places. I asked our guide about it and he said it was a charm to ward off the evil eye or evil spirits. I laughed and said that most evil I have seen are not intimidated by lucky charms. He said the history was interesting for Turks and explained it to me.

In summary, the concept of an evil eye comes from Greek mythology and Medusa. I won’t go into the details of the myth of Medusa but you will recall she is the evil person with hair made of snakes. If you looked at her, you would turn to stone. The hero that killed her used a mirror to reflect her image back at her and turned her to stone. The evil eye charm is shaped like an eye and is supposed to be symbolic of the mirror reflecting the evil image of Medusa back at her turning her to stone. Here are some pictures of the various forms and shapes this good luck charm that we saw everywhere.



Evil Eye protection on a Kleenex box



I think I will hold onto my faith and not a charm….

Key Equipment

1. The most important item on your list is your boots. You will be climbing a lot and your boots are the key to getting to the ibex. I wear and really like Kenetrek Mountain Extreme Uninsulated boots. ( www.kenetrek.com ) My wife wore a pair that were the insulated variety.

We were tempted by these boots in Izmir but kept our Kenetreks


2. Gloves. You will need protection for hands as you climb. The area we hunted was very steep and the rocks were sharp. I wore a pair of Cabelas uninsulated deerskin gloves. These gloves really saved my hands.

3. Walking stick or trekking poles. To get up and down the mountains, you ought to use sticks or poles. In the past I used shooting sticks for walking sticks. This time I bought a set of adjustable and collapsible trekking poles from Barney’s Sports Chalet out of Anchorage. These were light-weight, carbon poles that really helped me stay vertical as I climbed up and down.

4. Sitka Gear Mountain Pants – I started wearing a mountaineering type pant on my last couple of sheep hunts. I have settled on Mammut and Sitka Gear due to durability and fit. Also, Sitka Gear is usually wind proof and water resistant. I really like wind proof clothes. I wore Sitka Gear Mountain Pants and the Jetstream Jacket. Both worked great. I dress in layers, so I had a light layer of long underwear on my bottoms and tops under these clothes.

5. Optics – you glass a lot on any mountain hunt. I just switched to the Leica Geovid HD-R 10x42 ranging binoculars. They were great and are easy to use. They have the ability to adjust the range for elevation changes. This took the guess work out of the shooting distances.


Observations and Impressions

Turkey is a wonderful place to tour and hunt. My wife and I have travelled to at least 50 countries, hunted in several and we both agreed that Turkey is one of the top two or three places we have ever been.

1. Here is why-
• Turkey is a ‘first world’ country. The electricity works. The traffic is fine. People drive like you would expect in Germany, US or New Zealand. We were in three airports and all were better than Houston Intercontinental or Atlanta Hartsfield. The money is worth something and the Turkish people are happy to take dollars, euros or their currency.
• The cell phone system and internet works and is reliable.
• You can use a credit card nearly anywhere.
• The people are extremely friendly. Most speak English, Turkish and another language.
• This is not an Islamic state or Muslim law country. This is a secular republic that allows all religions. Islam is the predominant faith, but the Turkish people do not discriminate based on faith.
• It is a safe country. We did not see any police or military standing around holding AK47’s or anything remotely threatening.
• There are no beggars or street hustlers. We toured five days in several big tourist areas. We were never harassed by beggars or hustlers. We spent time in the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Markets, both of which were huge, and we were never bothered or harassed by the sellers. All were polite and helpful. I was shocked as I quit going to markets or tourist attractions in Cairo due to the aggressive hustlers and beggars.
• The food is great. We ate at easily a dozen places and had great food. We mainly ate at out of the way places our guides liked.
•
The outdoor grill is used everywhere in Turkey, the “grill of choice” is lamb. It is excellent.


Honestly, we would chose Istanbul over Paris, Moscow, London or Rome – Turkey is that nice and pleasant to visit.

2. Get your legs and lungs in shape. I did not do this and regretted it. The climbing is tough, as in most mountain hunting. Being in some kind of shape will make the hunting a lot more fun and not so painful. I suggest hiking on uneven ground carrying a twenty pound pack and using a trekking pole. Get used to the ground moving under your feet. This will help a lot.

3. I am now 61 and it takes longer to get in some kind of shape than the past. Don’t kill yourself but be sure to stretch your hamstrings and calf muscles. They will get a workout on this hunt and you really do not want a torn or pulled muscle wrecking your hunt.

4. Practice longer range shooting. On the first day I missed a 500 yard shot. I have never practiced shots beyond 400 yards and I let myself be talked into trying a long shot that I normally would not take. My gun will shoot that far but I have not done it and should not have done it the first day. When I do this again, I will do more work at 300 yards and try to get proficient at 400 and 500 yards. This takes time and instruction, but it would be worth it.

5. Make time to tour. Turkey is a very nice country.

6. Enjoy the local food. We ate like kings and tried dishes we have not had in the past. It was all good. You can get beer and wine nearly anywhere. The only dish you will not likely see is pork.





Conclusion

1. I always ask myself – “Would I do this hunt again” – to decide if I really liked the hunt. The answer on this hunt was – YES! Turkey is a super hunting destination. Temir and his guys did a super job of setting this hunt up and getting me in a position to shoot. Turkey is safe, friendly, and a stunning place to visit. In fact, I am talking to them now about a stag, chamois and hog hunt in the future.

2. After having hunted a lot of places, I am beginning to gravitate to the places that are easy to get to, easy to get around in, are friendly to Americans and provide a great hunt. Turkey is one of those places.

3. If you go, make time to tour and see Istanbul and the hundreds of super sights. This country is nicer than Italy or France or many other European tourist traps.

4. Ibex are cool. They look cool. The horns are cool. The hunting is the same as sheep hunting but a lot cheaper and easier to get set up to go do. I like sheep hunting, but I am moving over to ibex as I can hunt two or three different ibex for the cost of one sheep hunt.

Appendix A

Bird List – (I am an avid birder. Here is a list of birds I was able to identify)

European Magpie
English Sparrow
Pygmy Cormorant
European Shag
Steppe Buzzard
Rock Dove (common pigeon)
Laughing Dove
European Collared Dove
Western Jackdaw
Hooded Crow
Pied Crow
Marsh Tit
Mistle Thrush
Crested Lark
Common Chiffchaff
Eurasian Nuthatch
White Wagtail
Alpine Accentor
Green Sandpiper
Common Black-headed Gull
Great Cormorant

Appendix B


List of Sights we saw that we would recommend

Istanbul – see this city with a private guide. There is more here than you can see in a week. We did a Bosphorus river cruise to see the city from the Sea of Marmara. The homes, the buildings, the bridges and the overall view of the city was stunning. We also took a Bosphorus River cruise for a few hours just to see the city and area from the water. Again, we were dazzled by the sites and the wealth of the area. Turkey is a 1st world country and a real gem to visit. I liked it far better than Rome, Milan, Paris or even London. It is manageable and fun. There are no hassles and you can walk anywhere safely without being harassed by Arab beggars or street hustlers. Go to Turkey and see the sites. You will love it.

Best cymbals in the world are hand made in Istanbul, just in case you need some cymbals…


Fishing in the Sea of Marmara. We saw fishermen every day in Istanbul


Do not do this… It is expensive. My wife picked out a couple of stunning carpets to ship home.


Hagia Sophia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia



Blue Mosque- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ahmed_Mosque

The Basilica Cistern in Istanbul - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_Cistern

Topkapi Palace – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topkap%C4%B1_Palace

Ephesus Ruins - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesus

Laodicea Ruins - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laodicea_on_the_Lycus


Pergamum Ruins - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamon


Home of the Virgin Mary - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...e_of_the_Virgin_Mary

Sardis Ruins- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardis

Pamukkale Hot Springs and Hieropolis UNESCO World Heritage Centre –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamukkale



Temple of Artemis Ruins – one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis

At least this vendor was honest!


Ever wonder where NIKE got the idea for their swoosh? In Turkey of course –



There are odd ways to attract attention, even in Istanbul

Outstanding!!

Very Nice! I love Turkey. Awesome report.


Oh man... not the ol rug "viewing"
Did you guys ask for that, or did you just happen to end up there?

Great report Ross.

Thanks for the report! Very interesting.

Great Ibex and report

Congratulations Ross, we also found Turkey to be a cool place. I think the kebabs are better in the middle east and India but that's not important.

Arjun

Great report as always, Ross! Thanks for the business and trust, and I appreciate the shameless plug in the report

Greg

Great report. Thank you very much for sharing. I also enjoy Turkey.

Ski+3

Funny!

I saw fake Indians in Italy too, not a one spoke English or was really an American Indian.

I have like you spent a great deal of my life overseas, almost 14 years total.

I lived in Turkey for about 10 months near Antalyia in 2000. I have been back there a number of times, most recently in 2008.

Yep, they like Americans, and the majority of them do not want radical Islam.

"I was so tired my hair hurt" Love it.
That Effes beer doesn't do it for me though.

.
Ross,

Thanks for posting and congrats on an amazing hunt! Valley hunts and long shots!

Share your feelings on Turkey, a great, friendly place with heaps to see and do. We vacationed there again this summer for a week.

Great Pictures too.

Where does the next hunt take you to ?

Cheers

Charlie

Nice report, Ross!

Your reports are always top-notch and I enjoy them.

Hope your LDE hunt is going well.

I hunted Turkey last March and loved it as well.

Cheers!

LDE went really well. You are in for a great trip as well. Thierry is ready for you.
I will post a report this week.

Ross,

A great report and a must do for me before I'm looking at the wrong side of the grass.

Mark

Mark,
The hunt is really fun and cool. However, if you take an extra week to tour, you will be twice blessed. The touring is super and Turkey is a great place to visit. Sadie would like Turkey.

This is a hunt I have to do! I have worked in Istanbul - it is an amazing city!

Dinner at the rooftop restaurant of the Plaza hotel overlooking the Bosphorus bridge is a favorite spot of mine

And.. I love Effes beer!!

Scotland - Spain - Turkey.. the next few years of hunting are gonna be awesome!

We hope to go back for another visual feast!!!!

Dogcat, What was the elevation where you hunted in Turkey? Great ibex and hunt report!

Very Nice Billy!!! Congrats

quote:

We were tempted by these boots in Izmir but kept our Kenetreks

I don't know, I think the green boots with the pandas would be just the thing on a mountain hunt.

Nice report and photos, thanks for sharing it.

Another very detailed report. Super!!!

Great report! Can't wait till I'm there in December :-)

I think I prefer the yellow boots LOL!