Outfitter
Arpo Marco Polo Outfitters
Kairat
Place
Tien Shan Kyrgyzstan

Agent: SkinAfrika Consulting JT Blignaut

Hunting Area:

http://s1345.photobucket.com/u...s942b021b.png.html?s or t=3&o=0

Description of hunting area:

Hunting tours are conducted at the territories of “AK-Say," located at Uch-Chat or "Arpa" areas (Karakul zone)

The camps are located in the highlands of Tien-Shan Mountains. The hunt will take place at an altitude of
3000-4000m.


The camps are equipped with horses, electric lights and good food to make the hunting tours enjoyable and successful. Accommodation is provided in hunting lodges and/or spike camps.

The camps will reduce travelling up and down the mountain.


Hunts will be conducted on horseback in the mountains at an altitude of 3,500-4,500 meters above sea level. The hunter will be accompanied by a professional and a 2nd guide providing assistance.


Dates of hunt:

January - end February 2015
August - end November 2015


Arrival one day before

One night hotel accommodation in Bishkek after the hunt. One day to be added if you wish to take your trophies with. RECOMENDED

January/ February 2015 Special
Marco Polo sheep hunt: 10 days + 2 travel days + 2 hotel days
-$ 19 000
$8000 refunded if not shot.
Includes service fee + VIP lounge arrival and departure + issuing of early permits+ extra 2 days hotel accommodation In order to get export permits to take trophies with.

Additional:
Ibex $ 2 500
Wolf $1100
Observer:
$1500

Deposit payable upon booking/signing contract 100% of total day fees $10 000
$1000 extra services beginning of hunt.
Not compulsory can be deducted from $21 000.
Trophy 60 days before the hunt $8000



August – end November 2015
Marco Polo sheep hunt: 10 days + 2 travel days + 2 hotel days
-$ 21 000
$8000 refunded if not shot.
Includes service fee + VIP lounge arrival and departure + issuing of early permits+ extra 2 days hotel accommodation In order to get export permits to take trophies with.

Additional:
Ibex $ 3 500
Wolf 1100 USD.
Observer:
$1500

Deposit payable upon booking/signing contract 100% of total day fees $12 000
$1000 extra services beginning of hunt.
Not compulsory can be deducted from $21 000.
Trophy 60 days before the hunt $8000



Ibex hunt
January – end November 2015

2015 season
$5500

7 days hunt/2 travelling days/ 1night hotel accommodation

$2000 refundable if Ibex not shot.
Observer $1500

$3500 amount payable on booking.
$2000 60 days before the hunt.



Included:
- Pick up and return Bishkek airport.
- All transportation (jeeps, horses)
- All serving staff including one interpreter per group/camp.
- Invitation letter, firearm permit, hunting permit, state fee.
- Accommodation and food in the camp.
- Service guides, cooks, interpreter + maintenance staff at the hunting camp.
- Trophy care and packing for shipment.
- Kyrgyzstan re-exports permit & veterinary certificate.
- One night hotel accommodation in Bishkek after the hunt.



Excluded

- Airline ticket to/from Bishkek.

- Additional trophies taken.

- Gratuities usually 7- 10% from cost of hunt all staff involved.

- Lodging, drinks, meals and travel charges incurred before and after the contracted period of the hunt

-Any requests outside the contractual hunt.

- Excess luggage fee charged by airlines.

- Telephone calls. (Only satellite phones operable)

- Items of a personal nature.

-Insurance (Trip Cancellation, Medical Evacuation, etc.)NB

- Visa
Available at arrival Bishkek.
NB. Due to the elevation of the hunting areas and the ruggedness of the habitat, it is strongly recommended that hunters arrive in the best possible physical condition, as this will help you have a more enjoyable and successful hunt. Although hunters need not super fit, the altitude will affect nearly everyone—most of the camps are located at approximately 3500 meters – 4500 meters above sea level. These hunts are not recommended for any persons significantly overweight or with physical disabilities

General information
Recommend using VIP lounge Bishkek $110. Included in Marco Polo packages. All your check-ins rifles etc. will be done while you wait.
Outfitter will meet you at the airport.
Check list: RIFLE&AMMO:
Caliber: 7mm, .300 Win.Mag. .300 Wby.Mag. .300RUM. .30-378 Wby.Mag. With optics 3, 5 – 10x, 3 –
12x, 4 – 16x; 40-60 bullets
OPTICS:
Binoculars 7-47x; Rangefinder 700-900m; Spotting Scope
Documents: Passport & Visa; Airline tickets & Itinerary; Insurance; Cash & Cards; CITES (for Marco Polo
Sheep); List of addresses & phone numbers in your country and hunting destination, your taxidermy
Address; Diary & Pen; Anything to read; Maps
Clothing:
Mountain boots - 1-2 pair; Camp shoes; Hunting pants -2 pairs; Hunting long-sleeved shirts -2 pieces;
Underwear - 3-4 pairs; Jacket with hood; White camouflage; Sweater - 1-2 pieces; Thermal top, long-sleeved;
T-Shirts - 3-4 pieces; Gloves - 2 pairs (1 warm, or mittens); Wool cap; Cap with ear-flaps;
Hunting cap; Scarf or neck warmer; Leather belt or suspenders; Socks, light and warm or thermo socks;
Handkerchiefs
MISCELLANEOUS:
Sleeping bag (for minus 20oC); Pad for sleeping (body size) and seating; Lip balm & Sunblock; Walking
sticks; Blister pads; Thermos, 1 liter; Medications - for your needs; Scotch tape; Zip-lock bags; Camera
(photo-, video-); Films, tapes, memory cards; Flashlight; Satellite phone; Player or radio; Batteries &
Accumulators & Chargers (220v or adapter); Sunglasses



Following meds to help with high altitude:
Diamox pills start drinking it 2-3 days prior the hunt. I addition use sparkling aspirin 3 times a day and
Ibuprofen pills. You can get some information about it with this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibuprofen Ibuprofen is very useful at high altitude.
After arrival to the hunting camp don't be in a hurry, move slowly and let your body acclimatize to the
Altitude. Hope this will help.

Theo,
Any pics of the Ibex and Marco polos?
What size range can one expect to see and what are success rates running?

September October 8 hunters successfully hunted 8 Ibexes and one Marco Polo. Unfortunately it is not my clients and I can only provide pictures with their consent.
I have 5 hunters going in November mixed Ibex and sheep hunting. Will add successes after hunts.

Average of 8 ibexes confirmed as 105cm by outfitter!

quote:

Originally posted by hunteratheart:
Theo,
Any pics of the Ibex and Marco polos?
What size range can one expect to see and what are success rates running?

To whom it may concern,

do not automatically follow the advice of taking Diamox 2-3 days before entering the high mountains. I did that in 2007 and got very sick in Moscow. It lastet for many hours. My friend did not react, but he got very concerned about me.

Discuss with your doctor in case you have issues with blood pressure, high puls, angina, kidneys etc etc.

I have hunted in these conditions 5 different times ( between 2004 and 2012 ) and stopped using just Diamox. Viagra kan do the same job which is making the blood flow more easily. Albyl E and Aspirin/Globoid have the same effect. Mount Everest climbers combines 50/50 of a quarter of Diamox and Viagra at the time. The best thing is to drink a lot, especially tea and combine that with Aspirin/Globoid. If necessary try a quarter tablet of Diamox to start With.

Morten

To report back the February hunt produced a 130 cm Marco polo and 2 ibexes of 115 and 117 cm. Photos can be provided via e mail.

Hi all, 3 of us took up this offer in the year just gone. You can see trip report Here.

http://forums.accuratereloadin...001020902#9001020902

also of interest is the comment about Diamox, I found this to be the case also.

I kindly ask. Did you hunt with Arpo Marco Polo Outfitters ??? Is your report about that company? I have hunted with the outfitter in this post and my hunt was 180 of yours. One of the best and fantastic hunts I have ever done. No problems at all and took my 2 ibex another Canadian hunter took 2 ibex and 50" MP. The mountain beat me so I didn't not connect with MP but a few years younger and better legs I would have.

I also have to say my experience with Theo was 180 of what you implied. Communications were always prompt, I received more than was expected in the way of hospitality, and am looking forward to working with him again on my next trip which we have been planning. He was prompt and eager to be involved whether it was answering questions, assisting getting my wife setup on skype so she could see/talk to me during my trip or just casually reaching out to see if I needed anything and how it was going.

At the stage we took up this offer, we were sent photos from Kairats outfit Arpo, but ended up with Argali who we were told was his brother in law.
I would not dispute you ha a great hunt, and of course when you have a good trip, you don't get to see the quality of the service should things turn bad. Its when things have gone bad that your agents commitment to his clients shows through. None of the actions on the ground in Kyrgyzstan are Theos fault. But his lack of reply to us in working out a reasonable settlement for the contract we have with him is.

In regards to who we hunted with, I have been wondering that since we got back. There are supposedly 2 people, Kairat and Rinat. They are either brothers or brothers-in-law, depending on who answers the question. Kairat goes by Kyrgyzhunt on africanhunting.com. Rinat uses the email contact Kyrgyzhunt@gmail.com. I know this much, when you step off the plane in Bishkek an asian guy picks you up and off you go to a tent in the mountains. So, who are you hunting with? Good question. I'm not 100% sure today.

There were so many problems with this hunt I don't know where to start but I will try to summarize.

We asked for our firearms permits repeatedly. Starting months in advance. I never got mine from Theo but he said not to worry, they will meet you in Bishkek with them. Luckily, on the day Mike and Craig left they got the permits. Good thing I might add as there was no one to meet us in Bishkek upon arrival. The guy was over an hour late and we were 90% done clearing customs when he arrived.

Theo told me that because the hunt was in November that we would be staying in cabins with stoves. Therefore, I brought my summer sleeping bag. We spent every night but the first one on the mountain under a makeshift cover. (I wouldn't call it a tent as tents have bottoms. They put down a tarp and this cover over the top of it. If I had known, I would have brought my cold weather bag.)

The guides were constantly trying to get us to shoot small ibex. We were very clear with Theo from the start of the booking process that we had no intention of doing this and we were assured the guides would not be encouraging us to do this. It happened almost every day. At one point they told us to shoot every male that came by and we could keep the biggest two. What a joke.

The food wasn't great but it was edible. Until I watched the cook one night take all our scraps/half-eaten portions and scrape them back in to the cook pot and reuse them. Yes, I watched that happen. No wonder we were all sick by the end of the hunt.

They were constantly lying to us. One thing after another. We met up with 2 English hunters in Bishkek and they were furious about the same thing.

We were each supposed to have a guide apiece for ibex and Mike was to have 2 guides for sheep hunting. Our contract explicitly states that. We had 2 guides for 3 hunters.

They had no sat phone in camp. If I wouldn't have brought one with me what would they have done when Craig lost his vision and had to be taken to a doctor?

The worst part of all this to me was the fact that Mike never got to even hunt sheep. I sat there on the ground and listened to the guides tell us that there were no sheep in this area so he should just wait in camp until we killed some ibex. How would you feel in that situation?

The interpreter, who worked for this operation and Seledang, said that in all the years he had been working this was the worst trip he had ever been on. Period. That says a lot to me.

We sat down face to face with Rinat. We explained what happened and he agreed that the whole thing was a complete joke. (He used the words, "the guides should be beat".) He asked us to write up a summary and send it to Theo and then he would refund us our money. We did what he asked and since then we have not heard anything from him and he will not respond to us.

It seemed to me that Theo was interested in helping us work through the refund process at first, but he has gone silent. Our hunt contract is with SkinAfrika Consulting.

Guys,

Thank you soo much for sharing your story. My heart goes out to you for enduring this trip. I am proud of you as gentlemen and hunters for your thoughtful, respectful comments on this site.
I hope all works out in the end and you get an opportunity to hunt ibex again.

Ski+3

I look forward to a comment from the booking agent on this debacle!!!

Again Caveat emptor !!!!!!!!!!!!

Nick

Another thread contain some of the same story. See Asian Hunts and read !

Booking in these countries is not a joke - people have to learn the hard way I suppose !?

Morten

I'd expect some sort of refund for a service that was in writing and not provided.
Bumped across another ordeal when things went completly astray and the same agent was involved.

http://www.africahunting.com/t...-anton-bakker.17695/

quote:

Originally posted by NoDak416:
I'd expect some sort of refund for a service that was in writing and not provided.
Bumped across another ordeal when things went completly astray and the same agent was involved.

http://www.africahunting.com/t...-anton-bakker.17695/

Wow! Caveat Emptor

My brother had a trip booked two years ago for this area with a different Outfitter. There was two of them and they sent a small deposit. Around 1,500 each to reserve their date. Their quote for the hunt was around 24K Right after they purchased their plane tickets the Outfitter contacted them and raised the price of their package an additional 30K. They cancelled everything and went to Zim to hunt with Dudley Rogers instead.

I had booked a hunt through Theo and cannot say one bad thing. Always very prompt returning messages. I do know his mother is not in good health right now and maybe that is why he has been slow to respond, which is no excuse.