My wife and I just got back from an ibex hunting and tourism trip to Spain and I thought I would give a quick report.

We hunted Gredos and Beceite ibex and killed good rams of both species. We also saw the sights in Madrid, including museums, flamenco and a bullfight.

Although we had been to Spain several times before, this was our first hunting trip.

We hunted the Gredos from horseback high in the mountains.



Our horses were amazing and took a lot of the grunt work out of climbing above the clouds, over a mile into the sky.



It was great to have such strong and yet gentle animals to do 90% of the climbing and un-climbing for us.

The work was still difficult. We spotted a small herd of Gredos, stalked them and set up across a canyon about 400 yards away from them. We watched them as they came down from the ridge toward us.



I always take my own rifles and this time I had one of my Blaser R93s with me. They are my favorite traveling rifles.

This one had a 7mm Rem. Mag. barrel and a Schmidt & Bender 2.5-10x56mm Zenith scope screwed onto it, and I had zeroed the rifle for 250 yards.



I was shooting 160 grain Nosler Partition bullets at about 3,000 fps. This set up would easily keep me on a six-inch paper plate out to 300 yards.

We waited until an ancient old ram came within about 300 yards. I took the shot and put him down for the count.

He was old, heavy and still in great shape.



I meant the ibex, not me.



Here's the whole team, consisting of my guide, Yann Le Bouvier, our horses, the government men, their shepherd dog and the horse wranglers, posing with our hard-earned goat. My lovely wife took the photo.



During the whole stalk and set up, our steadfast horses stood calm and ready to take us back down the mountain. When the time came, they did so with sure-footed alacrity.



Next, we drove halfway across Spain to chase after Beceite ibex.

I had heard and my guide confirmed that a kind of fatal mange was plaguing the Beceite herds. This was not true of the area we hunted. The ibex seemed healthy and strong there.

Our guide had put some scouts out and they had spotted a herd with an old, non-typical ram in it. His horns angled forward instead of backward and spread out in a very wide V-formation.

Thanks to the scouts, we arrived very early in the morning to the area where this ibex herd had been recently spotted. The rams liked to spend the night in the lowlands and head up into the hills by eight or nine o'clock in the morning.

Happily, these hills were much lower in altitude than the Gredos mountains. We found the herd and waited them out. The rams were fighting. We could hear them banging heads in the silence of the morning.

I got a shot at the oldest ram in the herd at about 245 yards and put him down and out.

The "hero" photos with ibex are among the most impressive one will ever see!



We then headed for Madrid and spent our time there seeing the sights. The corrida at Las Ventas was as intense and riveting as you might imagine. Of the three novilleros we saw, one was sadly not up to the task, but the other two were excellent.



The place was packed.



A picador was knocked off of his horse by a 595 kg. bull and mauled as he lay on the ground. I am happy to say that with help he managed to escape and limp away to fight another day.

Among many other things, we visited the Prado, the Reina Sofia museum and had dinner and saw a traditional flamenco at Corral de La Moreria. We even stopped by to see old friends Don Quixote and Sancho Panza at the Cervantes statue in the Plaza de Espana.



I highly recommend this trip to those who may be thinking about doing it.

Well done Michael. Spain is a favorite European hunting destination of mine as well. Thanks for the report.

Very fine trophies there Michael! Pity about the incompetent novillero, a bad bullfight is a sad sight. I saw one in that ring, painful and humiliating for the man and not much fun for the beast.

Mike,

Well done! Gotta love Spain. Madrid may now be my favorite big city.

Mark

Mike,
Well done and congrats to you and Mrs. R. on another rewarding adventure. You guys do it in some style

Thanks for sharing this, Mike. Obviously a wonderful time with a couple excellent ibex.

I need to go do this one of these days.

I also hunted Spain for Gredos with my wife and another couple in 2021. We traveled and spent a few days in Barcelona before taking the train to Madrid to meet the other couple and our outfitter.

Spain is one of our favorite places and we plan to go back. I highly recommend a side trip to Barcelona.

One thing to not overlook. Consider hiring a private guide for any of these cities. We did this in Madrid and it was some of the best money we could have spent.

Our outfitter also spoke of the mange issue.

Thanks, gents.

Barcelona is one of our favorite cities. We’ve been there a few times but until this trip we had not seen Madrid. It is ancient and the center of Spanish culture. With the assistance of Yann’s lovely wife Gwen in arranging things, we enjoyed it very much.

Spanish hunting is very organized and structured. Our outfitter, Yann Le Bouvier, and his partner, Antonio Moreno Perez, have it down to a science. They are very good at handling all of the logistics and guiding duties, and are great company besides.

I have heard that the price of ibex hunting - especially Gredos - will be going up soon and rather sharply, although I suppose the market will only bear so much.

I can tell the world that, based on our experience, it is great fun!

quote:

Yann Le Bouvier, and his partner, Antonio Moreno Perez

I tried to Google them and spain hunting but nothin came up.

WOuld you please PM me thier contact info? Looks like you had a fantastic hunt!

Ballpark, what should I expect Gredos and Beceite ibex to cost? Is it by the inch? I have only seen auction hunts for sale with a crazy VAT tax added to the 'value' of the hunt and not the market price of the auction. I would prefer to simply book directly.

Thank you!

PM sent.

Thanks for the great report and photos. Congratulations!