As I’m writing this I’m just about to leave my hotel in Bishkek for the airport.
When I arrived I used the VIP service at the airport which made collecting baggage, and getting guns through extremely easy. After getting everything sorted out at the airport I had a 5 hour drive to Karakol. We ate lunch in Karakol where I met up with the camp manager and taxidermist and then drove the remaining 5 hours with them.
Upon arrival to camp I ate a quick meal, and headed to bed. The next morning the guide showed up and we checked my rifles zero. Im glad we did because it was way off and required a handful or rounds to get it back where it needed to be.
After my rifle was sorted, we loaded up and drove an hour to an old mining town that had been mostly abandoned upon the fall of the Soviet Union. We began glassing from town and immediately started picking up Ibex on the mountain faces above. We decided there was no point in packing in and freezing in tents when we could stay in a house in town and hunt from there.
We spent most of the first day watching the ibex and coming up with a plan for the next morning. That evening we went to a hot spring next to the river, and soaked in that before heading back to town and going to bed.
We were up at 4 the next morning. After a short drive we began hiking. Over the next several hours we climbed close to 3,000 vertical ft topping out near 13,000 ft. We got to a rock spine, in the dark, that had Ibex on either side of it the day before. As it got light we began picking out Ibex on the faces above. The first herd was nannies and kids. We watched them for a while before my guide started indicating he had found the billies.
The billies were close to 800 yards away, but three of them broke off and started coming our way. As they spread out single file on the face in front of me at 545 yards, I picked out the billy in the lead, and prepared for the shot. When he stopped I touched off the shot and he immediately stumbled down the hill, but remained on his feet.
I could tell he was hit hard, but he wasn’t dying. I prepared for another shot and was just about to touch it off when he bedded to where I could just see his horns. I was then able to work around above him, and put another shot into him at 200 yards. Upon the second shot he began tumbling and sliding down the mountain. He went over 700 yards before coming to his final resting place.
As we worked our way down to him, I cut a set of snow leopard tracks, which my Kyrgyz companion referred to as “ice kitty.” When we got down to him, we took some pictures, and began processing him. While we were processing him, another guide brought the horses up to us. We loaded up on the horses, and made it back to “town” around 3 in the afternoon.
I’ve spent the last couple days in Bishkek waiting for my permits to be complete so I can take my Ibex home with me. It’s been a great trip, but I’m ready to be back in the US. I went solo on this trip, and it’s been a bit lonely at times not really having anyone to talk to due to the language barrier.
