Publications - OVIS Magazine

Steve Hornady  - OVIS #23 - Page 23

Steve Hornady (NE) took this great Kuban (Eastern) tur with Vladimir Melnikov 's Profi-Hunt in 2004..

The next two were a successful hunt in the Caucasus with Vladimir Melnikov s Profi-Hunt. I easily shot the smallest Caucasian chamois they've ever taken. My fault, shot the wrong animal when I was in a bit of a hurry. Oh well, it happens and anyway it adds one more Capra. The next day, we had a very successful hunt and stalk for a tremendous Western (Kuban) tur. He has a tremendous length and mass. Shot was about 200 yards and then I watched him tumble downhill and out of sight. Took us six hours to get down to where we could load him on horses and get out. Any way you look at it, I had a great hunt.

Mark Jackson - OVIS #23 - Page 44

Mark Jackson (IN) is one happy fella with his August 2004 Kamchatka snow sheep he took with Vladimir Melnikov of'Profi Hunt.

This comes in from my friend Mark Jackson (IN):
What a great fall I've had. It started with a trip to Kamchatka for snow sheep and ended with a trip to Alberta for a Rocky Mtn. bighorn with my bow. I was fortunate to harvest both sheep. Enclosed is a brief report on both hunts. Thanks again for your help on the snow sheep hunt, and keep up the great work promoting sheep hunting and sheep hunting conservation around the world.

I booked my hunt with Vladimir Melnikov of Profi Hunt. I was able to hunt with a great bunch of hunters. They included Dennis Campbell, Garth Hardy, Gary Rigotti, Lou Rupp, Dave Myrup, and Michael Stough. We all met in Anchorage then proceeded to Petropavlovsk, and finally to our camps on a 2-hour helicopter ride without any troubles. The weather was beautiful making the helicopter ride very enjoyable. The camp provided by Vladimir was the nicest Russian camp 1 have ever experienced. Large wall tents with wood stoves and cots were provided. A separate cooking/dining tent, along with a great cook, topped off the camp. The only problem with the camp was the snoring of my tent companion.

Fortunately my trusty earplugs remedied that problem. My guide Igor was wonderful. We hiked long and hard for four days and had a 5-hour stalk culminating in a great ram. Fortunately we made it up and down the mountain with the ram before dark. But, we still had a long walk back to camp in the dark. It's wonderful celebrating with friends in camp after a great hunt and a sheep has been harvested.

Gary Rigotti - OVIS#23 - Page 51

Gary Rigotti (OR, left) and guide/interpreter Maxim Vorobiev of Profi-Hunt (right) with Gary's August 2004 Kamchatka snow sheep.

Time for a double report from my good friend Gary Rigotti (OR):
As you know, August saw me heading to Anchorage for the Kamchatka snow sheep in Russia. Meeting Lou Rupp, Dave Myrup, Garth Hardy, Mark Jackson and you there was exciting and a very memorable experience. I will never forget the 1 1/2-hour helicopter ride in. Sharing a camp with Lou was terrific. The camp was not what we expected. Base camp was located down low by a river. It reminded me of a jungle and I was almost expecting to see nasty jungle creatures. From there, Lou and I climbed to the mountain peaks and spike camped. The mosquitoes were thick no matter where you were, low or high (mosquito soap was great though).

The ram I took was the closest shot (50 yards) I have ever made on a sheep. On the other hand, Lou shot his ram on the last day but his shot was 675 yards. This guy is a hard act to follow! Well, I might as well tell you the rest of the story. Lou s rifle was out of commission so he used my 284 Winchester. I didn 't think that darn thing could shoot that far. GREAT SHOOTING, LOU!

To summarize the hunt, we all took a nice ram with Dave Myrup s being the biggest at 38 ". Profi-Hunt Ltd. runs a well-organized operation from start to finish.

Dave Myrup, Garth Hardy - OVIS #23 - Page 68

Dave Myrup (UT, left) and Garth Hardy (UT, right) with Garth's fine Kamchatka ram taken in August 2004.

Dave Myrup (UT) and Garth Hardy (UT) hunted Kamchatka snow sheep in August 2004. If those names sound familiar to you, they should, because there have been other reports this time about the group of seven who went on that hunt. Without further ado (since we have had enough ado already), we now go to a report from Dave with his perspective on the whole deal:

Well, here goes…Seven hunters took seven Kamchatka snow sheep with Profi-Hunt in August 2004: Dennis Campbell, Mark Jackson, Mike Stough, Lou Rupp, Ovis Rigatoni (Gary Rigotti), Garth Hardy and me. To say we had a great hunt would be an understatement. The weather was good and the guides, cooks, interpreter and whole crew were outstanding. I took a Super 20 while there... 20 mosquitoes in one swat. Yes, the bugs were bad, but not all of them. Let me explain.

The first day, I told Garth I had a ladybug on my backpack. His reply was that was good luck! As the hunt went on, we had counted six different ladybugs on our backpacks and gear. We located a band of eight rams the first day we hunted. It was decided we should go as a group, as there were two or three big rams in the group. The next day we put on our backpacks, ladybugs and all, and went after the rams. After nine hours of hiking, we came up short and had to stay on the mountain that night. The next morning it started to rain and Vladimir decided we must go back to our base camp and get more food and two tents. Seven hours of hiking and we were at our base camp.

The next day it was back after the sheep. We didn 't go as far as the first day, but we got into a good position for the next day. We had a brown bear just 40 yards from our spike camp just at dark and, needless to say, no one got much sleep.

The next morning we were once again after the sheep. We had climbed and gotten into position to spot the sheep, but we just couldn't find them. At five in the afternoon, Vladimir said we must go, as it was getting late. His concern was we would be out in the open for about 500 yards and if we were spotted it would be over. We worked our way slowly, glassing and watching in every direction.

	Dave Myrup (UT) got this outstanding Kamchatka snow sheep on his August 2004 hunt with Profi-Hunt.

Then Peter ducked down. The sheep were in a saddle right in front of us. We worked our way around a rocky peak and just below us feeding were the sheep, at about 50 yards. Garth said we had flipped a coin and I was to shoot first. Vladimir said I should shoot that ram and Garth should take the one standing next to it (two big sheep). As my ram walked through a cut in the rocky pinnacle, I shot and watched as he rolled off the mountain. Vladimir told Garth, "To the top! To the top! " as sheep scattered in every direction. I got to Garth just as he shot his ram.

As we sat on the mountain, savoring the moment, I looked at my watch. It was 6:00 on the sixth day of our hunt. So pay attention to the little things, especially the ladybugs. Garth 's ram was 10 1/2 years old, 15 x 36 1/2, scored 160 green. My ram was 11 1/2 years old, 38 1/4 x 15 1/2, scored just under 172 green. Actually, Garth, we never flipped a coin. Thanks a million for the first shot.