Publications - OVIS Magazine - SPRING 2007

Jerry Moschgat (PA) - OVIS Spring 2007 - Page 40

Jerry Moschgat (PA) took this Dagestan (Eastern) tur in Azerbaijan, August 2006.

In this issue of OVIS, you will be seeing a lot of Jerry Moschgat (PA). In fact, you have already seen him on the FRONT COVER of this issue. Jerry completed his Ovis and Capra World Slams (and the Triple Slam) in September 2006. Here you will see the Ovis World Slam Milestone for Jerry and look for his Capra World Slam Milestone later on. Jerry can also be seen over in GRAND SLAM this time.

Incidentally, this will be the third issue in a row where we have had a report on the "Caucasus Slam on one trip." Dean Heintzelman (PA) was the first to report this amazing feat, then you saw Gervasio Negrete (MX) was able to do it, and now you will see Jerry has done it. About his hunt in the Caucasus, Jerry writes:

In August 2006 I departed on a hunt for the Dagestan (Eastern) tur; the first leg in an attempt to achieve the "Caucasus Slam. " 1 was pleasantly surprised upon arrival in Baku to see a familiar face, Mirbala, whom 1 had met previ­ously during a Marco Polo hunt in Tajikistan, and who was to be my camp manager for this first leg of the hunt. I then met my interpreter, Alexey, and the guide for the hunt, Rajy.

I was shocked at the terrain we encountered. Despite being warned and spending three months preparing myself for the physical challenges of the Caucasus, the reality was stark and somewhat unexpected, not knowing at the time that I would lose 24 pounds during the course of these four hunts.

This huge Kuban (Western) tur was taken by Jerry Moschgat (PA) in Russia during September 2006. This great trophy and Jerry are featured as the COVER PHOTO of this issue of OVIS.

Our first day on the mountain, and the second of the hunt, was fairly uneventful. We had awakened to thick fog in the morning, which did not clear until the afternoon. We did manage to find a band of turs late in the day; too late, unfor­tunately, for our group to do any­thing but watch them. The third morning dawned clear, but with strong winds. Our hunt on this day found another band of turs in the late morning hours. This time, we put a stalk on the group. We saw the turs begin to move and started making our way around the moun­tainside in the direction that they were feeding. When I at last risked a glimpse over the ledge of the mountainside, I saw that there were five male turs bedded down. I crept closer to the edge to position myself for a shot; unfortunately, one of the turs saw my movements and immeed to take a shot from where we were; Alexey measured the distance at 454 yards, and I took my shot. We moved toward where the group had been standing, and saw the fallen tur within 100 yards. The tur was esti­mated at 15 to 16 years old, and Alexey and my guides were amazed at the size of it. It did, in fact, turn out to be the largest tur ever harvest­ed from that area. The next morning, Alexey and I decided to hunt for a Caucasian chamois with our driver, Rassou, as our guide. We spotted a chamois soon after starting out and began to stalk it, but it winded us and made a rapid retreat. That, unfortunately, was the extent of the opportunities we would have on this day. The next day, the tenth of this leg of the hunt, we found a group of chamois with several in the group that I would be proud to harvest. We stalked them throughout the day, and in the late evening, around 5:30 p.m., I was able to call one of those excellent Caucasian chamois my own.

This Mid-Caucasian tur from Russia completed the "Caucasus Slam" for Jerry Moschgat (PA).

After one full day of travel, our game manager drove us to Nalchik to meet our next hunt managers. This is where we would begin the hunt for a Mid-Caucasian tur, the final leg of the "Caucasus Slam." The next morning, they drove us to meet the family who would be our guides on this final hunt. They were Mohammed, the guide, and his two assistants, Bulla, his son, and Nazir, his brother-in-law. We began our trip to the camp soon afterward. The end of the day brought us halfway up the mountain and to a shack which had been prepared specifically for our hunt. The next day we reached the spike camp, which had a plywood shelter waiting for us. We made our way up the mountain on foot, and spotted a group ofturs on another mountain, and we decided to attempt to get one of them. We climbed for another hour, when Mohammed saw a tur from another group outlined against the sky around a thousand yards away. We quickly ducked to the ground, hop­ing they had not seen us. Mohammed wanted to move to the right and begin advancing upon the turs, but experience and instinct told me to stay where we were, which I insisted upon. Almost as a gift, to validate my decision to remain where we were, a group of eight turs began walking down the mountainside, directly toward us, with the largest of all in the lead. They began to move to our left, and I told Alexey to use the range finder. After doing so, he told me that the turs were 412 yards away. I took a shot, and the rams ran in the direction they had been going, to our left, and appeared to be unharmed. We climbed further up the mountain, then looked out and saw the turs, still running, at least 1500 yards away. We did notice, however, that there were only seven turs in the group now, which begged the obvious question.

It was not long before Mohammed found the eighth tur, lying on the ground but still alive. I walked to him, and made the final shot from 30 yards to complete my hunt with a fine 12-year-old Mid-Caucasian tur. I felt extremely fortunate that, after three hunts and 24 days, I had harvested this Mid-Caucasian on my first day, and by doing so, completed the "Caucasus Slam."

This is how Jerry's Ovis World Slam adds up:
1. Stone sheep (1988) 2. Dall sheep (1990) 3. Aoudad (1992) 4. Rocky Mtn. bighorn (1996) 5. Desert bighorn (1999) 6. European mouflon (2003) 7. Marco Polo argali (2003) 8. Fannin sheep (2004) 9. Kamchatka snow sheep (2005) 10. Koryak snow sheep (2005) 11. Dagestan (Eastern) tur (2006) 12. Kuban (Western) tur (2006) 13. Mid-Caucasian tur (2006)

Dean Heintzelman (PA) - OVIS Spring 2007 - Page 70

Dean Heintzelman (PA) hunted in Turkey during December 2006 and got this bezoar ibex. This ibex completed Dean's Capra World Slam.

Dean Heintzelman (PA) writes:Fatih (hunt organizer) met me at the Erzurum airport in eastern Turkey on December 9, 2006 and Hasan (interpreter/guide) arrived with­in 15 minutes on another flight. We loaded our gear on the back of Fatih s pickup and drove southwest to a village where we spent the night at the dwelling of Haci (local guide). The next morning we were delivered by vehicle to a trail head where we left our sleeping gear and food, which was loaded onto two horses and packed in to the camp site six or seven miles up the drainage. I took a tumble while crossing a ravine and cut my head on a rock. Hasan band­aged the 1 1/2 " cut and we con­tinued hiking into the drainage.
At 2 p.m. we briefly saw a legal bezoar ibex north of us on the mountain and Haci, Hasan and I began climbing to hope­fully get a shot. It was very steep! We climbed and glassed; however, we could not locate the ibex and returned to camp in the dark. The next morning, in a dif­ferent area, we glassed both chamois and ibex and again Haci, Hasan and I began a climb. En route we spooked a large brown bear at 15 yards which woofed and growled at us. By noon we were near the top of the mountain after climb­ing 3300 vertical feet and moving east, when suddenly Haci saw a herd of ibex only 80 yards away from us. The ibex were spooked and ran downhill into some oak trees. We quickly ran downhill over a steep grassy area next to the trees to try to intercept them. We stopped on a very steep hill when we saw ibex running east through the trees. I shot and missed an old billy as it ran through the trees at 85 yards. There were perhaps four or five females and five or six males running east to escape.

This Anatolian chamois from Turkey was taken by Dean Heintzelman in December 2006. Dean booked this hunt through Safari Tours.

When the old billy exited the trees I again began shooting. We thought the second shot sounded like a hit, but the old billy continued to run. I shot several times before it dropped out of sight into a rough rocky canyon 325 yards away. We collected our gear and cautiously looked for any sign of a hit. At the point where the ibex ran into the other canyon we found some blood. We glassed and began looking for an area where we could climb down into the canyon. After slowly climb­ing down and then up through the bottom we found the 10-year-old billy. It had been hit in the back end as it ran straight away from us, and also one horn had been hit. This damaged horn broke off when the billy fell. This old billy had 46" horns with good mass and may have weighed 275 pounds. We returned to camp with meat and horns, arriving after dark. It was a very physically tiring day; however, we were happy hunters.
The next morning we spotted a chamois and after two shots we had an 8-year-old male on the ground on the other side of the river. We had to cross an old 150-foot suspension foot bridge (in need of much repair) to get to the chamois. We took pictures and returned to camp with meat and horns.

This is steep rugged country where the ibex live, similar to the Caucasus Mts. in Russia. Safari Tours handled this trip very well. Haken & Sonner were well organized in Istanbul. Hasan, the interpreter was very accommodating to me in many ways. Fatih had the hunt well organized and Haci knew the area well. We saw ibex and chamois each day while hunting. I think this hunt com­pletes a Capra Slam. "

Congratulations, Dean, on completing your Capra World Slam, and we look forward to presenting this award to you next year in Las Vegas. Here is how the Capra Slam adds up:
1. American mountain goat (1973) 2. Gredos ibex 3. Cantabrian chamois (2005) 4. Pyrenean chamois (2005) 5. Beceite ibex (2005) 6. Dagestan (Eastern) tur (2006) 7. Kuban (Western) tur (2006) 8. Caucasian  chamois (2006)  9.  Mid-Caucasian tur 10. Altay ibex (2006) 11. Gobi ibex (2006) 12. Bezoar ibex (2006) 13. Anatolian chamois (2006

Gary Parker (NE) - OVIS Spring 2007 - Page 80

This Sindh ibex was taken by Gary Parker (NE) in Pakistan during February 2007. This ibex completed Gary's Capra World Slam. Gary hunted with Riza Gozluk of Caprinae Safaris.

Gary Parker (NE)
completed his Capra World Slam with a Sindh ibex from Pakistan. While on that hunt, Gary was also able to get a Blanford urial and he has written a good hunt report for us to use here. Gary writes:
I finally got things worked out for a hunt in Pakistan for Blanford urial and Sindh ibex, and then a
few days prior to scheduled date for departure,was
advised by Caprinae Safaris that I would not be able to take my hunting rifle, but a reliable "camp rifle" would be available. On top of that, British Air announced they would be going on strike the day I was to leave. I began to feel this hunt was not going to take place after all, and perhaps was not meant to be. The British Air strike was called off at the last minute, and although I was not comfortable going on an important hunt without my own rifle, Caprinae Safaris convinced me I would be happy with the "camp rifle" available in Pakistan. Once arriving in Pakistan, I was met by Asad Khan, and four hours later we were on a flight to Karachi. Upon arrival we were met by Riza Gozluk from Caprinae Safaris and Zulfiqar Bhootani, and a few hours later I was finally in Zulfiqar s comfortable Dureji compound. With a few hours of daylight left, I even had time to check out the "camp rifle, " a Bansner 300 Win. Mag.

During my hunt for Blanford urial we saw 20-30 sheep a day, with many in the 24"-27" class. The guide's response to every urial we spotted was "shoot, OK. " After passing on several urials over the course of the hunt it was obvious the guides were not very happy with Riza and me. However, Riza and I had agreed we wanted to hold out for something larger. During the course of the hunt we saw one exceptional urial that had to be in the 32"-34" class, and at one time were within 75 yards, but were pinned down by the other urials and could not get into position to shoot before they winded us. This did not create any goodwill with the guides. However, later that same day I took a respectable 30" urial.

We then turned our efforts to hunting for Sindh ibex in a dif­ferent mountain range, which was about two hours from the Dureji camp. We started the climb early in the mornings to take advantage of mountain shade at sunrise and lack of early morning heat. The climb took about two hours, and we reached a point where the mountains opened up to a high val­ley surrounded by ridges on all sides. It truly looked like ibex country. I was amazed at the habitat and numerous areas where grass patches were available. We had not covered more than a few hundred yards and started to spot ibex. Same story as with the guides on the urial hunt, as they wanted me to shoot every time we spotted ibex, and each time we passed they were somewhat upset. Late in the hunt the guides spotted two ibex on a steep ridge below us working our direc­tion, and I got into position just as they rounded a narrow ledge about 75 yards below us. The two ibex came around the rock, and Riza indicated we better take the bigger one. The 200-grain bullet fortunately anchored him on the widest area of the ledge, or he would have taken a long and steep fall. The guides expended considerable effort to get my ibex to an area where we could assemble to take pictures. It was late in the day and we had a long way off the mountain in the dark, but the setting sun provided great light for some quick pictures. It was a long four hours off the mountain in the dark.

Gary Parker (NE) hunted in Pakistan during February 2007 and took this great Blanford urial.

A note of thanks to Profi-Hunt and Mehmet Alkan of Caprinae Safaris for front end arrangements and organizational efforts, and Riza Gozluk of Caprinae Safaris for his experience and guidance during the hunts. All sheep and goat hunts are memorable, and hunting the Blanford urial and Sindh ibex in Pakistan was unique. Also, the Sindh ibex hunt was kind of special because it resulted in my reaching the sta­tus of Capra World Slam.

Great report, Gary! I had mentioned earlier in Todd Fry's (MI) Skyline Feature that the photo of his Marco Polo argali was one of three in contention for the cover of this issue; so, I will say that your photo of the Blanford urial was the other. As a committee, the cover for this issue was a very difficult decision for us, and after the votes were cast, it came down to a tie. The decision was made to use the Kuban (Western) tur by the fact that not only was it a great photo, but we have never had a tur on the cover in the more than ten years.

As I was digging through Gary's files, I realized that with a desert bighorn he will complete both his Grand Slam and the coveted Triple Slam, just as with Everett "Buzz" Madson (NE), who we saw earlier in this issue.

Good luck on getting your desert ram soon, Gary!
1. American mountain goat (2001) 2. Mid-Asian ibex (2002) 3. Gredos ibex (2003) 4. Beceite ibex (2003) 5. Southeastern ibex (2003) 6. Pyrenean chamois (2004) 7. Cantabrian chamois (2004) 8. Dagestan (Eastern) tur (2005) 9. Kuban (Western) tur (2005) 10. Mid-Caucasian tur (2005) 11. Bezoar ibex (2006) 12. Sindh ibex (2007)

Jerry Moschgat (PA) - OVIS Spring 2007 - Page 85

Jerry Moschgat (PA, left) took this Caucasian chamois in Russia on his September 2006 hunt booked through Profi-Hunt.

You saw an Ovis World Slam Milestone Feature earlier for Jerry Moschgat (PA) where he was able to get the "Caucasus Slam." I had mentioned to be looking for his Capra World Slam Milestone in this issue and here it is. Jerry wrote about tak­ing a Caucasian chamois on that hunt, so I will use that photo here along with his Gredos ibex and Cantabrian chamois from Spain. You can be looking for more from Jerry in the next few issues of both OVIS and GRAND SLAM magazines.

Here is how Jerry's Capra World Slam stacks up:
1. American mountain goat (1988) 2. Mid-Asian ibex 3. Gredos     ibex 4. Beceite ibex (2004)            5. NZ tahr (2005) 6. NZ     chamois (2005)  7. Pyrenean chamois (2005) 8. Cantabrian chamois (2005) 9 Southeastern ibex  (2005) 10. Ronda ibex (2005)          11. Dagestan (Eastern) tur (2006) 12. Kuban (Western) tur (2006) 13. Caucasian chamois (2006) 14. Mid-Caucasian tur (2006)

This Cantabrian chamois was taken in Spain by Jerry Moschgat (PA) during December 2005.

Jerry's   Ovis   World   Slam Milestone earlier was also des­ ignated   as    a   Triple    Slam Milestone - and notice that this Capra World Slam ALSO car­ ries a Triple Slam logo at the top. I think this is the first time a tur has completed an Ovis Slam, Capra Slam, and Triple  Slam simultaneously. Another point we need to make to Jerry here (since this Milestone is shorter and we have the room!) is about our 2008  Trophy Awards.  In Jerry's earlier story about the three turs, we learned that all were good and that the Kuban and Mid-Caucasian were out­ standing. Jerry, please get those trophies    scored by an SCI Master Measurer      and submitted for not only   our   2008 Trophy   Awards but      the S C I/G S C O mountain game record book. Congratulations on all of your Milestones achieved in 2006! It was fun to pres­ent so many recognition cer­tificates to you at our convention. Having reached them all in the Caucasus Mts. certainly means you EARNED them.