Gary Parker - OVIS Summer 2006 - Page 8
 |
 |
This bezoar ibex was taken by Gary Parker (NE) in Turkey during
March 2006. Gary booked his hunt through Vladimir Melnikov
of Profi-Hunt. |
|
Gary Parker (NE) sent in this double report of his 2001 mountain goat hunt and March 2006 bezoar ibex hunt:
In August 2001, after a successful Stone sheep hunt with Myles & Sherry Bradford, Bill Oestreich and I turned our attention to hunting a mountain goat. Since this was my first Capra, I guess you can say this got me started on the path for a Capra World Slam.
At the GSCO convention in February 2006, Vladimir Melnikov of Profi-Hunt advised me of a new area in northeast Turkey that was opening for bezoar ibex, and inquired if I was interested in being the first hunter. The hunt described was in March 2006, so I had to decide quickly. I had some concerns about the month of March because of snow and being the first ibex hunter in a "new area, " but after some post-convention conversation with Vladimir, I decided to go instead of waiting until the fall season.
Vladimir Koshcheev of Profi-Hunt traveled from Moscow for a "vacation, " since he had never hunted in Turkey, and we hooked up with guide Artur in Erzurum, and then a long drive to Yusufeli. The next day we traveled south from Yusufeli to the mountain village of Tekkale, and then into the mountains we would hunt for the next few days. The mountains were spectacular, but the deep snow made climbing challenging, and I can dispel the theory that "deep snow will drive bezoar ibex down. " After fighting deep snow we decided to move to a different mountain range and a new camp. In the second area we did not have to deal with deep snow, but saw only a few immature ibex. Vladimir and Artur decided we would pack out, meet the truck, and travel to a new mountain range north of Yusufeli by about four to six hours.
After arriving in the third area we spotted ibex at the top of the mountain, but with rain and snow on steep rocky slopes, we decided to wait until the next day and hopefully better weather, and start early morning (4 a.m.) and try to climb close to the area we spotted the two ibex. The mountain was steep, but Ismail, the local guide found the best way to ascend the mountain, and about halfway up after stopping to glass, located ibex at about 1,000 yards from our location.
After passing on taking a shot at 450 yards and then having ibex spook as I positioned to shoot at 350 yards, we were fortunate they did not run up and over the top of the mountain ridge. After waiting for a period of time we resumed our climb to the top and inched along the top of the ridge, then dropped down the steep rock ridge above where we thought the ibex might be. After a couple of hours of slow descent, Artur and Vladimir spotted two ibex and we were able to get within 200 yards at a steep angle above the ibex. The ibex I wanted was just walking around the ledge and would disappear in seconds, so a quick shot was necessary. Fortunately, I was able to anchor the ibex with a single shot, because if he had taken more than one step after the shot, it would have been a long and steep fall to rocks below the ledge.
With the above reports on the first and last Capra, I believe the current count should be at number 11.
You are correct, Gary, we here at GSCO have you at #11 on your Capra list - good luck on #12! |
