Caucasian Chamois in Russia, Kuban tur in Russia and Dagestan tur in Azerbaijan

Jeff Meyerl (PA) - OVIS Fall 2008 - Page 34

It is a great pleasure to report that Jeff Meyerl of Mars, Pennsylvania, has completed his Capra World Slam. First, here is a recent email from Jeff to explain why I (Dennis) am doing the report instead of Seth: I sent photos of my turs and chamois, along with a score sheet and photos of my Gobi ibex, for the Trophy Awards Program by regular mail. I hope you have received them. I was just thinking that it was less than three years ago when I met Dennis and Hugh Jacks (At) in the frozen Arctic of Cambridge Bay. I had done a lot of hunting before then, but not much sheep and goat hunting. In fact, I had taken only three goats and four sheep up until that point. I had spent so much time hunting Africa and the rest of the flat world that I had forgotten how exciting and rewarding mountain hunting was. Dennis and Hugh reminded me of this fact and encouraged me to join GSCO and pursue more mountain game. Well, three short years and many mountain hunts later, I am proud to say that I am on the verge of the Triple Slam, having completed my Capra with Dagestan (Eastern) tur, Kuban (Western) tur and Caucasian chamois in August, and having only the Marco Polo (October 2008) and desert sheep (December 2008) left for a Triple Slam. Thanks, Dennis and Hugh, for inspiring me to new heights (literally) and allowing me to see some of the most beautiful places this earth has to offer.

So you see that Hugh and I inspired Jeff. Jeff and I sure have become great friends since meeting back in 2005. It is going to be a thrill to see him on stage for a Grand Slam, Ovis World Slam, Capra World Slam and Triple Slam at our 2009 Las Vegas convention. Now to Jeff's report on exactly how his Capra World Slam was completed: I got back yesterday from a great hunt in Azerbaijan and Russia for Dagestan (Eastern) tur, Kuban (Western) tur and Caucasian chamois. Chris Jackson (MO) was also on this trip and we had a wonderful hunt. We arrived in Baku on July 22, 2008 and were met by ProfiHunt representatives and taken to a hotel for the night. Our guide/interpreter Alexey Alexeev met with us at the hotel and suggested we leave early the next morning for a 6-hour drive to Sheki. We arrived in Sheki and were transferred to the base of the mountain where we met our two main guides Terril and Telly and were treated to a great lunch and got ready for a 5-hour horse ride to base camp. During the ride we climbed to 7800feet. Base camp consisted of a stone shelter with tents to sleep in and was extremely comfortable.
The next morning we hiked around the side of the mountain and started glassing. Telly soon spotted turs bedded down two canyons over. These guides are really good at spotting animals, as it took me a while to see the two turs bedded under an overhang in the shade. We looked at the turs through Chris's spotting scope and decided they were worth pursuing. As it gets very hot in the afternoon, Telly said we had plenty of time to make the stalk. After stumbling, falling and sliding for two hours (this is really steep country), we were peeking over the rocks at 165 yards. As I lost at "rock, paper, scissors " (I think I should have flipped a coin), Chris had the first shot. At the shot, my tur jumped up immediately and ran straight downhill, leaving no opportunity for a shot. Telly was motioning me to move to the edge of the mountain finger we were on. I was able to get on the tur again and hit him on the run. The area he stumbled into was extremely steep and dangerous and the guides did not want to risk me falling, so they recovered my animal some four hours later. I was very happy with a 9-year-old 32" trophy.

As we could not hunt the Kuban tur until August 1, we spent a few days in base camp and then a few more days in Sheki and were treated tremendously by Terril and his family. We flew to Moscow on July 31 and then to Mineral 'Nye Vody the next day with Profihunt s Alexey Maximov. Then we had a 2-hour drive on hard road followed by four hours on dirt road. The area we were to hunt has numerous glaciers and attracts many hikers at lower elevations than we would hunt. The next day we headed to spike camp on horseback, climbing some amazingly steep terrain. We set up our spike camp of four tents at 8,100 feet. My guides were Genna and Aswan. The fog had rolled in by the time we had camp set, but cleared just before dark and we started glassing. We soon saw turs working their way down the mountain to feed. We tried to move closer but lost them as more fog rolled in.
The next morning we started climbing at 8:30 and at about 9,000 feet started glassing the mountain peaks and canyons. This terrain was completely different than Azerbaijan, as it was mostly rock instead of steep grassy slopes. We continued to climb past 10,000feet, and as we looked up a canyon we saw a 7-year-old tur 80 yards away. As I had read many stories about the difficulty of tur hunting and had just experienced a small part of the steep, slippery climbs, my mind was thinking maybe I should take this tur. It has been said that any animal taken in the Caucasus is hard-won and well earned. It was as if Alexey were reading my mind, as he shook his head no.
Genna decided we should top out and look at the back side of the mountain. Ninety minutes later we were at the top at 11,018 feet. The top was not at all what I expected: only 6 to 8" wide, then down the other side, so we climbed over and started sidehilling on the hack side. Soon we heard rocks falling and saw two female turs moving in front and above us. Genna said to get ready, as there might be a male with them. The first male was a young one, and then I saw a good male. I had just gotten a sight picture when fog blew in from below. I could still hear the turs moving, and adjusted my position. Through an opening in the fog, I watched a small male jump up on a rock and then down. Alexey said to keep my aim and the big male should follow the same trail. He did, and I hit him mid-body, with the bullet stopping at his spine. He disappeared in the fog and we tried to parallel him as he stumbled down the next ridge, seeing only glimpses through the fog. Ali, Chris's guide, saw the tur fall off a 100-foot cliff and land in a snow bank, not moving. We had to go down the chute and up the next chute, which just about wore me out. We had climbed almost 3,000 feet, dropped down 1,500 feet on the other side, and then climbed 1,350 feet up to my now-dead tur. What a beautiful animal: 12 years old with massive bases, and major knurls on his fighting gear.
The next morning we slept in a bit, and I was just getting washed up when Genna told me to get ready as he had spotted a chamois bedded down and we should go quickly. It is hard to believe, but the chamois live in steeper, more dangerous terrain than the turs... although at lower elevations. After climbing down a ridge to where Genna had spotted the chamois bedded, we peeked over to see three on a flat rock 260 yards below us. Normally this would be an acceptable shot, but I need to stop and confess what could have been a disastrous error on my part. When I had provided my rifle info to Profihunt, I had given the serial number of my Blaser barrel for my 375 H&H instead of my 300 Weatherby. By the time my mistake was found I was forced to bring the 375.1 was now looking at a long shot at a small animal bedded down. To make matters a little worse, this was my Capra Slam animal! I aimed, said a little prayer and squeezed off. Genna and Alexey smacked me on the back and we celebrated what may be the only Dagestan tur, Kuban tur and Caucasian chamois hunt using a 375 H&H... although certainly not on purpose!
1. American mountain goat (1986) 2. New Zealand chamois (1996) 3. New Zealand tahr (1996) 4. Alpine chamois (2006) 5. Balkan chamois (2006) 6. Gredos ibex (2007) 7. Cantabrian chamois (2007) 8. Altay ibex (2007) 9. Gobi ibex (2007) 10. Dagestan (Eastern) tur (2008) 11. Kuban (Western) tur (2008) 12. Caucasian chamois (2008)