Turkey..

20181103_190531 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

The trip to Turkey had a bit of trepidation attached to it as I had never spent a longer period of time there. Basically my longest time there was about 11 hours for a layover on my way home from one of my trips to Azerbaijan or Kyrgyzstan. So?? To spend 10 days in the country was an unknown. In addition, the location of our hunting camp also had a bit of concern as it was in fairly close proximity to the Syria border..so??? see attached map, we had flown from Istanbul to Adana..then traveled north to our hunting camp.Finally when checking the US Gov. Travel sites, they highly suggest not going here..but they have said the same about other areas I have traveled to as well that have not been a problem.

As you can see Adana is not really that far from Aleppo..

20181105_013809 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

The first day was the typical unwind from the long flight schedule, late breakfast, go sight in the rifles, etc. After that was completed, we drove out to do a bit of glassing for the following day. Once in the mountains I was quite surprised by the steepness of the terrain. Had been told it was typically not that difficult of terrain as compared to other ibex/tur/sheep hunts I have done. While the elevation was lower, actually very similar to where I live in Montana, the steepness of the mtns was readily apparent. We did spot a couple of ibex in the distance, actually on the far mtn shown in this photo. We also spotted a wild boar just below us right at dark.This lead to a conversation of hunting the wild Russian boar in the area.

Resized_20181104_150831(2) by A Hoffart, on Flickr

The next full morning we got up at 4:30AM met for breakfast and headed out in the vehicle to get to our hunting area. The plan was to get there in the dark, get set up and start glassing at first light in hopes of spotting an ibex moving from its feeding area to the bedding area..I was in a fog state the first day, trying to fight off the jet lag—10 hour difference in time zones really messed with my internal clock. We spotted a couple of ibex moving later in the morning however there was no way to get to where they were headed from where we were in time..so we simply watched and judged the size of horn from about 900 yards. We spent most of that day moving around in the mtns, checking different areas, building a fire for lunch, taking a brief cat nap and then continue hunting until dark.

20181108_094700 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

Pic of the city from our early morning vantage point ..

20181105_061235 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

The following morning was a repeat of the previous day, up at 430, breakfast and off to the same area to glass.. Again we spotted a couple of ibex males, but nothing of an age or size so we moved to another area to spot. Once there we spotted from a high vantage point for about 3 hours. After his we drove off the back of the mtn and stopped at a sheep herders cabin to have lunch..see photo below.. one of the game guards (what the guys watching/protecting the area and game are called)..quite simple yet very functional. He was not there but was a friend of the game guard..so we spend the next 2 days at lunch time in this cabin having lunch after the morning hunt/spotting session.

20181106_112046 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

Inside:

20181106_113452 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

We picked some mushrooms one day to have along with the rest of our lunch, they are called girl mushrooms, have no idea why??

20181106_110026 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

The evening of the second day it was announced to us that if we wanted to hunt wild boar, we could try that evening.. My friend Troy and I both jumped at the chance.. was a lot of fun, and had very good results, see below.. the size of these guys is amazing. I shot what was thought to be a very large boar while in Spain a couple of years ago, however they are nothing compared to the size of these guys..amazing

20181106_152618 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

20181106_182330 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

Pic of my boars tusks.. 24cm

20181107_221332 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

We got back from hunting wild boar about 11Pm –back up at 430 to go hunt ibex. That day we were once again spotting ibex in the same area. We spotted several males with one that seemed very nice that had headed into a large forest area. We assumed it was going to travel through this area and hit a ravine on the way to the top of the mtn, so the race was on..we grabbed our packs and rifle heading up to cut him off should he go the direction the guides were anticipating.. we got to the area about 45 minutes later and very sweat soaked.. picked a good glassing area waited for over 2 hours ..nothing.. so we sill hunted our way back to the vehicles/camp..again nothing. Did more hiking and glassing the following night , however come up empty handed. We had two issues working against us. One being it was unseasonably warm.. Two, it was about 2-3 weeks before the rut starts, so all the males were still hanging out together. This makes for a very difficult hunting situation as they are extremely wary, with incredible hearing, sight and sense of smell. Plus the terrain they hang out in is incredible.

20181107_195850 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

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20181107_172309 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

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Our situation basically remained the same for the next couple of days, with the guides seemingly becoming more and more concerned about the result of this hunt. We were doing more and more hiking. Staying out later and getting up earlier. Getting to new areas, but kept coming up empty handed as to being able to connect. Either they were way too far away and in inaccessible terrain, or they were too young/small. Turkey does have an age restriction on age of ibex that can be harvested.

20181108_170833 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

On day 6 or our 7 day hunt we went to the other end of the area we had spotted some the day before, thinking we might be able to get on them from that side. We drove as far as we could, put on our packs and gear and off we went hiking up the mtn. We sat there glassing for about 2 hours again, more of the same, seeing ibex in chutes and areas a long ways off but nothing close. We built a fire and had a cup of tea and breakfast, then went back to glassing.. Lady luck was on our side this moring as my main guide spotted 4 nice males about 900 yards out.. feeding and looking like they were going to bed in that area..there as a shelf on the mtn side below us..it was extremely steep chutes with lots of loose rock in them but we decided if we could get to that shelf we would in all likelihood be within shooting distance so off we went. About 90 mintes later we were in position and once peeking over the rocky ridge saw a smaller ibex bedded in an opening.. I laid out a jacket on the rocky ridge to prepare for a shot. Ranged the ibex in the opening that showed 304 yards across the ravine. However he was a smaller one so we laid there trying to spot the larger one we had seen earlier from above. About 10 mintues into it was saw the smaller one get up and walk into the timber. We kept glassing for them in an attempt to spot them when suddenly we say them leaving the area, running up the draw and then cutting across the side of the mtn. Apparently they felt something was not correct and they decided to get out of there. I spotted the larger one in my bino’s, saw the direction he was headed and spotted an opening ahead of him, Ranged the distance, which turned showed 431 yards in my Swarovski EL range bino’s… followed the ibex in my rifle scope through the timber. When he hit the opening I sent a 140gr Nosler Accubond out of my 280AI his way.. the timber was too thick to see if I had hit or not. I asked both the guides with me if I hit and neither of them could tell, when suddenly out of steep tree area we saw the ibex coming out rolling out of the trees. AND he did not stop, hit about an 80 ft cliff and dropped off. Fortunately his rear end hit first when hitting the ground..

My perch I shot off of..

received_462008867539825 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

There was a whole lot of hollering, jumping around, praising the God of your choice, and enough happiness to fill the valley. See the area of my perch where I shot from..the clearing across the canyon is where I shot him..he fell off of the cliff below that opening..

We packed up our gear, grabbed my rifle and off we went to retrieve the ibex. Once there we were all very excited to find how awesome his coloration was, no broken horn from the fall, and he turned out to be 10 ½ years old, along with being a very nice sized ibex. Talking to the rest of the crew who has waited above whle we made our stock, he stated he could see the ibex drop as his hit the opening and then heard my rifle shot. Kinda cool..

This is the cliff he dropped off of

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This is how we found him..

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Contemplation after a very long difficult hunt..

check out the beard on that ibex..

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Great trophy I have wanted to hunt for over 15 years...bucket list item..

20181110_001122 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

OPTIMUM HUNTING CREW

20181111_110607 by A Hoffart, on Flickr

General take aways:

I never felt threatened or in danger at any time while in Turkey..

The company I hunted with is outstanding..really go above and beyond for their clients. they are a newer company so they are hungry ..thus try to do all very well.. " OPTIMUM HUNTING" ..

Airline carriers have no fricken idea who is on first when traveling with guns/ammo..one place will tell you one thing, the same carriers other office will tell you something entirely different.. Turkish Air told me to check my ammo separately in its own case..told me to have it in a locked case away from my firearm with my checked luggage, and in Adana had me put it in the rifle case with my rifle..???? go figure

United didn't want to let me go to Turkey as my passport will expire in 5 months.. per Turkey, they want it to be a minimum of 6 months.. argued with the ignorant wench for 45 minutes..finally I said, send me to Chicago, if I cant go Turkish Air will not let me go..she agreed..was NO problem.. I got my visa in Istanbul..did cost me an extra $80.. but did NOT prevent me from entering the country.

When connecting with another carrier --such as we had to do, took United to Chicago and Turkish Air form that point forward..I STRONGLY suggest grabbing your luggage in your transfer city and recheck with Turkish or whoever that may be..I did this, my travel partner did not..i had my rifle and ammo when I arrived, my travel partner never got his the entire trip..

Went to a Turkish bath house the last day there.. wow, what an experience..will definitely do that again..and their view there on nudity is way diff than here in the US..

in a good way..
btw, I was told these can be purchased with or without a "happy ending"..

Lastly, I spent 8 days with a couple of guys I had never met before..in that 8 day period, we sweat a lot together, ate together, basically spend 14 hours a day together.. in the end, we cheered, praised our individual GOD'S for our success, and had a great time. Makes one wonder why the world itself couldn't be more like this. I was treated with the utmost respect and care while there. The guys will be friends like so many others I have met around the world have become... truly wish the world could be just a bit more tolerant more of the time, myself included..

Ripp