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The hunt started out like so many do, full of optimism, thrill of the unknown and an opportunity to explore other cultures and parts of the world.

We arrived in Baku on Saturday evening after leaving my home in Bozeman Montana the previous Friday at 7AM.

Our luggage showed however no guns. We filed a claim report and went to our hotel as it had been a very long past day and halp. Following morning I started making phone calls to Delta and Turkish Airlines..seeing who had the guns..found out they were basically still in Chicago..to make a long story short the guns arrives on Monday morning..at which time we took off to the village. At the village we had lunch, loaded our equipement in an old Russian military truck and headed up river.

Crossing the river with the truck was incredibly bumpy but effortless for the old diesel..

We stopped along the way and checked the rifles as it had been many miles and baggage handlers..

I was shooting a Lex Webernick custom lightweight chambered in 280AI. For ammo I settled in on 140 Gr Accubonds...rifle liked them just fine ..this rifle with Zeiss 4.5-14 scope weighs in right at 6lbs

We continued on our journey up river and finally got to base camp the 3 hours later..tired, hungry and ready for bed. They fed us well along with a nice glass of wine or two to help with digestion and sleep..

Where the guides slept..

The next morning we go up, had breakfast and headed out with the horses to set up a fly camp. It was decided we would glass and hunt from there in an attempt to find out just where the Tur were. At which point we would make a plan.

We glassed and climbed for most of the day. Even with all I had heard, was surprised at just how steep the terrain was. We were at 5800 ft elevation at the fly camp..within a mile or so our elevation was 9000 and still climbing..

We saw a huge black wolf while hiking but the guides would not let me take a crack at home as it would blow the chance for Tur. We did find 4 Tur in a group later in the day, but not what we were looking for. Just before dark we headed back to camp..tired, sore and very hungry..water was running just past our tents so we were drinking right from the stream..normally I dont do that but the spring was right there so chanced it..

The following morning it was decided we would head to the other canyon we had not glassed the previous day. We made our way about 2/3rds of the way up the mtn and spotted a group of Tur across the canyon..about 600 yards out..with the wind swirling as we made our way to them they eventually winded us and took off up the mountain, across the next canyon and to the top of that one. Amazing to see them run through that terrain.

The weather was mild enough we ran into several of these in the morning..but cold was headed our way..

We decided we would camp near the summit for the evening..set up camp during the day and hunt in the evening as it seemed numerous animals were moving in the area..

At about 6-7PM with the winds really howling...we spotted a group headed our way looking for green food.. we quickly made our way across the moutain adn got into position..again, the group we spotted winded us and ran down the ridge just as I was getting on one to take a shot. Another group showed up at only about 125 yards but were young rams//my guide wanted me to shoot and I told him NO..he seemed upset over that..but oh well..just then another group that must have gotten spooked by the first ones we saw came out across the canyon and were running up the opposite ride..6 or so came out..then about 10 seconds later a large ram came out by himself..I wanted to range him however the guide had my swarovski's with the rangefinder in them..not wanting to waste time, I guessed the distance around 300 ..held a bit ahead as he was walking and touched one off. He dropped to the shot and rolled about 150 yards coming to rest against a boulder..the guides went nuts..yelling, screaming and down right happy we were successful..as was I..once it was over I get my binos from Sacha..ranged it..348 yards..so, I was close enough...
The pointed mtn part furthest back over horn of the ram and my right shoulder is actually where I shot him from..He is a 10 year old ram and a trophy of a lifetime

My main guide Sasha

After getting the Tur to an area we could take photos..we got them out of the way, caped him out and quartered up the meat to put on the horses..got back to camp and had a great evening of enjoying the hunt..Following morning we made our way back to main camp with the tents, meat and trophy..everyone feeling very good as we got the main animal and a storm was coming..

Later in the day the guides skinned out the head and prepared for salt to be ready when I leave..

And I WAS able to take a shower..

Final thoughts..
The guides can hike and fly around on that mountain better than anyone I have ever seen anywhere. Amazing to watch. Terrain is incredible challenging..If you plan on a hunt like this trian as much as you can and then double it..in addition to being steep, on more than one occassion, if I slipped it was 50, 100, 200 ft to the bottom and those were the shallow ones. Glad I did not use a dial up scope and had the fixed Rapid Z 800 scope for quick target acquisition..would never have had time to read,dial up and then take a shot on a moving target..

Sadly there are those I found that pay for the hunt, after a half day or so they give their gun to the guide and tell them to have at it..Each to their own but I find that type of action pathetic.

All in all, great camp, great food, great people...was a good hunt...another long part to this story but we will save that for another day..

Cheers,

Ripp

Edited by Ripp (10/05/16 07:39 AM)