Thread: Mid asian ibex

I had thought about this hunt for a while, its one of the more cost-effective mountain hunts in the world, and the Mid Asian Ibex are equally as impressive animal to most big game. The issue was always justifying cost, and quite difficult travel arrangements from New Zealand.

Due to a change in situation, moving to the UAE about 12 months ago, I thought now would be the best time to get the hunt done, as I could get to Kyrgyzstan in 4 hours direct, for about 800NZD return, saving significant travel time and logistics.

Originally the hunt was booked for November, which is the rut, but also -20C. It seems to be when most go. Due to a change in employment situation, I had spare time in September so quickly reorganised the dates which the outfitter Global Safaris was very accommodating with.

Day one was a flight leaving Dubai around midnight and arriving to Bishkek very early maybe 5am. I was greeted by the guides and we were straight into the Landcruiser embarking on a 12 hour trip to the hunting area. My first meal was a traditional Horse dish, quite delicious really.




We arrived to base camp maybe 2 hours before dark, the guides English was limited but enough to get by. I quickly tested the rifle at 200m, then got told we were off for a hunt. I thought this might just be an evening hunt so quickly prepared some gear but just before we left I got the gist it was actually “the hunt” and we were to be gone until I got an animal…. A quick re-juggle of gear and we were off on horse.


I hadn’t done any specific training for this hunt. I’ve had minor horse-riding experience but nothing like this. Quickly got to know my horse and it was all easy. We spent the evening riding and glassing, seeing a small number of ibex but all immature.


As we crested the last brow we saw a group of 9 billies on the opposing ridge, it was right on last light and it looked like 1 was a potential shooter, but would need to wait for morning. Our camping spot was pretty niggly, not much flat ground, but not enough light to safely move from the position. I had a great sleep but the two guides didn’t, they were very worried about the horses tumbling down the hill, luckily all safe on morning.

The morning plan was to walk down the valley in the dark to the opposing face we saw the ibex. The hunting strategy is really similar to Tahr really. You have to expect that if they see you, they will run. Sure a lot of the time they wont, but if they run you are not getting a 2nd chance. We located the billies early on and were within 200m, but none were shooters.


On the way down I located another big mob further up the valley, these were to be the target for the afternoon. Our horseman packed up camp and rode the gear and horses up to us, where the horses ate, drank and rested. We did the same.




The mob of ibex were playing and it was clear there were numerous billies, unfortunately I had assumed the guide would have a spotting scope, but they didn’t. So we had to get closer. On the way we were lucky enough to encounter 2 x snow leopards. These are extremely rare and even the guides hadn’t had the chance to see them before. It was a fleeting glimpse as they snuck off into the mountain, at pretty close range.

We located the ibex, which turned into more and more ibex. I would estimate the mob was 70 billies and maybe 50 nannies and juveniles… That’s a lot of eyes. We were pinned down and had to wait it out until hopefully they feed down towards us,. After a couple of hours they got spoked, the mob was at about 450m, I really wanted to be within 400m of an undisturbed animal. I got set-up and we picked out a billy. This was hard with the language barrier, and the fact probably 40 of the 70 were mature. Eventually a photo on the phone and pointing to the location confirmed we were looking at the same one. By now they were 600m away and I was not comfortable so passed up.




We were sure of more chances, so the next day continued up the valley, the head held a small lake and glacier. We summited the saddle of 4200m at which point the altitude took a toll on me, splitting headache and dizzy, I was not feeling well. Luckily managed to hold onto the horse long enough to descend to 3800m and I felt much better. We located more ibex, this time a mob of about 30 mature billies spread over about 300m, with a nanny group higher up.


I wanted to get much closer, we were about 550m away but I knew if we risked an open section of 30m, we could easily get within 150m with the wind being perfect. The guide was very against this as the eye sight is too good, I respected this an we juggled the idea of taking the shot, or waiting until morning and getting closer in the dark.

The ibex were fully relaxed feeding so we had plenty of time to evaluate, we picked the number 1 and number 2 billies out using the photograph and point method, I was 100% sure I was looking at the correct animal. Light fading I made the decision to take the shot. 528m 15 degree down, altitude of 4000m, little to no wind. I dialled the drop into the Z8 which was mounted to a blaser R93 300wsm. A single shot rang and it was a clear hit, I managed to spot the hit in the scope, maybe a little low. The billy stumbled and then ran over the brow out of sight. The other took off and it was clear my one did not follow.


We quickly (guides faster than me) made it over to the location. By now the altitude was getting to me a bit so I asked one of them to bring the horses down as I was not keen on the walk back up…. Unfortunately light faded so we set up camp down near where the ibex fell.

The night was filled with lots of thoughts, I was pretty confident, but it turns out over the brow was a huge slip and access was difficult, always a hard one to sleep on when you haven’t seen the animal confirmed as down. Next morning during breakfast the guide snuck off for a quick look. He came back very excited and confirmed he could see the animal. What a relief.
Ibex located in this photo...


We worked our way down and came up with a plan for the retrieval. I have done a lot of hunting, but he was in a tricky spot, one I wouldn’t go to on my own. The guides were nervous as well but did a great job of releasing the ibex from the slip who came sliding down to a safer location.


It was clear a number of animals had suffered falls in this location, with two sets of horns found at the bottom. My ibex was now within arms reach, a mature 10 year old billy with horns in excess of 45”. Obligatory photos taken, butchery and off to camp.











We packed up and headed back to base, about 10 hours on the horse and we were back. I really recommend this hunt, and glad I went early. I don’t think the experience would be the same in the freezing conditions, so much tougher on the people and the horses, and I really enjoyed spike camping. It was very similar to a public land tahr hunt, we covered a lot more ground than you normally would tahr hunting, thanks to the horses. The terrain is a little easier than the east coast in general, but the altitude does have an effect and evens things up….



I encountered ibex, leopard, fox and many marmot on the hunt, when we got back to camp the guides said they had spotted wolves that morning also.
We departed for Bishkek, were I stayed a night before flying out. The trip was really good and I recommend the outfitter for sure. You need to have trust in these guys, nothing will be perfect but they were all honest and helpful. I suggest reaching out to Asif from global safari if you are interested.