Author Topic: Russian Hunt (Read 6866 times)

starbailey · « **on:** October 10, 2011, 02:24:36 PM »

Some members here know I was headed overseas for a hunt so I decided to share it with all. Here is a little recap of my Russian Western (Kuban) Tur hunt.
I flew to Moscow Russia via New York, then another flight the next day to the Western end of the Caucasus Mts. After over nighting again, an 8 hour jeep ride brought us to the end of a beautiful rugged glacier valley. We set up base camp and went on an evening hunt to stretch our legs. The train was very steep in parts but not so bad if you just took your time and followed the local guide. We did see several groups of Tur but ewes, lambs and young rams on the evening hunt.
That night the other local guide came with horses to use. So the next morning we road 5 hours back into the Northern end of the valley to set up spike camp at an elevation of 8500 ft. The tents we set up next to a mineral lick that the tur used all the time. We were told the older rams almost never come down out of the cliffs to these licks. The guides were surprised when an eight year old ram was there for several minutes.
That evening I went one way with one local guide and Larry, the other hunter, went the other. Larry was the lucky one as he was able to stalk up on a group of 4 to kill a nine year old ram. He was very happy in being able to get his sheep early as he was having knee and ankle problems. I wasn't so lucky and sat for 2 1/2 hours waiting for three rams we found to come down to feed as we didn't have the time to make a stalk on them from behind. Even my guide was doing exercises to stay warm as the temp was down into the 30s.
The next day we went back to find the rams still in the high cliffs. Today we had time! I'm here to tell you this was one of the hardest 3 hours I have ever spent on a stalk. I knew it wasn't going to be easy so I had trained especially hard for the hunt And I am so glad I did. We started around 8700ft ending in me shooting my tur at 10,400ft. The first hour was just climbing but the last part was up through rock shoots, cliffs, sheer drop-offs ect! I've been in a lot of places but this one had my legs shaking several times! Ali, my guide, was great. He would point out a way up through the next stretch of rocks and turn to me with a smile and thumbs up. Like is that OK with me. What was I going to say? He couldn't speak or understand English so I'd give him a thumbs up back and off we'd go.
As soon as we made the top we would edge over to see if we could see the rams. Finally after 70-80 yds Ali jerked his head back quickly indicating right below us. I slid over the the top finding two of the rams making a break up the nearest rock shoot. I easily saw with my eyes the second ram was the bigger of the two so and quickly found him in my crosshairs. 4-5 steps later he turned slightly and I let him have it. At the shot he turned and started side hilling away from us till he tipped over 30-40 yards later. Pictures, caping, quartering and then it started to snow. At least we weren't in a hurry going down because it was absolutely horrible with the snow. The second guide wouldn't even come over to the ram to help. He waited from where I shot from till we made our way to him. I couldn't understand what was being said during the yelling match but I did understand the meaning of pointing a gun in his direction and acting to pull the trigger. With a smile of course.
By the morning there was 8-10 inches of snow. The interpreter woke us up with "get your stuff together. We're getting out of here!" Of course with the extra loads and all the snow we had to lead the horses the 5 hours out to the trail head. Thank God it was 90% down hill.
I was more than happy with the job Phofi Hunt did coordinating every thing for me on this hunt. I couldn't have asked for better local guides, horses, or equipment. Alexey, my interpreter was great and did a super job with all the permits and red tape.
My ram ended up being a great mature 13 year old ram that I couldn't be more proud of. He definitely was worth all the preparation and effort.
Bryan

starbailey · « **Reply #1 on:** October 10, 2011, 02:27:42 PM »

How about some pics now!

starbailey · « **Reply #2 on:** October 10, 2011, 02:31:06 PM »

starbailey · « **Reply #3 on:** October 10, 2011, 02:33:12 PM »

kill pics

pianoman9701 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 10, 2011, 02:36:20 PM »

Great story and pics. What a damn nice animal. Congratulations. I'm envious.

starbailey · « **Reply #5 on:** October 10, 2011, 02:36:25 PM »

Can you see the Tur in the cliffs in the first pic?

Michelle_Nelson · « **Reply #6 on:** October 10, 2011, 02:37:13 PM »

That is a GREAT looking Ram!

jager · « **Reply #7 on:** October 10, 2011, 02:42:47 PM »

Great Ram! Congrats!

What's the horn length? Gotta be right about 30"
Did you get to try any meat?
Thanks for sharing!

starbailey · « **Reply #8 on:** October 10, 2011, 02:49:54 PM »

Horn length like 30 6/8 by 31 4/8 or some thing close to that.
They are really cool animals to watch up on those high cliffs!
Bryan

Shed Stud · « **Reply #9 on:** October 10, 2011, 03:04:40 PM »

Holy Cow Man! What a Ram! Great pics of you and your trophy! Congrats! Thanks for sharing.

HardCorpsHuntr · « **Reply #10 on:** October 10, 2011, 03:12:21 PM »

WOW! Now that's some terrain right there! Awesome.

WAcoyotehunter · « **Reply #11 on:** October 10, 2011, 03:18:11 PM »

AWESOME!!! Thanks for sharing!!

Bighorse · « **Reply #12 on:** October 10, 2011, 03:39:41 PM »

Atta Boy! Thats some of the finest trophy photography I've seen in a long time. That specimen is magnificent. His face is thick and majestic. You can almost imagine him watching from a high perch over those 13 yrs.

Hearty congrats. I'm glad you made it off those cliffs and mountain safe.

boonerboy · « **Reply #13 on:** October 10, 2011, 03:47:17 PM »

Now THAT is awesome!! Congrats

bucklucky · « **Reply #14 on:** October 10, 2011, 04:27:14 PM »

Thats dabg cool!! Congrats!!

I see him bedded on top of that little finger.

rebal69972 · « **Reply #15 on:** October 10, 2011, 04:39:02 PM »

congrats

jackelope · « **Reply #16 on:** October 10, 2011, 04:49:26 PM »

Wow...thats some really cool stuff. Agreed about the photog work...awesome pics.

How about a run-down of the gear you used(brief)
Rifle, boots, rapelling gear, etc.

pianoman9701 · « **Reply #17 on:** October 10, 2011, 05:11:23 PM »

Quote from: starbailey on October 10, 2011, 02:36:25 PM

Can you see the Tur in the cliffs in the first pic?

I think I do. Very hard to spot.

coachcw · « **Reply #18 on:** October 10, 2011, 05:17:14 PM »

Thanks for sharing what a great hunt and throphy !

TheHunt · « **Reply #19 on:** October 10, 2011, 05:19:32 PM »

Wow, a hunt that you will remember for the rest of your life. Thank you for sharing.

nwwanderer · « **Reply #20 on:** October 10, 2011, 06:00:21 PM »

Thanks for the hidden picture of the bedded ram, great stuff!

runamuk · « **Reply #21 on:** October 10, 2011, 06:03:43 PM »

Those things are so cool ....congrats and that looks like an amazing trip...

I found the ram

crazy they climb that rock face the way they do

BLKBEARKLR · « **Reply #22 on:** October 10, 2011, 06:07:33 PM »

cool pics, he is bedded down left side about 100 yards down from the top of that finger...

Joe

denali · « **Reply #23 on:** October 10, 2011, 06:16:14 PM »

Cool stuff - nice pics and ram ! - I will show this to my son he studied in Moscow University for a year he will enjoy your post as well.

Timber_Hunter · « **Reply #24 on:** October 10, 2011, 08:10:21 PM »

That is a great Ram! Congratulations.

Kola16 · « **Reply #25 on:** October 10, 2011, 08:13:44 PM »

When I read the title I thought you were hunting for russains

Wea300mag · « **Reply #26 on:** October 10, 2011, 08:15:49 PM »

That is a sweet looking animal, congrats and thanks for sharing that hunt.

Cap.Silver · « **Reply #27 on:** October 10, 2011, 08:20:32 PM »

Very cool pictures ,some steep terrain . That ram is monsterrrrrrrrrrr,thanks for sharing ,it looks like you had trip of your life .

buck man · « **Reply #28 on:** October 10, 2011, 09:43:26 PM »

That's an awesome hunt! Pics are stunning. Does he offer grizzly bear and elk hunts?

Caseyd · « **Reply #29 on:** October 11, 2011, 01:13:04 AM »

Congrats

I'm tired just from looking at the terrain

Ironhead · « **Reply #30 on:** October 11, 2011, 05:46:18 AM »

Awesome animal, I can't believe that he thought that was a comfotable and safe bedding location. They must have some big Wolves and cats over there.
He sure looks stoudt.

blacktailer · « **Reply #31 on:** October 11, 2011, 09:58:09 AM »

Great looking hunt and pictures. Thanks for posting.

Falcon · « **Reply #32 on:** October 11, 2011, 04:07:49 PM »

Brian,

You are living the dream!!!!!

Awesome hunt, great ram !!!

Thanks for sharing all the details and picks.

Bryan

shanevg · « **Reply #33 on:** October 12, 2011, 08:21:59 AM »

Frick'n awesome man! Congrats! Awesome pics and awesome ram! Now I want to go!

starbailey · « **Reply #34 on:** October 12, 2011, 01:03:35 PM »

Thanks everone. I'm glad you enjoy the post. It really really was a great trip with some awesome people in some beautiful country.
A quick run down of equipment.
Sitka gear pants and several upper body layers.
Lowa sheep hunter boots
Remington 700 titanium in 7mm SAUM
160 gr Nosler Accubond (my hand load)
Swaravski 10 x 40 EL binos
Leapold range finder The Profi Hunt crew had a Swaravski 20-60 x 65 spotting scope.
Profi Hunt can/do book hunts all over the World(profihunt.com) but are based in Moscow and know the local guides in most all hunting areas in Russia extremely well. My guide/interpreter on my last hunt had lived in Kamchatka for 8 years and promisted me a great hunt when/if I came to hunt snow sheep with him.

Bryan

calawahsteelie · « **Reply #35 on:** October 12, 2011, 01:13:20 PM »

Congrats on a great ram and a truley awsome adventure. Thanks for sharing.

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Author Topic: Russian Hunt (Read 6866 times)

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