Nov. 10/ 2014 Hume Argali Hunt and Siberian Roe Deer
After not being able to get on any big old rams in Oct. 2013, Dmitry Borisov and I decided to return after the first week of November 2014 with the plan to spike camp close to the Chinese border where we had seen the most rams in 2013. Good friend's Frank Miles from Fort St.John and Garry Wasylycia from Calgary decided to come and hunt the Tian Shan and Ibex, so Dmitry travelled with them to his new area, while I went to the same Hume area southwest of Naryn. After a 5 hour horse ride from base camp towards the border, I new I made the right decision to go later in the rut, the mountains were full of ewes and rams. The first night we found one big old ram, but didn't have the daylight to make a stock. So after a long night in a small mountain tent at -15C we were up in the dark and making a stock on the old ram, but as we were trying to move down the valley, the rams had moved down the mountain and out of sight, as we came around the creek, there was the big ram and three others running away from us ! We tracked them up the mountain and up the valley for 5 hours on foot, but they had ran all the way back to China. Day two we looked over 7 or 8 other decent rams, but I kept passing hoping we could find the big one again. On day three reality set in that the odds of finding the one old ram wasn't going to be good, so I decided to go for one of the average rams that were still in the area. The weather was snowing and foggy so we were able to get within 500 yds and after one quick shot I had a Hume Argali. He had freshly broomed horns and was a little over 44" in length with 15" bases and 7 years old. As most of these hunts go, this was another tough but fun adventure, with the taking of a trophy as a bonus. After Frank and Garry had each taken good rams and decent Ibex, we all met up at a Siberian Roe Deer hunting camp for a few days of deer hunting. It was just about as tough climbing and hunting as the sheep hunt, but we had a nice lodge to relax in at the end of the days. We were a little late, as the bucks were already starting to drop their antlers, but regardless of the ridicule I took from friend Jay Link over the the phone that "only a Canadian would hunt deer when the antlers are falling off ", but after a few days I was able to get a decent buck.This was my third hunt arranged and personally looked after by Dmitry Borisov from Moscow and as usual was perfectly organized with absolutely no glitches or problems. With Dmitry's partnership with Jo Verni from Montreal, getting our trophies home is taken care of by Jo and is the easiest procedure I've ever gone through. Thanks again to Dmitry!
By Daryll Hosker