The 2013 SCI show starts on Wednesday, January 23rd, in Reno, NV. Asian Mountain Outfitters will be at booth 923, under Ron Nemetchek World Wide Hunts and an African PH/Taxidermist booth named Pro Safari Africa. We recently exhibited at the Grand Slam Club/Ovis show in Reno, NV. It was a small show, allowing us to have some quality time with past and future clients. A day later, we traveled to Las Vegas for the SHOT show. We had some great Industry meetings with influential industry people. And since Bryan is such a gear guy, he enjoys seeing many of the new and/or improved products firsthand. Our Office Manager, Amy Martin Shaffer, will also be at our SCI booth this week to answer questions, regarding our Asian hunts and to discuss her Pro Hunt Concierge Service, which is ideal for busy international hunters.
KYRGYZSTAN UPDATE
mcclennon_ibex_group-webTwo Canadian hunters, the Aasen brothers, are arriving back in British Columbia this week. They both shot mid-40” Mid-Asian Ibex and are very happy with their hunt; we’ll post photos when receive them. In our last newsletter we mentioned that our outfitting partners still have a couple Ibex and Marco Polo CITES permits for hunters looking for a last minute mountain trip. Call or email us for details. Unfortunately for American sheep hunters, there are no US CITES import permits remaining for the current season, which ends Feb. 28th. This hunt is perfect for hunters from Canada, Mexico, Australia or Europe. For the 2012 season, Asian Mountain Outfitter hunters went 10 for 10 on Kyrgyzstan Marco Polo (Hume Argali) hunts.
AZERBAIJAN UPDATE
Bryan and 3 hunters from Montana and Idaho traveled to Azerbaijan to hunt Dagestan Tur, the 1st of November. Most hunters prefer to hunt this country in June, July and early August due to warmer weather and no snow, but the hides are not attractive. This azerbaijan_tur_groupNovember hunt proved perfect for great skins and also for trophy animals. All the 5 Tur taken were between 30 and 35 inches and as in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, hunters are provided with a Vet Certificate and the salted skins and boiled skulls are taken home on the airplane as checked luggage. We feel that a Tur hunt is one of the best values in international sheep hunting. It is a real challenging hunt, but the game is plentiful. On our best day, one hunter saw nearly 300 animals, several of which were trophy Tur. Most of the animals were found between 9,500 and 11,500’ in the rugged mountains of the Sheki Region. We also can hunt the Guba and Ismail regions of Azerbaijan but the Sheki Region is the largest and furthest from Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan.
OTHER AVAILABLE HUNTS
The following are a couple hunts that Bryan is helping fill or will be going on in the near future.
Africa:
Bryan has had a Bongo hunt planned with Jacques Lemaux, www.safari-bongo.com in the C.A.R for the last 1 ½ years. There is room for 1 or 2 hunters to join him, this April or May. Jacques hunted with Bryan in BC, 2010 for Moose; he is a real gentleman and one of the most famous and successful Bongo outfitters in the CAR. His booth at SCI is 840, so interested hunters can talk to him direct. He is offering a small discount for any hunter that travels over with Bryan. This is a 2-3 week hunt in a very remote and quite safe area of the CAR. Jacques has outfitting many of the top 20 Bongo in SCI and also will be offering Lord Derby Eland in a different concession.
Self-Guided Lord Derby Eland Hunt in Cameroon:
Outfitter and African hunt organizer, Cam Greig: cam.greig@yahoo.com had a hunter who is unable to make his 2 week Lord Derby Eland hunt this March. This hunt has been arranged as a 2 concession hunt, where the hunter(s) start in one concession, in the low lands and then the hunter(s) move to a more mountainous area, giving them a great chance at finding a good Eland. Bryan personally hunted the low area several years ago and had a fabulous hunt. He was unsuccessful in shooting an eland, but took 6 animals including a Savannah Buffalo. This area also has some great Roan and he tracked and saw one Eland over 45 inches but did not have an ethical shot. The base hunt price is approximately $10,000 USD per hunter (2 hunters is the ideal group size) or about 1/3 the price of a fully guided hunt in Cameroon or the C.A.R. Trophy fees are additional and the only expensive trophy fee is Eland, which is $4,000. So, for under $20,000, including tips and travel, a hunter can shoot 6 different African species, including a Lord Derby and have a real and challenging African Safari. This is one of the best values in hunting.
GEAR REVIEW:
C.A.M.O. tests lots of gear as you know and this year is no different. We took the Arcterx Kappa pants , the Swarovski CT Travel bipod , the Hilleberg Keron 4 GT tent and the KIFARU Legacy backpack to the extreme at 14,500 feet, used the products hard every day, pushing the products to their limits. All the mentioned products worked well in harsh conditions. The Kappa pants had two failures, the seat ripped on the horse saddle after heavy riding and the zipper in the crotch failed totally. The failure did not render the product useless and Arcteryx has a great warranty, the pants will be returned for repair. Feel free to see our gear lists on our websites for packing suggestions and other information that will help you on your hunts and on your travels.
Thanks for taking the time to read my newsletter, I look forward to seeing you at SCI!
Our next newsletter will cover woodland caribou in Canada, Yukon Stone outfitters, and Ibex hunting in Spain.
Straight shots, Bryan Martin