Mid Asian Ibex with Asian Mountain Outfitters

[Happy Antelope]

I’m currently sitting at the Istanbul airport waiting on my flight to Houston. I left Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan this morning at 6:15 local time.
I booked this hunt in 2019 with AMO after a super successful hunt of a lifetime in Azerbiajan for Dagestan tur. Everything went as smoothly as possible on that hunt. As say as smoothly as possible bc anyone that has hunted Asia knows that the people here, friendly and welcoming as they are, move at a much slower pace then what westerners are used to.
Due to COVID and lots of other life circumstances, I found myself going to Kyrgyzstan solo and/or with a group of guys I didn’t know. Bryan sent me with a group of 3 guys who I met at the Houston airport on our way to Istanbul on the flight over. All 3 turned out to be great guys who I was excited to share this experience with. All of us would be ibex hunting and 1 of my new hunting friends would be hunting Marco Polo as well. Needless to say, we were pumped.
Lots of travel later and we arrive in Bishkek early in the morning ready to go. Bryan and the local outfitters, Saku and Bektur, meet us at the airport. Everything goes smooth clearing rifles. The local guys know everyone and make it a breeze. Once out of the airport, we’re informed that we’re taking a day off at the hotel before traveling to the hunting area. We all protest a bit but it’s Asia so we’re at their mercy. Next morning finds us leaving early for the “15 hour drive”. It ends up taking us a full day and a half bc of TOO MANY STOPS along the way and crappy road conditions. We actually stopped and camped on the side of the road in the mountains that night and drove in to camp the next day. Once there, we get settled in and shoot rifles. Plans are made for the next day.
I leave around 8am the next morning on horseback and ride out with 2 guides expecting to spike out for a couple of days. We rode through some amazing country and I saw horses do things I didn’t know horses could do. Lots of sidehilling at 12k feet in loose shale, major stream crossings covered in big boulders and horses sinking up to their bellies in fresh mudslides at elevation! These horses never missed a beat. They slide, slip and fall to their knees, get right back up and keep right on going.
By about 2pm we had spooked a couple groups of ibex and studied another group at about a mile through the spotter. Nothing big enough to go after in that group.
About 4:30pm we ride up a steep ridge, stop short of the top, get off our horses and sneak up to the edge. As we look over, we see 7 billies bedded on a super steep shale slide. The biggest one of the bunch looks good to me so I decide to shoot him. At 489 yards, the cross canyon winds get me and my bullet hits way back from my POA. Now the Asian Malay ensues with “SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT” over and over and over. This is just about the only English my guides know. After a few intense moments and a few bullets flying at animals that are running away, I realize that my first shot was a hit and my ibex never left the spot he was standing. I send one more at him and he tumbled about 2k’ to the bottom.
The shot was at about 12,500’ and after sliding pretty much straight down, I find him at the bottom at a little over 10k’! Photos, cape him out and now the brutal 2k’ ascent back straight up to the horses. All ends well and we start the long ride home. By 8:30pm I’ve had enough. Legs jello from horseback all day and the climb, we camp for the night.
Next day, we pack up and head back to camp. Once we arrive, I meet up with my new hunting partners to find out that they’ve killed their ibex but now the BIG problems start.
The guys tell me that Bryan never sent any of the Marco Polo money to Saku, the local outfitter. Long story short, all of our ibex were paid for in cash with the money my new friends brought with them to pay the balance of their hunts. Bryan confesses to all of this in front of me and I’m livid along with the others. What a mess!!! Now we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere Asia, in a hunting camp with a guy who just stole $40+k from my new hunting buddies!!!!
We decide to break camp and head back to town the next morning just to get away from Bryan. Long story short, we spent the next 4-5 days in a really nice hotel in Bishkek. Not exactly how we all envisioned our ibex hunt in Kyrgyzstan.
Saku and Bektur did an awesome job of helping us with our stay in town, recommending restaurants, things to do, etc. but to travel 3/4 of the way across the world to hunt 1 day and “vacay” in a nice hotel for a week isn’t exactly what we all had planned.
Since all this happened, I’ve learned that this isn’t the first time Bryan has done this lately. It seems to be a reoccurring them and in other countries as well. I had nothing but good things to say about AMO before this hunt and have hooked several guys up with Bryan to date. I hate to think where their deposits are for their hunts next year. Anyway, please steer clear of AMO. I can no longer recommend and/or associate with Bryan Martin after seeing first hand how he handled this situation.
Sorry for the long post. Pics to follow but at the mercy of slow internet service in the Istanbul airport.

Love it heading to Mongolia in a month with rob gearing from spartan.

 

[medvedyt]

just to add and what i typed in another thread: no very hard to type the name of your outfitter and find out what he did in the past in his own province where he guided for stone sheep and elk ... while sometimes people are doing mystakes when it is repeated it is no more an excuse and of course a never good reason to encourage despite being on tv shows ..