November '23 Himalayan Blue Sheep story

[Millek47]

Great write up. Congrats

 

[wildwilderness]

Thanks for sharing. I have heard this is a great hunt for the people and places, overall experience, better than hunts for much bigger sheep like the argali’s

 

[adamkolesar]

Congrats on your hunt, sounds like an awesome experience.

May I ask, what exactly is the parks dept guy certifying? What all was his role in the hunt? I am very curious

A member of the Nepalese/Dhorpatan game department is present for all the hunts. Typically they stay at base camp as they tend to be older folks. Our guy was young and was with us every step of the way. He was there to record all the demographic information on the sheep and confirm legality such as method of take etc. He was also there to observe sheep numbers in the field and took note of the snow leopard tracks and their location. I saw one European blue sheep video where the game official judged an animal was wounded and not recoverable and the game officer cancelled the hunt.
His "certification" is also part of the documentation necessary for the hide and horns to be exported out of Nepal.

 

[adamkolesar]

Thanks for sharing. I have heard this is a great hunt for the people and places, overall experience, better than hunts for much bigger sheep like the argali’s

I can't compare this hunt to the argali expeditions, but the organization, logistics and camp life in general was first rate. These guys did everything expected at an absolute top level.

 

[Sierra Hunter]

Incredible experience, for me this has to be the pinnacle of hunting. I wanted to do Tajikistan first before setting my sights here, just to know I could appreciate the experience before asking my wife to support the financial commitment (which she’s already blessed). Thanks for taking us along and on a beautiful nature sheep. Greg does a great job making you feel comfortable, I’ll be picking both your brains, hopefully sooner than later. May I ask what you had in your mind as far as what you wanted to pull the trigger on? Again congrats

 

[adamkolesar]

Incredible experience, for me this has to be the pinnacle of hunting. I wanted to do Tajikistan first before setting my sights here, just to know I could appreciate the experience before asking my wife to support the financial commitment (which she’s already blessed). Thanks for taking us along and on a beautiful nature sheep. Greg does a great job making you feel comfortable, I’ll be picking both your brains, hopefully sooner than later. May I ask what you had in your mind as far as what you wanted to pull the trigger on? Again congrats

I agree it's a big financial ask for the wives to tolerate!
I applied the basic North American standard to the sheep I was hoping to get (at least 10 years old). As I mentioned in the write up, the outfit takes great pride in only harvesting mature animals (since 1975). Mahesh, the owner of the outfit told us some of the other operations may not adhere to those standards as there is no minimum horn length/age class. We agreed on the animal we were after and what he expected from his guides to that end. There are certainly older animals harvested, but the way the boys worked to set up the shot opportunity on a great animal was too perfect to pass up. There are few sure things at that altitude!

 

[Sierra Hunter]

100%, to me it was about a trophy experience and a mature animal. With weather and everything else that can present at altitude you take the opportunities that the mountain gives. Epic stuff!

 

[Theringworm]

Congrats sir. Beautiful trophy, amazing pictures and an outstanding write up. What an adventure

 

[mtwarden]

Nicely done Sir!

 

[schmalzy]

Epic story and write up. Congratulations on an adventure of life time. Truly cool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ozyclint]

Based on your experience, how bowhuntable are they?
Most of the central Asian sheep and ibex hunts look extremely open and not conducive to bowhunting at all

 

[adamkolesar]

Based on your experience, how bowhuntable are they?
Most of the central Asian sheep and ibex hunts look extremely open and not conducive to bowhunting at all

I talked about this w/ my outfitter. Given you're well above treeline, there's no cover. He said it's doable with a blind at a pinch point. it's a definite long shot as scent will also play a role.
I'm not sure you would find an outfitter willing to accept an archery client, or more to the point, a hunter willing to accept the odds. My shot at 15

 

[adamkolesar]

158 yards was in the lower range of expectation.

 

[Cactus kid]

@adamkolesar i was waiting for you to finish the hunt before commenting. What a hunt! Hunters with way more experience than I have called this the finest mountain hunt in the world. It is a hard one to beat. A true adventure.

Thank you for posting the guides name. I had the same one and could not retain his name and felt bad for asking again. We just called him "Sex Panther" the entire trip.

Congratulations! Very happy you put in the time to take a true trophy and soak up the most from this trip.

 

[Cactus kid]

Based on your experience, how bowhuntable are they?
Most of the central Asian sheep and ibex hunts look extremely open and not conducive to bowhunting at all

When I spoke to the outfitter on the subject of bowhunting these sheep, he stated the only way to kill one with a bow would be cheating. He felt there was no reliable way to do it without a blind and bait, which he felt took away from the essence of the hunt. Interesting perspective.

 

[adamkolesar]

@adamkolesar i was waiting for you to finish the hunt before commenting. What a hunt! Hunters with way more experience than I have called this the finest mountain hunt in the world. It is a hard one to beat. A true adventure.

Thank you for posting the guides name. I had the same one and could not retain his name and felt bad for asking again. We just called him "Sex Panther" the entire trip.

Congratulations! Very happy you put in the time to take a true trophy and soak up the most from this trip.

I'm pretty sure the Nepalese translation for "Sex Panther" is Chyangba!

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

Absolutely awesome. This is a dream hunt come true.

 

[7maggr]

Very well done!
Congratulations on an excellent and awesome adventure!

 

[mlevimadden]

Awesome hunt story and photos! Congrats on your sheep and thanks for sharing.

 

[Short Track]

Looks like a very physical hunt. How would you rate it as far as mountain climbing ?