I had seen a few videos about Ibex hunting on Youtube which sparked my interest and after a bit of research decided early 2024 to book a trip to Kyrgyzstan for Sept 2025. This gave lots of time to get my gear together and practice at longer ranges as well as something to look forward to. I asked my brother if he would be interested in coming along and he said he would but wasn’t interested in shooting an Ibex as he didn’t have a lot of experience with a rifle. Anyway we booked up and started our trip on Sun 14th Sept.
I had done a trip to Africa previously where I opted not to bring my rifle but that was because I would be shooting at shorter ranges. In this case I had been told that ranges could be 250m to 450m which was beyond what I normally would shoot to, and I would need to know my rifle, ammo and drops. I did quite a bit of research and had heard some horror stories about traveling with a rifle, my trip was through Manchester Airport with Turkish Airlines. I reported to the business check-in (as there was no one in the queue), and the lady called border force and security and from that point until I passed through security it only took about 1 hr. It was very smooth.
I met my brother in Istanbul where he joined me on the connecting flight to Bishkek. On the other end (Bishkek) I opted for the VIP route as I was told it saves a lot of hassle getting through with the rifle which was another $170. That ran very smoothly.
After a 10hr transfer to our base camp at about 12,000ft where we had a meal and then off to bed. Next morning we unpacked our gear ready to ride to the spike camp. Before that I checked my zero, the target was a box set up at 250m. I couldn’t see the bullet strike but was told by a guide (via a translator) that the bullet had struck to the right edge. I was a bit surprised because the wind was blowing R-L. Anyway had another shot and again told it was to the RHS so I asked them to bring he target in to 100m, which was when I could see the two bullet holes on the LHS
. I thought at this point that communication could be interesting as none of the guides spoke any English. Anyway, allowing for the wind my zero was fine.
We then packed all of the gear on the horses and set off on the 3hr trek to the spike camp which was at about 13,000ft. The group consisted of three guides, a government inspector and myself and my brother. It was dry and cold but not bad, with max temp about 5DegC. The spike camp was a Yurt, with a burner in it, which was fuelled with dry cow paths as there was no timber on the mountains. Once we had unpacked our gear at the spike camp we set off hunting for the afternoon. We rode for about 1.5hrs and then it was on foot around the ridges of the mountains. The scenery was fantastic but as soon as you were off the horses breathing was difficult when on the ridges at up to 14,300 ft. We saw plenty of Ibex but they were on top of the ridges and difficult to get near. We didn’t get near enough for a shot on anything that day. Next day it was the same program, on the horses for about 1.5hrs to get to the hunting area and then moving around between the mountain ridges either on horse bask when possible or walking when not. I would consider myself fairly fit and not carrying any excess weight but it was tough going with the lack of oxygen in the air. I have a normal resting heart beat of 61, when I was out there my average for the day was about 135 with peaks up to 195+.
On the second day we spotted a bear and later managed to get in above a group of Ibex but they bunched up as they were going around a bend on the mountain ridge so didn’t get a shot.
We had another two days of hunting, spotted quite a few but nothing large enough within 400m. I did have an opportunity on some smaller Ibex but the guide said to wait (well I think that’s what he said). On the fifth day we hunted our way back to base camp which was about a 5hr ride. En route we stopped off in a Nomad camp (yurt)in the middle of nowhere in the mountains where we had lunch.View attachment 440805 Fresh bread and dips, very interesting.
I had done a trip to Africa previously where I opted not to bring my rifle but that was because I would be shooting at shorter ranges. In this case I had been told that ranges could be 250m to 450m which was beyond what I normally would shoot to, and I would need to know my rifle, ammo and drops. I did quite a bit of research and had heard some horror stories about traveling with a rifle, my trip was through Manchester Airport with Turkish Airlines. I reported to the business check-in (as there was no one in the queue), and the lady called border force and security and from that point until I passed through security it only took about 1 hr. It was very smooth.
I met my brother in Istanbul where he joined me on the connecting flight to Bishkek. On the other end (Bishkek) I opted for the VIP route as I was told it saves a lot of hassle getting through with the rifle which was another $170. That ran very smoothly.
After a 10hr transfer to our base camp at about 12,000ft where we had a meal and then off to bed. Next morning we unpacked our gear ready to ride to the spike camp. Before that I checked my zero, the target was a box set up at 250m. I couldn’t see the bullet strike but was told by a guide (via a translator) that the bullet had struck to the right edge. I was a bit surprised because the wind was blowing R-L. Anyway had another shot and again told it was to the RHS so I asked them to bring he target in to 100m, which was when I could see the two bullet holes on the LHS
. I thought at this point that communication could be interesting as none of the guides spoke any English. Anyway, allowing for the wind my zero was fine.We then packed all of the gear on the horses and set off on the 3hr trek to the spike camp which was at about 13,000ft. The group consisted of three guides, a government inspector and myself and my brother. It was dry and cold but not bad, with max temp about 5DegC. The spike camp was a Yurt, with a burner in it, which was fuelled with dry cow paths as there was no timber on the mountains. Once we had unpacked our gear at the spike camp we set off hunting for the afternoon. We rode for about 1.5hrs and then it was on foot around the ridges of the mountains. The scenery was fantastic but as soon as you were off the horses breathing was difficult when on the ridges at up to 14,300 ft. We saw plenty of Ibex but they were on top of the ridges and difficult to get near. We didn’t get near enough for a shot on anything that day. Next day it was the same program, on the horses for about 1.5hrs to get to the hunting area and then moving around between the mountain ridges either on horse bask when possible or walking when not. I would consider myself fairly fit and not carrying any excess weight but it was tough going with the lack of oxygen in the air. I have a normal resting heart beat of 61, when I was out there my average for the day was about 135 with peaks up to 195+.
On the second day we spotted a bear and later managed to get in above a group of Ibex but they bunched up as they were going around a bend on the mountain ridge so didn’t get a shot.
We had another two days of hunting, spotted quite a few but nothing large enough within 400m. I did have an opportunity on some smaller Ibex but the guide said to wait (well I think that’s what he said). On the fifth day we hunted our way back to base camp which was about a 5hr ride. En route we stopped off in a Nomad camp (yurt)in the middle of nowhere in the mountains where we had lunch.View attachment 440805 Fresh bread and dips, very interesting.
