So….There I was, 11,800 miles from home, lying face down in the snow and rocks at the edge of an artic stream, partially in the water, with the horse that I was riding a moment ago lying on top of me pinning both my legs, I was unable to move.My rifle that had been slung over my shoulder went crashing in the rocks and water, and was now wrapped around my head; along with my binoculars and were pinning my head down into the water.It was about 9:30 at night, very dark, and about 10 degrees altitude about 9000 ft., I was in some serious trouble.
This all started a few days before, no actually over a year before, when I decided to go Kyrgyzstan to hunt Ibex.After much planning and physical training that included climbing the mountains that surround my home in Phoenix every week,climbing the stairs in my mid-rise office building every workday (14 flights of stairs each way up and down) I was as physically prepared as I could be for a mountain hunt that would be a challenge for someone my age.A lot of practice with my 300 Ultra at long range and I thought I should be ready for the potential long shot this type of hunting can demand.
A few days before I was scheduled to leave for this trip, I received notification from my booking agent that the road to the area that I was to hunt in had been closed by a rock slide and would not be reopened before my hunt was scheduled.Both myself and the other hunter scheduled to go with me were given a choice of going as scheduled into another area that the outfitter had arranged for us to hunt in, or reschedule the hunt for another year.My hunting partner decided to re-schedule, I felt I could not alter my plans because of vacation time, so I decided to go ahead as planned and hunt in the different area, although there were many unknowns about this hunt.This was a fateful decision but it was one I made myself.
I flew from Houston to Istanbul Turkey on Turkish airlines and spent one day in Istanbul (which I highly recommend) sightseeing and buying my wife a rug.The following day I flew from Istanbul to Bishkek Kyrgyzstan and was met by the outfitter and left the same day for the base camp.
The Guides:Because I had 2 outfitters involved, the original one and the one for the actual hunting area that I was in I had quite the group in camp, 2 guides, one from each, 2 camp managers, a driver and a cook.All this for one hunter, and by the way, no one else spoke English at all.The guides were polar opposites; one was short in his 40's blading and a muscular build, he was very excitable and tended to freak out every time he spotted an Ibex.The other guide was 36, tall and thin, very quiet and both seemed to be in excellent shape even though they both smoked. The first time a good size Ibex was spotted the problems begun.The excitable guide started pulling at me to get set up and shoot right away,problem was I didn't see the Ibex initially which increased his excitability by at least double,I did finally see the Ibex, at 700 yards, walking,the guide almost screaming shoot!Shoot! Shoot!I can make that shoot under perfect conditions, the conditions weren't perfect, I missed the shot, never should have taken it, I let myself be intimidated into it.Only one more chance at a shoot happened on the last day of eight days hunting, an smallish Ibex at 600 yards, desperation time,again same story, rushed shot,ill advised,didn't allow for enough wind and missed by a few inched in front of him.
The biggest problem with the area that we were in was that in order to get into the area where the Ibex were it was at least a 4-5 hour horseback ride from the base camp.This meant we could have to spike camp in order to stay within the hunting area that contained the game.After arrival in camp and a quick check of the rifles zero, It was decided that myself and the 2 guides would ride into the area that afternoon set up a spike camp and start hunting at first light the following morning.After a 4 hour horseback ride that was primarily uphill, as darkness started to set in, the weather changed, and the snow started.Another half hour and it was blowing snow and the wind gusts were severe, the guides decided to set up camp.The tent they had brought was a 3 season tent, and by the time they started to set up the tent the wind was hollowing and the blizzard was on, the show was coming sideways, and visibility was almost gone.The tent would not stay up; the guides finally got part of the tent up by reducing the size down to something the resembled a two man pump tent, with no height to it at all.The three of us jammed into this "shelter" for the night, was no fire, no way to keep one going anyway, and only cold meat and cheese for food.My sleeping bag was a very good one and kept me from freezing, but we spent a very uncomfortable night.We got up the next morning to about 8 inches on snow on the ground.The guides managed to make some tea, and soon thereafter we started hunting.
After hunting up and down that range of mountains it was decided that one of the guides would go back to camp, get a better tent and a few things and return to a location for the second spike camp. We made a plan to meet at a second location to set up a new spike camp.While the one guide road off to get the new tent and a few items for base camp, the other guide and I hunted another area for the rest of the day.We arrived back at the location that we were to meet at for the second spike camp at dark at about 7 pm. No sign of the other guide.We had no choice, with no shelter we had to make it back to the base camp that night,we loaded up all the supplied on our two horses and started to go back down to the base camp.It was cold and windy, a new moon and very little light, At this point, both myself the guide and the horses were tired, and we had been going all day from day break to night fall with no breaks.My horse had my pack strapped to it along with my sleeping bag and other camping items.With the ground covered with snow, everything was slippery and going was tough.
After working our way down the valley for about 2 hours as we were on a narrow trail alongside a stream that drained the water from the surrounding mountains when my horse lost its footing, it fell on its right side throwing me off and down the bank of the stream and the horse rolled down over both my legs almost to my waist pinning me face down.
The horse wasn't moving, after getting rid of the rifle and the binoculars I could take an assessment of my condition.I could feel my legs, and although I could not move, nothing felt broken; there were some rocks that were hurting me but nothing else.The guide came down the bank and tried to move me, and was successful and moving me enough that my head was out of the water.With the guide trying to move the horse to free me we were having no success, and I struggled there for about ½ hour to get free. Finally the guide got the horse to move enough I could free one leg.After more really hard efforts by both the guide and me, the horse moved enough that I was able to scramble free.As I broke free the horse slid further down the bank into the water completely.I was spent - at this point wet, very cold and exhausted because of all the effort to get free.The horse was still not moving, and laid in the water for a long time, I thought the horse was done, but after a while the guide managed to get the horse out of the water.
Everything I had on the horse was wet, including all my extra clothes in the pack; I was shaking so badly I couldn't walk.After getting everything reloaded on the horse the guide helped me onto his horse and we proceeded to work our way back to the base camp.We arrived at about 12:30 am.I took the next day off hunting.It appeared that all I had was some frost bite to my fingers on both hands and some massive bruising on my legs.
I continued to hunt every day, normally from 4 am till 7 pm, with no further opportunities at an Ibex.
On day six, for some reason I have yet been unable to determine, the horse were removed from camp, we were left to hunt on foot with at least the 4-5 hours hike into the right areas just to get started.
I hunted 7 of the 8 days I hunted very hard, no Ibex.
On the last day in camp a Russian hunter stopped by the camp that could speak some English and we spent some time talking.He told me that the guides and everyone in camp had a nick name for me, I asked him what it was, he said – Cynepmeh - superman. I thought the nickname was great, but the events that led up to receiving it could have been better.Maybe no Ibex, but an adventure I will not forget.In reflection, I am glad I spent so much time preparing physically for this hunt, if not, global rescue would be shipping remains home instead of a great story to tell. The rifle is at the gunsmith for repairs, Making plans for the next adventure.
This all started a few days before, no actually over a year before, when I decided to go Kyrgyzstan to hunt Ibex.After much planning and physical training that included climbing the mountains that surround my home in Phoenix every week,climbing the stairs in my mid-rise office building every workday (14 flights of stairs each way up and down) I was as physically prepared as I could be for a mountain hunt that would be a challenge for someone my age.A lot of practice with my 300 Ultra at long range and I thought I should be ready for the potential long shot this type of hunting can demand.
A few days before I was scheduled to leave for this trip, I received notification from my booking agent that the road to the area that I was to hunt in had been closed by a rock slide and would not be reopened before my hunt was scheduled.Both myself and the other hunter scheduled to go with me were given a choice of going as scheduled into another area that the outfitter had arranged for us to hunt in, or reschedule the hunt for another year.My hunting partner decided to re-schedule, I felt I could not alter my plans because of vacation time, so I decided to go ahead as planned and hunt in the different area, although there were many unknowns about this hunt.This was a fateful decision but it was one I made myself.
I flew from Houston to Istanbul Turkey on Turkish airlines and spent one day in Istanbul (which I highly recommend) sightseeing and buying my wife a rug.The following day I flew from Istanbul to Bishkek Kyrgyzstan and was met by the outfitter and left the same day for the base camp.
The Guides:Because I had 2 outfitters involved, the original one and the one for the actual hunting area that I was in I had quite the group in camp, 2 guides, one from each, 2 camp managers, a driver and a cook.All this for one hunter, and by the way, no one else spoke English at all.The guides were polar opposites; one was short in his 40's blading and a muscular build, he was very excitable and tended to freak out every time he spotted an Ibex.The other guide was 36, tall and thin, very quiet and both seemed to be in excellent shape even though they both smoked. The first time a good size Ibex was spotted the problems begun.The excitable guide started pulling at me to get set up and shoot right away,problem was I didn't see the Ibex initially which increased his excitability by at least double,I did finally see the Ibex, at 700 yards, walking,the guide almost screaming shoot!Shoot! Shoot!I can make that shoot under perfect conditions, the conditions weren't perfect, I missed the shot, never should have taken it, I let myself be intimidated into it.Only one more chance at a shoot happened on the last day of eight days hunting, an smallish Ibex at 600 yards, desperation time,again same story, rushed shot,ill advised,didn't allow for enough wind and missed by a few inched in front of him.
The biggest problem with the area that we were in was that in order to get into the area where the Ibex were it was at least a 4-5 hour horseback ride from the base camp.This meant we could have to spike camp in order to stay within the hunting area that contained the game.After arrival in camp and a quick check of the rifles zero, It was decided that myself and the 2 guides would ride into the area that afternoon set up a spike camp and start hunting at first light the following morning.After a 4 hour horseback ride that was primarily uphill, as darkness started to set in, the weather changed, and the snow started.Another half hour and it was blowing snow and the wind gusts were severe, the guides decided to set up camp.The tent they had brought was a 3 season tent, and by the time they started to set up the tent the wind was hollowing and the blizzard was on, the show was coming sideways, and visibility was almost gone.The tent would not stay up; the guides finally got part of the tent up by reducing the size down to something the resembled a two man pump tent, with no height to it at all.The three of us jammed into this "shelter" for the night, was no fire, no way to keep one going anyway, and only cold meat and cheese for food.My sleeping bag was a very good one and kept me from freezing, but we spent a very uncomfortable night.We got up the next morning to about 8 inches on snow on the ground.The guides managed to make some tea, and soon thereafter we started hunting.
After hunting up and down that range of mountains it was decided that one of the guides would go back to camp, get a better tent and a few things and return to a location for the second spike camp. We made a plan to meet at a second location to set up a new spike camp.While the one guide road off to get the new tent and a few items for base camp, the other guide and I hunted another area for the rest of the day.We arrived back at the location that we were to meet at for the second spike camp at dark at about 7 pm. No sign of the other guide.We had no choice, with no shelter we had to make it back to the base camp that night,we loaded up all the supplied on our two horses and started to go back down to the base camp.It was cold and windy, a new moon and very little light, At this point, both myself the guide and the horses were tired, and we had been going all day from day break to night fall with no breaks.My horse had my pack strapped to it along with my sleeping bag and other camping items.With the ground covered with snow, everything was slippery and going was tough.
After working our way down the valley for about 2 hours as we were on a narrow trail alongside a stream that drained the water from the surrounding mountains when my horse lost its footing, it fell on its right side throwing me off and down the bank of the stream and the horse rolled down over both my legs almost to my waist pinning me face down.
The horse wasn't moving, after getting rid of the rifle and the binoculars I could take an assessment of my condition.I could feel my legs, and although I could not move, nothing felt broken; there were some rocks that were hurting me but nothing else.The guide came down the bank and tried to move me, and was successful and moving me enough that my head was out of the water.With the guide trying to move the horse to free me we were having no success, and I struggled there for about ½ hour to get free. Finally the guide got the horse to move enough I could free one leg.After more really hard efforts by both the guide and me, the horse moved enough that I was able to scramble free.As I broke free the horse slid further down the bank into the water completely.I was spent - at this point wet, very cold and exhausted because of all the effort to get free.The horse was still not moving, and laid in the water for a long time, I thought the horse was done, but after a while the guide managed to get the horse out of the water.
Everything I had on the horse was wet, including all my extra clothes in the pack; I was shaking so badly I couldn't walk.After getting everything reloaded on the horse the guide helped me onto his horse and we proceeded to work our way back to the base camp.We arrived at about 12:30 am.I took the next day off hunting.It appeared that all I had was some frost bite to my fingers on both hands and some massive bruising on my legs.
I continued to hunt every day, normally from 4 am till 7 pm, with no further opportunities at an Ibex.
On day six, for some reason I have yet been unable to determine, the horse were removed from camp, we were left to hunt on foot with at least the 4-5 hours hike into the right areas just to get started.
I hunted 7 of the 8 days I hunted very hard, no Ibex.
On the last day in camp a Russian hunter stopped by the camp that could speak some English and we spent some time talking.He told me that the guides and everyone in camp had a nick name for me, I asked him what it was, he said – Cynepmeh - superman. I thought the nickname was great, but the events that led up to receiving it could have been better.Maybe no Ibex, but an adventure I will not forget.In reflection, I am glad I spent so much time preparing physically for this hunt, if not, global rescue would be shipping remains home instead of a great story to tell. The rifle is at the gunsmith for repairs, Making plans for the next adventure.
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