Kamchatka Bighorn
Mecca
As a professional hunting consultant
with well over a dozen sheep hunts under my belt, I thought that I
had already seen some of the most pristine mtn wilderness areas
this world has to offer; (then came Kamchatka)
While on my Marco Polo hunt in Kirgizia
in Nov of 2001, Nikoli of Safari Expeditions told me of his
favorite place in the world; multiple times per year, Nikoli had
the opportunity to experience Kamchatka Russia,
A huge peninsula on the eastern shore
of Russia, just across the sea from Alaska, approx; a 4-hour
international flight from Anchorage;
Very
similar to Alaska, with maybe 90% less human population!! Very
little for roads or hwys, most of this region is only accessible
by helicopter;
Beautiful coast-line, snow capped mtns,
rich & fertile fields & meadows, quaint little villages, active
volcanoes, multiple specie of snow sheep, gigantic moose, brown
bear, caribou, and Nikoli’s favorite (rivers & streams full of
various specie of salmon & trout; (Gods country for sure)!!
With 4-- 15 day sheep hunts planned for
2003, I came to the conclusion that Aug 28-sept 12th
would be the best timing for this experience;
My good friend & client Rick Leitheiser
joined up with me in Mlps & we flew to Anchorage to overnight; the
following morning we hopped on the 4 ½ hour flight to Petro-
Kamchatka; (the shortest international flight in the world).
NicolI was there in Petro to pick us up at the airport, (one thing
i insist on with all my international hunts is, an American
speaking interpreter will always be at the airport to pick you up
as well as accompany you for the hunt). After clearing firearms
with customs, we loaded up our gear for the drive , further north
on the peninsula;
The following morning, as the weather
cleared, it was time to load up the huge orange helicopter with
all our gear as well as everything needed for the comfortable
camps; keep in mind that these helicopters are large enough to
transport vehicles & a lot of gear, these guys don’t understand
the meaning of portable anything, nor freeze-dried anything, all
the comforts of home; clean warm dry tents, a large cook shack,
multiple stoves, generators for electricity, showers, even had
light bulbs in all tents instead of candles & lanterns; not
exactly roughing it if ya know what i mean; the awesome views as
we flew thru the mtns on route to our hunting area were
breath-taking;
The first actual hunting morning, Rick
& myself, both guides, & NicolI as interpreter, hiked approx 2
hours up a creek drainage as we gained altitude, base camp was
located at 3500 ft, as we broke out above tree line around 4500 ft
we began to spot bighorn sheep on every slope; mostly in groups &
bands of 2-6 rams, with every band of rams was a solid full curl
ram!! Not since I had been on the Marco Polo hunt had i ever seen
anything like this in the sheep-hunting world! The real problem
became, which one to go after??
Rick had been with me on the Marco Polo
& High Altai Argali hunt, and even though he had taken dandy rams
on each of these hunts, he reminded me that somehow i had always
ended up taking the monster home, and just once he would like the
opportunity to take home the #1;
Well his chance was now; by 10:00 am
first morning we spotted what appeared to be a real whopper of a
ram, all alone, feeding at very low altitude; it did not take long
after setting up my new Leica APO 62 spotting scope to determine
that this was indeed the grand dad of rams; even at over a mile
away, we could clearly count the 13 plus rings, & there was no
question to his mass; I set up my video camera as Rick & his guide
André approached the lone ram, after a short 45 minute stalk, they
were so close (approx 50 yds) but a hump in the terrain only
allowed Rick to barely be able to see the rams outline of his
back; standing on his tippy toes, Ricks 7mm barked, as I watched
thru the video view finder I realized that Rick had missed, the
ram just stood there, not knowing where the shot had come from; i
was having a major heart attack at this point, knowing just how
large this ram really was, Rick was able to settle in and drop him
clean with his second shot;
What better way to spend the rest of
the day but taking photos, video recovery, and shaking your
buddies hand; this ram is a true stud, 15 “ bases, carries his
weight out all the way, 39 ½” length, with the Wrangell flare
look, huge pork chop body, thick dark coat of hair; should make
the books in the top 10; none of this could have ever occurred to
a nicer guy!!
After major shots of vodka along with
dinner that night, we knew that i had my work cut out for me to
even attempt to come close to Ricks ram;
Day 2 we climbed into a different
valley, once again seeing full curl rams in all directions; it
didn’t seem to matter which way we went, lots of rams;
Day 3 we went up the same drainage as
day 1, in almost the same area as Rick had taken his ram we
spotted numerous different rams, once again, the tough part was,
which one to go after; even though the ram to our left looked like
he may be heavier, the wind was wrong for an approach to him so we
opted to go after 4 rams to the right; as we gained altitude, we
lost track of the rams, once we neared the top where we thought
they should be, it became one of those step by step, inch by
inch, walks, knowing that they could be very nearby; just about
the time we thought they may have gave us the slip, scanning the
area with my leica 10x42’s I caught movement very close out of the
corner of my eye; here was the ram I was looking for, 30 yds away,
standing broadside looking square at me; I will never forget those
flared out lamb tips, and the silly look on his face, as if he had
never seen a human so close; i will take the 30 yd chip shot at a
trophy ram anyday, does that even the score for some of those
400-500 yd shots?? Also close to 39” with excellent bases, another
160 class plus ram for the collection;
Now here it was, mid-day on our 3rd
hunting day, and both us were tagged out on rams; after all the
victory photos & video, it was time to head back to camp;
With lots of time left, we decided to
transfer to another camp, lower in the valley, world class fishing
& awesome brown bear hunting; since i am personally going back to
kamchatka in April for the spring bear hunt, i was only interested
in the fishing, but Rick had never taken a brown bear so he spent
most of his time bear hunting;
Every day, Nikoli & I walked down to
the river, open face spinning reels in hand, my favorite day was
when in less than 4 hours i personally caught 68 fish (10-20#)
each, 4 different specie. That same day, we spotted over 16
different Brown Bears, as we were fishing, most of them were on
the hillsides eating berries, but one 9 ft plus boar came walking
right down the middle of the stream we were fishing, we sat down
as i video taped him, he passed by us at less than 5 yds;
We ate fresh salmon 3 times a day at
that point, while we were having lunch on the last hunting day, we
heard a shot, near where we had been watching a huge boar, later
that evening as Rick & his crew stumbled into camp, we found out
that they too had spotted this boar, and after a lengthy stalk
took him at very close range;
Words cannot even begin to describe the
beauty of Kamchatka, just think of Alaska without the people!!
Affordable hunts, higher % of success, 100% on Bighorn Sheep,
Moose, Brown Bear!! Plentiful game, colorful people, even enjoyed
my couple days in petro, the capitol of Kamchatka;
While we were in petro, one of the
guides wanted to show us a moose he had personally shot the
previous fall, it took 2 of us to lift just the rack, over 80”
wide, un-real mass, more points than i had ever seen, would have
to be in the top 3 worldwide all time; and he was thinking of
making artwork with it?? One of the best values in the sheep
hunting world today; lower elevations, gradual terrain,
helicopters, high density of quality rams, sounds like what north
America may have had to offer 30 plus years ago!
It was of little surprise to me that
Kamchatka opportunities for all specie was one of the more popular
inquires at the sport shows this season;
Since i personally take the time to
research all these destinations first, pave the way if you will,
the easier i can make it for clients to travel to these remote
destinations, the more comfortable they are in going;
Al
Kuntz Al’s Worldwide Adventures
www.alsadventures.com
Box 38 Scandia mn 55073 1-888-331-5014
al@alsadventures.com
1-888-331-5014 651-433-5366 fax 651-433-4434
30 years EXPERINCE in Worldwide Hunting & Travel!!
