To “The Rooftop of The World” for Ibex in Tajikistan

[MTGomer]

The idea to go to Tajikistan started simmering in my mind after being put on a 7 year wait for Montana bighorn sheep.

In 2022, I unsuccessfully bid on a hunt at the Montana Wild Sheep Foundation banquet in Butte.

A few months later, I contacted Jack Atcheson Jr to inquire about booking a hunt similar to the one that was in the auction.

After getting a bit more information, I sent off a deposit and I was booked for October 2024. The hunt would be with ANCOT, which is the Association of Nature Conservation Organizations of Tajikistan. ANCOT conducts its hunts in a “community based” hunting model.

This means that local people and their families are involved in supporting the hunt. By bringing economic opportunities to these rural areas inhabited by herders and farmers, wildlife species have a value to the locals, who are incentivized financially to not do things such as kill snow leopards, or meat hunt for Ibex, Argali and Markhor.

As I was discussing the details of the hunt with Jack, that although the hunting should be good, the theme that kept coming up was just how wonderful the people that would take part in the trip would be.

 

[MTGomer]

Initially, I thought several friends were going to come, but as the hunt got closer, they were unable to make it.

By early 2024, my wife decided that she would come. She has tagged along with me on a few hunts and as she likes to remind me, killed a 6x6 bull elk on hour 1 of the first day of ever hunting for herself, back in 2011 when we started dating. We decided that she would hunt the Montana unlimiteds in September as a bit of a warm up for this hunt.

By mid summer we were wrapping up the final details of the hunt, getting permits, corresponding with the Tajiks about gear, what we wanted out of the hunt etc.

I booked an October hunt knowing that the Ibex would be higher and would require hiking and possibly horses to get to, which is what we wanted. The idea of freezing in the dead of winter to hunt lower and more concentrated animals didn’t appeal to me near as much. I backpack hunt extensively and my wife runs 50ks and was training for a 100 mile race in August. We should be able to handle the physical demands of any guided hunt.

The training for the 100 miler came to a dead stop in the Kalispell, MT Target parking lot in mid July. On our way home from floating the N Fork of the Flathead with my cousin and her family, we stopped to buy a pregnancy test.

POSITIVE

We would be having a baby in March 2025.

 

[MTGomer]

While my wife is a doctor herself, we still consulted her OB/GYN on the safety of going on the trip.

We were advised that as long as she felt okay and we stayed under 12,500 feet, it should be fine.

After talking with Jack and the folks at ANCOT we were assured we could stay under that elevation and have a quality hunt.



The September sheep hunt came and went, without any shots fired by us.



We put on about 30 miles, mainly trail. Kaylee learned more about what her limitations were as far as stamina and ability to carry weight.





Time to fly across the world.

 

[MTGomer]

We flew from MT to Seattle then boarded a 12 hr Turkish Air flight to Istanbul.



May as well see Istanbul for a few days so that’s exactly what we did.



A local outfitter met us at the airport, obtained a Turkish gun permit, met us at the airport, stored our gun and gave us a ride to our hotel. In 2 and a half days we saw as much of the historical buildings and sites of the Roman and Ottoman empires as time allowed. We saw the basilica Cistern, the Sultahmet Blue Mosque, and went inside of the Hagia Sophia. We ate a Turkish breakfast, shopped at the bazaar, took a tour on the Bosphorous straight and devoured Baklava and Kebabs.

The Turkish outfitter took us to a fantastic dinner, where I assumed they’d pitch us on their hunt offerings. They never mentioned it once. They just wanted to show us a good time in their country. It was fantastic.


This is a hunting forum, so I’ll skip the essay I could write on being a tourist in Turkey.

 

[Sytes]

Congratulations!

 

[MTGomer]

We landed in Dushanbe at 1:30 AM local time and were taken to a VIP area where the outfitter and translator were waiting. After getting our bags, we loaded into a Honda CRV with a driver, a translator and one of the main guys with the outfit.



It was crowded even with our two large duffels strapped to the roof.



We were told that the drive would be 8-9 hours.



A few hours in, we started to slow down as we’d go through terribly bumpy sections where floods had completely wiped away the highway, or where construction had the road detoured.



A few hours after daylight we stopped in a village to get some Breakfast, consisting of cream, some kind of boiled milk, bread, the best honey in the world, eggs and sausages.



After eating, it was back on the road.

 

[MTGomer]

I may have to come back and add pics later. Turkish Airlines is great but currently over Greenland and you don’t get what you pay for when it comes to wifi.

 

[LuketheDog]

Man, this should be cool! And congrats!

 

[Nick87]

This is gonna be pretty amazing, probably even better than @MTGomer ginger ale thread!

 

[ForkyFreak]

Can't wait to hear the rest!

 

[Nameless Range]

Oh man. I'm following and can't wait to read about this.

I feel like I recall you once writing that you and your spouse were not going to have children. Whether or not you planned to, I suspect you both will be fantastic parents and I congratulate you.

 

[cgasner1]

Trip looks amazing already

 

[Rie Bread]

Following and congratulations!

 

[Ben Lamb]

I may have to come back and add pics later. Turkish Airlines is great but currently over Greenland and you don’t get what you pay for when it comes to wifi.

I'm withholding any future likes until this is resolved.

The judges are impatient and fickle sir. Get the Anatolians to do better.

 

[MTGomer]

When we turned off the “highway” the road conditions quickly worsened. It appears there is some major spring run off at times in this area.

That’s okay, a Honda CRV is basically a Land Cruiser or wrangler, right? Right.



A few hours of navigation and we pull into the last village on this road. At this village are a few newer buildings with steel roofs, as well as mud huts. There is no electricity or running water.



We are greeted by the older man of the village and taken inside of “guest hut”.



We are served tea and naan. Naan is everywhere at every meal. Then we are served a vegetable stew with beef organs in it. As we are eating, more men show up on horse back. These men are our “rangers” (guides).



After eating, we are told that we will ride horses to camp that night. Having not slept the night prior we are ready to get to camp and sleep.

 

[jpc01101]

Amazing! Subscribed.

 

[MTGomer]

The horses are sure footed and keep their composure crossing a bridge made of cable and sticks over the river, and then zig-zag up a steep mountain to a large bench. As we are crossing the bench, the remains of structures dating back centuries are along the trail. How old, I don’t know, but people have inhabited this area since at least the 4th century BC.



As we approach a mud hut, I notice smoke coming from the chimney. The rangers stop here and have us get off the horses. The interpretor says “we will have some teas”

Inside we go. There is a woman living here She serves us tea and naan and cream. She very kindly greets my wife, a contrast to other stops where men only speak to me. I don’t know that she’s ever seen a western woman without a head scarf.




After some teas, we are back on the trail. It gets dark and the horses keep going.

About an hour into the darkness, we are told we will have to walk the last couple km to camp. We dismount
Two of the men with us take the horses back to the village and unload the pack donkeys while us and the interpreter continue down the trail.

At the river, we learn there is no bridge. There is a little cage, suspended by a cable. I’ll post a picture when I get to the return part of the trip when it’s light out. It’s not as sketchy as it looks, I promise.


We cross it, scramble up a vertical bank and in about another 45 minutes make it to camp, which is two large wall tents.

 

[INMT]

Amazing story already! Following. And congrats on the pregnancy!

 

[SwaggyD]

Awesome. Following along.

 

[MTGomer]

We are exhausted and almost immediately go to bed.
I wake up around 1:30AM to the sound of talking. The rangers have made it. They carried our gear and all the camp supplies on their backs from the horse and donkey unloading spot. Aside from our packs, they did this in potato sacks.

Everybody sleeps in a bit in the morning before having a breakfast of eggs, sausage, and various nuts, honey, bread etc



Around 10 we go for a walk to see if we can find Ibex