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Hi Team,
Bit of a long shot but Looking to book a hunt for my father and I too Kazakhstan in 2024 and thought I’d check on here if anyone has or knows someone who’s been to that part of the world chasing Maral and Ibex?
Be keen on any info/recommendations such as visa requirements, best outfitters or specific areas to go etc.
If you could flick me a PM with any relevant info that would be much appreciated 👍
Im positive there was article in either NZHunter or rodn rifle in last 3-4 years about fella doing it...and doing it really ferally on horseback with some weird locally sourced weapons too.
not what your after..hopefully someone will know of a reputable outfitter. maybe talk to NZ guide,they will be in the know.
Couple of forum members have, I’m sure they will help you with details
Is Wazza 56 a member here? pretty sure hes done the Maral hunt.
No Kazakstan, But my brother and I hunted Kyrgizstan some years back. Heres my experience and advice for that part of the world.
MY brother went over with My father and they had a great trip hunting Ibex- a real adventure. So much so that he and I decided to go back a couple of years later, Me for an ibex and him for a Marco Polo. In-between times the company we used got pushed out and taken over by organised crime and this trip became a nightmare of shot out herds, criminality of a number of kinds and we walked off the hunt half way through. Also due to a bit of naivety we were advised to take diuretics to cope with the altitude and towards the end of my time there I had some issues with my eyesight due to them lowering my blood pressure quite dramatically.
So My advise is most importantly go with a currently well recognised company even if it costs more. Ask around some of the international hunting forums on who is reliable.
And if you can, take a week in country before your hunt and make your way up to altitude at a sustained pace instead of hopping in a car at the airport and zooming up to 3000 meters in 5 hours.
Also just be aware that that part of world is currently turning to shit and you dont know what the situation will be in 2024, so look at having any deposits in a third party trust with a booking agent if possible.
Sounds a great idea, it's a great country with great people especially outside the city. I will look later for hunting forums that Russians have used in the past when I get a break in the traffic and Link them.google ranslate will help you there. Getting there I used to go through India to central Asia and you can fly on to almaty from there as I imagine events have closed off other routes...
Really great information hub re transport local visa requirements can be found in this forum it's always up to date perhaps more then a travel agent....
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/
Mongolia is a great place to consider also.
Thanks for the replies gents. I’ve obviously got a lot of homework to do and the advice on pitfalls to look out for is much appreciated.
Westfallia. Lots of vids on the tube of their hunts
There is a russian outfit but at the moment???
Google hunting g ibex in Kazakhstan for video and they'll pop up. Good luck would love to go as well but at mo it's effing uncertain world.
When doing your homework make some enquiries about costs to bring your trophies back to NZ. I assume you want to as Maral and Ibex would be fantastic trophies. Possibly there are a couple of different routes trophies might take and while none currently are likely to be cheap it's an exercise where some operators might attempt to rip you off. If you book your hunt through an ( reputable ) outfitter try to pin them down on something definite. They might try to pass to pass the issue on to another party but insist they cost the exercise for you and make them work for the money they expect you to pay. Also, be prepared to wait to have any trophies shipped. Frequently outfitters will gradually assemble all trophies as a hunting season progresses and at seasons end attend to getting them packed up for shipping overseas. This should occur within 12 months of your hunts end but I've heard of some guys waiting more than 12 months to receive trophies from this part of the world. Also make a point of asking any outfitter about their trophy shipping timetables and get it in writing. Post hunt also email / text your outfitter every so often asking about shipment so you don't get put at the back of the queue.Quote:
Originally Posted by 3hundred win mag
Yeah good thinking 30,06!
Im not sure if you can do it now, But we always made sure we took our heads home as extra luggage right away. The ibex of my brother wasn't hard, but I had a bit of convincing to do at Melbourne airport that the two sambar heads strapped to my pack were fine to travel that way....
Good point Whanahuia. I forgot about that potential option of taking trophies home with you and it certainly has been done in the past. I'm not sure it can still be done with Ibex and Maral but it would definitely pay to enquire with the outfitter. The potential obstacle I see is whether CITES permits are a requirement or not. If required it may take a while for permits to be issued in which case trophies won't be shipped until after the hunters have returned home. However, in that part of the world it's just possible ( nudge, nudge, wink, wink ) that CITES permits can be issued on the spot making it possible to fly trophies home as extra luggage. Whether you would want to with a Maral is another question but even taking only an Ibex would save some shipping cost. International trophy shipping is not cheap ( any more ).Quote:
Originally Posted by whanahuia
Ask the outfitter if CITES permits are necessary for Ibex and Maral, and what they charge for obtaining CITES permits and if this cost is included or extra to the hunt cost. They all pay for CITES permits but what they actually charge clients for the same you should know upfront.
Another point you may already be aware of is that costs for most overseas hunts get quoted in USD which need to be factored into calculations.
This link says ibex are Cities III https://www.speciesplus.net/species#...ts/65566/legal
You will also need a permit from MPI(?) to import the trophy, pretty sure you get that before you go. https://www.mpi.govt.nz/import/fibre...des-and-skins/
DOC info about importing hunting trophies
https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-re...ting-trophies/
Yep I'm here, what sort of info you chasing
Not my hunt but nice animals Kazakhstan - Ibex and Maral combo hunt report - Topic
Thanks again for all the info guys, seem to have some good leads to go from now and will be sure to do a write up if the hunt goes ahead. Cheers
Pro Hunt Kazakhstan is your best outfitter. Any other outfitter who books you for a hunt in Kazakhstan will go through them. Know some european hunters who have been with them few times and a kiwi Joseph Peter went in 2018 and did a write up on it.
If you do not wish to book with them directly look up https://www.aventureboreale.es/. Good friend of Kazhym one of the owners of Pro Hunt Kazakhstan and he accompanies all his hunters but is more €€€€€.
Westfalia Jagdreisen GmbH , is great but charge more and mainly cater to european hunters especially germans. They have their own areas and also utilise Pro Hunt Kazakhstan.
I am with Pro Hunt Kazakhstan there in October 18-22nd of 2024 for Ibex and after ibex hunt for Siberian Roe Deer.
https://youtu.be/j3Uf5Ae4OmQ?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/g8jWH2lba2k?feature=shared
Regarding trophies, you can not take them with you they need to be shipped from Kazakhstan to you. Once you get back to NZ get your CITES permits sorted , email a copy to Kazakhstan so they can attach it along with the veterinary cert they give you and their Kazak CITES.
Keep in mind hunts are charged € in Kazakhstan. When i booked they had a flat fee for international hunters of 8000€ for maral and 5000€ for ibex and no size limit .I booked well in advance and paid 50% of my deposit to lock that price.
Flights wise, you should be able to get a direct flight to Dubai and then to Almaty. From Aussie we can with a 9 hour layover in Dubai.
Pro Hunt Kazakhstan is usually pre booked for maral two years in advance so be quick if you want to go.
Also do not forget in Kazakhstan you pay per size. Ibex will be per cm for example 110 -120cm 1500€ and so on , and Maral is paid by antler weight for example 7-8kg maral 5000€
Years ago , an acquaintance of my father went to Kazakhstan to hunt maral.
On the second to last day, he shot at a maral . But the thing ran away. They Looked for blood ans could not find any.
They search on the last day and found nothing. Once the guy was back in France , a week later, he received a message saying that they had found the maral and that he was getting charged the full trophy fee.
When the guy received the trophy later during the year, he can swear it was not the maral he had shot at…
Let just say that the French outfitter he went through to organise his trip had a certain reputation…
[QUOTE=wazza56;1408022]Not my hunt but nice animals Kazakhstan - Ibex and Maral combo hunt report - Topic[/QUOTE
Awesome. Sounded straight forward too. Not like some of the horror stories you hear.
Gives me itchy feet.
But I'm off to scratch a North American itch in two weeks so it will have to wait.
[QUOTE=7mmwsm;1494129]SkiteQuote:
Originally Posted by wazza56
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
[QUOTE=7mmwsm;1494129]Do you need a gunbearer?Quote:
Originally Posted by wazza56
Attachment 232935
This is the Maral I got in 2015, they now hunt a different area further north
Exceptional trophyQuote:
Originally Posted by wazza56
These are the type of Maral you can expect to find with Pro hunt Kazakhstan. This particular land is called Tastau it's in the Dzungarian Alatau which is close to the border with China
German outfitter Westfalia booking through Pro Hunt Kazakhstan
https://youtu.be/RDfNtRu6Pbc?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/16zE99KCX4Y?feature=shared
Ibex at the same place
https://youtu.be/EA4zflMyiIk?feature=shared
Wow, thanks again for all the great info team. Have not booked yet but this is still the top of the list for my father and I. Looking more to book 2025 at this stage but this info real helps give us a bit of confidence in what we can expect. Will flick one or two of you a DM in there future and hopefully have a chat over the phone.
Cheers Again!
[QUOTE=MSL;1494152]Sorry MSL.Quote:
Originally Posted by 7mmwsm
I'm quite excited. I've wanted to hunt moose for over fifty years. And I'm not even carrying a rifle. Just keen to be there.
There have been comments at home that I'm acting like a spoilt five year old waiting for a lolly scramble.
[QUOTE=7mmwsm;1494588]So you should be excited, you probably deserve it.Quote:
Originally Posted by MSL
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You’ll be wishing you had a rifle if you see a big bull and a couple mules to trek it out ��
The biggest Moose are in Kamchatka and very good Maral in Mongolia
I have never lived in Kaz but lived in the Russian Federation for a few years, My only applicable advice would be to cool you shoots until the war is over, Currently, NZ is classified as an unfriendly nation after we gave the Ukrainians some of our obsolete kit.
As what was mentioned before, organized crime tends to take over any successful business if it get too big in that part of the world, and you know they aren't worried about herd management as much as making a buck or too.
Someone mentioned also about Kamchatka, that would be a better spot for game numbers and local business doing guided tours, You can fly into the country via Vladivostok, though it is closer it sometimes more expensive, less tripping around though.
My wife, who I met over there would be more fluent to read the forums and local sites, if you need a hand, sing out and she can probably give some contacts to talk to.
Willy
Kamchatka is a logistical nightmare right now. Only way to get there through Japan , Istanbul or Serbia which means more paperwork to take your own rifle.... I not from Russia but Serbia but its the same part of the world in mentality and everything else and all i can say is that you need to speak to people and get recomendations from past hunters. Cheapest is not always the best.Quote:
Originally Posted by William
Flying to Kamchatka, hunters must go through Moscow to get weapons clearance and then from there you fly to Petropavlovsk .
Talking about crime it's all over the world even better off nations like USA have some bogus outfitters who burn their clients each year and a well known outfitter who use to take hunters to kamchatka before got done for poaching sheep, elk in Canada.Taking hunters to kyrgystan who never saw their trophies again , few of them had trophies taken by local police as the permits they had were bogus and top it all off he was not paying the local outfitter their share if the paid hunt or paying them for the lisences to hunt ibex and marco polo which he did in 2022 buy paying for their ibex perrmits from cash received from hunters to pay for rest of the hunt and kept the 40k for marco polo to him self claiming a banking issue. They hunted 1 day , got their ibex and spent rest in hotel as they could not hunt due to no marco polo lisence. Wild sheep association banned him permanently him in 2022.
Kazakhstan is the best of the stans in game numbers and management for ibex maral and roe. From speaking to europeans hunters who i know , aussies that hunted there and a kiwi not one had anything wrong to say about them, the hunt or the outfitter.
Few posts up from Friwi, that French outfitter was well known for ripping people off and not sending them their trophies. He still takes hunters i believe but have not heard anything bad as of yet. Best for a hunter is to book through the local outfutter as the booking agent will rip you off. For example i wanted to do Kamchatka Moose and got prices from few outfitters yesterday who all go through Professional Russian Outfitters. Owner of PRO Maxim charges 14,000€ , German booking agent wants 19,000€.... A good 5000€ difference
If you do not end up booking for 2025 , i will more than likely be booking for few years after that and you and your dad are more than welcome to join. I got to book well in advance as my Lotto numbers have not been drawn yetQuote:
Originally Posted by 3hundred win mag
Cheers for the offer @Sauer270, will speak to the old man and see what he thinks. I’m more than happy to wait but he’s not getting any younger and pretty keen to get over there. Will definitely be in touch either way when we firm up what year we’re looking at though ��
Not a problem and will be 2029 i would say ( i know it's long ways away ) but we go to europe every two years for few months to visit family so that burns the wallet with flights for 4, for a hunt that is not cheap got to plan few years in advance to save for it. I think the oldest hunter was 69 , the great thing about Kazakhstan is the use of horses so he is not much on his feet until a maral is spotted to stalk in. Seen few youtube videos of good maral bulls being shot on the trail head.Quote:
Originally Posted by 3hundred win mag
