Off to the Gobi
So I landed in UB without really knowing the plan. I wasn’t sure if I was going to grab a hotel for the night and then grab a domestic plane to the Altai or if we were going to start driving. As soon as I got to luggage, I could see a guy in a camo hat by the custom office, I walked over and sure enough it was my interpreter Turo. Turo had all of my paperwork ready to go and said as soon as I get my stuff, we are going to drive off to the Gobi. The domestic flights were a little weird due to a combination of weather, tourists season and students returning. So off to the Gobi.
It took about an hour to get my luggage and gun, but the actual customs review was less than 5 minutes. Just a note you can only bring 30 pieces of ammo, I knew this so there was no issues and before I knew it, I was walking out to a new Land Cruiser for a 10 to 12 hour drive to the Gobi Camp, I meet my driver, cook, and the Gobi camp manager.
I thought traffic in NYC was bad, the drivers around UB are crazy, it took about 30 minutes before we clear of the city traffic, and stopped to grab some water and were on a paved 2 lane. This paved road will pretty much take you across Mongolia all the way to China. So not a lot stop lights and not a lot of turns. But it was breath taking scenery, to see it change from lush green, the start of the Hangai mountains, to the eventual start of the Gobi, it was a cool trip.
We stopped and got a chicken BBQ pizza around 2 pm. It wasn’t too much longer till we are offroad and following the dirt roads into camp. I was drifting in and out of sleep as the 48 hours of travel were catching up to me. We stopped to check the zero on my rifle and a make shift target was made and set out at 100 yards. I got prone, got comfortable and took a shot. It was about 4 inches high but windage was perfect. I took a second shot, it was almost touching. So I get ready to adjust my scope, and my turret was still set for 325, which is about 4 inches high…rookie mistake, but my gun was sighted in and I felt confident with it. So back in the truck we go.
At this point I should note, once off road, there are roads everywhere and no roads. Meaning you are driving to a point on a map, there are no signs and if the 2 track starts to take you away from direction you want to go, you just start driving any which direction until you hit another 2 track. Needless to say, to do this in the dark with no landmarks, and being the first hunter of the year, we got a little lost, but it wasn’t too big of deal since I didn’t know where we were anyway and was pretty much going in and out of sleep.
We got to the camp right around midnight, I had my own Yurt. It was perfect, there was table, a bed, and a sink. The sink was basically gravity feed, but it was a nice touch. I sort of unpacked but went to bed pretty quickly. There was a generator, and you turned off the light by unscrewing the light bulb. No Sooner was I told this, I unscrewed the light bulb and crashed.
Gobi – Day 1
I woke up the sound of Motor bikes taking off. It was a but 7:30 am, I got all geared up and ready to go. I walked out and I guess my emergence so early was a bit of surprise. They immediately said the guys were out looking and I should have a cup of coffee and relax. I didn’t need to be told twice. I sat around for the next hour talking about hunting and learning the history of the Gobi and the hunting camp. It was a bluebird day, so I wasn’t really sure how this was all going to play out. About 9:30, a motorcycle pulled up and the report was this. There is 2 billes that looked too young, there is also a group of 3 billies and one looks promising. They asked for my spotting scope and took off again. I thought well there is a chance. Two of the horses guys came back and took off again, as they wanted to go to a different drainage.
About 11am, a motorcycle showed up, there was 4 Billies, with 2 shooters, they were bedded, they were figuring out an approach as they were lower than expected. The bad news was they were a pretty good ways away. There was a lot of talking going on, a lot of walkie talkie buzz going on. This went on for 10 minutes. Finally, I was told, get your stuff, and your gun, we are going to drive a little closer and figure out a plan. In the car we go, and start to follow the motorcycle.
As we are following this motorcycle through the drainage, other motorcycles start to join, and we begin to look like some slow moving version of mad max. To add to the scene, the horsemen were riding the ridges full speed, and were dropping down to meet up with us. So in total, we have 2 horsemen, 3 motorcycles and myself in the car. Once we went as far as we could go in the car, I then jumped on the back of the motorcycle. We take off for about 2 miles go up and down little ridges and ravines. The whole way we are flushing flocks of chukar. I mean there must have been over 200. Once we got as far as we could in the motorcycles, now it was time to start climbing with the horses. The horse I got was much smaller than what I road on the Yukon and I felt bad it was having to carry my ass up the mountain, but we worked switchback to gain probably close to 1000 feet. Then we tied up the horses and started to climb.
Once to the top, I was greeted with expansive views of the desert, it was truly breath taking and I took a minute to get organized and catch my breath. The ibex were bedded and we had eyes on them, so I had time. We then started working the ridge tops to get over and in position. This was a bout a ¾ mile loop but not much elevation gain or loss, so pretty easy walking all things considered.
Once we got the final ridge cropping, we peered over the edge. The Ibex were bedded, there were two shooters, one older and shorter, and one younger but longer. There were also 2 juveniles. I can only describe there sleeping arrangement as the 3 little pigs, the 2 younger one were hiding/getting shade from some tall grass. The next one was using a bush. And the old one was using a rock outcropping. The decision was made to go for the older shorter one, and we started to lose some elevation to follow the ridge out to gain some distance. We were currently at 380 yards, with it being a steep downhill shot. We were able to drop down and close the gap to about 340 yards. More importantly, they were still bedded, and I had time to get in a sold comfortable almost prone position. The range was verified multiple times and the turret was set. Now the wait began.
