Trophy Room Build after 45 years of hunting

[JES Adventures]

Where in Nepal did you hunt the Blue sheep? How high was he.

Any pics from where you killed him. I’m assuming you were on the eastern Himalayas for the Chinese Blue

I saw Blues while on climbs in the Himalaya

I hunted the Blue Sheep in the Fall of 2005 with Mahesh Busnyat of Himilayan Safaris. We started in Nepal, hunting the lower mountains of Dhaulagiri I. I wore a Casio watch at the time and the altimeter maxed out at 17,000. I shot my ram some elevation above that. We camped at 12,000 then close to 14,000 and hunted from there.

After that hunt I went directly to China and hunted with CWCA the government outfitter. My contact at that time was a man named Wang Wei, he organized everything. There elevations were high but nothing like Nepal.

I don't have many photos as everything was on print film at that time and the photo albums are still packed up after my last move. Hopefully I can locate them and scan a few pictures from the hunts.
I did have this one of the Nepal Blue Sheep scanned.

I greatly enjoyed Nepal, the people and scenery were amazing. China was less exciting, pretty desolate land and the people were just not as friendly as the Nepalese.

 

[Green Chile]

Just under the wire. Congrats.

 

[Altitude sickness]

That is a very hard earned trophy. Congrats!

 

[Green Chile]

The really high altitude hunts are interesting and just a little bit sketchy. Some of the guys get pretty sick up that high. Did you take meds or how was your experience being that high for longer periods? I would love to do Mongolia and some of the other Capra hunts but it's hard to get away for that long and if you go that far, you have to be flexible for weather and equipment issues...and govt officials!

 

[JES Adventures]

Just under the wire. Congrats.

So I owe the “heads up” to my moose guide in the Yukon. After taking my bull (September 2006) we were of course talking about hunting and the subject of the North America 29 came up. He asked me if I had considered going for it and I said I hadn’t really given it much thought. At that point in time I only had about six species. He said well, if you think you’re ever going to go for it, you should get your polar bear booked right away as next year is the last year you can legally import one to the United States.

When I got back home the next week, I got on the Internet and started searching and found a Booking Agent that had one tag left. I bought it. Three months later I was at the DSC convention and the Booking Agent called me and said he has a client willing to pay me two times what I did for my spot. I told him it wasn’t for sale.

The first time was the last two weeks of February, spent 15 days on the frozen ocean and never saw a bear. The outfitter let me come back for free after his last client which was the first week of April and I shot my bear on day five

 

[JES Adventures]

The really high altitude hunts are interesting and just a little bit sketchy. Some of the guys get pretty sick up that high. Did you take meds or how was your experience being that high for longer periods? I would love to do Mongolia and some of the other Capra hunts but it's hard to get away for that long and if you go that far, you have to be flexible for weather and equipment issues...and govt officials!

I took Diamox and trained the best I could but when you live at 1000 feet above sea level, it’s hard to train for those sort of altitudes. The outfitter in Nepal was very well-versed and had a proven plan to get his clients acclimated. We stayed two nights in Kathmandu, which is a little over a mile high. Then flew a helicopter to Basecamp, which was 10,000 feet. We slept there for three nights, The second day was spent just walking around the camp for a few hours. The third day we climbed to a pass, which was at 12,000 but then came back to base camp and slept there. The fourth day we went over the pass and into the hunting area and slept at 12,000.

As for getting away for a long period of time, I have a friend that is in Mongolia now and shot his Hangay on the second day. Of course you can’t always count on being that fortunate so having plenty of time is the key to success.

 

[Altitude sickness]

The really high altitude hunts are interesting and just a little bit sketchy. Some of the guys get pretty sick up that high. Did you take meds or how was your experience being that high for longer periods? I would love to do Mongolia and some of the other Capra hunts but it's hard to get away for that long and if you go that far, you have to be flexible for weather and equipment issues...and govt officials!

The only meds I’ve ever had to take at extreme altitudes were antibiotics from a gastrointestinal bug I most likely got at Nepalese tea house
While heading into a range.

I’ve suffered from Cheyne Stokes breathing at night when sleeping above 15,000

OA Guide to High Altitude: Acclimatization and Illnesses

 

[Altitude sickness]

Work high. Sleep low