Tuesday, September 27, 2011

2011 Mongolia Gobi Argali Adventures!

I recently returned from a great trip booked by my old friend, well, not that old, Gretchen from Safari Outfitters.  I normally get an old client or hunting buddy to come along on my adventures, and this time it was Jorge Camou, one of the bigger outfitters in Mexico.  We met up in Vancouver, spent the night there, flew Korean Air to Seoul, did a couple tourist days there, then onto Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

We were met there by Geleg, who would be the guide and interpreter for Jorge.  The following morning, we drove down to the train station and caught a train for about 12 hours.  It was daylight hours all the way, which made for a great tour of the country.  We had sleeping berths which were very comfortable, a far better way to travel than by vehicle.  At the end of the line, we were met by our local team who all turned out to be great people.  We arrived at night at the camp, which was first class.

The following morning, we went separate ways . . . me with Adiya and Jorge with Geleg.  By night fall we met back at camp.  We had both seen several rams, some of which were close to 50 inches.  There was no pressure to shoot one right away as our local guides knew the quality in the area.  We spent a few days hunting different areas and as it turned out, we both shot rams the same day.  Mine was lighter bases, a couple inches under 50 and Jorge’s great ram was 50” on the long side with 18.5” bases.  It made for a great day in the Gobi Desert.  Jorge managed to shoot a gazelle and missed a wolf as well.

We both plan one more trip back to get a Hanghay.  Special thanks to Gretchen and her crew of great people.  It was all first class and a fun holiday.  Mongolians used to be the most feared in the world in olden days, but now are some of the nicest people we have met.  I now have 12 sheep of the world and plan to get a couple more to replace a few transplanted ones I shot several years ago.  See you at the Wild Sheep Convention.

Rick Guinn
Guinn Outfitters
Alberta, Canada

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

2011 Dagestan Tur (Azerbaijan)

Our 2011 spring season in Azerbaijan has just concluded and we had another fantastic season! Success rate was again 100% with some excellent rams taken! This is one of more affordable sheep hunts and we get rave reviews each season on this hunt! Sasha from our Moscow office is along on each hunt to ensure that everything goes as it should. Outstanding guides, good food and abundunt game populations make this one of the more popular hunts for one of the most unique animals in Asia!

Below are some photos and comments from some of our 2011 hunters - Make your plans now for 2012 while good dates are still available!



We had a great hunt in Azerbaijan!  All the local guides did a good job of finding the sheep and getting me to a spot where I got a shot.  They worked hard and went up and down mountains with an ease that I wish I still had.(If I ever had that stamina at their age.)  From the comments of  the guides, I left the biggest Tur still up on the mountain so there will be an opportunity for some other lucky hunter to still get a BIGGER trophy.  Overall we had a great experience and a fun trip including sightseeing tours of Istanbul and Baku.

Dave M. (Spokane, WA)



Great Hunt! - Expectations were met - all the way from start to finish! Touring in Turkey, hotel accomodations and food are great! The hunt was awesome! Saw 15 to 150 tur per day!! Guides were very capable and know the area well. Terrain was steep but was what I expected it to be. Sasha was a great host and I hope some day to be able to hunt again with him!

Allen C. (South Carolina)





For a complete list of references, complete details and available dates for 2012 -
contact Clark - (307) 587-5596 or clark@safari1.com

Get out and get hunting while you are able!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Hunting the Caucasus for Tur

After spending a few days in Istanbul to sight-see- which is a must if you have a layover there- my fellow hunter, Allen, and I flew to Baku.  Clark Jeffs and the crew at Safari Outfitters took care of setting us up with tour guides and transportation while in Istanbul so it was a very relaxing, trouble-free vacation. 
  Upon arriving in Baku it was a marathon of planes, vehicles and horses to get to camp with our guides and Russian liaison, Sasha, who does an outstanding job of keeping things in order.  In camp, we immediately began spotting tur on various ridges.  It soon became apparent what a game-rich environment this area was.  Later that same evening, tur were spotted on a ridge behind camp and we began the ascent up the mountain to cut them off.  We eventually crossed paths at 380 yards with the herd of 41 and the frantic excitement began as we tried to pick out the "shooters".  Allen (my new hunting partner) and I crawled into shooting positions and were ready to drop the hammer on two massive animals in the group.  Unfortunately, they were all feeding too closely and quality shots never presented themselves.  The herd continued up and over the mountain along with the sun as night slowly settled in.  My guides and I continued after them in an unrelenting effort to catch up. Unexpectedly, we jumped a small group while cresting a ridge, where I shot a respectable animal at almost point-blank range in the last few seconds of the fading light.  The horns had a lot of character from fighting with broomed tips. 
  The entire trip went off without a hitch from the time I left the States until I returned thanks to all the key members of Safari Outfitters.  This is a relatively unknown hunt with high success due to good area management efforts and was very rewarding in terms of the quality of the hunt itself.  The temps were in the 50's during the day while the weather was quite wet with it raining every afternoon, but the tents were sound and the food was plenty.  Being physically fit and mentally tough for scaling the mountains each day is a plus. Thanks again!


Dan W.


Monday, May 2, 2011

Superb Leopard Hunt In Zimbabwe!

Frank G. just completed his Africa "Big 5" with this magnificient leopard.  Frank booked his hunt through
Safari Outfitters and his hunt took place in the SAVE Valley of Zimbabwe.  Congratulations Frank!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Great Trek and Hunt in the Himalaya Mountains!

March 12 my wife and I started our long planned trip to Nepal. I had booked this hunting adventure with Clark Jeffs of  Safari Outfitters, through their long time partner Nepal Wildlife Adventure.
We were met in Kathmandu by Shova and Prem Singh of NWA, who also solved all the hassle about gun-importing next day.
March 16 we flew to Dorpatan by helicopter where we met Armen Avidissian,Bernie Mizrahi and Henry Davidian. They had just finished their hunting and had all been succesfull in an area  near Dorpatan.

My hunting was to be in the Seng region, which eventually took a six day trek. I had insisted on this trek to be able to acclimatise better to the altitude, even though my wife and I both had been training very hard in preparation for this trip.
Thanks to this trek we have seen a lot of everyday life in the mountains of  Nepal, it was worth every second of it!
We had 22 people escorting us during this trek, from camp manager to cooks to guides to porters………… 

After arrival in the Seng region the guides went scouting for sheep. The third day of the hunt the guides and I climbed from 3.675 meters to 4.250 meters, within 2 hours. From our glassing spot we found 11 male sheep, about 1.500 meters away. As there were a few very good ones in that group we decided to approach them, it has taken us 5 hours to close the distance to 265 meters, but I suspect we did more than 3.000 meters going up and down and up again, and again!

When finally into place we were at 4.188 meters altitude , and as said before 265 meters separated us from the sheep.
It should have been an easy shot but the ram was hit too far back and did not drop immediately so the guides Bir and Toklama followed it and, after it had fallen for more than 200 meters, had to cape it on the spot were it fell. They did a wonderfull job in retrieving the animal!

With the hunt finished we used a few days to trek back leisurely to Yamkhar at 2.850 meters, from where we were picked up by the helicopter to return to Kathmandu. We had a tremendous time!
Jan P.


Thursday, March 31, 2011

Incredible Adventure in Nepal

Safari Outfitters just had 3 hunters return from the wilds of the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal in a quest for blue sheep. All were successful in taking nice rams and had the added bonus each taking a muntjac (barking deer) and one was able to also take a wild boar. This is one of the best adventures in the world! Here is a comment by Bernie M. :

Dear Clark,
It is Sunday and it has been 8 days since I returned from Nepal. It has taken most of the week to get back to the world I left. I wanted to write sooner, but I wanted to be sure what I wanted to say.

First of all, I can't thank you and Safari Outfitters enough for arranging my trip. It was first class all the way. I have never had a greater experience with all my hunting than my trip to Nepal. It is one of the most beautiful and exciting countries that I have visited. You can't help yourself to become spiritual and emotional all at the same time.

Bernie M.






Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Shikar in Iran


I recently returned from a shikar in Iran arranged by Clark Jeffs with Safari Outfitters. I encountered huge populations of sheep and ibex in several areas of the country. Upon arrival I was escorted to a hunting reserve bordering Tehran where I observed nearly 600 red sheep. Unfortunately, the only thing I killed was time as the Red sheep was not one of the species I was after on this trip. I had a day to spare prior to the beginning of the hunt so why not spend it viewing sheep?

My actual hunt started about 5 hours south of Tehran for the Esfahan Mouflon. The first day provided numerous opportunities to harvest a mature ram. It was obvious that finding a trophy class animal would not prove too difficult. So, I decided to give it a couple days before settling on any particular one. The result was an eleven year old ram with decent horn length and very good horn mass. I also harvested one of the 4000 Persian Goitered Gazelles that roam the reserve. One that should rank well into SCI Top Ten awards.

The next stop was nearly 10 hours north of Tehran near the Turkmenistan border where I was to hunt the Trans-Caspian Urial. The drive was lengthy but the scenery was spectacular. Having been my first trip to Iran, I didn't realize there were so many mountain ranges. As in the other areas, I observed large herds of sheep and harvested a mature ram on the third day of the hunt. Since, the close of the hunting season in Turkmenistan I thought I would never have an opportunity to hunt this magnificent sheep. Thankfully, the record was set straight regarding Americans hunting in Iran and I was able to hunt and harvest an animal that would otherwise not have been possible.

Finally, I would travel back to the south of Tehran near the town of Shiraz where I would hunt the Persian Desert Ibex. Like the sheep populations, the ibex populations were astonishing. There is no doubt I could have settled on any one of numerous trophy quality animals encountered during a four day period. However, I had my heart set on one in particular and through patients, sweat and persistence was able to collect my prize just minutes before last shooting light on the last day of the hunt. His horns were well broomed but they still measured nearly 43 inches with incredible mass.

Iran is a treasure soon to be rediscovered by American hunters. Safari Outfitters works with only the most trusted names in the industry whether it be in the Middle East or elsewhere. Thanks Clark, for yet another truly great adventure to the remote reaches of the globe.