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Ibex Hunt:

In March, I went on a hunt in Spain with my youngest daughter, Julia. She had surprised me over the holidays by asking if she could go on my next elk hunt. She had never been on a hunt and, in retrospect, I think she meant, "could she go along to hike and take photos." But I heard "hunt" and got all excited about getting a chance to share one of life’s really unique and wonderful experiences with my daughter. But where could I take her hunting before she changed her mind? And I was really hoping for a spot-and-stalk type of hunt for big game, with lots of hiking in hilly country, my favorite kind of hunt.

Soon thereafter I was working our booth at the Safari Club International show in Reno, and took that opportunity to visit some of the outfitters that display at that show. I learned that the season for ibex in Spain extended all the way until May. Julia accepted my invitation to spend her college spring break with me, hunting in the mountains of Spain, so I booked the hunt as fast as I could. The outfitter, Bruno Rosich (www.trophyhuntingspain.com) came highly recommended by folks I knew and respected, I had wanted to hunt in Europe but never had opportunity, and I had great memories of time spent in Spain many years ago, so it was an easy decision.

As we got ready for the hunt, I told Julia that we would only take one rifle, and she could help me carry it if she wanted to, but she didn’t have to. And I told her that if she wanted, she could look through the scope at an animal we were hunting, but she didn’t have to. And if she felt comfortable, she could actually hunt too, but she didn’t have to. I had no idea what to expect, but really wanted her to enjoy the experience and be successful at whatever level she chose, and not to feel any pressure to participate beyond where she might be ready to go.

On the first afternoon, we sighted in our rifle, a new, one-off, experimental prototype "sheep" gun for hunting in the mountains. It weighs only 6 lbs, 2 oz and is perfect for a long day of climbing. It's chambered in 6.5 Creedmore, with a 120 grain GMX hunting load by Hornady. It is a really flat shooter, with almost no recoil. Leaving the barrel at about 2900 fps, and zero’d in at 200 yards, the drop is only 6” to 7” at 300 yards and 38” to 39” at 500 yards. Perfect for hunting sheep and mountain goats.

Some of the new technology we were experimenting with included an ABS carbon-fiber wrapped hammer-forged barrel, and a kevlar/carbon-fiber stock. We started with an off-the-shelf, short-action Hawkeye bolt-action receiver and hammer-forged barrel. The barrel was turned down to about one-half its original thickness, and then specially wrapped with the carbon fiber. The particular carbon fiber we used has a special property: it is 37x more heat conductive than steel, so it really wicks away the heat from the barrel. That doesn’t matter in hunting sheep, but would be a real asset for doing a lot of target shooting. The carbon fiber wrap also allowed us to have a bull barrel size and benefits with only the weight of a traditional sporter-size barrel. The carbon fiber really dampens vibrations and combined with the hammer-forged steel barrel, results in a really accurate rifle. One of our engineers got a ¼” group at 200 yards!

The kevlar and carbon fiber custom stock also saved about ½ lb over our standard synthetic stock, and we glass-bedded the action.

The sun sets pretty late in Spain in March, and we were able to glass for a few hours the first afternoon, seeing several male Beceite ibex feeding at lower elevations. We didn’t go after any that day, and headed back to the lodge for some wonderful Catalonian cuisine. This was a good hunt to bring the whole family on – a good lodge, great food, and plenty of tourist attractions for the non-hunters.

On day two, we travelled to an area that had not been hunted in over a year. We did a lot of glassing, but only saw females and young males for most of the day. That was okay; the scenery was spectacular and so was the weather. Orange groves were at the foot of the mountains, olive groves a little farther up, and then almond groves the rest of the way up. And the almond trees were all in bloom, looking much like cherry trees with their pink blossoms. Ancient ruins were abundant too, from Roman aqueducts to Moorish terraces all over the mountains.

We did get lucky though, as our local guide, Victor Gallardo, worked his network via cell phone and got some sighting reports from different farmers in the mountains. In mid-afternoon we converted one of those sighting reports into an opportunity and started a stalk on three good-looking males. I asked Julia if she wanted to take the rifle and step forward, but she shook her head “no,” so I moved up next to the guide. Julia stayed back about 20 yards, behind cover. We got in position, and were rewarded with the ibex slowly climbing up towards us as they fed on the soft grass of an almond terrace. As they kept coming closer and closer, I thought about what a great opportunity this would be for Julia to have a close-in shot. So I whispered to the outfitter and he agreed. He turned to Julia, put on his 150 watt smile, and beckoned her over. And she came! So I slipped out of position and let her take over the rifle, under the coaching of the outfitter and guide.

The best ibex in the group had moved a little closer to the wall between two terraces and was partially obscured, so Julia couldn’t take a shot. But that was okay, as we all believed he could climb onto the closer terrace and give her a good broadside view well under 100 yards away. But not everything works according to the book; a tractor started up somewhere in the distance and spooked the ibex. They ran off about 250 yards, before pausing to look over their shoulders briefly, and then dropped out of sight into a river bed. And that’s when the real hunt started!

Over the next hour and half, we stalked them, getting in position numerous times, only to have them move off again. Little did I know at the time, but now Julia was really getting into the hunt. Finally, everything came together and Julia was sighted in on a handsome ibex standing at the edge of a gravel bar in the river bed about 75 yards away. I still didn’t know what to expect and wasn’t certain she would follow through. But then she fired the rifle and I saw the ibex buck up and he and his two buddies ran 10 yards over the gravel bar and out of sight.

Julia cycled another round into the chamber and put the safety on and we all waited to see what would happen. It was very quiet. After about 10 minutes, two ibex came back into view and started feeding at the edge of the gravel bar; very unusual behavior after a shot. The third one, the one that Julia shot, did not reappear. We stayed still for a long time, probably 45 minutes, and nothing changed. So the guide quietly went upriver a few hundred yards and crossed over to the far bank where he could climb up high enough to see the animal. It was down, but he could see a little movement of its head and horns.

We strategized on how to get a second shot without spooking the animal and risking it running off, and decided that Julia would go upriver, cross over and climb up that bank to get the elevation for her shot. Just as we were starting to move, the ibex stood up, took one step, and collapsed. The one step it took meant that we could see it, and didn’t need to cross the river the get a final shot in. We moved back up our bank a little and Julia stood at a tree to get stabilized for the shot. She couldn’t get comfortable with her sight picture and backed off. So we put two daypacks on top of a big boulder and that got her high enough and steady enough to get the shot she needed over the gravel bar. Her second shot was perfect, and it was clear that the animal was instantly finished.

I was so proud of her! And she was excited and happy and there were a lot of high-fives and hugs with everyone. She had participated in her first hunt and had done a great job and really got to experience what a hunt is about.

As we were talking about the taxidermy later that evening, I said that the ibex “were going to the same address.” My wife piped up and said, “Oh no they’re not. Julia’s getting a full body mount for her ibex and it’s coming home; you can have a shoulder mount for yours and it has to stay at the office.” That’s okay; every day I look at the ibex in my office I’ll remember a wonderful first hunt with my daughter Julia!
 
 
 
 

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