JeffUSMC
New member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2024
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 112
- Location
- Jacksonville, Florida USA
- Media
- 6
- Hunted
- US, South Africa, Canada, Spain, New Zealand, Serbia, Macedonia, England, Mexico, Ireland, Latvia, Zimbabwe, Turkey.
I just returned from a five-day hunt in Serbia and Macedonia with Safari International Macedonia. This company is owned by Toma Sokalik. He is a US educated Macedonian who lives in Macedonia with his family. I cannot say enough good things about him and his operation there. I booked this hunt through Jana Edzina of Latvian Safari Club in Latvia. She owns a guiding service, booking agency and taxidermy shop based in Latvia. I have been using her for several years now for all of my European hunts and associated needs and all of her services are outstanding. She recommended this hunt to me a year ago and I jumped on it. Golden Jackal is basically Europe's equivalent of our coyote, and the European Wild Cat is a rough equivalent of our Bobcat but smaller and a far rarer trophy. The only country in the world where you can hunt the European Wild Cat and get a CITES permit for export is Serbia. I am told that on average three foreign hunters per year are successful in harvesting this cat. Some years less and some years a few more. This makes it one of the rarest trophies in the world.
I flew from Jacksonville, FL to Chicago on United then on to Frankfurt also on United. Due to a delayed take off from Chicago, I literally made my connection in Frankfurt by less than five minutes. Then from Frankfurt to Belgrade. My guide picked me up in Belgrade and we drove three hours north to a hotel and the hunting area. My luggage did not make the transfer. I was in Serbia for two days before my bag caught up with me and I hunted in my travel clothes those first two days. The hunt was entirely at night with thermal and the temperatures were between 10 - 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
The first night of the hunt we tried calling Jackals but with no luck. They would not come to our call. We saw several in the thermal and I got off two shots at running Jackals but missed as they were both at over 200 yards and running. We hunted until 3AM and then went to bed. The second night we had the same luck with the Jackal not responding to our calls. This time I did not get a shot at any. My luck did change greatly though. While driving down one of the dirt roads we both spotted a pair of very distinct green "predator" eyes in the bushes on the side of the road. We immediately stopped the truck and I got on the thermal. I instantly said "Cat" and we decided to shoot. I had a good rest and made one well-placed head shot. European Wild Cat down. One of the world's rarest hunting trophies that I had traveled nineteen hours on three different planes for was in the salt.
The Jackal should have been easy but for the next three days these things just would not cooperate. The next day we drove to get my missing luggage then on to northern Macedonia to Toma's lodge to try our luck there. This was a seven-hour drive. His lodge is very nice. It is a huge, old fashioned, true to form, hunting lodge, with tons of taxidermy, great food and a 5000 acre high fence operation. We hunted for Jackal and Wolf outside the fence but to no avail. After two days we drove back to Serbia so I could catch my 6AM flight the next day. Like the consummate professional, he arranged one last hunt about 45 minutes outside Belgrade, over bait for Jackal. We stalked in about 200 yards from the bait just after the sun went down and it got dark. There were already two Jackals at the bait with one more coming in. We stalked another 50 yards closer, and I set up on the shooting sticks. I took my time, exhaled, slowly squeezed the trigger and made the 150 yard shot perfectly.
For anyone considering this hunt or interested in these trophy animals this is what I would pass on. My difficulty with the Jackal is very unusual. I think normally a Jackal could be harvested on the first or second night. The ease with which I harvested the cat is also HIGHLY unusual. I chalk this up to 100% pure luck. I feel that if I did this hunt five more times, I would probably get another European Wild Cat maybe once or twice at most. That being said, it is such a rare trophy that virtually no other hunter has, that if you are a "collector" like me, it is worth trying.
I cannot say enough good things about both my booking agent and Safari International Macedonia. If you work with either of them you will not regret it.
I flew from Jacksonville, FL to Chicago on United then on to Frankfurt also on United. Due to a delayed take off from Chicago, I literally made my connection in Frankfurt by less than five minutes. Then from Frankfurt to Belgrade. My guide picked me up in Belgrade and we drove three hours north to a hotel and the hunting area. My luggage did not make the transfer. I was in Serbia for two days before my bag caught up with me and I hunted in my travel clothes those first two days. The hunt was entirely at night with thermal and the temperatures were between 10 - 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
The first night of the hunt we tried calling Jackals but with no luck. They would not come to our call. We saw several in the thermal and I got off two shots at running Jackals but missed as they were both at over 200 yards and running. We hunted until 3AM and then went to bed. The second night we had the same luck with the Jackal not responding to our calls. This time I did not get a shot at any. My luck did change greatly though. While driving down one of the dirt roads we both spotted a pair of very distinct green "predator" eyes in the bushes on the side of the road. We immediately stopped the truck and I got on the thermal. I instantly said "Cat" and we decided to shoot. I had a good rest and made one well-placed head shot. European Wild Cat down. One of the world's rarest hunting trophies that I had traveled nineteen hours on three different planes for was in the salt.
The Jackal should have been easy but for the next three days these things just would not cooperate. The next day we drove to get my missing luggage then on to northern Macedonia to Toma's lodge to try our luck there. This was a seven-hour drive. His lodge is very nice. It is a huge, old fashioned, true to form, hunting lodge, with tons of taxidermy, great food and a 5000 acre high fence operation. We hunted for Jackal and Wolf outside the fence but to no avail. After two days we drove back to Serbia so I could catch my 6AM flight the next day. Like the consummate professional, he arranged one last hunt about 45 minutes outside Belgrade, over bait for Jackal. We stalked in about 200 yards from the bait just after the sun went down and it got dark. There were already two Jackals at the bait with one more coming in. We stalked another 50 yards closer, and I set up on the shooting sticks. I took my time, exhaled, slowly squeezed the trigger and made the 150 yard shot perfectly.
For anyone considering this hunt or interested in these trophy animals this is what I would pass on. My difficulty with the Jackal is very unusual. I think normally a Jackal could be harvested on the first or second night. The ease with which I harvested the cat is also HIGHLY unusual. I chalk this up to 100% pure luck. I feel that if I did this hunt five more times, I would probably get another European Wild Cat maybe once or twice at most. That being said, it is such a rare trophy that virtually no other hunter has, that if you are a "collector" like me, it is worth trying.
I cannot say enough good things about both my booking agent and Safari International Macedonia. If you work with either of them you will not regret it.
