SPAIN: Ibex Hunt With ATP Hunt

[LivingTheDream]

On December 22nd, I returned from a 2 Ibex hunt with ATP Hunt in Spain. I can’t say enough positive things about this hunt. If you are thinking about hunting Spain, DO IT! This was a bit of a dream come true, as I never thought I would be able to hunt Spain (just assumed it was for the well connected and financially well off). The whole experience was surreal, I really love Europe anyway, just the culture, the food, and the wine. I hunted the Ronda and Southeastern Ibex with ATP and loved every minute of it, Andres does a great job, and I am not sure how many properties he has control over but it is a lot. But having access to so many places and with the game managers he has in place, he has a good idea of the animals and being able to maintain quality. And though I enjoy my "roughing it" hunts, it is really nice to come back to hot shower, a nice bed and a good meal. Maybe Africa has spoiled me in this way.

I was told the amount of Ibex is down currently due to Scabies/Mange going through but the population has been recovering nicely. I can tell you there is no shortage of Ibex. It was really impressive the amount of animals we saw and I didn't see any with scabies/mange. So hopefully that has worked its way through.

The sheep bug has bitten me pretty bad and given that hunting sheep is getting extremely cost prohibited, I have really been wanting to get in the mountains and Ibex hunting seemed to be the next best thing. I have been looking at Ibex hunts for a while and just having found the right opportunity or time or cost (name your excuse here) to make it happen. However, I was fortunate to win a 100% donation hunt and was able to upgrade it to pursue Ibex. I have known Andres for over 4 years and know a bunch of people who have hunted with him. I was just lucky to be able to win the auction.

This was also a bit of balance between getting off work and the holidays so my hunting schedule was a bit compressed, but I assumed if I did my part we could make it happen. My In-Laws live 15 minutes from JFK so the plan was to drive my family up to New York and to fly out of JFK on the 16th, take a red eye over to Spain and land on the 17th and get hunting. This was made a little easier with my renting a rifle. The logistics actually worked out without any issues and what originally seemed like an eternity, was now actually happening!

 

[LivingTheDream]

Day 1 – Getting Settled In

I landed in Spain around 9:15 am, the flight was uneventful other than I only got about an hour of sleep. The combination of time change and excitement, it just didn’t happen. Getting through customs and getting my luggage was a breeze, and the Madrid airport is pretty nice and easy to navigate. Once out, I quickly found my guide and professional hunter Rafael. We quickly loaded up and headed south. We had about a 5-hour drive and though I was excited, Jet Lag and the lack of sleep got to me, and I slept probably 2 or 3 hours during the drive. Which was kind of unfortunate given the beautiful countryside, it is amazing once you get to the south how you can smell the soil and the contrast of colors with olive bushes as far as the eye can see.

We were going to be saying in the town of Alcazaba and staying in the hotel Hotel Finca Eslava. As we got closer to the hotel, a quick call was made to the game manager, and we quickly putting a plan together to get out there and see the mountains and if nothing else scout for the next day. We checked into the hotel, which was nice and about 30 minutes from the hunting area. We were going to be targeting Ronda Ibex for the first part of the trip and I was told this was extremely smart given they are pretty small, and the horn size is pretty small compared to other Ibex in Spain. I really was not focused on the size of the animal was excited about the experience and being able to hunt southern Spain, also being my first Ibex hunt I really didn’t have any expectations. He said guys that are finishing with the Ronda are usually disappointed given their smaller size.

As a bit of background, I had also made the decision to rent a rifle and was going to be using a Merkel Helix straight pull (similar to a Blaser) in 300 win mag, using 180 gr bullets. I was extremely excited to get to use a Merkel and just added a little bit to the experience.

After checking in and quick change of clothes, we grabbed lunch downstairs in the restaurant and got some delicious sliced meats and cheeses to start and I had a fantastic grill pork loin. I can’t emphasis how great the food was during the trip.

After lunch, I met Pedro our game manager who has been managing this area for over 14 years and was really familiar with the area and where to possibly find Ibex. He mentioned they have saw 2 this morning, in an easy to access place so we are going to take a chance and see if we can glass them up. I was still pretty jet lagged, and seems like every time we took off in the car, I was wanting to nap a little. After a 20-minute walk, we got to the glassing point at about 4 pm, which was essentially a giant valley or draw that had a path that leading straight up the mountain but it gave us a 270-degree view of cliffs. I was told it would take two hours to get on top and give us a sight into the different draws and the rocky bowl above the cliffs. Just glassing from this little spot we were able to find about 7 or 8 female Ibex, and it was fascinating how they moved amongst the cliffs and rocks. With about 30 minutes of daylight and not finding the 2 from this morning, we took off to other glassing points to do some scouting and see if we could get idea of where we needed to be in the morning. In doing so we made 3 quick stops and was able to turn up Ibex at each location, we found a herd of about 14 with a pretty good male in it. We also found a couple of 5-year-old billies and overall, probably saw between 30 and 40 Ibex, which was kind of blowing my mind the amount we were turning up. What also makes this more interesting is this year they had an extreme drought, and hadn’t gotten rain in 7 months, well given my luck, it rained for 2 weeks straight before I showed up and this pretty much had every inch of the mountain turning green and really spread out the Ibex all over.

A quick ride back to the hotel, and grabbed an early dinner by Spanish culture, around 8:30 pm. I had grilled lamb chops, and after a hot shower was in bed pretty early.

Below is a picture of the terrain we would be hunting. The second picture actually has an Ibex skylined on it.

 

[gillettehunter]

Been waiting for your report. Great to see you getting this one written up. Those mtns look steep.
Bruce

 

[LivingTheDream]

Day 2

We were up at 7 am and off to get breakfast. We quickly grabbed breakfast at a nearby gas station and I had a bacon baguette. Which given the freshness of the bread, it was a fantastic way to start a morning and the perfect size. We took off to different glassing areas and with the sun just barely up and the barren, rocky mountains, Pedro was able to start glassing mountain sides with a thermal which made the stops pretty quick. After checking 5 or 6 areas and glassing where we saw the good one the day before we were back to the valley with the idea we would get on top and see what was around. Based on what we say yesterday we were pretty confident we would be able to turn up a few in draws and out croppings on top.

Once we parked, we looked up and found a group of Ibex right there. It was a group of 9 with a billy of about 5 or 6 years old. Just a little too young for this area as they like to harvest billies at least 7 years old and prefer to find something over 8. Though I think this particular Ibex had a death wish as he stood 200 yards away broadside staring at our merry group getting ready to climb the mountain. But too young is too young and it would have been too easy anyway. I will spare everyone the details of the climb but there is a pretty good hiking path and it about 1500 to 1700 ft vertical feet up. But it is on a path, no cliffs, and overall, not too strenuous though as a flat lander, I was huffing and puffing (there are just somethings a stair master can’t prepare you for).

We get to the first glassing point, and we are able to see about 14 Ibex probably about a mile away and they were located in one of the ridged fingers that ran across the bowl on the top. So the plan was to get higher and start to loop around and get behind them, the goal being able to approach within shooting range undetected sneaky through the rocky outcropping. This plan mostly worked, I say mostly, because we had to make a bigger loop than expected due to another small group of about 6 Ibex being directly on the rocks we wanted to use for our approach. As we close to the distant, there is one group of rocks between us and where the Ibex should be, we should be within 100 yards and if we have gone undetected this should be a chip shot. As we are checking the scope and making sure we have pack ready to provide a rest and discussing the final 30 meters and the path we are going to take to peak over….we look up and we see a head looking at us from the top rock 30 meters away. We all freeze in disbelief, not even blinking an eye, but the game is up and there is a 2 year old female Ibex to blame.

We continue to sneak up, hoping the other Ibex will not pay attention to the alarmed female but once we crest we see the Ibex sneaking and jumping there way across bowl on the middle finger. They were between 270 and 300 yards away and I was really wanting to get prone and try to take a shot. I was assured not to worry as we will be able to find them again, they weren’t too freak out and we will loop around back from where we came from to the other side and find them.

So we start our loop back and did see some Wild Pigs which on top of the mountain was kind of crazy as I definitely was not expecting to see them at this elevation. We come up right behind the middle rocky outcropping, which is the one we saw the Ibex go over. The thought is they are in the valley or on the next outcropping, we start glassing and we aren’t turning anything up. So we are start sneaking our way through the middle finger looking further into the valley and on the other outcropping and still not turning up anything. We then make to the decision to climb to the top and scan back to where we came from thinking that maybe the crossed back over. We then start glassing this valley and the original outcropping, but there is nothing there. We then think they might have gone out the finger completely into the cliffs. This actually makes a lot of sense, since they are Ibex and if they felt pressured this should be the place they would go.

Once we start snaking our way down the cliffs probably about a 500 to 700 foot elevation drop, we have to get to the midway point of the draw so we can glass back into the cliffs as well as the far side in case they booked it through the draw and went up the other side. Once in the draw, and given the cliffs you are constantly having to move around just to see every possible crevasse. As we are looking, there starts to be a lot of talk in Spanish, I was reading facial expressions and hand movements. The Ibex had double backed around on us. The game manager Pedro had a look of determination and I knew there was no way we were leaving this mountain without an Ibex. In surveying the landscape I figured we were going to head up, get back on the mountain path and circle back around them. No sooner had I thought this, my guide turned to me and said, “we are going to head back up and go down the path and see if we can find them and loop around on them”. So I felt pretty confident in this plan and started my climb to the path, it is pretty amazing how this guys can navigate the rocks.

No sooner had we got on the path and started our loop, we spotted 4 Ibex and though they were all female we felt pretty sure this was the group from earlier. So we loop around and got to the first look out point, and literally 140 yards in front of us was the group of Ibex. I got down in a near prone position using a backpack as a rest across the rocks. Now it was a waiting game for the Billy to come out from behind a rock. The Ibex were extremely calm and many were laying down so I felt like this could be a while. The Billy for whatever reason stood up and started to walk directly towards us, still having rocks block the vital areas. He then jumped up on a rock presenting a beautiful broadside profile. The sun reflecting off his horns, it was really a sight to see through the 8x power of the scope. I placed the crosshairs behind the shoulder and squeezed the trigger. At the shot, the Billy dropped, and I had my first Ibex. None of the other Ibex even moved and we actually had to wait 20 minutes before they decided to move on and we could make our way to my Billy.

Here is rough drawing I did to explain how the Ibex moved and we stalked them Thought it might help visualize what I was describing above.

Once at the Billy, he was 7 years old, the drought in the area had impacted his year 7 growth ring which was about ½ the size of his year 6 growth ring. I can’t really describe how beautiful this animal is, and how much appreciate and respect I have from them based on this hunt. Just the terrain they live in and how they almost completely outsmarted us. Just an amazing animal. We then had lunch and took some pictures, packed out the animal and started off the mountain. This took about 2 hours and I can say the last 500 meters to go my legs were starting to do that wiggle/shack thing, pretty telling me they had enough. Luckily this was pretty easy walking, and we were getting off the mountain in decent time to get a shower and get some dinner.

Dinner and Wine was great, I had a pork rib meat dish and was told this was actually the restaurant my guide ate at with Tom Miranda when he did his Ronda Ibex hunt. Needless to say, I slept pretty well with the plan to get up around 8 am drive 2 hours to where we would be hunting Southeastern Ibex.

 

[rinehart0050]

Great report and congrats on your Ibex!

I suspect the mountains are calling me too! Too many animals to hunt, not enough time!

 

[BnC 04]

Outstanding ibex and great report. I've been looking at Spain for a while but needed some positives on a reliable outfitter there. Looks like you found just the guy.

 

[BourbonTrail]

Awesome!!

 

[LivingTheDream]

Day 3 – Spain

We left pretty early, around 8:30 with the plan to make the 2 hour drive to Sierra Nevada mountains to hunt Southeastern Ibex. What is cool is even though this area is fairly close, to see the geographic changes and snow capped mountains was a really cool. We get to the hotel and our rooms are not ready so we change essentially in the bathroom lobby, leave our luggage and take off through the Sierra Nevada National Park. The Terrian reminded me of a steeper Custer State Park. There is a lot of green here and it absolutely beautiful. We go for about 30 minutes and meet up with Pedro and the retired game manager Peter.

Peter managed this area for close to 30 years and family has been in this valley since the 1400s and showed us the stone foundation of his family house. Needless to say, not only did he know this area, he loved this area and loved the Ibex. So it was cool to have him taking us around to the different spotting locations. The one feature I noticed was there some rock formations that seemed like rock islands in the sky, they were steep but not necessarily dangerous, but if you are afraid of heights probably not the best place to be. We tend to climb these little rock islands to try to spot Ibex, we usually found 2 or 3 at location even a few ok males but not what we were looking for. We did this for about 3 hours and decided it was time to head to the lunch location.

The lunch location is actually kind of strategically placed from a hunting perspective, as it essentially on the carved out into the hill side and we can sit there with binoculars and scan the opposite hill side for Ibex. So if you can imagine 4 guys sitting in a restaurant with binoculars, a few drinking wine, it had to be quite a sight. We had a great lunch and was able to rest a little, though the walking we did today wasn’t exactly far, it was kind of strenuous given the rock formations. Overall lunch was probably close to two hours, the food was great but to hear the old hunting stories and the history of this area was really priceless.

So after lunch we decided to drive to the end of the road and glass more of this hillside, we said we would do this for about 10 minutes and then head back to other areas in the mountains. We are glassing and the PH has his thermal out, we are spotting a few females and a couple young males. The landscape is either shear cliff or it is terraced with a combination of hardwood and evergreens growing. I am watching a female on the terraced part and catch some movement above her in the trees. I put my focus on this movement and out comes a male, and what I think to be a pretty nice male. I tell everyone there is pretty good Billy. The game manager goes yeah there is some young ones over there and I say this one just stepped out, the retired game manager looks over and goes, “magnifico”. With those words I knew this Billy was special. There was a lot of talk in Spanish, and then Rafael turned to me and said, “how do you feel about leaning over a cliff”. I said not real great, and then there was more talk in Spanish. I was told to get my quad sticks and start to get them to the appropriate height. There was more talk in Spanish and then I was told, “we have a plan, let’s go!”.

We drove through the bottom the valley and got dropped off on a walking trail that would take us to the Terrace section where we saw the Ibex. Peter was going to drive back around and keep and eye on him to make sure we didn’t spook him. We then took a few minutes to make sure we had everything right, Pedro told me the females will let us get to 100 yards but not this guy he is old and smart and need to be ready for over 200 yard shot. Basically, as soon as we saw him, I needed to be ready, because if he saw us, he would be gone.

We start out the stalk and are slowing creeping our way down the trail, we are going on a bit of an incline so there is no way to see ahead or for the ibex to see us but once we got to where it leveled off, game on. No sooner had we got to where it leveled off, we could see one of the females and we were pretty sure this one the one the Billy seemed interested in. So we get the sticks set and I am on her, there is a 5 to 10 foot window there and if he is still following her, I will only have seconds to shoot.

Well the female moves on, going through the gap and exiting stage right, and there is nothing in the gap, there is no movement to the left and all we can tell from the hand signals from across the valley is the Billy is still there. What felt like an eternity was probably about 5 minutes, as we were discussing where he could possibly be, we look back and suddenly he was there! He is there in the Gap standing perfectly broadside on a rock! Because I was using Quad Sticks, the gun was already in place, I put my head down on the scope, pushed the safety off and focused on my breathing and squeezing the trigger. On the shot he dropped and I was told to shoot him again as his head was up, a little bit of movement on my part and I shot him again. This one planted him right where he was. There was a lot of celebrating and this was before we even got to him.

Once we got to him, both shots were perfect on the front shoulder. He was aged at 12 years old, he is the oldest one Pedro has ever taken in 14 years from this area, Peter who has over 30 years in this area told me one time 20 years ago they got one that was 12 years old. He is the second biggest one to come out of this area, behind an 11 year old one taken 7 or 8 years ago. Probably more miraculously, is no one has seen him, he was a “ghost” or “phantom”, “where did he come from?” was said more than once. There was a lot of discussion about how this Ibex so close to the village had never been spotted. We took a lot of photos and probably none of them really show how majestic and beautiful this animal is. Words just really can’t capture it, but I really reflected on how special it was. Though the stalk wasn’t a true mountain hunt, when the hunting gods smile on you, you enjoy that moment.

On the drive back, we actually had 6 Ibex across the road right in front of us. Including a 9 year old that seemed more agitated that we were in his road. They are such a cool animal and it was great to get to see a few more before leaving. I should also note we were driving through the Sierra Nevada Mountains with the sun setting, it was breath taking beautiful and I could not have timed the ride out any better. Getting back to the hotel and hot shower, we then met up downstairs for a drink and nice dinner. I got what I thought was a ham steak but they pretty much brought be the ham hock roast, it was good, but way more food than I was expecting.

A picture of the valley looking back from where we spotting him.

I was asked at dinner if I wanted to shoot a Red Stag, and when in Spain it seems like a good idea. We would leave around 9 am, and head to the Red Stag area before heading on to Madrid. With Mission Accomplished with the Ibex, I was able to get an earlier flight home, made my better half extremely happy.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Excellent results and report! Congratulations.

 

[gillettehunter]

What a billy! I suspect that is what every ibex hunter hopes for. A old beautiful animal. Never having been seen by the game scouts is amazing. They keep very close track of their animals in that part of the world. Well done!
Bruce

 

[TKessel]

Well done, great report.

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and thanks for sharing!

 

[Nyati]

Glad you had a great time and got two very good Ibexes.

Now you have to come back and hunt two big ones from Beceite and Gredos

 

[BourbonTrail]

This is definitely on my bucket list of hunts, congratulations!

 

[LivingTheDream]

Day 4 and Conclusion

Not the earliest of starts but by Spain standards pretty darn early. Grabbed coffee at 8:30, checked out at 9:15 and we headed north. The back of the Audi was getting pretty full, with us having 2 Ibex heads in the back. The plan was to get halfway to Madrid and stop at a hunting property to cull a red deer and eat lunch before continuing our journey to Madrid for dinner. The ride north was uneventful, and being I was actually awake I could really take in the scenery. Overall, it was just an amazing trip and couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be here.

After a quick stop to get bread, we were at the Red Deer property. This is a huge property, I mean huge, like we drive for 30 minutes and never saw the other end of the property. I am not sure how many Red Deer we saw, but it was a lot. Little groups of 3 or 4 and we did a couple of stalks but couldn’t get them right. We finally took after a large group of about 14 on foot since there was a bout 5 males that hit the age class that we wanted to take out. We bumped them twice as they were pretty cagey and turned on. Finally, we catch up with one, about 250 yards away as he is the last of the group and about to follow the group over the mountain, I am shooting off of trigger sticks and basically rushed my shot and pulled it and missed the stag. It was a bit frustrating as I am sure if I had my quad sticks or was able to get prone, that Stag is dead right there, but I was due a miss. We followed up and made sure it was a clean miss and as we get to the spot, we see the group on the other side of the valley. We found the stag I missed (sure enough clean miss) and then the game manager goes, “see the big one you missed, there is a blonde one next to it, he is very old, please kill him now”. Given this was a cull hunt, I was more than happy to oblige. It was a 200 yard shot, and was able to concentrate on my breathing and trigger squeeze. At the shot, I didn’t hear the thud and the game manager and PH go, I think you missed. With the straight pull, I was able to quickly cycle and I am starting to follow him and get ready to try again when he goes tumbling down the hill side. I felt much better as I was about to get upset with my shooting. It was an old Stag that probably wouldn’t have made it through the winter as he was on his way down. Basically, I didn’t hit the shoulder and the shot was a little back and with a complete pass through, no thud and dirt kicking up in the background gave the impression of a miss. But he is down and we quickly get him cleaned and off the mountain and he headed over to the game managers for lunch.

Lunch was cooked over an open fire, with fresh eggs from the chickens in the back, and homemade sausage. It was fantastic and though simple I couldn’t think of a better lunch. After lunch we were headed North to Madrid, we were able to meet the taxidermist and drop off the heads and went straight to dinner in Madrid City Center. Dinner was great, turns out the owner of the restaurant was the wife of my outfitter. It was great food, some good drinks and I broke out the Buffalo Trace. Andres was kind enough to offer me a Cuban cigar and pretty much everything was right in the world. My hotel was very nice and getting through the airport was pretty easy with the only pain being that the US flights literally fly out of the farthest terminal/gates from check in. The flight was uneventful, and though it was nice to be with my family, these short trips leave me wanting to go back!

Conclusion

I don’t know what else to say other than this trip was amazing. I love the mountains, and this was the perfect combination of comfort and hard hunting that made for a rewarding trip. ATP did an amazing job organizing and working with me to make this trip happen. All of the people I interacted with starting with my PH and guide Rafael did a fantastic job, the game managers knew the animals and their areas, the locals I met were beyond friendly. You can tell the country has a hunting tradition and this experience was humbling that I got to interact with such professionals and take part in this tradition. I couldn’t have planned it any better. I also plan to make more trips to Spain to hunt and to just visit with the family. For everyone that has followed along, Thank you!!

 

[LivingTheDream]

Glad you had a great time and got two very good Ibexes.

Now you have to come back and hunt two big ones from Beceite and Gredos

That is definitely going to happen!!!

 

[gillettehunter]

As you know, I wish I was with you! Just wasn't to be this year. Hip replacement in 3 weeks and we'll see how things go from there. Congrats on the stag. Always good to cull the old ones. As for a miss, well it happens to all of us if hunt long enough. Borrowed rifles usually don't help. I'm glad your hunt went so well. Congrats again.
Bruce

 

[LivingTheDream]

As you know, I wish I was with you! Just wasn't to be this year. Hip replacement in 3 weeks and we'll see how things go from there. Congrats on the stag. Always good to cull the old ones. As for a miss, well it happens to all of us if hunt long enough. Borrowed rifles usually don't help. I'm glad your hunt went so well. Congrats again.
Bruce

Yeah we will get a hunt scheduled together. Sorry we couldn't make it happen this time. I feel like you were there in spirit considering how lucky I got.

 

[gillettehunter]

We do tend to bring each other good luck! Be safe! Happy New Year.
Bruce

 

[Ridge Runner]

Congrats on such a fine hunt and getting some very nice animals.

Thanks for the hunting report.