SPAIN: Spanish Pyrenean Chamois Hunt Report

[MontanaPat]

Hi all, wanted to share a report on my recent hunt in the Pyrenees for Chamois. I hunted with Bruno Rosich's Trophy Hunting Spain during the week of October 21-25, my wife and I went and spent a couple of days touring in the Pyrenees along with the hunt, then we went to Madrid for 5 days. The chamois hunt was actually only one day of the trip but successful. We got up early on the morning of the hunt to meet our game manager and his assistant who manage the reserve where we would be hunting. The reserve borders a national park in the La Vall de Boi area of Taull Spain, the reserve must encompass about 40,000 acres of high mountain terrain. I was impressed with the ruggedness of the Pyrenees mountains in this part of Spain. Fortunately we were able to access the high basins on some 4X4 two tracks and didn't have to hike up from the valley floor or I would have been in deep trouble getting up there. We started the hunt trying the outfitter's 300 win mag that I was renting for the hunt to give me a feel for the rifle and made some slight adjustments to the scope. The overnight light rain had pretty much stopped as we drove up high into the mountains to glass for chamois, however the clouds and fog had the peaks and basins socked in with preventing us from seeing anything. My hunting guide and game ranger both had thermal monoculars so they could pick up heat signatures on the mountainside and said they were loaded with roe deer but no chamois as they were higher up in the clouds. After reaching the top of the basin we sat out some rain showers in a small rustic farmer's stone hut and had some cheese, salami and bread. After about a hour the sun began to peak through the clouds around 11AM and the clouds/fog began to lift. We spotted a few chamois up high and across on opposite peaks from our location but way too far to try and make a play on them. We headed back down the mountain to glass some other ares but didn't see anymore chamois.

We got back to town at the bottom of the mountains and drove up a valley across from our first location. At the head of this valley was a rather large ski area which sits all above timberline, fortunately we were able to drive on the cat track maintenance roads up fairly high and began spotting several chamois groups above us right away. We glassed several groups but they were mostly females and small males so the game ranger wanted to move around to the border of the ski area and then hike and climb up to the top of a large ridge to look into several small rocky basins to find a larger male chamois to take. We parked and began climbing up about 1400 feet higher into a basin, slowly taking my time to catch my breath as we climbed. Those mountains are definitely steep climbing!!

After climbing up, just below the ridge line the game ranger and my guide spotted some chamois on the ridge top and we made a plan to approach them but on the way up we saw a group of three billies even with us about 300 yards off to our left on a rocky outcrop. The mountainside was rocky with small flat areas of grass and small scrubby brush with little trickling streams, so we dropped down and set up for a prone shot, however by the time I got comfortable behind the rifle the bigger of the three had moved behind some rocks so we lay there to wait them out for a shot. The chamois milled around but the bigger billy never gave a shot. We laid there for almost an hour, broke out some lunch and watched for them to appear from behind the rocks. Finally the game ranger Sergio sent the the younger apprentice ranger Josep up a little higher to glass and see where they might be bedded. Josep came back and said they were bedded behind the mound we were watching, they made a plan to send Josep down the hill a ways and circle below them to see if they would move out from behind the rocky outcrop and give us a shot. While he did this we grabbed our stuff and the rifle and moved about 75 yards closer and set up the rifle on top of a large rock which gave me a much better rest for a shot. The plan worked and the three chamois began to move quickly up the hill into the open. We decided the chamois we wanted to take was the second in line going up the hill at around 250 yards away. I got on the rifle and made one shot taking out the shoulders and clipping off the top of his heart on later inspection, he went down and tumbled about 30 yards down the hill and to a stop dead. Lots of back slapping and excitement as we gathered our stuff and began to climb up to him, the game rangers were super excited! It was a fun hunt and I was glad not to have to climb any further up the mountain! We took pictures, caped out the chamois and harvested the meat that the game rangers would take to town to give to some of the locals. The climb down while not taking away my breathing was a steep descent and I just took my time following behind the game rangers and my guide Robert who was a great guide and a lot of fun.

Here are some pics of the chamois and the mountains where we hunted. It was a little breezy and chilly up there but the sun felt great.

 

[MontanaPat]

If someone can direct me how to load a video clip I'll try to put the shot video that my guide took through his sotting scope with his phone on here. I know we have to do it in You Tube but never tried it

 

[MontanaPat]

After the chamois hunt we spent the next day touring in the mountains and then late that day we went to an area my hunting guide knew for wild boar where he had been seeing them regularly feeding on acorns. We got there about 2 hours before dark and climbed up the hillside a ways and set up looking across to some small oak tree groves on an adjacent ridge. While waiting we spotted an ancient old chamois across the valley as he bedded down for the night, saw some fallow does in a green field across the valley and watched roe deer and a fox hunt. Just before shooting light ended we had a big male wild boar pop out on a ridge about 300 yards away and make his way up the ridge line but he never slowed down long enough for a shot. Nothing came to the acorns except a roe deer female right at dark as we packed up, but still a fun evening.

The next day was our last so we took the chamois cape and skull to the taxidermy shop for a shoulder mount to be done then on to the train station in Lleida where we caught a high speed train to Madrid. We stayed in the central part of Madrid for 5 nights and toured the city. We did a walking food tour and walking the old town of the city to the monuments and palace. The next day we caught a train to Toledo and had a private walking tour of the city, on day 3 we caught a train to Segovia and did our own walking tour and really enjoyed the aqueduct, cathedral and Alcazar castle. Finally on our last day we stayed in Madrid and walked to the Prado museum and their museum of natural history and then out to dinner for an authentic paella meal at a local restaurant recommended by our food tour guide away from the tourist trap restaurants. Overall a great trip and I look forward to going back to Spain for some more hunting in the future.

Touring pics

Toledo Spain Cathedral

Toledo Spain

Segovia Roman Aqueduct

Segovia Cathedral

 

[MontanaPat]

I meant to include into my hunt report, for those interested the CIC score on the chamois was 84.125 and he was estimated to be 5-6 years old. I think CIC bronze cutoff is around 86 CIC points. My hunt contract was for a representative chamois and then price bumps up slightly for CIC bronze or above so I didn't have to pay any extra fees for a medal class animal but I'm thrilled with him.