Marco polo

Hawker

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
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153
Location
Michigan
Has anyone ever hunted these? I've never seen anything posted on here. Some pics would be pretty cool. What country, who'd use for a guide,ect.
 
Joined
May 29, 2012
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3,474
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Lewiston ID
All I've heard is that you can expect to spend $30k+ for one which is why I've never researched further... but I will say they are about the COOLEST looking animal on the planet!

Mike
 

Aron Snyder

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Rokslide Sponsor
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Jan 23, 2012
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The Wilderness
I would talk with Bryan Martin of Asian and Canadian Mountain Outfitters.

He's as tough as they come on they pull some crazy sized Marco Polo each year.

Here's his # 250-317-5525

If you're on Facebook, take a look at his page and you'll see some amazing animals!
 

shaun

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Apr 29, 2012
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Central CA
I was just at my taxidermist dropping off my coues and bull and there was a set of Marco pollo horns and they put a B&C desert sheep to shame huge was an understatement and I believe he said the guy spent 35k on hunt
 

Hardstalk

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Apr 29, 2012
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I think 35 may be an undershot. That may have been the "hunt" but shipping and travel and tags I would imagine the hunt to come into the 50 mark. But that may just be my expectations.
 

idig4au

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Jun 1, 2012
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On one of the 7 continents….
Yes I hunted Marco Polo and mid Asian ibex in Tajikistan in feb 2011. I used Ameri-Cana outfitters out of Edmonton. The Frederick boys. It's one of the most extreme hunts one can do with the remoteness, cold and altitude. One of my life lists checked off. Hardstalk above is on par with price. Lots of incidental costs that quickly add up for these kind of adventures. Really need to bring your own atm machines that spit out 100 dollar notes! I'll post a couple of pics when I home.

The Marco Polo is Kyrgyzstan are not true Marco Polo and have slightly different horn configuration and cape color. They are actually classified as Hume argali but you can classify them as Marco Polo based on a select region in the country. The sheep hunting here in Kyrgyzstan is not very good; too much pressure. My opinion only. I work in this region with lots of contact and decided in Tajikistan as much better sheep population and management. Having said that I will try and have a crack at a Hume argali in 2013 out here if I can get a cities permit
 

idig4au

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On one of the 7 continents….
Here are a few pictures from my Marco Polo and Ibex hunt last year. It was a 10 day hunt including travel from Kyrgyzstan. Its about a 10-12 hour drive from Osh depending on weather conditions and the amount of snow in the mountain passes. Weather conditions are fairly extreme, looking at -30 F temperatures an there is a constant wind which only makes it colder. Here is coming into Tajikistan near the border. The Soviets loved their monuments!

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I hunted out of a camp on Lake Karakul which has a base elevation of only about 13,000 feet. In Feb, its obviously frozen which means getting from point A to point B is a lot quicker, just drive across the lake. You could hear the ice popping and cracking and some of the pressure ridges were interesting getting across.

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On the second day of the hunt, we made a 5 hour stalk on a band of 8 or so rams bedded down. Elevation is +14,000 feet. You can hunt them easier out of the jeep, but I prefer spot and stalk. My guides were not too happy, but they obliged. We saw these guys from a long ways away up in a bowl through our spotting scopes. Two were worthy of a closer look. The stalk was on and after a few hours, we got within 570 yards. One ram in particular was heavy and had the argali flare I was looking for. He wasn't the magical 60 inches, but was close enough for me! At at the end of the day, that is just a number and reserved for those with deep pockets willing to pay an "additional" trophy fee. To each their own. After two shots, one at 570 yards and the other at about 650 yards, both hits, I had my ram down. He and the rest of band ran over the ridge into the next basin and we found him later down low.

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Hardstalk

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Thanks for the pics and short story. Way cool! Your a lucky man. Quite an amazing trophy and with those temps you definitely earned it. I realize its quite personal but along with the o.ps original question do you have a cost breakdown of your hunt?
 

idig4au

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On one of the 7 continents….
After the sheep hunting was done, it was time to hunt after Mid Asian Ibex. Tajikistan is not known for really big ibex, they tend to have more mass and shorter horn length as compared to Mid Asians in Kyrgyzstan. Ibex as with all goats are up high in the mountains and cling to the rocks. The elevation makes it that much more difficult. The frozen rivers provided roads to the back country, but of course they presented their own challenges at times.

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We saw a massive ibex the first day of chasing them, and hunted him for several days. We could never catch back up to him and his group. Time to move on to new area. Lots of glassing from the valley turned up another good ibex with big mass. The guides were excited. Up the mountain we go for another stalk, and had to move it quickly as they were on the move. About an hour later we got up to a band of rocks, about 800 yards from the group as they were mulling about. My Tajik guide decided to rely on our snow camo and walk slowly at them to get into more comfortable shooting range. We got to about 500 yards and they started to get spooky. A couple of shots later, had my Ibex down. He's a real trophy at 48 inches with a tight curl.

A view from stalk working our way up the mountain. We started from the valley floor. About 15,000 elevation

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The cold got to my camera batteries so no pictures with the animal intact, which is a real bummer

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idig4au

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On one of the 7 continents….
Thanks for the pics and short story. Way cool! Your a lucky man. Quite an amazing trophy and with those temps you definitely earned it. I realize its quite personal but along with the o.ps original question do you have a cost breakdown of your hunt?

You can PM if you want....not the cheapest hunt
 
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Joined
Feb 28, 2012
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Bellingham, WA
Always been a dream hunt of mine! One question going off of the growth rings, are they really that old? What did your Marco come out at age wise? Thanks and awesome trophys...
 

ozyclint

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Apr 27, 2012
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Queensland, Downunder
WOW! i have always been interested in hunting the 'Stans' or mongolia. quite simply out of my price range though. CONGRATS idig4au! going by your name you must find a few nuggets hey? LOL
 
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