A great way to finish a Grand Slam!

We are in the last days of the hunting season, with high temperatures and long days. After more than a week of traveling around Spain, our hunter Mr. Koch is in southern Spain, looking for his Southeastern ibex (Sierra Nevada ibex) to complete his Grand Slam.

LOOKING FOR IBEX

On the first morning, we don’t have much success. Female ibexes are among the rocks, getting ready to give birth to the new generation and we can only see small ibexes. Although we have a good one in sight that is basking in the sun, we leave this example for another year. As it is our first morning, we continue our adventure.
We have a lunch break at midday while discussing our hunting area for the afternoon. We find a high point from which we can observe a wide area. The afternoon is getting better little by little. The temperature is going down and because of the clouds, the animals have begun to move around and look for food.

Once we are in position, we soon see the first few ibexes, some of which are big trophies. We followed this strategy: one of our range guides with radio in hand continues to observe the males while I guided Mr. Koch and his wife to stalk the animals.

We fail at the first approach. We get too close and the wind betrays us at the last minute. But the afternoon is ideal. Our guide tells us that a group of males is close to us. So, we decide to approach them, but with the same result. When we are close to them, they begin to walk up the mountain and we lose them.

Losing our hope of finding the Southeastern ibex

We are losing hope as we reach the end of the afternoon. After resting for a few minutes, I see a big ibex walking onto a grass opening to eat. It is only 600 meters away and, with no time to waste, we walk down to hunt it.

Our time has come. It is a really big trophy. It takes us a long time to stalk the animal, because of the difficulties of the terrain but we know that this is the one we have been waiting for. After a while, the ibex continues grazing and we are just 200 meters away.

Mr. Koch takes a great shot with his Blaser rifle and makes his dream come true, winning a spectacular ibex silver medal and completing the Ibex Grand Slam.