Kyle Hanson: Kyrgyzstan Hunt Report

HUNT: Kyrgyzstan Marco Polo & Mid Asian Ibex Hunt
CONSULTANT: Outdoors International

October 01, 2024

I have recently just returned on what I would consider to be the greatest adventure of my young life and hunting career. The trip has completely met and exceeded all goals and expectations that I had of not only the hunt, but also hunting Asia, and our Outfitting partners that we work with.

My trip to Kyrgyzstan started out with a group of friends and clients interested in Hunting Mid-Asian Ibex. Mid summer I received a notification from our Outfitting partners that they may be receiving additional tags for Marco Polo Argali in their region this year, followed by the question of course “Would you be interested in upgrading your Ibex hunt to a full combo?”. The answer of course is hell yes I would, but how in the world can I ever afford that?

After some deep reflection and crunching numbers to make it all work I committed to my very first sheep hunt and with just 3-4 months notice. It turns out, that being matter of fact about it, Asia offers some of the greatest value in the entire world for sheep & goat hunting. Especially in Kyrgyzstan! As they say, when in Rome right? Because I’ve already paid for a good bulk of the trip between the Ibex hunt & all travel incidentals to date, this was actually a great value and real possibility. Let’s face it too, hunting trips are never going to get any more affordable than they already are in the current world we live in…

Traveling to Kyrgyzstan

Truth be told, I was pretty nervous about this aspect of the trip. Almost, if not even more so than the hunt itself! The fears of lengthy travel, time differences, language barriers, lost luggage… man. But it went absolutely seamlessly. Traveling to Asia with Turkish Airlines was better than I could have imagined and working with our preferred travel agents only made it easier. I only had two individual flights over to Asia. The first from Chicago to Istanbul, Turkey, took approximately 11 hours. The second, from Istanbul,Turkey to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, was approximately 6 hours. The food on Turkish Airlines was icing on the cake by the way!

Once in Bishkek, we were greeted by an English speaking host and escorted to the VIP Lounge while the Outfitters staff and the hosts retrieved our luggage & firearms to go through the customs. Each and every piece of gear arrives to include all weapons cases as scheduled. YESS! The first victory of the trip, and the customs process was very easy. All while enjoying the comfort of a good coffee and pastry in a VIP Lounge. Next leg, the long drive into hunting camp begins!

Driving literally from one end of the country to the other over the course of 10-12 hours after a long flight makes for a long day, not going to sugar coat that. However, it was quite breathtaking to soak in the scenery as we ascended across the country and new terrain I’ve never seen before. The guides and English speaking concierge personally drove us to camps that day, stopping as needed for breaks to include Breakfast, Lunch, Bathroom, coffee, take pictures like tourists that we are… you name it. It was full service from here on out. We arrived at camp on the first day late afternoon.

Arriving to Hunting Camp

As soon as we arrived at the hunting camp we started getting settled into the Cabin that we were hunting from for the week. We met the rest of our guides, and the camp chef, as well as the Government Inspector who accompanies each hunt for the permitting in Kyrgyzstan. It was very well organized from the time of arrival, and the first thing they asked once settled was “Can we go shoot?” It was time to get our heads in the game, starting with verifying rifles zero’s and checking our data at distance.

Our rifles were very close at 100 yards as well as checking at a distance of 550 yards. However, both did require just the slightest adjustment to be perfect and it should be noted that if you go to Asia on any of these high elevation hunts with long travel that you should expect to have to make some form of an adjustment. Whether that be for your 100 yard zero, or truing your long range data.. you MUST be self sufficient and educated on how to make these adjustments to your shooting system yourself. That means, have your own maintenance items and tools with you, as well as enough ammunition. Fortunately, we had no equipment failures, so the second victory of the trip was already won!

The Marco Polo Hunt

Day 1 of the hunt, we decided to split up and two of us went for Marco Polo while the others were starting off for Ibex. I wanted my client, and now good friend, to have first opportunities so we didn’t draw straws or flip coins etc… Plus it never hurts to look at alot of animals before you make a decision. And, boy did we look at ALOT of animals that day. It was very apparent that the guides had pre-scouted the area to know exactly where we were going to find the herds. The herds of Marco Polo were usually groups of 30-50 animals each and I would bet we looked at 100+ animals a day. One Ram in particular caught my attention immediately.

Day 2 of the hunt, after identifying a Ram that I really wanted the first day the guides formulated a plan to intersect him and the band the following day. The night prior the head guide told me “I will take you right to that Ram tomorrow, I know where they will be, no problem”. Although I certainly appreciate the confidence, I am realistic and know that you can of course see an animal one day and not turn him back up. That is of course ok, and the areas are so game rich you never know I might find another one that I like even more.

The evening prior, the assisting guides took the horse string to a different valley system on the other side of the mountain where that band of Rams headed the evening prior. Our plan was to Land Rover over there early in the morning to meet up with them, and go spike out on that side however long needed to turn up that band of Rams. Sounds great to me! That is exactly what we did and I was very pleasantly surprised.

At 7 am on the 2nd day of the hunt, we found that Ram… and he was almost exactly where the head guide said he would be several miles from where we left him the night before feeding. I could not hardly believe it, I figured it had to be a different Ram, there is no way he was that good. Well, it was a phenomenal mature Ram with the Wide Flaring Profile that I wanted regardless and in a picture perfect spot to stalk and shoot him. So that’s exactly what we did!

Approaching the Ram, we knew from this knob we needed to get to, to the Sheep was going to be a sub 500 yard shot, of which I am well practiced going into the hunt. The thermals were perfect, and he did not know we were there yet. Offering the perfect opportunity to set up the spotter to film the shot and document everything for a lifetime. By 8 am on the 2nd day of the hunt, and on my very first hunt day I had successfully taken my very first Sheep. He is an absolute stud 9 1/2 year old Ram with the Profile I wanted, and he was in fact the Ram we scouted the day prior. Everything could not have been better executed! The pre planning, the stalk, the shot.. it was all simply perfection.

After all of the excitement and high fives from the crew who shared my enthusiasm (or potentially even more), we began taking pictures and preparing my Ram. I wanted to highlight this aspect of the trip because you only get one chance to do this part right. Pictures last forever, and I made it very clear to the staff that I wanted to take as much time as we needed. The full staff of guides, and assisting personnel were nothing but supportive of this crazy American that wanted pictures from every angle and lighting imagionable… honestly I would have been impatient with myself! Haha… but after about an hour we finished the deed.

Not one part of the animal was wasted here too. I was blown away at the level of care that my animal was given. Not only the meat & trophy salvage, but also all of the samples that the Government inspector would take for their countries biologists. Quite humbling really, and great to know for other future hunters. We enjoyed our victory meal that evening with fresh Marco Polo tenderloin steaks and local fresh vegetables.

Off to Ibex Land

I’ve coined the term “Ibex Land” because it really is quite different from the Marco Polo areas we were hunting the first two days. As the saying “Goat hunting begins, where sheep hunting ends” or something to that tune, it could not be more clearly demonstrated than in this country. We hunted Sheep at around 10-11k ft of elevation, and we didn’t even start seeing the Billy’s until around 13-13.5k ft of elevation. It literally takes your breath away… see what I did there?

Day 3 of the hunt, and the first day in Ibex Land we were into Billy’s right away. The tactic to hunt mature Ibex is essentially to capitalize on the twice a day bed to feed pattern. The Billy’s descend from the cliffy craggy terrain late evening to feed & water overnight. Then in the early mornings, they work their way back up into the gnarly stuff to bed for the day. A great bit of the bedding areas they use are just simply inaccessible to human beings without technical equipment. So the name of the game for us hunters is to find a Mature Billy as early in the day as possible and in a spot that you can reasonably approach for a Stalk to execute a shot.

The Billy’s were simply next level compared to the Marco Polo.

I cannot iterate that enough at how challenging it was to hunt Ibex in Ibex Land! My hat is off to anyone who has successfully done it because of not only the physicality, but also the difficulty of the Shooting! Average shots on Ibex are almost always 400-600 yards with opportunities to shoot farther for the experienced Rifleman. However, the Ibex do tend to bed on these knife ridges allowing good stalking terrain & cover as well as shooting ridge to ridge so to say. And that is exactly what we did.

On that same 3rd day of my hunt we located a group of Billy’s bedded atop of a knife Ridge with another knife ridge perpendicular to it with potential shooting positions to shoot across the canyon from 500-800 yards. Using the ridge itself as cover we slowly maneuvered into place… that’s when the storm hit. Another challenge presented in this country and at high elevations, is the consistent storm that sets in by early afternoon nearly every day. As we set up the snow started to settle in and although we were able to put ourselves into a position for what I believed to be around a 500 or so yard shot, at this point the visibility was so poor that I could not confirm a range with my laser rangefinder. The day was lost but not without lessons learned and pre scouting for the following day.

Day 4 of the hunt, we were back to Ibex Land. I quickly realized the strong sense of urgency here. We need to get to Ibex Land with enough time in the day to not only locate a Mature Billy, but also with enough time to hunt him before an afternoon storm sets in. All the while in some of the more extreme terrain and elevations you’ll likely hunt in your career.. Jeez!! I truly have a whole new respect for anyone who has successfully killed one of these cagy suckers.

Fortunately, after getting a taste of Ibex hunting the day prior I was hooked on this game of cat & mouse. We were able to cover ground faster each day we were in the Mountains at elevation, and we knew right where we were going that day. We turned up many mature Ibex right away and almost like a repeat of the day prior used the same ridges for cover to move in for a shot on a group of Billy’s bedded atop a knife ridge. By noon that day, I had successfully taken my very first Goat species! A trip of many firsts apparently.

Again, the stalk, the shot, the execution and everything was simply amazing. My guides were patient enough with me to help me set up my shooting position in awkward terrain for a 506 yard shot that ended up being one of the harder shots of my career hunting the mountains. The shot distance of 506 yards, the 18 degree down angle, the switching thermals, the awkward and imperfect shooting positions all made for a true challenge. I was successful in taking him with one shot, that has now inspired me to get better and go back again!!

Wrapping up the Hunt

We were all successful at this point by the 4th day of the scheduled 10 day trip, and agreed to head back to Bishkek. Some stayed to soak up some culture, some rescheduled flights to head home early. All agreed it was truly an adventure of a lifetime! My clients are now friends, and my friends now lifelong bests as well as future hunting partners. Not even to mention the relationships made with our Kyrgy guides! We will stay in contact for years to come, they were simply amazing and without their expertise the trip would not have been so wonderful.

Our travels home were as seamless as they were on the way there. All personnel and equipment made it back without a hitch, and I have nothing but confidence in doing it all again as well as recommending the trip to my future and current clients. The lessons learned and experiences hunting Asia are simply priceless as a hunter and world traveler. The return trip has already begun its planning for 2026 where we are going back to target Mid Asian Ibex again, and possibly even take 2 Billy’s each! The areas are game rich with truly impressive trophies, that I cannot wait to match wits with again!

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Kyle Hanson Hunting Consultant

I am fortunate to send hundreds of my clients a field every year with incredible customer satisfaction. I’d love to help you plan a trip someday!

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