6th Prize
Hunting Journal with Weatherby Logo (100 awarded)
Blane Baker, Missouri
“My dream hunt would be for Altai Argali in the high Altai Mountains of Mongolia. I would love to take my wife with me. She has yet to hunt with me, and I think if she went with me to a camp like that, in such a magnificent and exotic location, she would understand hunting a little more. She would understand that it is not about the kill itself, although that is an important part. I think she would understand that a lot of it is the camaraderie of the hunt and the camp life, where for a short time your best friends are people you've never met before, and lasting friendships can be forged. She might understand that the beauty of the wild places and the chase is very important. And I think she might finally understand the reason that I sometimes, out of the blue, just blurt out ‘I want to go hunting in Mongolia.’
This hunt is special to me because of the location and the game. First of all, the altai argali is the king of the wild sheep, and in my mind, the king of all major game animals in the world. There is just something magical about the rams of the world, and the beauty of the altai argali and its impressiveness is just something else. I think it is one of the greatest trophies in the world, and I believe it beats out the Marco Polo argali, mountain nyala, bongo, lord derby eland, etc. It is just a magnificent animal. I have a picture of a great altai argali full-body mount that I took at the Kansas City Cabelas, and I look at those dang pictures multiple times a day and never fail to wonder about that length and mass of those huge corkscrewing horns. Nor the beauty of the long legs, slim neck, huge eyes, and small ears of that particular ram. It is beautiful, and it dominates my dreams.
Secondly, the scarcity of the animal itself is special. You don't hear about a lot of monster altai argalis. Not like it used to be when Mongolia was opened up in the 70s. I think I heard only 40 altai permits are granted every year. I'm 25 years old, and I'm scared that IF I am ever in a position to drop $75,000 on a hunt for a single animal, that the altai argali won't be huntable anymore. I joined the Grand Slam Club several years ago, and FNAWS (although the FNAWS membership lapsed) and the reports I get from there don't paint a rosy picture of altai argali hunting in Mongolia. That scares me. I don't like the idea of a dream that is so important to me, and me not being able to realize that dream. I don't want to have regrets such as unfulfilled dreams. But I also want the kids that I will have someday fulfill their dreams, and that is more important.
Third, from the pictures and videos I've seen, the Mongolian hunting atmosphere, or scenery, is beautiful and makes the hunt for a nice ram a difficult proposition. It is so wide open and beautiful. I would love to just visit Mongolia and see some rams in the wild. And the country itself just sounds so dang exotic. It's the land of the Mongol hords. the land of Genghis Khan. The land that had scared China enough for them to build the Great Wall of China. The hunting history is amazing as well. What can be better than following in the footsteps of hunting greats such as Elgin Gates, George Landreth, Herb Klein, Demidoff, HIH Prince Abdorezza, the Klineburgers, and many others. It would be amazing. Just getting there would be an unforgettable experience. I can picture it in my head, flying into Moscow for a layover on the way to Mongolia. A nice walking trip through Red Square in the late July or August evening. Then a long plane ride into Ulan Bator. Once into Ulan Bator, a gut-wrenching and lip biting 12-hour ride in a Russian 4-wheel-drive to the hunting camp. Being in the vicinity of the infamous Mountain of a Thousand Rams. I can picture it. I just can't feel it, and I really really want to experience it.
Fourth, I've dreamed about an altai argali hunt for about seven or eight years now. As much as I've dreamt about it, and wished for it, and stayed up nights dreaming of 60-plus inch argalis, and spent money buying hard-to-find sheep hunting titles, I don't ever see myself being able to go. It is just too expensive, and I don't think I could justify it even to myself. Much less to my family. I'm a middle-class guy with a wife, planning a family, I can't see myself spending $50,000 at the least to hunt one animal. I can see myself hunting elk in the western U.S., even drawing a desert sheep tag or bighorn tag in the western U.S. and being able to hunt those magnificent animals. I can even see myself going on a plains game hunt in Africa, but as much as I want to, sometimes so badly, it hurts. I don't think it will ever be possible for me to go to Mongolia. If it is ever possible, it would be at least 15 or 20 years, and who knows whether argali are going to be huntable in Mongolia then, or whether they will be importable into the U.S. I hate it, I want to go sooo bad, and my wife says I can go, but that huge price tag is a hurdle that I don't think I can jump over. I just don't think I can ever justify that kind of expenditure on a hunt. It wouldn't be fair to my family, or my wife.
As I said above, the idea that I have dreams that won't be realized really scares me and bothers me, but it bothers me even more that I could realize my dreams, but maybe my wife (or the kids that I don't have yet) will not realize their dreams. I don't want to spend little Johnny's college tuition on a hunt. I couldn't live with myself.
Golly, I've read so much about the altai argali, and I want so bad to experience what I've read. I want to spot a ram with 55-inch horns, and bird dog him for a while until he is in a stalkable position. I want to use the folds of the land to approach a ram...hoping and wishing that the wind doesn't switch and give it all away. I want to make that stalk and feel my heart pound uncontrollably, and my hands shake, and get wet with sweat. I want to feel that euphoric feeling...almost like you are watching yourself do something instead of actually doing it. Like you're outside yourself. I want to look through my Leupold scope, and be amazed at the size of that animal, and feel myself almost lose control. I want to place those crosshairs where they need to go to make a quick, clean kill. I want to squeeze that trigger and be so excited and so full of adrenaline that I don't feel the recoil of a .300 Ultra Mag, that I don't hear the report of the shot. I want to be in that zone of concentration that is so intense, it beats everything else...it trumps everything else. I want to feel that rush and feeling of accomplishment when I walk up on a trophy. I want to sit down and feel it's massive horns, and marvel at its size and beauty, and feel that little bit of sadness that inevitably comes with the killing of any animal. I think Robert Ruark wrote that it was proper to cry when killing your first elephant. Well, I think I would ball tears of joy if I got to experience an altai hunt. What is even better, I would love for my wife to be there and witness the hunt, the stalk, the kill, the joy, the sadness, and every other emotion that comes along with a successful hunt and the culmination of a dream.
In conclusion, I hope you've read this far, and if you have, I think you might see that I'm obsessed. I have Robert Anderson's book ‘Wind Dust and Snow: Great Rams of Asia’ open beside me, and I am admiring altai argali trophies taken by John LaMonaco, the Brittinghams, Tony Oney, Butch White and others. I can tell you, if I won the lottery, the first thing I would do was call up a booking agent and book an altai argali hunt, and if I could, I would also hunt ibex and gobi argali while I was there.
But the big dream, the real dream, belongs to the altai argali ram. To sit down beside a ram that I've just taken, and wrap my hands around 19 or 20 inches of horn circumference, and see the length, and feel the corrugations in the horns, and the old chips from old battles, and smell the scent of a sheep, and know with a smile that it's my experience, my memory, and that it will last for a lifetime, and beyond. That is what makes the dream so special. But to share that with my wife too. Unbelievable. I can only dream, and imagine, wish, hope, and scrimp and save. Maybe it will happen...someday.”