mark-hunter
AH legend
What a story!
Now, next question is, what about the trophies?
Now, next question is, what about the trophies?
The rifle was a .30-06, which we were nervous about as we'd have liked to be shooting a .338 or .375 at such big bears. It put them down quickly, though, without any tracking or chasing needed. Average range was pretty close, within 50-75 yards on all shots.
I think it's harder to post about the hunts that don't go well, especially if the poster made choices that contributed to the bad experience, like us going along with Yuri's plan to try flying out instead of keeping our appointment with the police.Adventure travel in hostile territory isn’t for the faint hearted
loved the report !
wish or maybe not we got more good , bad and the ugly reporting
some day I will recount a trip to Morocco, libya and Tunisia that was quite the adventure
It looks like Yuri had better get used to wearing those "prison stripe" shirts!Yuri has some additional legal issues he will have to clear up, but he was released from jail with us and allowed to escort us to Moscow.
Nice bears..but I would not do this at the moment if you paid me for it.. FSB is overhysterical..
I would probably do it again. An Alaskan bear hunt is unattainable for me unless I hit the lottery. I felt like this was my one realistic shot at a big bear, given my life situation. I might make different choices while I'm there, or choose a different outfitter. It might be difficult to convince my wife a second time around. Other hunters before and after us came and went without issue, but there is that small percentage chance that you'll get hung up on something like we did.Wow..Incredible adventure to say the least. I can't imagine how frightening that must have been sitting in jail.
I've often thought about this hunt over the last couple years and know a few guys who have recently done this as well. My question is:
Would you do it again?
That sounds pretty scary, a lot scarier than my experience. You have to be careful on foreign hunts. It's a whole other world out there. It's easy to get caught up over something relatively small, and then you're deep in the political/bureaucratic world of a culture you're not used to operating within.I have a buddy that took a trip to Mexico for vacation. He left from the hunting camp after hunting, and when he arrived in Mexico, they found a couple of pieces of ammunition in his luggage. He ended up serving 16 days in a Mexican jail. His friends that were there with him had to Continually pay the cartels to keep him alive. The story reminded me of that one.
When we were first detained we asked if we could just plead guilty, pay the fine, and walk away to avoid the court process. The police informed us that would be considered a bribe, and that bribes are not okay. All of the police and guards we dealt with were very professional. I did wind up bribing officials in Kazakhstan last year, but in Russia it was out of the question. We did pay the stupid tax in the form of airline change fees, luggage storage at the airport, extra days in hotels, and I lost some wages as the 12-day extension to the trip caused me to overdraw my leave balance at work.Congrats on your bears and thanks for sharing EVERYTHING in your hunt report! I have one question: Did you have to pay Yuri or someone else an extra "entertainment fee" for the side tour of the Russian court system and jail time? I'm surprised you didn't have to tip the guards? LOL
That sounds pretty scary, a lot scarier than my experience. You have to be careful on foreign hunts. It's a whole other world out there. It's easy to get caught up over something relatively small, and then you're deep in the political/bureaucratic world of a culture you're not used to operating within.
I have actually bailed people out of jail so they could come to work...When we were first detained we asked if we could just plead guilty, pay the fine, and walk away to avoid the court process. The police informed us that would be considered a bribe, and that bribes are not okay. All of the police and guards we dealt with were very professional. I did wind up bribing officials in Kazakhstan last year, but in Russia it was out of the question. We did pay the stupid tax in the form of airline change fees, luggage storage at the airport, extra days in hotels, and I lost some wages as the 12-day extension to the trip caused me to overdraw my leave balance at work.