Continuing subscribers will remember our coverage of maral stag hunting in Mongolia. At one point there was great hunting for these animals, but then population numbers nose dived and the season was closed. Well, here is a new wrinkle on that subject. Seems there is a huntable population of these deer just north of Mongolia in Russia. Sergio Dimitrijevic of Safari International (www.safariinternational.com) is offering hunts for free-ranging maral stag in the Lake Baikal region of southeastern Siberia. Lake Baikal is an UNESCO Wildlife Heritage Site and the deepest and oldest lake in the world. It is located just north of the Mongolian border.
Dimitrijevic offers a wilderness-type hunt near Baikal in September and October. The hunts are based from a rustic cabin and are conducted using horses to climb what he describes as small and thickly wooded mountains. Local game scouts serve as guides, who imitate the roar of a rutting stag using special calls made from tree bark. Hunting is by spotting and stalking. Dimitrijevic says hunters can see several stags per hunting period, with two or three shooting opportunities over a week’s worth of stalking. The best hunting is during the rut, which typically runs from September 20 to the 30th.
Rain and snow are common at this time of year, making waterproof clothing a necessity. Also, the region is riddled with streams that feed into the lake, and the ground is typically wet; so knee-high rubber boots are a must. Lodging is in a hunting cabin with no running water and an outside latrine....
