One of the news developments that broke on the showroom floor of the Dallas Safari Club Convention was that hunting in Tajikistan will officially reopen for 2010. We sent out an E-mail Extra bulletin earlier last month with the good news. Agents and operators at the convention were anxious to contact hunters with deposits in order to start the process of getting their names on the right lists and securing import permits from US Fish & Wildlife. If you are among the hunters with pending deposits on a Marco Polo hunt in Tajikistan, you should contact your agent or operator if they have not contacted you already. Hunts will take place this coming season, and you’ll want to secure your spot.
You may recall that problems in Tajikistan started when the president there closed hunting in January 2009. The reason was supposedly concerns over the populations of Marco Polo sheep as well as other problems between the industry and government. Working with biologists from Europe, the Tajikistanis organized a population survey, which was completed in January. The findings indicate there are more sheep than anyone had imagined. As a result, the president has declared the season will reopen this year.....
