My August 2008 Kamchatka snow sheep hunt saw nearly two weeks of rain, without any possibility of hunting. My wife suffered through it uncomplaining but refused to accompany me on my recent return to Kamchatka August 1-7, 2012. Of course, I came home sunburned.
I booked this trip through Westfalia (phone from the US 011-49-2161-9278-0) from Germany, with Moscow-based PRO Russian Outfitters (telephone from the US 011-7-499-714-5514). My contact on the telephone with PRO was Eugenie; she spoke and wrote English perfectly.
On this hunt I was accompanied by my guide Alexander, his "assistant" Nikolaj, both from the local hunting region and Ilya Fedorov, a young photographer from Petropavlovsk, who was also the cook and very fluent translator in the base camp. I did not have any problem communicating with my guides in the field, but it did get boring listening to them talk and not being able to participate. I was very happy to have my iPod with me when not in base camp.
My flights into and across Russia were hassle-free, as I did not have a rifle with me. I was promised the use of a Blaser R93, the same rifle I have done all my hunting with since 1999. I did take my own scope and, with the Blaser saddle mounting, needed only a few test shots to have my scope sighted in.
The Karymchina region where we hunted is only 100 kilometers southwest by air from Petropavlovsk, but to get to the hunting area, we had to drive over 200 kilometers. From Yelizovo, we travelled by Toyota Land Cruiser to a village, then by truck to the base camp. From there we used a tracked military vehicle to the tent........(continued)
