The quarry McElroy and Klineburger sought was, of course, the Ovis Ammon Ammon, or High Altai Argali - then as now one of the most coveted and prestigious of all big game trophies. The trip to Mongolia back then was long and laborious, and the outfitting standards were wretched. But those early pioneers did not complain because hunts were downright cheap, and they took some absolutely huge sheep.
Permits were hard to obtain, however, and soon there was much more demand than supply. About that time, a Yugoslav citizen by the name of Paul Sjeklocha began frequenting hunting shows, claiming that by virtue of the fact that he was a citizen of a Communist country he had special insider connections in Mongolia, likewise a Communist country. He said that through his special connections he could arrange permits for Ovis Ammon Ammon. He was a well-dressed, smooth-talking man, and he collected payment in full from a number of hunters, only to disappear and never be heard of again. In a business that is well-known for chicanery, Paul Sjeklocha is well remembered as one of the most notorious shysters.
Hiccups aside, hunting in Mongolia developed steadily through the 1970s. Hunts were added for ibex, gazelle and argali in the Gobi desert, as well as ibex in the Altai. Overall, though, the numbers of hunters going to Mongolia remained small until the early 1980s. At that time, Chris Klineburger negotiated with Jhuulchin - the government tourist agency, which had a monopoly on all hunting in Mongolia - some very inexpensive package hunts for elk. If I remember correctly, when these hunts first came on the market in the early........(continued)
