We did it! We had an amazing day today and got up early this morning which was a good start. We found out a whole bunch about what was going on for the last couple of days. Apparently, yesterday the chief of this area went to visit the bigger chief from Tehran, the capital, and he is no longer chief (He got fired? He quit? Not sure of the details) so a new chief took over as of today. So that meant that this morning, first thing, there was no chief around so we were allowed to go right into the mountains, rather than just around the edge of the mountains as we have been forced to hunt up until this point. So we got right into the middle of the mountains and right off the bat we saw Ibex herds and then we saw a herd of sheep and we watched them and it turned out that there was a ram with them. Then all of a sudden, 450 yards away, a group of sheep came right out of a little hidden, hanging basin and walked across the face of the mountain. They didn't see us because we were sitting still, but there was a hot ewe and four rams, including one gorgeous Transcaspian Urial with big, long, white ruffs and perfect coloring. It had huge, perfectly curled horns right up to its nose - he was magnificent. We watched as he would fight with the other rams, then he would go after the ewe, then he would turn and the rams would put their heads together, but never actually slammed eachother too seriously. I could tell that he had been fighting already because there was a fresh groom on one side of his horn that had a 3-4 inch split, but it was lengthwise so it was still good and beautiful - just a gorgeous animal. 

So the herd climbed over the top ridge of the mountain and up over the far side, so we went up after them and went above them but they got our wind and ran down a couple of ridges. We went up above the again, and worked all day to get them and finally ended up with them in a deep ravine below us. They were feeding their way up when the first one spotted us and they started running. There were four big rams, and the second biggest came up and I thought that was the huge one, so I was telling my cameraman Mike to get on him. So Mike was focused right on the one that I told him to film but then our head guide, Iman, said no, no, the big guy just came up now. So I swung around to the big ram, but Mike didn't hear that part so he stayed on the other ram. Then the huge ram with the big white ruff came running right up. The original one that Mike was on, stopped, and the one that I was after went running right up beside him, just below him, so he just happened to be in the same frame for the camera at that instant and that was the moment I shot at him. I shot him right through the heart and he ran about 100 yards, tumbled down at the bottom of the ravine and we were absolutely ecstatic. It was pure luck on the kill shot, because Mike was full zoom on the wrong animal, but both rams happened to be right in the frame and he got the big one tumbling down the hill and everything, so it was great. We got the kill, so Todd and Matt, you better watch out because Mike is awfully good at this!

So everyone is ecstatic, and we're back at camp and the guys are planning out our hunt tomorrow for Wild Boar. There are some giant Wild Boar in Iran and we're hoping to get a big one tomorrow and then head off to our next hunt which is for Armenian Mouflon. All the pressure is off, it was a great day and we got our Transcaspian Urial. He's perfect and the exact color you want for a Transcaspian, and big, full-curl horns. 

For anyone who's following Mike, my cameraman, he's doing a fantastic job. He's pretty tough compared to my other two cameraman (that message is for Todd and Matt). He's doing great and enjoying himself in the Islamic Republic of Iran.