Yesterday we got up early and got packed. We had to leave just about everything there because they only allow you about 20 pounds of gear total ... with our cameras and my firearms that just about took it up, so we came with just about nothing to this town, an hour and a half flight south and west of Ulu Bantaar. When we landed the guys were waiting there with a Russian Jeep. And we drove eight hours to the Gobi ibex camp. The country here is still Gobi, but getting close to the Hangay region. Only about 10 miles or so from there, on the edge of the Gobi. A little greener, but not a single tree, nothing growing over 6 inches high.

Rounded tops on small hills and that's where the ibex live. We got here about 10 p.m. last night. At 1 a.m. the little light went on in our room and there was this huge Mongolian policeman with a leather jacket that said police on it. Matt and I were there asleep and then right behind him was a younger guy in a black suit. And then right behind them our guide. And apparently the secret service guy in the suit and the policeman were checking up on us because they heard we had a firearm somehow locally, and the prime minister of Mongolia is apparently coming through this area sometime in the next couple of days so they went over our passports and our visas and our gun permits, everything for about an hour in the middle of the night while were sitting there. The policeman never smiled once and finally they just walked out, never said anything and that was that. 

So we were kind of lucky because they probably could have taken the guns and not let us hunt. 

This morning we got up at 4 and we started seeing ibex right off the bat. We probably drove four or five hours all together then spotted a group of about 10 or 15 billies including one shooter and we made a long stalk got above them, spooked them, cut them of, we were higher cut across two ridges, got ahead of them ... they ran right up on us, 65 yards, and I shot him with my .300 Win. Mag. It was kind of nice to be that empowered. Shot him again at 200 yards and then 300 again perfectly through the shoulders and dropped him right there. He's 35 inches on one side, 31 broomed off on the other. Excellent!

Me and my guide now get along really well. We understand each other. I don't ask any questions and he knows I'm going to keep pushing to work hard if there's one minute of daylight I want to be hunting. So we're getting a Jeep coming in tonight in the middle of the night. First thing in the morning we're going to drive all the way back to Ulu Bantaar instead of taking an airplane and we're going to hunt Mongolian gazelle on the way back. It's going to be about a 27- to 30-hour drive, so we're in for a real brutal drive, but that's OK we're going to get a chance to hunt the Mongolian gazelle again. Looking forward to it.