Виктор Лопез: Охота на серн в Европе

Victor Lopez (Mexico) reports on the six trophies that completed his Capra World Slam:
Balkan chamois (10/2022): Traveling to Macedonia from Mexico City is quite the journey. After over 30 hours of travel time and two very long layovers I finally made it to Skopje, where I was directly taken to the hunting grounds where Tito used to hunt. On the second day of the hunt we were able to find animals early in the day. Conditions were perfect, sun at our back, wind in our face and plenty of cover to make a good stalk. We managed to get very close to the animal we wanted to take, but as usual, nerves started to creep in. Despite being nervous I managed to get in a very solid shooting position, making a perfect shot at about 110 meters.
Carpathian chamois (11/2022): Chamois 1s one of my favorite species to hunt: they are challenging and incredibly beautiful animals, and they live in some of the most inhospitable places in the mountains. After hunting in Macedonia I went to Romania to hunt the Carpathian chamois, one of the largest subspecies of this animal. I was lucky enough to be targeting two of these animals due to a very sudden cancellation. The first trophy was taken in perfect conditions, with little to no wind, clear skies and a cold morning. There was a lot of movement and we were able to make out the biggest buck in the group and take him with a 150 meter shot. Conditions in the mountains are incredibly unpredictable; we had great luck during the first hunt, but during the second everything changed. Strong winds, fog, rain and frigid temperatures made it especially tough. This is where our patience and persistence paid off, the fog lifted and we were able to spot a single buck bigger than the first. We tried to get as close as possible but the chamois was on the move, so we had to take an uphill 327-meter shot and luckily he went down.

SlamQuest, Winter 2024, стр. 118