There are few sounds in hunting like a maral bull bugling across a Tian Shan valley at dawn. Kazakhstan's Asian elk, taken in the September rut, is one of Asia's great and still-underrated hunts.
Two animals, one trip
From the heated Rahat Tour lodge you can hunt maral in the timbered valleys and mid-Asian ibex on the rock above — a genuine combo without changing countries. Horses get you to the country; your legs finish the job.
The rut
Time it right and the bulls are vocal and moving. Spot-and-stalk into a bugling maral in the dark timber is close, tense work — very different from the long-range mountain game the ibex demands the same week.
Planning it
Maral rut runs September into October; ibex hunts well into December. Pick your window and we'll handle Almaty transfers, licensing, and the paperwork.