Hunt for Gredos Ibex

The hunt for the Spanish ibex take place, like all other ibex hunts, in breathtaking mountain scenery. The ibex is light on its feet, extremely alert, and very easy to spook.

The hunt is classic mountain hunting. In the early morning the hunters will push high up into the landscape to locate the ibex with the help of spotting scopes.

Once this has been successful, the demanding stalk begins - moving over difficult, steep terrain, perhaps not even being able to see your quarry for hours on end. It is not unusual to have to take your shot at a range of 300m.

The hunting season for Gredos Ibex is from August -April. The best hunting is during the rut in November, December and January.

As is usually the case with mountain living game, the Spanish ibex is both shy and very wary. After millennia of being pursued by people, eagles, foxes, wolves, lynx and other predators they have developed extremely sharp senses.

There senses of smell and hearing are fantastic, while their sense of sight is really in a class of its own.

All this together with the terrain they live in make the Spanish ibex a very worthy opponent and a very sought after trophy.

The hunt itself is a classic mountain hunt. In the early hours of the morning you will try to locate your quarry, which often be grazing in lower lying areas, from a vantage place high in the mountains.

By using powerful binoculars/spotting scopes the hunter and guide will evaluate the size of the trophies, to see if there is an animal of the correct size in the herd.

At this point your distance from your quarry can be anything from a few hundred meters to several kilometers. Now starts the part of the hunt that many hunters believe raises this form of hunting above all other hunts, namely the stalk. The planning of the stalking is critical, as often for long periods, in some cases several hours, the hunter will have no visual contact with the ibex.