Trophy Hunting: Australian hunter makes season’s first hunt in G-B

GILGIT: An Australian hunter, Espin Filskov, has become the first person to claim a 49-inch trophy of an ibex during the ongoing Trophy Hunting season in Gilgit-Baltistan [G-B].

Filskov shot at the Ibex at a distance of 300 meters from the roadside in Gojal valley, about 200 kilometers from Gilgit – capital of G-B.

The Ibex, whose license fee is fixed $3,000 this season for international hunters, has reclaimed its population due to Trophy Hunting program initiated by G-B government in early 1990s in the region.

“It was a good attempt and luckily the trophy was healthy,” a community representative accompanying the Hunter told APP on Tuesday – a day after the hunting.

The hunt, which is first in the season starting from November, came slightly over a month after G-B government sold out hunting permits for four markhors, 60 ibexes and eight blue sheep to national and international hunters.

Filskov, who came all the way from Australia, was accompanied besides community representatives, G-B wildlife department officials and outfitters.

Range forest officer in wildlife department, Shabbir Baig, said the Ibex was nearly 14 years of age and was healthy. “The size of Ibex horns was 49 inches and surely it was the first hunt of this season,” Baig told media after the hunt.

The official said the hunter would be allowed to take the trophy along if he wished so.

Threatened species in G-B – markhors in particular – are hunted by foreigners in return for thousands of dollars.

Under the Trophy hunting programme, 80% of the hunting fee goes to the local community while the government spends the remaining 20% on projects for the welfare of forests and biodiversity. The communities use their share on projects aimed at conserving natural resources.

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