GREDOS Ibex
When my good friend Alfonso asked me whether I would like a permit to hunt in the Gredos mountain range to the west of Madrid, I did not take much convincing. He actually had two permits available for Gredos ibex, one of the four species of ibex in Spain and I was able to convince an equally driven friend, Jonathan to join me.
The ibex in Spain all tend to rut at about the same time, and having seen the billies rutting before in the Beceite-Tortosa mountain range, I was keen to time my trip to watch this awesome spectacle again. The sight and sound of two or more dominant males clashing is simply awe-inspiring.
Mid-rut was chosen and flights were booked for Madrid. Then disaster struck. The National Parks Service designated the area we were to be hunting a new national park and stopped all hunting for a year while they assessed game numbers. Now most people would just say ‘That’s it – sorry – we’ll try again next year.’ Not Alfonso! He managed to find two other permits in a different area and we were back on. He even managed to get the same dates so we would not lose
