To Chase the Rising Sun

By Warren K. Parker

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469174419

Warren K. Parker

This is a story of one man who has, had the good fortune to be able to hunt throughout the world. In doing so he has taken more be game species than any other man 475, and hunted on six different continents. After his service to his country from 1963 – 1968 in the Cambodia and Laos secret war, which changed a young man and his way of thanking he started to hunt in earnest. At all times when new country’s opened for hunting he would be the first. Follow a young man for his quest to take record book animals, turning down lesser until the largest was found. His motto has always been “you don’t take the large ones by taking the small ones first.” During his quest he has endured many hard ships including civil war, Fifty below zero to over one hundred and thirty degrees, sand storms extreme elevations over 20,000 feet above sea level, in prisoned in Russia during the cold war. Mr. Parker is the finest long range shot living to day. He has served as the President of Safari Club International and sets on the board of directors for life.

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Copyright © 2012 by Warren Parker R. 112145-PARK

ISBN: Softcover      978-1-4691-7439-6

ISBN: Hardcover    978-1-4691-7440-2

ISBN: Ebook            978-1-4691-7441-9

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TO CHASE THE RISING SUN

Hunting the entire world, with one man as he fulfills his lifelong quests to take all of the species that are legal to hunt in the world.

By

Warren K. Parker

This copy is number _____

Signed ________________ date________

Warren K. Parker

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my loving wife

Mary Katherine Parker

Who married me forty nine years ago and has been my best friend, exotic lover and traveling companion throughout our life together.

Preface

Through fate, I have had the good fortune to have lived in a time frame where more species of big game animals are available to hunt than at any other time in the history of mankind.

With the advent of the jet airliner, we can be anywhere in the world within twenty four hours hunting.

In the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s hunters would take a steamboat up the inland passage of British Columbia and then take a train to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The hunts were for thirty to sixty day in duration. These were the great sheep hunters of the past. Today, we hunt species of game that only these greatest hunters of the past could only dream of, such as all of the game of Russia, China, Turkey and the eastern block countries of Europe.

With the wonderful game management that was put into place after world war II, it has turned our hunting practice in North American completely around. Today, our hunters are much more ethical than in the past. In the 50’s and 60’, it was common practice that bears, moose and sheep were hunted out of airplanes by driving these animals to the hunters. Today, we have laws against this practice.

In British Columbia during the great oil exploration, helicopters were used. But as the industry and more professional outfitters came into being, these practices soon changed.

In my opinion, probably the two people that helped to bring about change and to open up new hunting areas were Burt and Chris Klineburger. These two brothers without a doubt were the beginning of what we know today as a worldwide hunting industry.

Then there was C. J. McElroy (Mac), my friend, who set into motion the greatest hunting and conservation organization the world has ever seen. Mac was not only one of the greatest hunters but also a man of vision. Because of the fact that he was my good friend, it became one of the hardest jobs that I have ever done. I had fought many battles in Cambodia and Laos as a sniper, I have withstood and came away, when bullets were flying at me like a mass of steel. I have had bears die at my feet. It was my job in 1988 to tell Mac that the votes were counted from the Executive Committee, which I was President elect, for him to step down as CEO of Safari Club International. SCI had received a letter of insolvency, with that the presidency took over the title of President and CEO of SCI, which was Vern Edwaard, one of SCI greatest Presidents.

After Mac resignation, Vern and I started traveling and meeting with our chapters and other like-minded organizations shoring up all fronts, on our own money never taking any kind of reimbursement.

I contacted the South African government through Peter Kornhelf, there Ambassador to the United States and procured a $100,000.00 grant. The next thing was putting in place ten of us who each loaned SCI $100,000.00 each for a total of one million dollars-which was high risk money for each of us.

The next thing was to secure a one million dollar loan from my friends Bud and Ron Pflumm’s bank in Kansas City of which I signed personally. This loan was against the museum for collateral.

The next thing that we did was to travel to all of the Outfitter organizations picking up hunt donations to be auctioned off at our convention the end of January. We set all kinds of records that year. The enthusiasm of the New SCI was present in everyone that attended.

We had an Executive Committee that worked together in unison with no petty backstabbing. Everyone pulled their own weight to make this organization grow.

SCI then became very much involved in opening new countries for hunting as well as becoming involved in the C.I.T.I.E.S. convention to make international laws concerning what we could hunt.

I put together Sportsmen Against Hunger during this time so that the sportsman from around the world could donate their meat to organizations that had kitchens set up to feed the homeless. This program is now utilized around the world sometimes under different names, but still what SCI put into place.

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Contents

25TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

DALL SHEEP – YUKON

DESERT SHEEP

STONE SHEEP OF THE YUKON

$100 SHEEP HUNT

SPRING IN ALASKA

SNOW SHEEP OF RUSSIA

WAPITI OF THE AQUA FREO

THE STORY OF TWO RIFLES

TO HUNT THE ROOF OF THE WORLD

MONGOLIA ALGALI SHEEP HUNT

KHABAROVSK SNOW SHEEP

CHAMOIS AND TUR

ENGLAND WITH TWO MARRIED WOMEN

PRESIDENTS AND 475

PRESIDENTS AND INUITS

PRESIDENTS AND THE HIMBAS

BIG HORNS OF COLORADO

PERSIAN IBEX

SHEEP AND BEAR

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25TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Chapter 1

I take this woman to be my wife . . . As I spoke these words, my thoughts rolled back through the twenty-five wonderful years Mary and I have shared together as husband and wife. We have two wonderful sons—Ken, age twenty-two and Mike, age fourteen, who both love to hunt and fish and have accompanied us on many hunting trips.

We were renewing our wedding vows after twenty-five years of marriage in Salamanca, Spain, with our good friends Don and Wilma Kirn as our Best Man and Matron of Honor. Our good friend and guide, Alfonso Fabres had set up this ceremony in the Cathedral he and his wife had been married in.

Through the past several years, we had bought three hunts at the SCI auctions that we hadn’t used. We decided that we would expand on each hunt and take additional animals. We would hunt in Yugoslavia and Turkey, then wind up in Spain and there celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary at our friend Alfonso’s family’s ranch where they have raised fighting bulls for over two-hundred years. So on October 8, 1988, Don, Wilma, Mary, and I found ourselves in Belgrade, Yugoslavia airport where we were met by Srdja Dimitrijevici, the head of the hunting department of Kompas, the Yugoslavian travel agency. We then flew to the very southern part of the Yugoslavian state of Macedonia, to the city of Skopie. From there we drove three hours south to the hunting lodge. Here we would hunt the Baltic Chamois and the European Fallow Deer. The hunting lodge was beautiful with a large bedroom and adjoining bath overlooking a beautiful mountain valley with timber starting to turn golds and reds of fall.

Don and I were up before daylight, walking up the mountain with our guides in order to get in position before the sun came up. Don went to the west and I on to the east. We walked several miles before finding a place overlooking a small valley with a clearing in the bottom. That morning we saw several silver and gold metal class fallow deer as well as two nice Mouflon rams, but nothing I really wanted. At noon we walked back to the lodge where we had lunch with Don and the girls. We were the only hunters in camp so we had the lodge all to ourselves. The food was expertly prepared with wine served at every meal. Don had the same to report on his morning hunt. A lot of good trophy animals, but just not what he had wanted except he had spotted a tremendous Mouflon ram which would go over 36 or 37 inches. Being an old sheep hunter myself (I have taken thirty wild sheep of the world), it got me fired up. Srdja said that in Yugoslavia there were many fine Mouflons that would go up to close to forty inches. So from there on, I started holding out for one of these fine rams. The afternoon hunt went about the same way the morning hunt had went with the exception that I had seen a tremendous spotted fallow deer that I put the cross-hair on and wanted to pull the trigger but I was afraid of scaring one of those large Mouflon that might be on the other side of the hill.

Don had about the same luck. He had stalked a very large fallow deer for about an hour but was unable to take a shot.

Early the next morning, we drove about two hours to the other side of the mountain range to hunt chamois. Here we were met by the head game keeper of the area. Before the hunt was to take place, we went inside of his hut and had coffee and their native brandy. Wow! What a way to start a morning, with a shot of Brandy at 6 a.m. But this is their custom, so in Rome do as the Romans.

We climbed to the top of the mountain in about an hour. This was a beautiful sight looking out over all the smaller hills as the leaves were starting to change to their red and gold colors of fall. In about two hours, Don and I had taken two very nice Chamois. Don’s going 9 3/7 inches and mine going almost 9 inches. Srdja had told us that only a handful of people had ever taken a Baltic Chamois and Don and I had just joined their ranks.

While we were hunting Chamois, the two women had the driver take them to Skopie to shop and sightsee. Srdja had arranged for a tour guide to take them around. Needless to say, they had a great time.

The next day and our last day to hunt in Yugoslavia, was to hunt from the lodge like we had done the first day. The morning consisted of seeing some very nice Fallow Deer and smaller Mouflons. A lot of climbing in thick timber trying to find that large sheep, with no results. That afternoon, Don took an excellent Spotted Fallow Deer up in an area where I had hunted the evening of the first day. After the congratulations of a fine shot, we helped them load it up in a jeep so Don could take it on back to the lodge. My guide and I started walking down the mountain hoping to find a large Mouflon or Fallow Deer in one of the clearings before dark, with very little luck. As we came around a bend, Don met us to tell me that as they had come down to the lodge, they had seen an extremely large Black Fallow Deer in a clearing below the lodge. So we walked on back down toward the lodge and sure enough there he was with about four or five doe and one smaller buck. He was quite a ways off and shooting downhill but the light was getting faint and not any time to get closer, so I took a shot and he collapsed like a sack of potatoes falling off a truck. The best thing of all, the girls were standing there watching the whole thing.

After the picture taking of the two Fallow Deer, Don and I started caping and salting. The Yugoslavian’s have had virtually no experience with hunters wanting to save the cape for mounting. For the most part, they only have European hunters who save only the skull and horns.

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