Some hunts are pure bucket list adventures. I’ve hunted in some amazing locations, chasing all sorts of beautiful animals, but the Low Tatra Chamois is truly unique. With fewer than 10 permits available per year, this subspecies found in Slovakia’s Low Tatra Mountains is the rarest of the chamois slam and a must for the SCI European 25. I couldn’t wait to go. When I planned this hunt through WTA, I knew I’d have an amazing experience.
My dad and I landed in Vienna, Austria on October 18. Roger, our host and WTA consultant, met us at the airport and took us the rest of the way. We were staying at the Royal Palace, a castle converted into a top-notch hotel in Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia. Tomas and Miro would be our guides for the week. They met us for dinner that night before we turned in early. It had been a long day of traveling, and we would be up well before dawn the next day.
We drove 45 minutes to the Low Tatra Mountains in the dark early the next morning. It was hard to contain my excitement. Only eight tags were issued for Low Tatra Chamois that year. The tags were split between several regions, with our area holding five. This hunt was truly a rare opportunity. With the rut still a few weeks away, we knew that ewes would be grouped up and rams would be roaming solo. I was after a thick-horned male.
I hunted one area with Tomas and Miro while my dad and his group hunted another. Hunting the Low Tatras was much different than the typical chamois hunt. The steep slopes were thick with pines and brush, not the typical open meadows, and hid chamois extremely well. We focused our glassing on the open patches, catching chamois as they’d step out to feed and then vanish. The area we were hunting was full of hiking trails, which meant these chamois were used to humans in the area. They were still timid but much less wary than those found in more heavily hunted areas. We hiked through tall trees, the grade burning my legs. An hour in, we hit a glassing knob. The mountains were beautiful: jagged peaks, grassy patches, mist in the valleys.
Before long, we glassed up two females across the valley. Their winter fur showed no rut yet. We climbed higher, glassing constantly. Cresting a ridge, a chamois stood 25 yards off, a big ewe with long horns. We passed, holding for a ram. She slipped away but gave us some great footage.
Around midday, a lone animal grazed a rocky patch across the valley. Tomas and Miro locked on. “Shooter,” they said. His horns curled thick and his coat was pristine. My pulse spiked. We set up on a steep peak, my body nearly vertical as I laid prone. The slope tested my balance, but I steadied, ranging him at 450 yards. The shot hit him hard. The beautiful ram stumbled and rolled off a 100-foot ledge into a forested gully.
It took an hour to reach him and, thankfully, we found him in good shape. This was a prime Low Tatra Chamois, his heavy horns and dark fur undamaged by the fall. As we took photos, a message came in: Dad had a big ram down. Chamois aren’t giant animals, so we decided to pack out both chamois whole for photos. My group got down first, then helped haul the second chamois and gear. We set up in a clearing with our rams and the dense Tatra woods behind us. Those photos captured an amazing moment with my dad.
This was a fantastic hunt, chasing Low Tatra Chamois in a beautiful place that’s full of history. Tomas and Miro had every detail covered and made hunting one of the world’s rarest tags unforgettable.
“This hunt was so exceptional, we have to share it through a sweepstakes,” I told my team when I got back. I can’t recommend this trip highly enough. Enter the sweepstakes or book with WTA and have the adventure of a lifetime!
