The hunter from Almeria, José Antonio Berruezo Segura, has been the lucky one, this Friday 10th December, to shoot in the south face of the Sierra de Gredos the biggest trophy ibex of the year 2021. It is an imposing animal whose measurements are a record and which he hunted with Manuel Cabezas’ company in the municipality of Losar de la Vera, in the province of Cáceres.
As Berruezo recounts, “we have been informed that it is the second largest ibex hunted in the Gredos Reserve and is among the 20 largest in Spain of all time”. It was approximately 15 years old.
An unexpected call for an ibex that the rangers had lost sight of
The hunter received an unexpected call to go and hunt an ibex that the gamekeepers had lost sight of for two years. “I had other plans for Sunday, but I set off, changed them and went for the ibex,” he says. Although he was in Madrid, he had his rifle taken to Ciudad Real so that Manuel Cabezas could take it up to Gredos and there he met the organiser.
Two years without showing his face. The hunter explains about Manuel Cabezas that “the first thing he told me was that they had seen this ibex that they hadn’t found for two years, a male that they thought had died, that last year it didn’t show its face and was in a very marked place”.
Quick change of plans. José Antonio Berruezo didn’t think twice and immediately changed his plans to shoot this specimen and, as soon as they arrived in Gredos, they had an unexpected incident: “The gamekeeper who was controlling the animal had got the male confused and was looking at a different one. We approached and, as there was another guard, we finally spotted him”, says the hunter.
That’s how they found the big ibex. Shortly after leaving the ibex they had mistaken for the big one, they discovered the big one: “I was very surprised that the gamekeepers got nervous, because they were aware of how big the buck was and wanted me to shoot it quickly”. So he positioned himself at a distance of 250 metres and shot the specimen with an accurate shot in the elbow.
The equipment used. During the shoot, the hunter used a Magnum Blaser R8 professional rifle in .7mm calibre and a 165-grain Norma plastic-tipped bullet.
