| Espacaza Spain Hunt |
| By DaleGaugler |
My wife Donna and I and another Eastern FNAWS couple, Dale Ziegler and his wife Pat spent a fantastic 9
days in Spain in June. I know that June is not the most popular time of the year to hunt in Spain, but my wife
works for the local school district and from what I’ve heard about Spain, you had better take your wife, so we
left after school was out. Jose said he loves to hunt in June but we would be limited to what we could hunt.
We arrived in Madrid and spent about 4 hours driving north to the Cantabrian Mountains to hunt Chamois
first. Both of our Chamois are silver medal. The cape on my Chamois was fine, Dale Z was not in the best
shape, but Jose said not to worry, it would be replaced. What a beautiful place in June. The mountains were
still slightly snow capped and the mountainsides and valleys were as lush green as anyplace I have ever
seen. The lovely quaint villages were special and we hated to leave this part of Spain after two days.
I learned a valuable lesson with my cameras on this trip. I always have my digital and 35 MM. I took the
digital on the Chamois hunt as my wife had the regular. I had problems with the digital and only got a couple
of pictures and then thought that I had adjusted it back to normal and my Ibex pictures are the worst I have
ever seen, this from a digital camera that has taken the most unbelievable quality pictures! Well after I got
home, my son Matt got it set back up properly and it is back to taking the super pictures I am accustomed to,
but it was too late for the Ibex pictures as you can see they are poor quality and it was my fault, not the
cameras.
We traveled on day four to the Gredos Mountain and stayed in another small quaint village. Dale Z. and I
both took tremendous Gredos Ibex, both gold medal and Dale Z’s being one of the largest ever to come out
of the area with a score of 88. In June the Ibex in the Gredos Mountains are concentrated together, a fact I
am sure that a lot of people are not aware of. After a four hour climb I was into over 100 male Ibex. What a
sight! I picked a beauty that was 12 years old. Dale Z’s was 13 years old, just the kind we were looking for,
old and long.
We spent a day or two touring and then traveled south of Madrid where Dale Z took a gold medal Mouflon
as well. Espacaza is an old time outfitter that has been around for years. Jose Mallo, who is one of the
partners starting concentrating on the American clientele 5 years ago and has done a great job. He is taking
some of the larger trophies in Spain. We could not have asked for a more gracious host. We were waited
on like kings and queens and Jose and Carlos could not have done a thing to make our hunt/vacation more
memorable.
Jose has graciously donated two super hunts for our Convention this year. Support those who support
Eastern, you will not find a finer Outfitter in Spain!
Dale Gaugler
days in Spain in June. I know that June is not the most popular time of the year to hunt in Spain, but my wife
works for the local school district and from what I’ve heard about Spain, you had better take your wife, so we
left after school was out. Jose said he loves to hunt in June but we would be limited to what we could hunt.
We arrived in Madrid and spent about 4 hours driving north to the Cantabrian Mountains to hunt Chamois
first. Both of our Chamois are silver medal. The cape on my Chamois was fine, Dale Z was not in the best
shape, but Jose said not to worry, it would be replaced. What a beautiful place in June. The mountains were
still slightly snow capped and the mountainsides and valleys were as lush green as anyplace I have ever
seen. The lovely quaint villages were special and we hated to leave this part of Spain after two days.
I learned a valuable lesson with my cameras on this trip. I always have my digital and 35 MM. I took the
digital on the Chamois hunt as my wife had the regular. I had problems with the digital and only got a couple
of pictures and then thought that I had adjusted it back to normal and my Ibex pictures are the worst I have
ever seen, this from a digital camera that has taken the most unbelievable quality pictures! Well after I got
home, my son Matt got it set back up properly and it is back to taking the super pictures I am accustomed to,
but it was too late for the Ibex pictures as you can see they are poor quality and it was my fault, not the
cameras.
We traveled on day four to the Gredos Mountain and stayed in another small quaint village. Dale Z. and I
both took tremendous Gredos Ibex, both gold medal and Dale Z’s being one of the largest ever to come out
of the area with a score of 88. In June the Ibex in the Gredos Mountains are concentrated together, a fact I
am sure that a lot of people are not aware of. After a four hour climb I was into over 100 male Ibex. What a
sight! I picked a beauty that was 12 years old. Dale Z’s was 13 years old, just the kind we were looking for,
old and long.
We spent a day or two touring and then traveled south of Madrid where Dale Z took a gold medal Mouflon
as well. Espacaza is an old time outfitter that has been around for years. Jose Mallo, who is one of the
partners starting concentrating on the American clientele 5 years ago and has done a great job. He is taking
some of the larger trophies in Spain. We could not have asked for a more gracious host. We were waited
on like kings and queens and Jose and Carlos could not have done a thing to make our hunt/vacation more
memorable.
Jose has graciously donated two super hunts for our Convention this year. Support those who support
Eastern, you will not find a finer Outfitter in Spain!
Dale Gaugler
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
