THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
Smyrna, and although the game will long survive, it is scarcely attractive 
enough to the true hunter, for much untried ground lies to the south. In 
fact, the whole of the region between Adalia and Makri — a rugged penin- 
sula jutting southwards into the Mediterranean — is full of isolated uplifts 
remarkable for their precipitous cliffs which protect the ibex and render 
them safe from harm. The wild goats seem to have been driven gradually 
to the most remote coastal ranges, where they are seldom hunted. Mr F. G. 
Selous has hunted in these districts, and although he obtained his big head 
in the Maimun Dagh, yet he found many ibex on the Musa Dagh and the 
coastal ranges south of Adalia. 
Travel is exceedingly easy and cheap in these parts and the natives 
most hospitable. The chief thing to be avoided is the excessively hot 
weather, which lasts from May to October, when lack of water in the high 
country adds to the difficulties of long days on the hills. The presence of 
much forest destroys the chance of really scientific stalking, for even 
when game has been sighted, which is with increased difficulty on account 
of the foliage, the hunter has to deal with the additional puzzle of finding 
his quarry again when nearing the end of his stalk. However, there is much 
interest and very exciting hunting may be enjoyed in the ibex -rocks of 
Western Anatolia; for true hill-stalking in search of the big head, such as 
exist in numbers and run to as much as 55 inches, we shall have to go 
to the eastern highlands of Asiatic Turkey — the Alpine region on the 
Persian frontier. 
Western Anatolia produces some fine heads, but they are rare and 
hard to come by. The horns are known to reach 50 inches and may run 
to 53 inches. A good average head should be somewhere between 40 and 
46 inches in length. To many people the wild goat of Western Asia is one 
of the finest types of ibex to be procured, the curving, scimitar-like horns, 
with that peculiar knife -edged front, being considered far more graceful 
than the heavily “ knobbed ” frontal surface of other Asiatic races. Its 
reddish brown coat, black face and limb markings, and long, shaggy 
beard add to its fine appearance, and in comparison to its size its horns 
are much longer than those of any other ibex; its bulk is inconsiderable, 
for it stands only about 30 inches at the shoulder. 
This wild goat has a very wide range. It is to be found from Daghestan 
in the Caucasus to as far south as Damascus; from the Greek islands to 
northern Persia; and it extends — in a varied form, characterized by 
smooth horn surface— as far east as Baluchistan and Sind. 
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