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The view from a property called Mollevi, just south of the heights of the Pyrenees Mountains in Spain, is simply spectacular.
In fact, as Francisco drove the green Mercedes SUV into the clearing at the top of the mountain where the centuries old lodge at Mollevi sits, we might have thought we were in Heaven rather than on a hunting trip in Spain with Francisco and Bruno Rosich’s Hunt Trip Spain.
I am not sure what exactly triggered that thought by both my wife Angela and I. It might have been the wisps of fog skimming over the meadow, or the deer grazing on it, or the lightness of the air, but later that day we both confessed that Heaven flashed through our minds at the moment of our arrival.
We had been in Spain for a few days already, and had enjoyed some sightseeing in Barcelona, and a wonderful drive from Barcelona north to Mollevi, the property we would hunt first. An hour or so out of Barcelona, we had stopped to sight-in our rifles and to eat a wonderful meal at Francisco and Joelle’s house that doubles as a lodge for Hunt Trip Spain’s clients on partridge hunts.
The front end of our hunt was conducted by Francisco, while Bruno finished up with another client who stayed on for ibex. On the third day, Bruno joined us, and took over for the balance of the hunt. Both are very capable guides, and are wonderful hosts. Isabelle handled the details of our trip from picking us up at the airport and delivering us to our initial accommodations in Barcelona, to joining us on the first leg of the hunt, and wonderfully preparing the meals at Mollevi, and always greeting us with a smile. Between the two couples—Francisco and Joelle, and Bruno and Isabelle—Hunt Trip Spain clients are well taken care of.
On the fifth evening of stalking for deer at Mollevi, Angela made an outstanding shot of 200 yards “plus” at last light on a fantastic European Fallow Deer.
Still having Ibex to deal with, we reluctantly left Mollevi and its Heaven-like appearance to travel south to Valencia to hunt the Beceite sub-species of Ibex.
We stayed at a small inn in the town of La Senia, and hunted in the rugged canyons and peaks of the Beceite Mountains with Bruno and Jamie, a local landowner. We enjoyed a very long day circumnavigating the canyon on foot, and then hunted another area before returning to the canyon on our final afternoon. Fortunately, we found an old ibex that we were able to take on that last day.
We enjoyed another three days of touring in Barcelona and the surrounding Catalonia countryside. Isabelle took us to a wonderful winery that specializes in Spanish sparkling wine (cava), and to Sitges, a gorgeous seaside town on the Mediterranean. There, with Isabelle’s help, we found the perfect blend of paella and local Spanish wine.
While in Barcelona, we made a large world smaller when we had dinner with Federico Perez-Mangado, and his girlfriend Rosa Garcia. Federico is a cousin of Laurent and Diane Delagrange, who are the owners of Indianhead Ranch in Texas where Angela and I have hunted the past two years. We had fun learning about Spain from them and sharing thoughts of Indianhead Ranch and Spain.
We did run into some difficulties with KLM returning with firearms through Amsterdam. Please check with your airlines in advance of any trip to confirm if you will have any unique local requirements to resolve up front. We ended up flying Delta home due to missing documents that needed filing with the Dutch in advance.
Angela and I bought this hunt at the SCI Flint Regional Chapter fundraiser in 2004, and thank the chapter and Hunt Trip Spain for the opportunity to put this trip together. For more information on Hunt Trip Spain, please see their website at: hunttripspain.com
Luckily
for us, there are three more sub-species of ibex in Spain to pursue, and we
saw some fine Red Stag and Mouflon at Mollevi, which is a good enough reason
to visit Spain and to hunt with Bruno, Isabelle, Francisco and Joelle again.
Besides, who wouldn’t want to have another glimpse at Heaven?
