Leupold Pro Team’s Ampuero Releases Marco Polo Bowhunting Film
Pedro Ampuero just released a film that most bowhunters will want to watch. “Marco Polo: Bowhunting the Impossible” dropped on YouTube on June 7 after premiering in Madrid on June 4, and it documents what is reportedly the first-ever filmed spot-and-stalk bowhunt on Marco Polo sheep. Three years from first expedition to final edit. Ampuero, a bowhunter based out of Bilbao, Spain, is one of the more well-known names in European archery hunting and this is the project he has been building toward.
Marco Polo sheep, or Tian Shan Argali, are genuinely difficult to hunt with a rifle. Getting close enough for a bow shot on foot in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan is a completely different problem. The terrain is extreme, the distances are long, the weather is unpredictable, and the animal’s senses are sharp. The film covers Ampuero battling extreme weather, difficult stalks, and what the press release describes as life-threatening emergencies to his companions on the mountain. The result of the hunt is what he says is a World Record Tian Shan Argali.
The Leupold angle here is the BX-6 Range HD rangefinding binocular, which Ampuero ran throughout the hunt. The BX-6 Range HD incorporates Precision Cut Archery software, which takes arrow weight, arrow velocity, peep height, and atmospheric conditions and calculates real-time archery ballistic solutions corrected for elevation and angle. For a bowhunter at altitude in Central Asia, where air density is significantly different from any sea-level sight-in session, that atmospheric correction is not a convenience feature. It is the difference between a sight tape that works and one that puts an arrow in the wrong place on a once-in-three-years shot.
Ampuero put it plainly in the press release: without the Precision Cut Archery software giving him an accurate ballistic solution, he says the story ends differently.
The film is live now at YouTube.com/@PedroAmpueroHunting and is worth your time if you have any interest in what high-end spot-and-stalk bowhunting looks like at the outer edge of what most people would consider possible. More details on the BX-6 Range HD are at Leupold.com.
Have you seen the film yet, and is real-time archery ballistics technology something you would use on a backcountry bowhunt? Let us know in the comments below. We always appreciate the feedback.
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