Little Indus River Basin Hunting Reserve, Pakistan

[zinc timber]

Story Summary: Pakistan is famous for its successful hunting funded community based conservation of the Markhor and other mountain species like the Urial, Wild Goat, Himalayan Ibex and Blue Sheep, and now they wish to repeat this success for predators like the Mugger Crocodile, Leopard, Asiatic Black Bear & Striped Hyena. This is where you come in, as your reputation as a successful and ethical hunter is well known and the warden of this reserve has personally invited you to hunt in Pakistan. We hope you enjoy all that you can hunt here.

Reserve Geography

• There are three mountain ranges on the map that each hold different species
• The western mountains are home to Sulaiman Markhor, Sindh Ibex and Blanford Urial and these mountains tend to be more arid and quite steep, meaning that even with a good long-ranged rifle it will be difficult
• The northern mountains are home to animals like Kashmir Markhor, Blue Sheep and Afghan Urial and while these mountains can also be steep, they are much colder and experiance occasional snowfall
• The eastern mountains are home to Punjab Urial and some Kashmir Markhor and while these mountains are not as steep they still pose a great challenge for hunters visiting the reserve
• The southern half of the reserve can be divided into the riparian woodlands and marshlands of the southeast and the arid hills and deserts of the southwest
• Savannah and scrubland exist throughout the southern half of the reserve and are mainly inhabited by animals like Chinkara Gazelle and Nilgai, though you might also see the occasional Striped Hyena
• The Riparian woodlands and marshes are home to Hog Deer, Waterfowl and Wild Boar, all of which serve as prey to the resident Mugger Crocodiles
• The southwestern deserts are mainly home to chinkara, houbara and mountain animals like Blanford Urial and Sindh Ibex alongside predators like Leopard and Hyena, and the few lakes in the area also hold Crocodiles

Species - Returning

• Nilgai
• Blue Sheep
• Wild Boar
• Blackbuck
• Axis Deer
• Indian Hog Deer
• Red Fox

New Species - Big Game

• Sindh Ibex
• Sulaiman Markhor
• Kashmir Markhor
• Blandford Urial
• Afghan Urial
• Punjab Urial
• Indian Wolf
• Chinkara Gazelle: Limited to the southern half of the map
• Himalayan Black Bear: Limited to the northern mountains & surrounding lowlands

New Rare Species

• Mugger Crocodile: Limited to the southern 1/3 of the map
• Leopard: 20 leopards map wide
• Striped Hyena: 20 male & female pairs everywhere except the northern mountains

New Species - Small Game

• Rhesus Macaque
• Indian Crested Porcupine
• Jungle Cat
• Golden Jackal
• Indian Hare
• Long-tailed Marmot
• Northern Palm Squirrel

New Species - Birds

• Black-bellied Sandgrouse
• Asian Houbara
• Black Francolin
• Koklass Pheasant
• Himalayan Monal
• Chukar
• Ruddy Shelduck
• Indian Spot-billed Duck
• Cotton Pygmy Goose

Here is the map for this reserve concept featuring the seperate mountain ranges and all the biomes, the higher up you go the more climbing you will have to do, especially if your after Markhor

As for the images of the species I will start with the returning species, which mostly come from Sundarpatan with some exceptions:

• Nilgai: They are mainly found in the Southern Marshes and Little Punjab
• Blue Sheep: Found only in the Northern Mountains
• Wild Boar: Found everywhere but outside of the Southern Marshes and Little Punjab they stay in river valleys
• Blackbuck: Mainly found in the Southern Marshes and Western Desert
• Axis Deer: Mainly found in the Southern Marshes and Western Desert
• Indian Hog Deer: Mainly found in the Southern Marshes and Little Punjab
• Red Fox: Found everywhere

The new big game species are numerous and most of them stay in the mountains, this images will feature the mountain animals and the Chinkara

• Sindh Ibex (1st image): Found in the Western Mountains and Western Desert
• Sulaiman Markhor (2nd image): Found only in the Western Mountains
• Kashmir Markhor (3rd image): Found in the Northern Mountains and Little Punjab
• Blandford Urial (4th image): Found in the Western Mountains and Western Desert
• Afghan Urial (5th image): Found only in the Northern Mountains
• Punjab Urial (6th image): Found in Little Punjab's mountains
• Chinkara Gazelle: Found in Little Punjab, the Western Desert and Southern Marshes

And for the large predatory species we have

• Indian Wolf
• Himalayan Black Bear
• Mugger Crocodile: Only found in the Western Desert and Southern Marshes
• Leopard: Found map wide but very rare, each region has about 4 leopards each
• Striped Hyena: Found in the Western Deserts (4 Pairs), Southern Marshes (5 pairs), Western Mountains (6 pairs) and Little Punjab (5 pairs)

There is also an abundance of small game species to hunt like

• Rhesus Macaque: Found in Little Punjab, the Western and Northern Mountains
• Indian Crested Porcupine: Found in most regions except the Northern Mountains
• Jungle Cat: Found mainly in the Southern Marshes but also seen in Little Punjab and the Western Mountains
• Golden Jackal: Found in all regions
• Indian Hare: Found in most regions except the Northern Mountains
• Long-tailed Marmot: Found only in the Northern Mountains
• Northern Palm Squirrel: Found in Little Punjab and the Southern Marshes

And for the birds there are quite a few, and while some waterfowl species call the reserve home, so does a variety of upland birds from the well known Chukar to the highly prized Asian Houbara

• Black-bellied Sandgrouse: Western Desert, Little Punjab
• Asian Houbara: Western Desert, Little Punjab
• Black Francolin: Southern Marshes, Western Mountains, Western Desert
• Koklass Pheasant: Northern Mountains, Western Mountains, Little Punjab
• Himalayan Monal: Northern Mountains, Western Mountains, Little Punjab
• Chukar: Northern Mountains, Western Mountains, Little Punjab
• Ruddy Shelduck: Southern Marshes, Little Punjab
• Indian Spot-billed Duck: Southern Marshes, Little Punjab
• Cotton Pygmy Goose: Southern Marshes, Little Punjab

[coral prism]

Macaques can be hunted? Same with a lot of other species. My idea used Astor Markhor instead of Kashmir, but there's like 5 markhor species. I'd love to hunt Pakistan irl, I can speak Punjabi fluently and can understand Urdu

[zinc timber]

The Macaques I am not sure about weather they can be hunted irl in Pakistan

I would say their inclusion could be considered “creative liberties”

[neat rivet]

Hey @zinc timber ! Thanks for your detailed suggestion about the Indus River Basin map — we really appreciate the thought and creativity you put into describing the region and its species! Ideas like yours help inspire future content and are always great to see from the community. We'll be sure to pass this along to the team for consideration. Thanks again for sharing! With more ideas like this, you can also contact us here: https://support.thehunter.com/hc/en-us/requests/new.

[zinc timber]

Some Multi-mount Ideas for this Reserve

• Snake Eaters: 1 Kashmir Markhor and 1 Sulaiman Markhor, both males
  • This is a referrence to a regional myth about Markhor eating snakes
• Desert Game: 1 Chinkara, 1 Sindh Ibex and 1 Blanford Urial, all males
• Antelope Hunt: 1 Blackbuck (Male) and 2 Indian Wolves (Male & Female)
• Confrontation: 1 Leopard (Male), 1 Axis Deer (Male) and 1 Striped Hyena (Male)
  • This multi-mount depicts a striped hyena attempting to rob a leopard of its kill
• Indus Assassin: 1 Mugger Crocodile (Male) & 2 Indian Hog Deer (Male & Female)
• Kaftar: 1 Striped Hyena (Male) and 1 Wild Boar (Male)
  • In some parts of Asia the Striped Hyena will prey on Wild Boar
• Mountain Brawl: 2 Himalayan Black Bears (Male)
• Urial Huddle: 1 Afghan, 1 Blanford and 1 Punjab Urial
• Photogenic Attack: 1 Tibtean Fox and 1 Long-tailed Marmot
  • This is a reference to a prize winning photo of a Tibetan Fox attacking the closely related Himalayan Marmot
• African Assassin: 1 Leopard (Male) and 1 Blue Wildebeest (Male)
• Birds of Pakistan: 1 Male of the following species
  • Black-bellied Sandgrouse
  • Black Francolin
  • Koklass Pheasant
  • Himalayan Monal
  • Chukar
  • Ruddy Shelduck
  • Indian Spot-billed Duck
  • Cotton Pygmy Goose
• Houbara Huddle: 3 Male Asian Houbara

[zinc timber]

bump

[zinc timber]

Gonna give this a bump

[zinc timber]

A Challenge Missions Idea for this reserve

Pakistan Mountain Hunter

• Hunt a Punjab Urial at 250 meters with an unscoped rifle
• Hunt a Afghan Urial at 100 meters with a handgun
• Hunt a Blanford Urial from over 60 meters with a bow or crossbow
• Hunt a Blue Sheep from over 100 meters with a Shotgun
• Hunt one of each Markhor from over 300 meters with a rifle
• Hunt 1 Sindh Ibex with a bow from over 60 meters with a bow
• Hunt 1 Himalayan Ibex from over 200 meters with an unscoped rifle
• All must be Gold Medal or better

[neon pivot]

Ngl pakistan hunting reserve would be awesome. its sad to see all people think about of pakistan is Taliban and war when in reality . just a very cool country that gets to much hate

[zinc timber]

Afghanistan is the country most associated with the Taliban

As far as hunting goes, Pakistan is pretty famous for the Markhor, Urial sheep and is also the only country in Asia where one could hunt Blackbuck (they are native to the area)

[nimble plinth]

Markhor would be awesome to hunt

it's a shame that we already have an Asian reserve with Blackbuck though, it would have been cool to hunt them on a Pakistan map and maybe have a different species on Sundarpatan (like Axis Deer or Sambar Deer)

[zinc timber]

There is always Tajikistan, it would also get us stuff like Marco Polo Sheep, Urials, Asiatic Ibex and remodels for animals like Wild Boar

[nimble plinth]

Markhor and Marco Polo Sheep on the same map would be awesome, it would make for the perfect Asian mountain hunting map