MONGOLIA: This mysterious land is home to the largest sheep and ibex in the world.

Mongolia: The very word sounds exotic, alluring, perhaps even a bit dangerous.

This is the Asian steppe, home land of Ghengis Khan and the Mongol "hordes" who swept across Asia in the thirteenth century, spreading terror and conquering the largest contiguous land empire in history. The great Mongol Empire once stretched 2,000 miles from the cold edge of Siberia in the north to the humid South China Sea. From the Sea of Japan it ran non stop 7,000 miles east to Austria.

But as quickly as it arose, the Mongol Empire shrank back to its core south of Rus­ ia and north of China. And here it remains, high, landlocked grass lands rimmed by the massive Altai Mountains on the west and southwest. Smaller ranges ribble down from the north, offering alpine tundra, coniferous forests, and elevated relief amid seemingly endless grassy plains. Far to the south, Mount Everest and its Himalayan ramparts block moismre from the Indian Ocean and in this desiccating rain shadow lies the world's northernmost desert, the vast Gobi.

Today, Mongolia, 800 miles north to south, 2,000 miles east to west, is still vast, forbidding, and largely unknown. It's still peopled by nomadic horsemen, generic descendants of Khan, many of whom still hunt on horseback with gold­ en eagles riding on their arms.

Native Mongolians are said to be the finest mountain guides in the world. This is good, because the world's finest mountain trophy lives in Mongolia the massive-horned Altai argali. Ir shares some of its range with equally impressive Altai ibex. But there’s more. Th is ancient land harbors the slightly smaller Gobi argali, too. And red deer (Asian elk), moose, roe deer, ibex, white-tailed and black-tailed gazelles, saiga antelope, Asian wild asses, wild boars, and even brown bears. Chinese musk deer live in the southern mountains, and rare Bactrian camels plod over the Gobi sands. Game birds include western and black billed capabilities  Mongolian snow cocks, black grouse, hazel grouse, rock ptarmigan, and willow ptarmigan. In the grasslands and steppes Iive pheasants, Dauria n partridges (Mongolian bearded partridges), and chukars. Ducks and geese thrive in the western lakes district. Predators include Gobi lynx, Pallas cars, snow leopards, red foxes, and the sandy colored corsac foxes. And wolves. Many, many wolves, which prey upon the vast flocks of domestic livestock, which are doing their best to eat wild game out of house and     home. Overgrazing has been blamed for severe desertification and significant declines in populations of both big and small game, including ring-necked pheasants, the very species exported to start U.S. populations some 120 years ago.

This is the unfortunate news our of Mongolia. Unregulated market hunting and increasing domestic grazing are depleting formerly abundant wildlife. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, which controlled Mongolia as a satellite state for seventy years, a depressed economy coupled with China's insatiable demand for a wide variety of wildlife products has inspired a wave of poaching. Say what you will about the Soviets, but they managed hunting and wildlife harvest at reasonable levels. Shortly after Soviet influence and economic subsidies ended in 1990, saiga antelope numbers plummeted from over 5,000 to under

800. Red stags declined from 130,000 to 8,000. Argalis dropped from an estimated 50,000 in 1975 to 15,000 by 2001. Today's best estimate puts them at 17,900, with eastern popu­ lations increasing but western  herds still depressed. Even marmots, taken for their pelts, declined 75 percent in twelve years. These numbers are con­ tested, but clearly Mongolian wildlife has suffered.

On the bright side, the country and its wildlife could benefit quickly and significantly from scientific management and controlled harvest. With nonresident hunters willing to pay $50,000 to hunt a single old argali ram, Mongolians could realize far more profit by protecting and increasing sheep populations than by poaching ewes and young rams for meat.

Money from sport hunting could fund ant i poaching enforcement as well as habitat enha ncement.  Unfortunately, such funds are rumored to have found their way into private and government programs other than wildlife management, and little or none filters down to locals. Since there is li ttle enforcement of wildlife laws, chronically underemployed locals aggressively harvest wild meat, horns, and furs for a seemingly insatiable Chinese market.

International wildlife and conservation groups are working to change this. Safari Club International, Grand Slam/Ovis, the Wild Sheep Foundation, the Mongolian Hunters Association, and the Mongolian Ministry for Nature Environment and Tourism have launched a sheep population monitoring program. It's a start.  With solid base numbers, wildlife managers can at least begin accurately monitoring populations. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service can document sustainable management plans and offer import permits. Convincing Mongolian politicians to set up and enforce controlled hunting management is the ultimate challenge. Locals must understand that they will benefit economically from the influx of visiting hunters’ paying premiums to shoot a token percent age of native game. Mongolian wildlife could again thrive while paying its way. Excessive, unsustainable market hunting will merely cont in uedepleting the "wildlife bank" until the goose is no longer around to lay the golden eggs. But, as is the case in Africa, lo­ cal people must realize economic gain from wildlife. If this doesn't come from regulated hunting, they'll take it via u n regulated poaching.

That's Mongolia's challenge and potential. Right now, several outfitters provide good hunts in Mongolia. Argali permits fluctuate year to year with as many as fifty allocated recently, but the bulk of them have been for the smaller Gobi argali. Perm i ts are usually available for black-tai led and white-tailed gazelles, Altai and Gobi ibex, wolves, roe deer, and wild boars. Most outfitters can arrange for hunting upland birds and waterfowl. Many visiting hunters also fish for taimen, a huge native salmon.

The best action for hunters is to maintain interest in Mongolian hunting, support conservation organizations working there, urge scientific wildlife management and sustainable harvest of not only wildlife but native grasslands and forests, and maintain a close relationship with a trusted outfitter.

Mongolia has been  a wildlife and  hunting stronghold for  thousands of years. It remains one of the best locations for an Asian hunt and promises more than just unique trophies. It promises discovery, insight, adventure, and Cite for the future of Asian wildlife.