The life of founder Bob Lee cannot be told without his passion for adventure. What makes him extraordinary is that he never stopped exploring, even after establishing Hunting World. Starting and operating a business is a huge undertaking for anyone. Hunting World, in particular, was built solely on original products that Bob himself planned and developed. Moreover, there was a vast amount of work to be done, from manufacturing to establishing sales channels. Normally, this alone would be enough to keep anyone fully occupied. In addition, just two years after its founding, in 1967, he opened his first directly managed store in New York, and then, with the successful introduction of "Battu Cloth," he propelled the company into a global brand, making him extremely busy. Nevertheless, he still managed to make time to repeatedly undertake expedition trips to India and Iran until 1970. In Iran, he even befriended Prince Abdol Reza Pahlavi (center in the photo below), the Shah's brother, and together they conducted investigative trips to Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, and other locations.

The next place Bob, with all his energy, became interested in was China. The catalyst was the late Dr. James Clarke. Dr. Clarke, an explorer and sculptor, was a prominent figure whom Bob had long respected as his mentor in the natural sciences. Due to this connection, bronze animal statues crafted by Dr. Clarke were even sold as custom orders at Hunting World. Influenced by Dr. Clarke, Bob eventually became interested in goats inhabiting the far western regions of China. In 1974, foreseeing the future potential of Chinese crafts, Bob made his first visit to China with his then vice president to establish Orient Express Trading, touring cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Afterward, he persistently negotiated with Chinese authorities to obtain permission for academic research on wildlife. Then, one day during his stay in China, the long-awaited invitation finally arrived for Bob. However, he was not given sufficient time to prepare before his departure. In July 1980, accompanied only by an interpreter and a guide, he embarked on an exploration of the Tian Shan Mountains by horseback and on foot. Incidentally, this was a groundbreaking achievement, as he was the first Westerner in the history of the People's Republic of China to be granted permission for academic research.

As a result of this expedition, it was confirmed that ibex inhabit the remote reaches of the Tian Shan Mountains, and that the Little Date Argali, a type of wild goat, had disappeared from specific regions. In October 1980, drawing on experience, a set of specially designed expedition equipment was added, and another expedition was undertaken to the Tian Shan Mountains. The team then ventured into the Pamir Plateau, a region that, in fact, had not been surveyed by Westerners since 1926. There, Bob achieved the remarkable feat of rediscovering the Marco Polo sheep, which Western biologists had considered a mythical creature since Marco Polo first sighted it in 1271. This rare high-mountain animal, a subspecies of the Bovidae family, genus Ovis, and species argali, was a legendary wild goat believed to have disappeared from the Chinese Pamirs in the early 1920s and to exist only in Afghanistan and the Soviet Pamirs. Furthermore, Bob's team revisited the same plateau in December of that year and successfully traversed altitudes of approximately 6000m, despite the harsh winter conditions.

Bob's journey continued, and in '81, he ventured to the northeasternmost part of Heilongjiang Province in China, near the Siberian border. There, he trekked through subarctic forests, conducting ecological surveys of Manchurian wapiti and roe deer, and even proposed a policy for protecting game birds and animals to the province. In July '82, he traversed a vast area of southern Yunnan Province, living among tribal people along the Myanmar border. In August, he extended his travels to Tibet, bringing an end to a series of explorations in China under the invitation of the Chinese government.

The photo above shows Bob (foreground) and his party traversing the frozen Pamir Plateau. Throughout various regions of China, regardless of the season, these caravan expeditions, often accompanied by horses, yaks (highland bovines), and sometimes camels, deliberately kept their numbers small. This approach allowed them to move through diverse natural environments—mountains, steppes, and deserts—while respecting the local people's way of life and customs. Furthermore, in every field, they consistently focused on testing Hunting World products, incorporating the results into product development and improvement.

Later, in his book "China Safari," Bob detailed his expedition into the Chinese hinterlands. This work, alongside the aforementioned "Safari Today," remains a highly acclaimed and valuable record.