20 October 2008, 23:13
wsquaredFirst Stone sheep Sept./08
Sept.17-20/08Location: Mountains west of Ft. Nelson
Rifle: Remington 700 Sendero tweaked to my liking over 12 years
Scope: Nightforce 5.5X15X56 Ill. Reticle
Load: Federal factory 160 gr. Accubond in 7mm STW
Boots: Meindl
Pack: Wilderness wanderer
Hiking Poles: Leki Super Makalu
I have been interested in sheep hunting for many years, but lacked the knowledge and proper gear. I read books, did day hikes to scout and glass, testing out the gear I slowly acquired over the years. I wasn’t until I switched jobs nearly seven years ago, that I got to know guys who were into hunting sheep and were willing to take on a new sheep hunter.
Marcel, trapntrav and I did a scouting hike June/07, got to see grizzly bears mating from a safe distance. Damn camera battery died, so no pics. Opening week Aug. 07, worked hard, saw sheep, no luck. Second week of Oct./07, Marcel and trapntrav worked hard and trapntrav got a nice, heavy Stone sheep.
This year, I couldn’t make the scouting trip (busy in Africa!), but trapntrav and I lined things up to go in mid Sept.
We had time for a short hunt; left early on the 17th and told the ladies we expected to be back the evening of the 19th. Trapntrav told his wife there was an outside chance that if we killed a sheep on the last day, we might not make it out until the next morning. His family had quite a bit happening on the 20th, so there was a bit of pressure to be back on the 19th.
We looked at an alternate way to get into the spot we have hunted before, but it looked like an exploratory project in summer /09. So we took our usual route in, pounded our way in and up, and set up camp in time to glass a bit before dark.
Sept. 18th
Glassing for the morning, no sheep, only elk activity, enjoyed the fall colours in the high alpine.
We grabbed gear/food, to hike farther in and up to glass for the afternoon.
We stopped near the last group of stunted spruce trees for some cover, and started glassing.
Found some goats, nannies and kids, and a lone caribou bull, but no sheep.
Once or twice, trapntrav, got a glimpse of a sheep traveling into/out of a hummock in the saddle we were glassing, but I never got my spotting scope over fast enough.
Around 6:40pm, we talked about giving it until 7:00 pm, then walk back to camp. 10 min later, we spot sheep moving out of a seam in the saddle. A band of rams with a couple that need a closer look! We watched them and discussed a plan. We had emergency bags, sleeping bags and pads, snacks and water. We’d sleep here, and make a run at them at first light. We watched them until dark, set up our hobbit holes in the dwarf alpine spruce, and snuggled in for a sleepless night of anticipation. The spruce bows and my rain gear helped keep the intermittent rain showers from waking me up any extra times.
Sept. 19th
Woke up at 0530, dim and foggy out. Sleeping bags were damp, but all things considered I was warm and ready to go. We left behind the bags, and headed out. Two hours of side hilling after we dropped down a chute, and we were close to, but above the elk we had seen in the spotting scope. They saw us and moved off; as they left we spotted the white rumps of two sheep that disappeared into a grassy seam.
Slithering near the top of the saddle, we slowly glassed around. No sheep. We snuck into and out of hummocks and seams in the saddle. We glassed around and eventually spotted sheep, but ewes and lambs. We watched and hoped to see the band of rams show up, and show off to the ladies. We talked and figured we’d go back to were we ditched our packs, have a snack and a drink, and give it a bit longer. We were just putting our packs on when trapntrav looks over my shoulder and says, what the f*ck is that?
Up come the binocs and it’s a sheep with a screwed up horn, looking at us from under a 100 yds. We freeze, and he slowly saunters cross slope on the hummock angling away from us. And he brought friends. But only the other immature ram we saw last night. The couple of interest were not with them. The group fed over and out of sight, we snuck closer. This happened several times until we saw one of the ones we were looking for come out of a different seam ahead of where the immature rams were feeding. The first look we had at him was 470yds, we looked him over and we were confident but not 100% he was legal. He bedded and was facing a way from us, we waited for the others to move out of sight, and we slithered closer. Now 310 yds, and level about two of three grassy hummocks away. We looked him over and were sure; I tried to settle in for a prone shot with the bipods, but couldn’t get comfortable, before he slowly shifted down slope in his bed, showing me only the top half of his body, then disappearing. The immature group joined him in the disappearing act. We moved closer and waited. They reappeared, coming out of the last seam at the edge of the saddle and at the foot of the slope. 260yds slightly uphill, we waited a seemingly loooong time until he was clear of the immature rams and broadside. I settled in for a kneeling shot with the bipods, and shot. I hit him, but too far behind the shoulder, a quick reload and hit him again, this time on the mark, through the shoulders. He wobbled around and had blood on his muzzle, but wouldn’t go down. I put another shot low on the shoulder and he dropped.
I watched as he rolled and died, I couldn’t really believe what I had just done!
He turns out to be a nice average ram for this area, 8 ½ years old, just under 36†by approx 35†on the splintered side, 13 ½ “ bases
We went back and grabbed the packs, moved him a short distance to take advantage of the scenery, and took some pictures. We worked on him, and loaded up by 3pm.
We wobbled into camp at 6pm, after a quick stop at the hobbit camp to add damp sleeping bags and emergency bags to our loads.
Mountain house supper and fresh sheep tenderloin cooked on a rock by the fire we built, was a meal fit for a king!
We dried out our sleeping bags as best we could, finished caping out the sheep, and fleshing out the skull. Then we collapsed into bed, discussing how I’ve been late before and my wife never got freaked out, and that how trapntrav had told his wife about what might happen if we got one on Friday the 19th.
Sept.20th
Broke camp, packed up and headed down, with heavy packs. The steep portions of the descent wobbled the legs a bit, but I sure like my poles. We got back to the truck, had a celebratory beer, and went to the nearest phone to call the ladies. The call was made at 1145 am, and the ladies were at the RCMP station asking about the first steps to start a search and rescue mission. This had been a bad fall in our area, several hunters going missing, several dying of natural causes in camp. The ladies were about to get friends to start looking for us, when we called. It’s good to know lots of people you know are willing to drop what they are doing to help out if needed.
There were a few ruffled feathers to be smoothed out when we got home, but it makes for a good story now. I think we can even make the ladies laugh at it now, but not too hard.
The taxidermist, who mounted trapntrav’s sheep from Oct/07, said he would be happy to do another one. So he should be on the wall shortly after my first trip to Africa taxidermy shows up next fall!
