well after days of hunting ,talking with locals ,and meeting some great people along the way .my son and i connected .
Day 1 , prepared for all we loaded up the trailer and headed for the ferry off the rock again , was the worst long weekend drive in history out of vancouver ,8hrs pass and we arrive ,boys sleeping already ,into bed big excitement for the morning hunt.
Day2 ,up early packs ready we are off hiking looking for a good vantage point to start our search ,after 2 hrs of glassing finally we see a ram appearing from nowhere , spotting scope up and verify we have a decent ram perhaps a shooter .not knowing exactly where we could try to sneak onto this ram as the canyon looked impassable , we decided that the 409 shot was best kept for another day .
the weather was extremely hot , 25 degrees by 9am . the Ram was bedded and then as quickly as he appeared he disappeared.
afternoon ,we decided to try and hike into where we had spotted the ram ,after 2.5 hrs of hiking in the afternoon heat we decide that 35degree weather was too hot to hunt and opted to retreat to the lake for a cool down.wow did that ever feel good.
Day3, being that the weather was so hot we had decided that another early morning was required of us to find a Ram , we glassed for awhile and spotted a small group of ewes and lambs , no rams . after it started to warm up we walked a long trail which parallel the canyon.nothing spotted .
Day 4 was a travel day with a quick hunt for mule deer , we spotted a decent buck but unfortunately he moved and stepped into the timber as a truck drove up the road behind us. 6 hrs of driving back on the rock .
A 4 day wait till we could return for our next try , we had gathered some new info and a few tips on where to go to see a few more rams. being very optimistic about our new locations to try we both could wait to get hiking again.
Day5 we took a drive to our new location packed our packs full of water and food for the day and off we went , after about 25 minutes of hiking we spotted a small ram bedded on a rock just inside the timber . we looked the area surrounding the ram very carefully but couldn't locate another ram . we spotted several mulie does amongst the rocks and draws . no more sheep that day . 8 hrs later back at the truck.
Day6 was a travel day so we made a plan for a quick morning hunt ,and a quick hike , we drove up and glassed small draw after about a hr we spotted 3 rams and 2 ewes the rams were about 4-5 years old legal for us to shoot but decided again we were looking for a much bigger ram . the hike turns up nothing but a few blue grouse . 5 hrs back on the rock
planning our final hunt we decided we should take a few extra days we went as late as possible ,as I suspected the bigger rams might be moving around a bit more .
Day 7 planning the first morning hunt we decided to check a few spot we had seen a lot of sheep but not many rams, we spotted 5 rams an 7 ewes on our first hike one ram very close to 3/4 curl but collared so passed on him . the other a bit smaller .we hiked and glassed most of the day, in the evening we asked if we could gain access to hunt hills we had glassed sheep on but were unable to get there without permission .that evening we could have shot a ram but passed in hopes of a larger ram .
Day 8 we head out to the new spot to try a big hike back into the hills behind the private land , very steep terrain ,as we headed up we spotted several ewes and a small ram ,we stayed put for a bit and watched them move about the mountain ,after about 15minutes i decided to move on as i was pretty sure there wasn't other sheep there , we had only moved over the next ridge and wow , sheep city must have been a group of at least 25 or bigger just above us . there was a few decent rams but nothing that made us go wow so , we watched them move off , we climbed up a very steep bluff which took so time . When we finally reached the top we stopped for a break and my son glassed over and spotted some sheep bedded on the hill across from us . there was three rams one looked good but being we still had two days left to hunt we thought maybe the chance of a big ram was still there,and decided to pass on the biggest ram .we found a few mulie sheds that day hiking and also had our first rattle snake encounter which made me jump about 6ft in the air .back to the truck about 5:30 pm ,dinner and bed .
Day 9reluctant to head back to the same spot i thought we should try another spot that might just pay off , we hiked up some very steep bluffs and encountered two more rattlers on route , video and pictures made for some excitement . but very little sheep sign or sheep in this location. we decided to hike out and tea back to where we had seen sheep on day 7 hoping to see a bigger ram with the small group of lambs and ewes and a few rams .
Day10second to last day , we decide that we should shoot a ram if its close to 3/4 curl , we hike back into the mountains where we had last seen the rams we had considered taking on day8 , we spotted several mulie bucks , two spikes and a spork .but decide to not shoot as we had sheep on the mind .we glassed till our eyes were sore and still couldn't locate the rams we had seen .after 3 hrs of searhing i thought maybe we should move down low and glass a bit more of the hill rather then concentrating on a small area .
one hike back we spotted a nice mulie fork buck , which at this point was extremely lucky as my partners trigger finger is very twitchy .moments later we spot three sheep , we move down then spot a bunch more about 14 together thinking this must be the same group we had seen the other day but still no rams .
I'm starting to think does hesitation lead to regret, being a bit down that we haven't locate these rams , i decide to take one last look at the top the valley , i can't believe what i see a rump of a sheep on a rock bluff about a mile away we grab the spotting scope and
verify its a decent ram , lets go its time to make a play on this ram .
as we get closer about 503 yards ,i notice that we actually have three rams .
THE PLAY
we decide that a long range shot , is something we would do if that was our only opportunity.we have the bipod and shooting bags with us to make the shot if necessary . we positioned ourselves between some trees to stay hidden and close the gap quickly .
into some rock bluffs now only about 200 yards away . but not able to see all three rams . we are literally crawling now into a safe spot to get a shot , my son only age 12 , but very confident with his shooting , finally get him into a position waiting for the biggest ram to move out from behind a large pine for a clear shot ,video rolling ,dad can i take the safe off ? yes behind the shoulder squeeze the trigger son ................bang , the ram bolts i was surprised by the shot , it was a solid hit ,a lot of blood in the chest area 45 to 50 yards ,it was all over.
what a beautiful animal Parker's ram was 6 years of age with another good half year of growth going . Promise to get the pictures up shortly thought I had lost everything on here hoping this works .The pictures are on page 3 thanks to Matt.
http://s1078.photobucket.com/user/da...017-08/2017-08
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