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Thread: A solo hunter quest for stone sheep (with back story and pics)

  1. #21
    guest Guest

    Re: A solo hunter quest for stone sheep (with back story and pics)

    Keep er coming ...... Brings a guy back to the Sheep hills and the most rewarding hunts of a mnt hunters life.
    Great thread. Cudos to your hard work.
    CT

  2. #22
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Victoria BC
    Posts
    832

    Re: A solo hunter quest for stone sheep (with back story and pics)

    Super gangster ... very impressed man!

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Posts
    36

    Re: A solo hunter quest for stone sheep (with back story and pics)



    The ram is obviously full curl and grazing at the bottom of the drainage. I talk to myself to settle myself down and look at my watch, time is against me but #*$@ it I cant pass this up. I start down climbing feverishly into this new area. The old ram is so sketchy he knows something is up. Every time I stop and glass again i can see his head is up and checking out what the sound is. He doesn’t think to look up ... I wait until he starts grazing again then I down climb some more. My heart is racing. The variables I’m dealing with at this point are so many. Don’t fall number one, don’t spook him and if you get him can you get out before dark because the temperature is dropping and you are a looong ways away from camp. There are 3 cruxes to navigate on the way down. 5 to 10 metre sections where I need to rock climb facing the rock. I get past them and in the distance I see an obvious cliff that is not climbable. The ram starts grazing towards the base of the cliff that I am approaching from above. He is now out of sight. But I see on the far left there is a way to circumnavigate the cliff but I decide to try to get the shot from the cliff ledge directly above him. I inch my way down on my ass stopping from time to time to stand to see if he is still there, he is but he continues to graze towards the base of the cliff. The shale rock is so unforgiving in the steep slope and i do all I can to not let a rock roll over the cliff. I get to the cliff ledge and position myself right at the cliff lip. I wedge myself in some rocks so I don’t fall and look directly down. My swaro el range give me an adjusted distance of 206 yards to the ram. I put the cross hairs on its vitals but my rest and body are all awkward. I panic, so much is riding on this shot cuz I realize too just how effing big he is. Holy &$@&. I can’t manage my heart rate, my confidence of being a “sniper” is out the window, the variables are all running through my head. I don’t go through my shooting routine the reticle is shaking a bit but I still pull the trigger. I never do that. He jumps but starts running away. I panic more. I reset to try and shoot again. He slows and I pull the trigger but I miss and he runs away further. He runs some more and slows i shoot one more time but miss again. But at this point the distance is so much greater and I didn’t adjust the turret. And then he looks back at me then turns away walks over a ledge and just like that he was gone.


    Now I have cried three times in my adult life. When both my daughters were born and when my dog died. But when the ram of my dreams went over the ledge I pretty much cried like a little bitch. I knew I may never in my life find a ram like that. I knew I couldn’t chase after him because I was too far from camp and i could freeze to death if i did an overnight bivy. Even though I was so confident I hit him on the first shot I started second guessing myself. Maybe I didn’t even hit him. The angle was nearly 80 degrees so the jump I perceived could of just been him spooking and running, he had slowed but not swayed and I didn’t do my routine before my shot. Then I went back to “but I’m sure I got him.” Regardless I had to get back to camp. To circumnavigate the cliff and to chase him I could freeze to death if I got too far. And It was way too dangerous to scale class 4 and 5 rock in the dark. So I started climbing back out. And climbing out after what just happened was like top 10 worst feelings in my life. I was thinking to myself why do I do this. If I had got him it would of been the top 10 best things in my life. Where is the middle ground in this type of trophy hunting. I get back to camp and couldn’t sleep the whole night. But my plan was to go back.


    Cont...

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Posts
    162

    Re: A solo hunter quest for stone sheep (with back story and pics)

    Really? One more post tonight . . . Please!

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    BC
    Posts
    2,291

    Re: A solo hunter quest for stone sheep (with back story and pics)

    ........sounds intense

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Posts
    36

    Re: A solo hunter quest for stone sheep (with back story and pics)







    Mentally and physically exhausted I toss and turn all night. What just happened? Is he dead is he wounded did i miss is he gone is he eaten is he still there. I realize too just how far he is from my sleeping bag at that moment. I have to climb out of the drainage I’m in, rock climb down those sketchy sections. Then circumnavigate the cliff where I made the shot then go look over the ledge where I last saw him and see where to go from there. But whatever I had to do it.


    I wake up a couple hours before light and everything is frozen again. I hate getting ready in the dark when everything is frozen. It sucks. I hate taking a crap when it’s dark frozen while holding a rifle and looking for bears. With my gear on I mentally prepare myself for the day. I can’t underestimate the logistics of getting to this location. Sketchy scrambling up and down. The mental anguish I was bearing too was so heavy. But I just kept saying stay safe because there are a lot worst things in life (even though it was hard to believe at that moment). I make my pack feather light with only emergency gear. It gets light out when I reach the technical spots. I make the long long climb out of the drainage. Once I get to summit ridge I see mountain lion tracks again this time over my tracks from the day before. The mountain lion has obviously been following or stalking me. Now I’m straight up afraid of grizzlies but a mountain lion can suck it. Now I down climb and get all the way back to the cliff ledge where I had made the shot. I make the scramble to circumnavigate it. I look at the rock and snow close to where he was standing when I shot at him. My body shivers.... Mutha &$@&er I see blood! I knew I was a sniper (haha). I almost start running to the location where he went over the ledge. I see more blood. I peer over that ledge and see not a cliff drop but a second ledge and the ram of my dreams laying dead on that ledge.
    I feel faint relief absolute jubilation and a little panic all at the same time. I just couldn’t really take in what I was seeing. I was in shock. But not enough shock that I couldn’t take my hero pics.










    and I get a bit emotional. I may not of been pursuing sheep for that long when compared to others but I put in so much hard work in my prep. All the podcasts, books, forum reading, gear testing, family support issues, shooting practice, time in the gym and on the effing stair master wearing mountaineering boots and 60lb pack while lululemon chicks looking at me funny.. all worth it.


    But that damn mountain lion following me got some of the sheep. The front leg of the sheep had been chewed clean off. Damage looked to be too small to be a bear so it was probably that lion.






    After my photos i begin skinning feverishly because I know time is still against me.. and I take extra hide because of the defect. I felt the hairs on my neck stand a bit like I was being watched. Spinning my head around constantly. Whatever ate that leg I felt like was watching me. I kept my larger knife and rifle close. I skinned the hide but left the head on for now. I take the remaining meat out and packed it all. I notice all my water is frozen solid but my emergency gear included a stove and fuel for water. I melt some snow fill up my water pour in my electrolytes and get ready for a climb out that I wasn’t sure how I was gonna do it. There were 3 big cruxes of 5 to 10 metres sections on the way to the top of the ridge that were not possible with the weight on my back. The pack was just too heavy to manage in these sections. I had to take out the head move it up, take out the meat move it up as high I could reach. Climb a couple metres and repeat to get these technical sections. When I get to the mountain lion tracks at the top of the ridge I was elated cuz no more uphill. Time for another pic.




    cont...






  7. #27
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Posts
    36

    Re: A solo hunter quest for stone sheep (with back story and pics)

    I managed to get back to camp just as the sun was setting. Anyway the rest is history. Went to sleep. Spent the entire next day resting and admiring.



    Then I skinned the rest of the hide off the head








    and processed and cleaned everything and prepped for the hike out the next day. That day of rest was nice so the day I was leaving I packed up camp and jammed everything into my pack. I’m 170lbs 6foot1 with a pack over a 120lbs I was so wobbly on my feet. I dumped my remaining food to help weight management and hiked out. I’m very methodical and all business on these trips. Even when I was in the bush and had harvested the ram of my dreams I kept saying to myself “settle down don’t get too excited you still have to hike out and stay safe.... careful of bears ... stay on track etc etc”. But when I got to the truck .. that’s when I truly let it all out. Screaming for joy on the accomplishment. The CI said it was the biggest ram he had personally scored from the area. 11.5 years old maybe 12 I just said it was 12 lol. Thank you for reading. The solo hunt is challenging and exhilarating but in my opinion without sharing it it’s kinda just caged up in your mind. And I’m thanful to be able to share this with all of you.
    Last edited by chinook7; 10-06-2018 at 03:17 PM.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Kelowna
    Posts
    303

    Re: A solo hunter quest for stone sheep (with back story and pics)

    Impressive hunt and ram, congrats
    BCWF
    VIPDC

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Monashees
    Posts
    86

    Re: A solo hunter quest for stone sheep (with back story and pics)

    Wow thanks a lot for the share, super job you sure deserve the fantastic experience.

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    central saanich
    Posts
    890

    Re: A solo hunter quest for stone sheep (with back story and pics)

    I'm not a sheep or goat guy but I'm envious reading a tale like this. Well done.

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