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Thread: Realising the hunting season of my dream: sheep, grizzly, elk, moose (heavy pics)

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    Dawson Creek, BC
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    Realising the hunting season of my dream: sheep, grizzly, elk, moose (heavy pics)

    This year was my third year attempting to chase a Stone sheep ram but my second year as a hunter. In 2010 my brother harvested a nice mountain goat and last year after moving to BC I harvested a goat as well. Both of us are very happy with our progression since we were new and green mountain hunter. We enjoyed each of our hard hikes and hunting trips in very remote country but harvesting a sheep was and still is the ultimate goal.

    I’m sharing again this year my hunting season, as it progressed. Since I was serious in my attempt to harvest a sheep I planned two Stone sheep hunting trip this year, 11 days in August and 12 days in October, and I was motivated like I’ve never been before. My last two hunts were in different territories and like any un-guided hunt the land reserves many surprises in access, steepness, water level, trails, presence of wildlife etc even with the best preparation and intel. We lost so much time on both hunts figuring where and how to travel to access the desired mountains. All our hard work paid off in the end with now each a mature goat under our belt.

    Unfortunately for me my sheep hunting partner, aka my younger and uglier brother hahaha, couldn’t make it this year. After discussing with a good hunting friend that never hunted in the Rockies, he offered to join me in my adventure. Also since I was now eligible this spring for the LEH, I applied for a grizzly tag and the Kamloops sheep tag. Obviously I didn’t get the sheep LEH but luck was on my side and my sheep hunt turn into a combo sheep/grizzly hunt. I was extremely happy to have such an opportunity to hunt two wild animals of that calibre!!!

    For my August hunt my priority was the sheep and I was going to focus my October hunt for a grizzly. But if an opportunity was available on either game I was not going to turn it down.


    End of July

    Disappointed I learn that my good friend and hunting partner wasn’t going to make it for legit reason. Not mad I reflected what to do and it was out of question that I wasn’t going on my sheep hunt. I couldn’t find someone serious, dedicated and with the same time off on such short notice so I decided my hunt was going to be a solo sheep hunt. Now I seriously had to review all my gear and food list, let me tell you guys I do eat a lot so cutting on the food was tough to do.

    Was I up to the challenge for a difficult and far hike, face what mother nature would throw at me and the solitude for 11 days, I tough so. I was much more motivated this year than I’ve been for the last two trips and that was a good thing!!


    Few days before I left

    My good friend who was supposed to come on my trip came over to show me his Dall sheep horns he harvested a few days earlier on a hunt he won. A very nice 12.5 years old ram and I was hopping it would bring me luck touching his sheep horns.


    Sunday August 19

    The big days finally arrived after a long wait that never seamed to finish!!! I was working night shift and the next crew shows up for 6:00 but at 5:30 the boss looked at me and said "What are you still doing here". In no time I left the plant and I was heading home. I completed the last touch to the gear list and left home with a very heavy backpack but I knew I had everything to be safe, comfortable and eat just enough. After a long drive day dreaming what this hunt would be like, very tired I camped beside the truck that evening question to rest and not push myself too hard after working a night shift.




    Saturday August 20

    I went back hunting somewhat in the same area where I hunted last year. The big advantage I had this time was the knowledge and the experience of last year’s hunt on how to access where I wanted to go without wasting time. It was "faster" but don’t think it was easier! I had to hike to a spot I named the lost horse valley, after that I was going in unknown territory which turn out to be a brutal son of a bi*ch hike.

    Here I am all loaded up and also a small grizzly foot print with wolf tracks in the mud after one of the many creek crossing.

    Shoot straight or eat track soup.

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    Re: Realising the hunting season of my dream: sheep, grizzly, elk, moose (heavy pics)




    For the first time while hiking in on a sheep hunt it wasn’t raining, I had a beautiful day with a blue sky but it was hot. Halfway into my hike I started to seriously play in hill and mountain side country. In early evening I started to push more intensively since I was still climbing in a steep spot without making much progress in distance and there was no flat spot to set up camp for a good 3 kilometres according to my map. Earlier in the day I had some leg cramps in the calves and hamstring and took care of it but at that point I was pushing my legs to their limit.




    In late evening the leg cramps came back but much worse since the previous two hours I climbed an insane steep mountain side. I wanted to continue since I was less than a mile from the flatter ground but my body couldn’t follow my spirit at that point. I taught I was physically fit and ready but amazingly a motionless rocky mountain played me out. I was forced to take some breaks to relax my legs every 20 steps since my legs didn’t want to move. It’s at that moment I decided to find the best spot to pitch my tent in a small narrow and steep valley. Both valley sides were mostly 70 degree steep so I was forced to push more. I think I did 250 meters in an hour due to the required breaks. At one point my legs seriously locked and didn’t want to move at all. I was standing motionless with useless legs that didn’t want to move to keep my balance or to bend so I could sit down for an other break.

    With a very heavy backpack I started to be scared I would loose balance and would not be able to control my weight since my legs couldn’t move. That’s how I can describe the pain and the situation I was facing at that point. Eventually I had to seriously force to bend my legs and let me tell you that was one of the most intense pain I had in my life. Awful and not fun at all!!! After a decent break and massaging my legs I had to continue since there was not way I could sleep in my tent where I was. Eventually I found a steep spot I decided was decent enough set up camp. After a good meal I glassed the mountain sides and found a nice billy goat. It was fun to at least see a goat that evening after such an intense day hiking.

    I must have waked up ten times that night since my sleeping bag was sliding down in the tent.

    Shoot straight or eat track soup.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    Re: Realising the hunting season of my dream: sheep, grizzly, elk, moose (heavy pics)







    Tuesday August 21


    I don’t remember turning off the alarm at 5:00 but I was up at 6:00 with knees on the forehead again. I was out of water and I could hear the creek a couple hundred meters bellow, kind of lazy I had a dry breakfast. The day looked promissing with no clouds in the sky for a second day in a row, a rare thing in my experience in the mountains. I felt good physically and knew I had only half a day of hiking left to do. I did find the same billy goat and two other one too, some nice one but no sheep.

    The rest of the hike was great in amazing country and I was kind of excited to finally see what those mountains really look after spending so much time studying the area on so various maps and google earth.


    Shoot straight or eat track soup.

  5. #4
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    Re: Realising the hunting season of my dream: sheep, grizzly, elk, moose (heavy pics)




    Mid day I was finally at the valley head I had to climb. The area appears to be great sheep country so I set up my tent hidden in a low spot and glass the whole afternoon to sunset. I didn’t find anything except for the marmots that kept whistling constantly. As soon as I got in my tent a storm finally made its way in the valley.




    Wednesday August 22

    The rain was still falling at sunrise so I went back sleeping, the body needed it but I wanted to glass. At 9:00 I woke up, had breakfast while organising my gear for the final hike. I started my hike without the rain but some nice clouds were all over the valley and peaks. The hike for the summit was fairly easy when I compare it to my other similar climb I’ve done, the rocks were steady and easy on the ankles.



    Shoot straight or eat track soup.

  6. #5
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    Re: Realising the hunting season of my dream: sheep, grizzly, elk, moose (heavy pics)





    Almost to the summit I stop to glass the valley head again, it sure did look like good country. I found a game trail in the shale rock in between a small patch of grass and rugged area. After a couple hours I didn’t find any sheep and decided to finish my climb for a new valley head. Once on the other side of the summit I setup my camp in a alpine bowl and organise my backpack of only the essential for hunting. At that same time some big clouds moved in and the rain started to fall again and the temperature was dropping.


    Shoot straight or eat track soup.

  7. #6
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    Re: Realising the hunting season of my dream: sheep, grizzly, elk, moose (heavy pics)

    awesome pics, keep them comming. wait a go on taking out some dogs and i'm lookin forward to the rest.
    bhb
    i didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a friggin vegatarian

  8. #7
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    Re: Realising the hunting season of my dream: sheep, grizzly, elk, moose (heavy pics)




    In the evening the rain stopped and I had an opportunity to go glass a valley I had good hopes with. As soon as I was set up the wind shifted and I could feel the air was moving into the valley and up in my direction, I was a the valley head. After 10 minutes of glassing I had to call it a day since the clouds covered the whole valley, it’s a good thing I had something to read since it was early evening at the tent.



    Shoot straight or eat track soup.

  9. #8
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    Feb 2008
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    Re: Realising the hunting season of my dream: sheep, grizzly, elk, moose (heavy pics)

    At one point the rain and the clouds moved giving me an opportunity to glass again. Well that didn’t last very long and I was back again at the tent for good.


    Thursday August 23

    With some major rain falling I was forced to stay in the tent all morning. At 11:00 the clouds were moving into my valley so I loaded my gear to climb back the summit to glass the valley head I came from. I wanted to spend more time glassing that spot to find what made the tracks in the shale rocks I mentioned earlier. I missed the prime glassing time but I still glassed the area with my binos and spotting scope meticulously without finding any sheep.




    After three hours glassing I went back up to glass the prime valley. I only found two very fat marmots and a porcupine. Finding the porcupine was funny since I briefly detected some movement in some shrubs and I started to think could be a grizzly until I saw him again few minutes later. In mid evening the clouds came back and take a wild guess what came with them? Yes some stupid rain again and I was forced to head back to the tent to read and missing the prime glassing time AGAIN.


    Friday August 24

    Up to mid morning the rain was falling hard followed by thick fog clouds!!!! At that point my hunt was tough mentally from the fact I had to stay in my tent for long period during daytime, I didn’t get decent opportunities to glass and only goats were found. I decided to take my chances and relocate for a neighbour valley I wanted to checkout, so I organised my gear and started my hike in some very beautiful but tough country. This valley wasn’t far but the hike was 3 km to where I could set up camp in a good spot and well located to glass efficiently. This new valley is fairly long and about 600 yards wide. While hiking I spotted a large quantity of game trails in the shale rocks high up on the opposite steep mountain side, that brought back my motivation! All the game tails were funnelling at three mains spots down in the valley in green dense vegetation. The opposite mountain side is so steep that my plan was to find the sheep and study their movement to eventually ambush them at right wind where they like to feed down the valley.

    Also during my hike I found for the first time a lot of droppings. I had high hopes of finding something with all the signs present.



    Shoot straight or eat track soup.

  10. #9
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    Re: Realising the hunting season of my dream: sheep, grizzly, elk, moose (heavy pics)






    Last edited by Call of the Wild; 11-06-2012 at 03:11 AM.
    Shoot straight or eat track soup.

  11. #10
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    Re: Realising the hunting season of my dream: sheep, grizzly, elk, moose (heavy pics)





    Shoot straight or eat track soup.

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