I am so happy I get to be the first to comment - absolutely sensational and I know exactly how you were feeling. Words can't describe the feeling of the work and the result.
For falling asleep at midnight, and the day I had the day before, I thought I’d sleep later then 6 am. Today was hike out day. It took me 3 camps to get here, but I never did travel to far between camps. I was shooting to be out in a long day.
By 9 am bean dog and I were loaded up, heading out heavy. This was the heaviest pack my dog has handled. Not by a lot, but certainly heavier. When it comes to her pack, she’s like a good horse, she walks over, dips her head down, and often, will lift her own leg for the leg hole in the harness. But when I placed the bags on here, she give me one of her “wtf man” looks. She’s a champ.
We had a long gradual up hill pull to get back up to where we originally spotted the rams from, stopping at the little puddle from earlier in the trip.but we made good time, when we hit that little saddle, it was all downhill from here. As soon as we hit the downhill, my legs took over my mind, and just went by themselves.
I was pretty amazed to find our stashed food still all intact, I though for sure the wolverine would have found it. We stopped for a coffee break, loaded up the extras and were back on the trail. One thing I was not at all looking forward too, was the creek crossings. I didn’t count them going in, but I did coming out, 13 to be exact, in the last 1.5km of the trail. I probably ended up doing about a km in my cheap $10 can tire crocks, the last 5-6 crossings were a bit deep for loaded down bean, its not the first time iv hauled my tired dogs gear before, and certainly not the last. But soon enough, I had enough. On with the hanwags, nose down ass up on a mission march.
That old truck seat was a welcoming sight. I had the berkley fish scale in the truck, so gave our packs a look. Mine came in at 98 lbs, bean dog packed out 17lbs of sheep meat. 10.11km on the Gaia gps from my last camp that looked into ram basin to the truck, and made it just under 6 hours.
Thanks for checkin it out HBC, im still waiting on the inspector, I think my ram is 7 years old, possibly 8, but does make the full curl. Hes 35" on one side, 35.5" on the other for those curious. Im a happy hunter, and proud of this ram. And that meat!! I think its better then mountain goat even haha, delicious!!
Cheers, and good luck to anyone heading out there, never give up!
A few gear reviews.
#1 is more a shout out, to Bell 2!!
I wasn’t going to add this, but good service deserves to be spread. Heading up, it was hot!! Felt like in the 30’s. When I got to bell 2, I was starving. With all my gear in the truck, I hate leaving it out of sight, even with my big mean ferocious cuddle licking dog in it.
I left my truck running with the AC on, made a mad dash inside to order a hamburger, I told the fellow at the counter that I was kinda in a hurry as my dog was in the running truck with the AC on. Without a thought, he kindly said “oh heck bring her on in if she’s friendly!”, that man made my day, and bean dogs. Great food and great service at bell 2!!
The Sitka timberline pant!! I just purchased these from Omineca sports days before the hunt. I always have 2 pairs of pants on a back pack hunt, I lived in these timberlines, my other pants were just extra weight lol, and their tough!! I don’t know why I didn’t get them years ago.
My dogs pack, Iv been getting a lot of questions. It’s the palisades pack made by a company called ruffwear. This is her third sheep hunt with it, plus a goat hunt, plus countless miles around home. The pack has given no reason to look at anything else. The water bladders and pockets are perfect, keeps my dog cooler on hot days, and the removable bags, now that we’ve used them, are a must. The adjustability of the harness, it’s easy to get a perfect fit. If your looking for a dog pack, buy with confidence.
The bad!
Rab sil tarp 2.
It’s a good wind or sun block, it’s light and packs real small, but if it rains, you will get wet. This is my third season with this tarp, no idea why I keep packing it.
Black diamond FLZ. I bought 2 sets of these before last season, a set for me and a set for Dad. Last seasons sheep hunt, one of dads poles broke, it looked like the glue had come apart that held the plastic pieces inside the pole, making it useless and unable to lock together. This hunt, I had a pole do the exact same thing. I could sure tell I was missing my fourth leg on the hike out.
HuntingBC Champ
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