First Stone.

[Huss]

Finally got to pull the trigger on a ram. It's definitely not an easy hunt lots of bumps and bruises but in the end worth every little bit. Last year was our first year trying for sheep and anything we could get a tag for in the northern Rockies. A good friend of mine started it all by asking me if I was interested in starting a yearly trip up north?? Of course I did. The hardest part I found trying to start sheep hunting is finding someone reliable to go with. Our first year was a good trip saw lots of goats and bou but no sheep and no shots fired. I was ok with that as I had guessed it would be a few years before we got our mountain hunting figured out. This year was a hard learning curve year but it had a great result. It started harmlessly enough. My partner left his visa in ft St. John when we fuelled up, no big deal I got it covered onward we go from Fort Nelson. As we are pulling up to our final destination we hit a pothole and send the bike through the back window. Awesome! (Partners truck too). We unload and tarp the truck up and start out. We have managed to get all our gear for base camp plus our packs on one side by side so it's a good load. We cross the first creek and are laughing. We thought this was going to be hard due to all the rain but the water is low, things are looking up. We get to the second crossing and it looks ok. We start to cross in a spot we used the previous year but it has changed!! We get halfway and things get bad. Down goes the bike and up comes the water. I jump in cause there isn't much else to do. I get to the bank and look back to see my partner is on the roof of his bike keeping dry. After our panic slows down a little bit we make a plan to get our drowned bike and gear out of the river. With s bit of heavy lifting and pulling we get it on shore and assess our dilemma. No tools bike hydro locked and on the wrong side of the river from the truck. Set up amp in the middle of the river is the only option. Get dry and warm and cross back to the truck 8 km away to get tools should be a fun day.

[SAVAGEONE]

Hope you took pictures ( of the truck and bike):twisted:

[Johnny G1]

That sure sounds like a fun trip, hope you get it fix and back to the truck.

[landphil]

Looking forward to the rest of the story. Sounds like the stuff memories are made of so far.

[BCbillies]

Yep! Things were going south on them right from the get go . . . all the makings for a memorable and successful hunt!

[REMINGTON JIM]

Holy Phuck ! Things are going WELL ! Good Luck - wanna see some pics too please ! :wink: Cheers RJ

[Huss]

In the morning we made our plan. Strip down and cross the river with our clothes in our dry bags. Sounds easy enough. It would have looked pretty odd to see two guys in those underwear with rifles strapped to their backs out in the middle of the river but there we were. I got swept down at one point but managed to get across cold and soaked. Lucky for us a pair of bikes pulled up the trail as we started our walk to the truck. They gave us a ride to the truck and back dropped us at the river again so we could cross. Thanks to those guys. It made our day go that much better. With tools at the bike we started the draining of h2o. After an hour or two we got the bike running, sort of. The gas was a solid 50/50 water mixture. For the record a Polaris will run on this lol. I managed to get most of the water out and dump the gas we had in to get a better gas to water ratio and we were hunting again finally. The thought did cross our minds to go home with our tails between our legs since we really didn't know how long the bike was going to run, but we were across so why not go find a drainage to hike up close by and give it a go. So we didn't go to far and set up camp with hopes the river would be easier to cross on the way home!.

[Huss]

Next day we threw on the packs and started out. The climb was pretty good. But as the day went on the weather rolled in rain started. Rain turned to sleet and that turned to snow and fog. Regardless we got on top and set up the tent with low visibility we figured we were in a good flat spot with wind cover so that's where we stayed. As soon as we got camp set up the snow picked up and a nice fresh 3 inches hit us. We gathered snow and melted it to fill our water supply. The snow stopped after a while and the skies clear to show us that we were in paradise. With it cleared off we had a short 400 yard walk to look over the end of the valley basin. In about 30 mins we spotted sheep and more sheep in an hour we saw two sentry Rams and 25 ewes and lambs. Good night, back to the tent the spirits were high and mountain house tasted good. Couple games of crib and a good nights sleep was needed.

[rifleman]

More please !!!!

[Huss]

Day 4 started out good clear skies and fresh snow made spotting sheep pretty easy. Right away we found the two banana Rams from the night before but this time they had a bigger friend who we nicknamed stubs. We got to about 400 yards from them and set up. Stubs was just about over his nose with a nice lamb tip on one side and busted off 6 inches or so on the other. Only one horn to try and get over his nose or age we decided he needed a year or so and so he got to fight another day. Down at the end of the valley a band of 12 showed up and I had casually said that I think they are the ewes and lambs from the night before, but was I wrong. I started taking a few photos and zoomed in. Ram ram ram ram ram I looked at my partner and said "all Rams I'm thinking we should head that way!"
Most turned out to be about 3/4 curl and bananas but two were worth a look. The first one was heavy Broomed we named him broomer and the other lamb tipped that didn't make the cut. So back to concentrating on broomer I made the decision that he wasn't over his nose but really close and broomed off so I started to do what I said I wouldn't on my first count annuli. I came to the conclusion he was legal. Since I lost the Rock Paper Scissors match at the bottom of the hill it was my partners shot first. He was really unsure about it and said if I was sure that I could shoot!! That's all I needed I set up and ranged him at 450. A little to far for my meat hunting setup to be comfy shooting. But my partners huskemah setup I was comfy at 500. He handed me his rifle. (Can't ask for a better partner by the way). I lined up he gave me the yardage again and BOOM! SMACK. Good hit. I was in awe I had just shot my first sheep I had to be reminded by my buddy to keep shooting. Another shot went over his head and by the time he stopped and was getting wobbly he was at 516. I dialed in and one last shot had him tumbling down the hill and the yahooing began. Then there is the nervous walk up to see if your choice was the right one. It was the best feeling in the world to see 9 maybe ten years of horn on his head. Next to marrying my wife the month before cause that's what I think I should say ha ha ha. High fives and cheers turned into work! Capeing deboneing and packing.
We had it all done about noon and camp packed up. Headed for whiskey camp at the bottom.

[Huss]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5497&stc=1

[Huss]

We did manage to get across and back to our truck trouble free. Sigh of relief!

[TheProvider]

Awesome story and picture!

[Sofa King]

awesome adventure.
its all the mishaps that make the best stories.
big congrats.

[300H&H]

Super sheep congratulations.

[Huss]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5498&stc=1
I will put up a couple more pics tonight

[buckshot]

Riveting story! Well deserved trophy.

[twunt]

Awesome. Congrats. Thanks for sharing.

[pin_head]

Huge kudos to your partner! I hope the karma rewards his sportsmanship and he gets another chance before too long


Than for the great read,
Brad

[ryanb]

Great job on your first stone ram. One word almost always defines a successful sheep hunt : "perseverance".

I am going to need a better angle on the horns so I can decide if it's legal, and possibly report you to the CO if it's not.

That last part was a joke by the way....

[.264winmag]

Thanks for the story and great job. Aside from the travelling and bike problems sounded like an enjoyable trip! Way to keep at er and great ram, congrats. Great shootin too!

[REMINGTON JIM]

Congrats on a NICE ram and sharing a Kool adventure storey too ! :-) RJ