MattErickson
08-10-2016, 12:52 PM
Well as some of you remember, I posted my gear list and got lots of advice for my first sheep hunt, well I planned for 15 days and seeing that I am back early it means I either got injured… or my tag is cut!
Fortunately I get to tell you about the tag cutting! So here it goes
July 30th, I left Prince George in the afternoon and drove as far as I could go until around 1am and then crashed in the back of the truck, starting to see sheep mountains for the first time drove my excitement to an all new level.
July 31st, I drove the rest of the way to my starting point. As I approached the starting point of my hike I noticed someone else parked at the base of the ridge that I had planned on hiking up. I knew there would be other people but I was a little bummed out as my gameplan had to change before I even got up the mountain.
I chose the ridge to south of where the other guys parked and started my way up. The 79lb pack that I had was sure a tough load but after 4 hours of climbing over deadfall, and scrambling through the nasty transition zone into the alpine I had my first real look at the mountains I would call home for next while.
I set up camp in the first place that was semi-flat and had a bit of shelter from the wind. By 2pm I had a small pack and headed out to do some glassing of the area and find some water (water is hard to find on these ridges and the creek was a long ways down).
I found a small snow patch a ways from camp and spirits were high as I knew I would have water for the trip so I continued on to find a nice glassing place. 20 minutes into glassing a ram stood up and I picked up his white rear end. First stone sheep I had ever seen! The spotting scope came out and I was amazed as he had some serious curlage and deserved a closer look.
I moved around the ridge and set up on him. He was still a little far to be 100% sure but I was about 90% sure he was a full curl ram. I couldn’t believe it, first afternoon and I had a ram to go after!
I looked up the ridge from where I was sitting and I saw 2 other sheep hunters sitting maybe 100 yards away…. I was expecting the worst as they starting coming down to me as I had heard horror stories of how some sheep hunters may act and as a solo hunter on my first hunt I was expecting to be told to find somewhere else to hunt.
I was pleasantly surprised as these two guys were some of the nicest hunters I have ever met. They hadn’t seen the ram but directed me to 10 other rams on the same face I was glassing. We talked that evening for a while and we decided to team up for at least part of the hunt. Having 2 experienced sheep hunters teaching me was something I am still so grateful for. I went back to camp that night with high expectations for the rest of the hunt.
August 1st Opening day!
Up before the sun and I started hiking towards Mike and Ron’s camp which was an hour up the ridge. We started glassing and immediately picked up rams but nothing worth chasing.
We spotted one ¾ curl ram bedded on skyline that pinned us down for a couple hours. Once he moved we proceeded on. As we approached one bluffy section on the ridge, Mike and I climbed up top and Ron decided to glass from below the bluff and have a nap in the sun.
Just as Mike and I came over the small bluff we spotted horns. We stopped and there was a larger, 7 year old ram (not full curl) and a banana ram bedded maybe 50 metres away. Pinned down again! We didn’t want to spook any rams in case they busted other ones as they ran off. We waited there for half an hour or so and then the rams got up and started moving around the bluff right towards Ron. We threw some rocks at Ron to wake him up and motioned for him to climb up the bluff so that the rams wouldn’t spot him. It seemed like forever as he put his boots on and his hat and pack (he had no idea why we were in a hurry). As he got settled in the bluff the rams rounded the corner and the coolest thing happened. 10meters below us the two rams came around the bluff, then the big ram stopped right where Ron was napping, smelled the ground, shook his head and turned around and made his way into some escape terrain! We were free to move on
We moved down the ridge to another glassing point where we sat for around 5 hours. We spotted 2 legal rams on the ridge to the south but decided we would look on our ridge for a couple more days before spotting them.
We heard 11 shots on that ridge to the south and 8 more further east from where we were. At 5 o’clock I decided I would break away and head up the ridge a bit further to glass into some nasty cliffy stuff. Once I got up I immediately saw 3 good rams working their way through the little basin. Up came the spotting scope and 2 were confirmed legal and 1 other was broomed off and heavier than the other (likely 8 years old). They were around 900 metres so I snuck back down the ridge and called up Mike and Ron. They had also seen the rams and Mike was within 150m but it was too steep of an angle to confirm if they were legal. We watched the rams for a couple hours and decided we would go after them again in the morning as they fed their way into a place we couldn’t make a stalk.
August 2nd
Up at 4am and headed to the place we last saw the legal rams. We glassed for 5 hours and never turned them up again so Mike and I decided to go up the mountain and around to the ridge on the opposite side that the rams were on. We saw approximately 15 other rams on our way around but nothing legal.
After glassing on a point of another ridge for a few hours we both laid down and had a nap. I awoke to Mike slapping my chest and as soon as I opened my eyes I saw rams! We were sleeping just above a sheep trail and around the corner came 8 rams within 5meters. Laying perfectly still we let them all move around us. No legal ones! Which mighta been a good thing as we had our guns a little ways away and it would have been a scramble to shoot a ram. All of those rams proceeded around the corner and stood on a small glacier eating the snow and getting away from bugs.
As 6 oclock rolled around Mike decided he would make his way back to camp. I opted to set up my siltarp and sleep right there so I was in the middle of rams in the morning. (I didn’t think to pack my sleeping bag or thermarest)
That night was the coldest night I have ever experienced! I slept in all my clothes and on top of my pack. I shook uncontrollably all night and didn’t get a wink of sleep. At 3am I was so cold that I had to fire up my jetboil and try to warm up at least a little bit.
Fortunately I get to tell you about the tag cutting! So here it goes
July 30th, I left Prince George in the afternoon and drove as far as I could go until around 1am and then crashed in the back of the truck, starting to see sheep mountains for the first time drove my excitement to an all new level.
July 31st, I drove the rest of the way to my starting point. As I approached the starting point of my hike I noticed someone else parked at the base of the ridge that I had planned on hiking up. I knew there would be other people but I was a little bummed out as my gameplan had to change before I even got up the mountain.
I chose the ridge to south of where the other guys parked and started my way up. The 79lb pack that I had was sure a tough load but after 4 hours of climbing over deadfall, and scrambling through the nasty transition zone into the alpine I had my first real look at the mountains I would call home for next while.
I set up camp in the first place that was semi-flat and had a bit of shelter from the wind. By 2pm I had a small pack and headed out to do some glassing of the area and find some water (water is hard to find on these ridges and the creek was a long ways down).
I found a small snow patch a ways from camp and spirits were high as I knew I would have water for the trip so I continued on to find a nice glassing place. 20 minutes into glassing a ram stood up and I picked up his white rear end. First stone sheep I had ever seen! The spotting scope came out and I was amazed as he had some serious curlage and deserved a closer look.
I moved around the ridge and set up on him. He was still a little far to be 100% sure but I was about 90% sure he was a full curl ram. I couldn’t believe it, first afternoon and I had a ram to go after!
I looked up the ridge from where I was sitting and I saw 2 other sheep hunters sitting maybe 100 yards away…. I was expecting the worst as they starting coming down to me as I had heard horror stories of how some sheep hunters may act and as a solo hunter on my first hunt I was expecting to be told to find somewhere else to hunt.
I was pleasantly surprised as these two guys were some of the nicest hunters I have ever met. They hadn’t seen the ram but directed me to 10 other rams on the same face I was glassing. We talked that evening for a while and we decided to team up for at least part of the hunt. Having 2 experienced sheep hunters teaching me was something I am still so grateful for. I went back to camp that night with high expectations for the rest of the hunt.
August 1st Opening day!
Up before the sun and I started hiking towards Mike and Ron’s camp which was an hour up the ridge. We started glassing and immediately picked up rams but nothing worth chasing.
We spotted one ¾ curl ram bedded on skyline that pinned us down for a couple hours. Once he moved we proceeded on. As we approached one bluffy section on the ridge, Mike and I climbed up top and Ron decided to glass from below the bluff and have a nap in the sun.
Just as Mike and I came over the small bluff we spotted horns. We stopped and there was a larger, 7 year old ram (not full curl) and a banana ram bedded maybe 50 metres away. Pinned down again! We didn’t want to spook any rams in case they busted other ones as they ran off. We waited there for half an hour or so and then the rams got up and started moving around the bluff right towards Ron. We threw some rocks at Ron to wake him up and motioned for him to climb up the bluff so that the rams wouldn’t spot him. It seemed like forever as he put his boots on and his hat and pack (he had no idea why we were in a hurry). As he got settled in the bluff the rams rounded the corner and the coolest thing happened. 10meters below us the two rams came around the bluff, then the big ram stopped right where Ron was napping, smelled the ground, shook his head and turned around and made his way into some escape terrain! We were free to move on
We moved down the ridge to another glassing point where we sat for around 5 hours. We spotted 2 legal rams on the ridge to the south but decided we would look on our ridge for a couple more days before spotting them.
We heard 11 shots on that ridge to the south and 8 more further east from where we were. At 5 o’clock I decided I would break away and head up the ridge a bit further to glass into some nasty cliffy stuff. Once I got up I immediately saw 3 good rams working their way through the little basin. Up came the spotting scope and 2 were confirmed legal and 1 other was broomed off and heavier than the other (likely 8 years old). They were around 900 metres so I snuck back down the ridge and called up Mike and Ron. They had also seen the rams and Mike was within 150m but it was too steep of an angle to confirm if they were legal. We watched the rams for a couple hours and decided we would go after them again in the morning as they fed their way into a place we couldn’t make a stalk.
August 2nd
Up at 4am and headed to the place we last saw the legal rams. We glassed for 5 hours and never turned them up again so Mike and I decided to go up the mountain and around to the ridge on the opposite side that the rams were on. We saw approximately 15 other rams on our way around but nothing legal.
After glassing on a point of another ridge for a few hours we both laid down and had a nap. I awoke to Mike slapping my chest and as soon as I opened my eyes I saw rams! We were sleeping just above a sheep trail and around the corner came 8 rams within 5meters. Laying perfectly still we let them all move around us. No legal ones! Which mighta been a good thing as we had our guns a little ways away and it would have been a scramble to shoot a ram. All of those rams proceeded around the corner and stood on a small glacier eating the snow and getting away from bugs.
As 6 oclock rolled around Mike decided he would make his way back to camp. I opted to set up my siltarp and sleep right there so I was in the middle of rams in the morning. (I didn’t think to pack my sleeping bag or thermarest)
That night was the coldest night I have ever experienced! I slept in all my clothes and on top of my pack. I shook uncontrollably all night and didn’t get a wink of sleep. At 3am I was so cold that I had to fire up my jetboil and try to warm up at least a little bit.