Highway Double Header - part 2...

[Andrewh]

First off, I want to thank Aaron for writing this one!

Our hunt started on August 9th, 2016. After a long hike in we reached our camp spot late in the evening. This year we had studied more maps and hoped to venture further into uncharted territory for us, preparing to sleep under a siltarp if we had to.

The first morning of hunting approached quickly and the weather looked fantastic this year. We ate breakfast and readied our packs for a long days journey. Our legs were a bit sore from the previous day, but we were so excited to see what 2016 had to offer! Knowing the routine of stop, glass, stop, glass……we picked apart the mountains.

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Three hours into our hike we spotted a Ram and Ewe bedded in the rocks below us. At first glance the Ram looked decent. Quickly removing ourselves from their sight we set up spotters to evaluate him. All we could get on age was 7 and horn tips to the bridge, but too close for comfort and our plan was to save him for a couple more years. We both had great rams already so agreed not to spend any more time on him.

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We pressed onward, spotting young rams, ewes and lambs bedding high on the mountain spines. Over a kilometer away, we spotted a Ram sky lining which only had one horn. We would have loved a closer look at him but knew it was too far to travel that day. The next rams were not spotted till around 5pm. There were three bedded on the mountain top. Only one of the Three was a contender. We figured they should be getting up to feed soon so we settled in. After an hour they stood and started their journey to the valley bottom, stopping to feed along the way. We watched to see where they would end up for us to have a better view. The ram we wanted a better look at led the way, not wasting much time to get to the bottom. We decided to circle around out of sight down to the bottom as well. We figured this would get us a more square on look. Once on the bottom, with the ram in our spotter, we could only count seven years. Since he never stopped moving it was really hard to get horn length. We needed to get closer but would have to be in their sight for about 300 yards. We decided to try, as it was getting late, knowing that if they saw us they would head high again. Sure enough, with their incredible vision they were onto us and started feeding their way back to the top. It did not upset us as our views of him did not tell us he was a "no brainer". Happy with the sheep numbers and excitement we had on day one we started our long hike back to camp.

The next day we spotted sheep early, mostly ewes and lambs and the odd small rams. We decided this was the day to venture into some new country. Not far on route, a long way below us, we spotted three bedded rams on the edge of a basin. We continued along the ridge to get a better view into the basin to see if more rams were in there. Once in position we peeked over the ridge. Sure enough there were a pile of rams, around 20!!!! It looked like a sheep estuary!!!

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Our eyes lit up, knowing there would have to be at least two legal rams in this group. We ruled out the rams that were definitely not legal and the few we needed a closer look at. Now in the afternoon, we both agreed we did not have time to get closer as they were about 2000ft below us. We decided to keep assessing the valleys around them to familiarize ourselves with their possible escape routes. We then hiked back and put them to bed as weather came in and planned a strategy for the morning. It was going to be a sleepless night!!!

[Andrewh]

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In the morning we were excited to open the tent to a bluebird day! With pep in our steps we started our hike to the basin. Once there, it did not take us long to spot some rams as they were 100 yards from where we left them. We proceeded to our sneak plan completely out of sight of any rams. Knowing that the more rams the more eyes we made sure we were totally blind to all of them! The weather and wind were perfect. We had picked out a ram bedded above the rest on the hillside. Upon viewing he gave us a perfect square look and his horns were at least 1-1.5" above his bridge. His age rings were a bit more challenging, definitely seven years old, possibly 8 but we were going to shoot this ram on curl if it came to it. This ram then got up and started feeding down towards the big group out of our sight.

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Knowing he was legal with a very distinct white head for easy identification we turned our attention to one of the lower rams. He was heavy horned and did not take us long to count eight rings.

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The rest of the rams we could see were all younger but with a few beauty up and comers in the band. We decided which rams we personally wanted if we could make it happen.
That was two legal rams, now how to bring it all together?

[Andrewh]

At this point we had closed the distance to about 300 yrds directly above the rams, and then Mother Nature decided to take over. The wind now blowing towards the rams, events got ‘western’ in a hurry!! The heavy ram started to lead the others up and away to our right. This was perfect as they would parallel us at under 300 yards or less. Both the legal rams were considerably lighter than all the rest which made them easy to pick out through binos. I quickly got ready, not having time for a perfect rest. The heavy ram came into view and I shot. Andrew said "just high". The ram sped up, but as luck for have it, he was working even closer. I took aim again and dropped him!!!

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We then started looking for Andrew's ram as they came out single file up into the cliffs.
We could not see it! We never did get eyes on the ram once he dropped down low 45 minutes before, but we were 100% confident that he was still within reach. We decided that I would stay low and Andrew would go up and see if his ram went to the other the other ‘blind’ side of the drainage. It was a shear drop off directly below us so we could not see the bottom of the cliff if they happened to stay tight to it. Half an hour passed with no sight of Andrew’s ram. I decided to drop the odd rock off the cliff to see if they were against it. Sure enough, his ram and another came out and proceeded up the small cliff area right in Andrew’s direction. Once they were out of sight I hiked up to Andrew to tell him they were coming. Andrew had a great spot picked out that they could not sneak by. I then went back down to make sure they did not double back. When I got down I found the rams again bedded on a little outcrop. I made sure that they had seen me and they rose and started again towards Andrew. I was almost back to Andrew when I heard the shot. I then saw him stand with a fist pump saying "dropped him at 375 yards! ".

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Unbelievably, It all came together!!! We had just completed our second double header together!!!
Now the work begins!!

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[Andrewh]

Once we had them all processed and packed up, it was time to make the 2000ft climb up the drainage and back to camp. It was a grind coming straight up but at the same time, one of those feelings that sheep hunters dream about.

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We arrived back to camp after 10 pm, ate dinner and straight to bed. Were we ever sore!!

The next day, with the sun out once again, we turned and salted capes. We ate lots and refueled for our long, heavy pack out the following day. Preparing for bed, Andrew was putting his pack cover on his bag preparing for the occasional overnight sprinkle. He pulled it and one of the elastic cinch cords must have been stuck under a rock. It came flying out and hit him in the left eye. Immediately his eye started filling with blood under his pupil. He was 100% blind in one eye and watched me ‘disappear’ moments after the hit. Such a scary feeling losing sight with no depth perception with one eye! All he could do was go to bed and rest his eye, hoping that some of the blood in his iris would clear by morning.

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Morning came and he still had no vision. We packed up and started our long hike out first down about 2000ft of technical rock. He just followed close to me as I picked the safest route out. I felt so bad for him because he went from super stoked to the wind ripping his sails. We made it out after a 12hr day of hiking with 120+lbs packs and proceeded straight for Fort Nelson hospital.

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[Andrewh]

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The hospital told him he had torn his iris. They lined up a specialist for him in Prince George hospital. Once in PG the specialist told him that it was torn but would the blood would clear in about a months time. With some comforting news, we proceeded home reminiscing on such a fantastic day. Showing the reality of how easy and scary it is for accidents to happen way in the back country.

All in all it was and incredible hunt with many sweet memories logged. I could not ask for a better sheep-hunting partner that perseveres thru so much pain. Knowing each other’s limits and expectations are the most important aspects of choosing a sheep-hunting partner. Looking forward to next year already!!

Many thanks to WSSBC for all you do to keep sheep on the mountains to feed our passion. Best of luck to all and be safe.

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PS. If you find this rock, you are in a good place…

[leftfield]

Great story , glad you made it out ok. On a hunt like that it's good to have a partner for sure.

[325]

Epic!! Thanks for sharing!!

[xfactor]

awesome pictures and story! thanks for bringing us along!

[PressurePoint]

What an amazing post! Love the KUIU being put to work! I hope the eye gets better!

[chris]

Wow good job guys

[LBM]

Congrats on a couple of beautiful rams, great story and pictures.

[srupp]

Amazing adventure..thank you for sharing your incredible success.
I do hope the eye is healing?
And photos when the rams are done..
Made my week..
Cheers
Srupp

[IronNoggin]

Wow! Just Wow!!
Excellent Adventure! Great story, great pictures, and a great hunt over all.

Hope the eye has healed and is back in hunting shape already!

Thanks for the share!! :mrgreen:

Cheers,
Nog

[MB_Boy]

Great job guys....thanks for sharing!

[allan]

Cools pics, great story !!

[Rattler]

Awesome double header! Thanks for sharing your story and pictures...

[Blainer]

Absolutely Fantastic

[guest]

Magnificent Post ! Great share of story and pics. Way to lead by example BOYZ !

Congrats ....... Now to the before and after thread with them pics haha.

nuttin like being in Sheep Country!

CT

[northof49]

Thanks for sharing your double header....hope the eye has healed up nicely.

[kennyj]

Awesome Story and photos,, and great rams!!
Thanks for sharing your adventure.
kenny

[Spy]

Nice rams :-) thanks for sharing your adventure :-)

[scoutlt1]

Great post!

Congrats on the rams....hope the eye gets better soon!

[Sitkaspruce]

Awesome rams to go along with the a great story!!

Hope the eye healed and vision returned.

Thanks for sharing!!!

Cheers

SS

[Zedbra]

Great job and great write-up. Thanks for sharing!

[kevan]

Awesome thread with terrific pictures !
Thanks for sharing with us.
Could I ask what you fellas were using for rifles and loads ?
Again Thanks.

[Boner]

Fantastic! What a great write up, thanks for sharing.

[backstrap]

Well, that was a good one.
Nice work!

[HarryToolips]

Great writeup and congrats on 2 beauty rams...glad his eye is ok..

[Lukeez88]

Awesome story! thanks for posting. Congrats on a couple nice rams!!!

[The Hermit]

Great read. Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

[hunter1947]

Fantastic thread you have shared with us HBC members the pictures and stories on this thread that makes HBC on what it is

Thanks very much for sharing all with us members ,,and congrats to both you on getting your animals on this hunt..

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Great story and pictures! That's a great double!
Huge congrats and thanks for sharing!

Curlytop.....pretty sure Andrew already shared those pics
b&a thread.

[fuzzybiscuit]

Way to get it done! Great story and great rams! Congrats.

[Knute]

Great pics and story Aaron and Andrew.

You didn't write the co-ordinates on that rock?? Sheesh ;)

Congrats on an outstanding hunt. Hope your eye is back to 100%!

[ElliotMoose]

Wicked double fellas! Looks like you've found yourselves a honey hole. Look forward to next years ;)

[WKCotts]

Right on! Thanks for sharing guys!

[Thunderstix]

Well I wouldn't go as far as saying that was a great story.....but I would say it was freaking amazing!!!!!!

[whitespringer]

Thanks very much for posting your fantastic story. Hope your eye heals well 😊

[jessonml]

Great write-up Aaron. What an epic hunt.

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Outside of the whole blind in one eye thing (been temporarily blind in both eyes for three days due to an injury in the past myself. I know how bad it sucks but was so glad to get vision back in the one eye!!! Now my eyes are fully healed and work as well or better than ever!), it really reads like a dream Sheep Hunt!

Phenomenal stuff here, very nice thread! Cheers and congratulations

[Daka]

Exc.story.thanks for this

[Call of the Wild]

Congrats guys and a good sheep hunting story. Happy to hear the eye incident didn't become permanent damage.

[Backwoods]

Looks like an epic trip!! Congratulations to you both on your beauty Stones!!!

[jimzuk]

Thanks for sharing such an epic trip. Beauty rams

[Linksman313]

Outstanding story and pics Andrew, congrats on two beauty Rams, I especially love the white face on yours. Thanks for also including the part about your Bro's unexpected and infuriating injury to his eye, just a reminder that the smallest "shizz happens" can turn into big problems at elevation, here's to his speedy recovery and back out in the field soon.

[Billy52]

Wicked cool story….thanks for sharing…..!!!!!!