Dale
09-19-2009, 07:25 PM
Alright the moment has finally arrived for me to write a story behind the ram that 25tikka has posted for me. First I would like to give a huge thanks to 25tikka and his amazing aviation skills and a big thanks to North Pacific Seaplanes. Second thanks goes out to Teanna at Tatogga Lake Resort and her amazing food and accomodations.
Story starts like 25tikka said at 'secret creek' and finding out that there happened to be 6 rams about a half day walk away grazing on an upper plateau. Plan was for myself and Chad (new huntin' buddy) to head from base camp over to the mountains and up and after the rams the next day. Well the next day proved to be impossible navigation as the fog was so thick we couldn't even see the mountain range, never mind the right path or mountain where the rams were. Rest of the day was spent hunting other game. No such luck, but it gave us time to wait for the fog to lift and make a plan and take some bearings for the next day.
Day of action started much the same as the last, fog, rain, and major wind. Up at 5am, on the trail at 5:30am. We reached the base of the mountain some hours later in the dense fog and rain. We decided to have a fire and dry off the sweat and wet. After drying out, we headed up. We knew the rams were close, but were not sure whether they would be feeding on the plateaus or hidden against the back of the bowl.
Cresting the plateau and sneaking around for about an hour showed us no rams. Time to head towards the back of the bowl. Chad had to stop me before I crested a small hill. The wind that had been in our face the whole time was now making a vortex in the bowl. We could watch the fog swirl around towards the back of the bowl. We knew the rams had to be there, hidden from the wind, but still using it to there advantage. With absolutely no cover, we slowly gained a bit more altitude and then...bam, there they were, well half of them, 3 rams feeding against the back of the bowl. But now where were the other 3??? Most guys hate the fog, but we loved it, as when it would cover the rams we would sneak in closer. We were about 400 yards from them when from the bottom, here comes the other 3 rams, feeding towards the other 3. With the wind, fog and rain, I wanted to be be within 300 yards or so. So as the fog would cover the rams we would sneak around the inside of the bowl to keep the wind in our favor, closer to the rams. We managed to crawl up to the last spot that would cover us and it was perfect, as we were eye level with them and within 300 yards. Now to watch and look over the rams. 3 were now bedded and the other 3 grazed. After about 2 hours of freezing in the snow, rain and wind, I decided on a ram and prepared to shoot. There were 3 big legal rams, a squeeker and 2 younger rams. One last look through the spotting scope to make sure. Yup he's legal and one of the bigger boys of the bunch. Made myself a nice pile of rocks to rest my gun on while laying prone, lined up and................................BANG........... ...WHACK!!!! Ram rolls down about 10 yards and gets hung up on a big rock. To me it looked like he was trying to get up so I put one more into him. My first ram is down!!!!!
Chad the whole time was snapping tons of pics and vid. He got my second shot on vid, but missed the first one as he forgot to press play. Heat of the moment, lol. A huge thanks to Chad, as I would not have been able to do this myself, especially the distance we had to go to get this guy.
So after high-fives, caping, and deboning its now 4:30pm and we have about 15km back to camp. We made it back to camp at 9:30pm, tired, wet and hungry.
You guys are probably asking, 'why didn't Chad shoot one as well?' Well, unfortunately he did not have a tag. But I surely appreciated the fact that he put his chances at other game aside to help me get a ram.
We flew out the next day back to Tatogga for a well deserved meal and shower.
All in all it was the most amazing hunt. Beautiful scenery, great friends and awsome memories.
Ram was inspected and aged at 9.5, I thought he was 10.5. About 38" long and should make a beautiful mount.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0258.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0284.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0293.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0297.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0302.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0328.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0331.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0332.jpg
Story starts like 25tikka said at 'secret creek' and finding out that there happened to be 6 rams about a half day walk away grazing on an upper plateau. Plan was for myself and Chad (new huntin' buddy) to head from base camp over to the mountains and up and after the rams the next day. Well the next day proved to be impossible navigation as the fog was so thick we couldn't even see the mountain range, never mind the right path or mountain where the rams were. Rest of the day was spent hunting other game. No such luck, but it gave us time to wait for the fog to lift and make a plan and take some bearings for the next day.
Day of action started much the same as the last, fog, rain, and major wind. Up at 5am, on the trail at 5:30am. We reached the base of the mountain some hours later in the dense fog and rain. We decided to have a fire and dry off the sweat and wet. After drying out, we headed up. We knew the rams were close, but were not sure whether they would be feeding on the plateaus or hidden against the back of the bowl.
Cresting the plateau and sneaking around for about an hour showed us no rams. Time to head towards the back of the bowl. Chad had to stop me before I crested a small hill. The wind that had been in our face the whole time was now making a vortex in the bowl. We could watch the fog swirl around towards the back of the bowl. We knew the rams had to be there, hidden from the wind, but still using it to there advantage. With absolutely no cover, we slowly gained a bit more altitude and then...bam, there they were, well half of them, 3 rams feeding against the back of the bowl. But now where were the other 3??? Most guys hate the fog, but we loved it, as when it would cover the rams we would sneak in closer. We were about 400 yards from them when from the bottom, here comes the other 3 rams, feeding towards the other 3. With the wind, fog and rain, I wanted to be be within 300 yards or so. So as the fog would cover the rams we would sneak around the inside of the bowl to keep the wind in our favor, closer to the rams. We managed to crawl up to the last spot that would cover us and it was perfect, as we were eye level with them and within 300 yards. Now to watch and look over the rams. 3 were now bedded and the other 3 grazed. After about 2 hours of freezing in the snow, rain and wind, I decided on a ram and prepared to shoot. There were 3 big legal rams, a squeeker and 2 younger rams. One last look through the spotting scope to make sure. Yup he's legal and one of the bigger boys of the bunch. Made myself a nice pile of rocks to rest my gun on while laying prone, lined up and................................BANG........... ...WHACK!!!! Ram rolls down about 10 yards and gets hung up on a big rock. To me it looked like he was trying to get up so I put one more into him. My first ram is down!!!!!
Chad the whole time was snapping tons of pics and vid. He got my second shot on vid, but missed the first one as he forgot to press play. Heat of the moment, lol. A huge thanks to Chad, as I would not have been able to do this myself, especially the distance we had to go to get this guy.
So after high-fives, caping, and deboning its now 4:30pm and we have about 15km back to camp. We made it back to camp at 9:30pm, tired, wet and hungry.
You guys are probably asking, 'why didn't Chad shoot one as well?' Well, unfortunately he did not have a tag. But I surely appreciated the fact that he put his chances at other game aside to help me get a ram.
We flew out the next day back to Tatogga for a well deserved meal and shower.
All in all it was the most amazing hunt. Beautiful scenery, great friends and awsome memories.
Ram was inspected and aged at 9.5, I thought he was 10.5. About 38" long and should make a beautiful mount.
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0258.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0284.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0293.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0297.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0302.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0328.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0331.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r221/baschukda/DSC_0332.jpg