Moose72
09-29-2009, 02:47 PM
Well i went for my sheep hunt on kamloops lake. I was successful and came home with a descent ram. Not much of a story writer but here goes.
Got there on sunday sept-13th. Saw alot of ewes and lambs and small rams from camp. As i have never hunted sheep i watched them for the day and wondered if the rams were ever going to come around. Went for a drive the next day to look around and see what kind of access there was to the area. Did alot of glassing and couldn't come up with any bigger rams. Opening day came around, tuesday sept-15th. Started cruising up the lake on the hwy to glass across to find something. Musta bin around 9:00 when i finally spotted a sheep across the lake, looked like an ant way over there but with the spotting scope i finally caught the sun glint off of a curl. Watched for about an hour and seen a few more, approx 5. Went back to camp had some breaky and got my gear together and into the boat we go.(girlfriend and i) The water was like glass and the trip was about halfway down the lake, not sure how far that is but along ways. We could see the rams from the shore and they were along way up. It had to be 35 to 40 degrees out that day but up we go anyway. Trying to stay behind a few ridges so the rams wouldnt see us and came over the top to almost step on a small ram. He bailed down the draw and up the otherside 200 yards away. He pinned us down for about an hour and a half. Like i said i have never hunted sheep before so i wasn`t sure what to exspect from this little ram. We watched the others up the hill now at 750 yards away and heard them bangin heads and such. A little later we heard more bangin but it sounded like it was behind us. I slowly crept over the hill to find 10 rams buggerin around at 300 yards. Looked them over and being the first day decided they weren`t what i wanted. So now that i spooked the little guy and the 10 decided to head for greener pastures. We started up another draw to go closer to the other rams. Like i said it was HOT. Dropped the girlfriend off to hide behind a rock in the shade. Kept going to the top and peeked over at the other rams and checked them all out but still didn`t see anything i wanted. Way to hot and it was getting late so we headed back to the boat. In all we saw 25 rams opening day. Not bad for a rookie. I know they are easier than most to hunt in this area but they still live in a nasty spot. Day 2 and 3 were a bust as the lake was blown right up. To big of waves for this guy in his 12ft aluminum boat. Friday came and it was still windy. I decided to try it anyway. Left the girlfriend at camp and off i went. Life jacket as tight as it would go and about 10 ft from shore all the way down. I was drenched by the time i got there an hour and a half later. Sat on shore for about a half hr to get my land legs back and fill up with water. So off i go up the mountain side and arrive at a good glassing spot that we had on opening day. I watched for over an hour and nothing. Then out of a ravine came a ram. He was about a half curl, then 2 more showed up and they were banana heads. One more popped up and he was worth another look. They were at 600 yards and the half curl bedded down looking in my direction. I slowly slid over the edge of the draw i was on and climbed another hogback closing the distanc. I came up to the top behind a tree and the half curl was still bedded there. They were a little over 400 yards still. I crawled as slowly and low as i could to get to the end of the hogback i was on. Finally i reached as far as i could go. After glassing them for a bit i decided i wanted the biggest of the rams. Of course he was now feeding behind a tree. This took about 15 minutes and when he did come out he was feeding dirctly away from me, finally turned broadside and i ranged him at 330yards. I had a perfect sagebrush rest and squeezed one off and he dropped in his tracks. Took another 45 minutes to get to him and get some pics and clean him out. Walked another hr down to the boat to get my pack. I left my rifle and other stuff there and in all my wisdome headed back up with only one bottle of water (man was that a mistake). So i got him deboned and caped out and loaded him all up in my pack. Struggled to get the pack rested on a tree and squeeze into it (holy). It was heavy and it was steep on the way down. Very carefully watching my step made my way down, obviously not careful enough as i slipped on a loose rock and my leg buckled under the weight and i slid for about ten feet on my shin. After almost tipping into the ravine and sliding i got back to my feet and had a searing pain in my backside. I found a rather large cactus with my right cheek (OUCH!!) So i`m trying to reach around with this heavy pack on to get this cactus outta my but, not easy. Musta looked hilarious, the rest had to come out back at camp with tweezers. The boatride back was a little uncomfortable. Took a long time to get back as the lake was still pretty big. Took the head in that night to the taxidermist to get caped and that`s about the story. Not much of a writer but that`s all ya get. I must thank the HBCrs that helped me out. Thanks guys for the info.
I put photos in photobucket and i`ll try to get them on here. I excpect critisism fro a few but whatever, it`s my first ram so bite me.
Hope these work.
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/230.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/225.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/231.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/229.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/236.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/240.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/253.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/255.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/257.jpg
Got there on sunday sept-13th. Saw alot of ewes and lambs and small rams from camp. As i have never hunted sheep i watched them for the day and wondered if the rams were ever going to come around. Went for a drive the next day to look around and see what kind of access there was to the area. Did alot of glassing and couldn't come up with any bigger rams. Opening day came around, tuesday sept-15th. Started cruising up the lake on the hwy to glass across to find something. Musta bin around 9:00 when i finally spotted a sheep across the lake, looked like an ant way over there but with the spotting scope i finally caught the sun glint off of a curl. Watched for about an hour and seen a few more, approx 5. Went back to camp had some breaky and got my gear together and into the boat we go.(girlfriend and i) The water was like glass and the trip was about halfway down the lake, not sure how far that is but along ways. We could see the rams from the shore and they were along way up. It had to be 35 to 40 degrees out that day but up we go anyway. Trying to stay behind a few ridges so the rams wouldnt see us and came over the top to almost step on a small ram. He bailed down the draw and up the otherside 200 yards away. He pinned us down for about an hour and a half. Like i said i have never hunted sheep before so i wasn`t sure what to exspect from this little ram. We watched the others up the hill now at 750 yards away and heard them bangin heads and such. A little later we heard more bangin but it sounded like it was behind us. I slowly crept over the hill to find 10 rams buggerin around at 300 yards. Looked them over and being the first day decided they weren`t what i wanted. So now that i spooked the little guy and the 10 decided to head for greener pastures. We started up another draw to go closer to the other rams. Like i said it was HOT. Dropped the girlfriend off to hide behind a rock in the shade. Kept going to the top and peeked over at the other rams and checked them all out but still didn`t see anything i wanted. Way to hot and it was getting late so we headed back to the boat. In all we saw 25 rams opening day. Not bad for a rookie. I know they are easier than most to hunt in this area but they still live in a nasty spot. Day 2 and 3 were a bust as the lake was blown right up. To big of waves for this guy in his 12ft aluminum boat. Friday came and it was still windy. I decided to try it anyway. Left the girlfriend at camp and off i went. Life jacket as tight as it would go and about 10 ft from shore all the way down. I was drenched by the time i got there an hour and a half later. Sat on shore for about a half hr to get my land legs back and fill up with water. So off i go up the mountain side and arrive at a good glassing spot that we had on opening day. I watched for over an hour and nothing. Then out of a ravine came a ram. He was about a half curl, then 2 more showed up and they were banana heads. One more popped up and he was worth another look. They were at 600 yards and the half curl bedded down looking in my direction. I slowly slid over the edge of the draw i was on and climbed another hogback closing the distanc. I came up to the top behind a tree and the half curl was still bedded there. They were a little over 400 yards still. I crawled as slowly and low as i could to get to the end of the hogback i was on. Finally i reached as far as i could go. After glassing them for a bit i decided i wanted the biggest of the rams. Of course he was now feeding behind a tree. This took about 15 minutes and when he did come out he was feeding dirctly away from me, finally turned broadside and i ranged him at 330yards. I had a perfect sagebrush rest and squeezed one off and he dropped in his tracks. Took another 45 minutes to get to him and get some pics and clean him out. Walked another hr down to the boat to get my pack. I left my rifle and other stuff there and in all my wisdome headed back up with only one bottle of water (man was that a mistake). So i got him deboned and caped out and loaded him all up in my pack. Struggled to get the pack rested on a tree and squeeze into it (holy). It was heavy and it was steep on the way down. Very carefully watching my step made my way down, obviously not careful enough as i slipped on a loose rock and my leg buckled under the weight and i slid for about ten feet on my shin. After almost tipping into the ravine and sliding i got back to my feet and had a searing pain in my backside. I found a rather large cactus with my right cheek (OUCH!!) So i`m trying to reach around with this heavy pack on to get this cactus outta my but, not easy. Musta looked hilarious, the rest had to come out back at camp with tweezers. The boatride back was a little uncomfortable. Took a long time to get back as the lake was still pretty big. Took the head in that night to the taxidermist to get caped and that`s about the story. Not much of a writer but that`s all ya get. I must thank the HBCrs that helped me out. Thanks guys for the info.
I put photos in photobucket and i`ll try to get them on here. I excpect critisism fro a few but whatever, it`s my first ram so bite me.
Hope these work.
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/230.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/225.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/231.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/229.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/236.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/240.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/253.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/255.jpg
http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/moose72_bucket/257.jpg