Yukon280
10-08-2009, 03:22 PM
A few shots from my Sheep hunting trips this year.
First trip was a 5 day fly in in my buddys C-180. Spent 5 days in a very remote area. Arrived late in the day in heavy smoke, and spent the next 2 days trying to find the rams, as it was mostly Caribou hills we were in. We moved 1 drainage south, and bingo, rams. Found a nice group late in the day, and decided to come back the next morning to hunt them.
Up early the next AM, and by noon we had found them in a very steep spot below us. Things never did work out, as we were hesitant to shoot and maybe loose one due to the cliffs below. Too bad, as there were two in the group that looked quite big.
Next up was a week long trip up a remote river into Stone country. Took the jetboat, and spent 8 hours getting into the mountains. Rained all night, but it started to clear early on, and we spent 4 hours in soaking brush getting to the alpine. Fantastic Sheep country, lots of trails, scat, beds, but could we find a Sheep? No way. Nothing. What was especially frustrating was that the sign was very fresh. Anyway, had a great day out. Woke up the next morning to cloud on the river, and hard rain. Used the sat phone to get a weather forecast, and it was continued bad weather for the next few days, so we loaded up and headed home. Spendy trip fuel wise, but got some good intel for next year in the same spot.
Finally, the last trip was a simple overnighter with my wife in September. Found a nice group of rams straight away, and 2 looked really nice so off into the alpine to try and get into position. Worked my way above them, and they were bedded down, and i couldn't tell which was which from that angle. After an hour, i was freezing, and they weren't making any signs of moving. I was considering throwing a rock to try and get them up when a helicopter came by. I thought "thats it, i'm done", but the Sheep stood up, didn't bolt, and slowly began grazing across the bowl away from me. By this time i was shivering and could not get a proper look through the scope, so i crawled back to the rim and made my way along and above them for a closer look. I made my way down a grassy ridge, and peered over the last tussock, and there they were, maybe 50 yards away.
Found the big feller, confirmed he was 100% legal, and one 139 gr. interbond from the 7mm and he was down and rolling. Fortunately, he stopped in a scree pile. This was about 1PM. We had him dressed and won the mountain by 6, and home for pizza and beer by 10PM, 12 hours after leaving home. Wish i had taken some more shots before dressing him out, as he went 39" at 7 years old.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5bGoJMBII/AAAAAAAAADI/pguRI4CJ0KE/s800/DSCN0857.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5bPwNlj2I/AAAAAAAAADM/X8ynN8Eg4UQ/s800/DSCN0867.JPGhttp://lh6.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5bUiBlEmI/AAAAAAAAADQ/VRX2XCjd6Hw/s800/DSCN0873.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5beNcCD1I/AAAAAAAAADU/A3WM2WTsa8Y/s800/DSCN0886.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5fJzoKEbI/AAAAAAAAAEI/_Hz8nAq6u2s/s800/DSCN0897.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5fRSpRbRI/AAAAAAAAAEM/S_kRoXC0Efk/s800/DSCN0905.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5fd9Vc8MI/AAAAAAAAAEU/EDrIgubzI00/s800/DSCN0927.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5a-soWZxI/AAAAAAAAADE/S-3wIve-5cU/s800/DSCN0943.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5ETNp3NgI/AAAAAAAAACg/N6-h8-SLohw/s800/DSCN0946.JPG
First trip was a 5 day fly in in my buddys C-180. Spent 5 days in a very remote area. Arrived late in the day in heavy smoke, and spent the next 2 days trying to find the rams, as it was mostly Caribou hills we were in. We moved 1 drainage south, and bingo, rams. Found a nice group late in the day, and decided to come back the next morning to hunt them.
Up early the next AM, and by noon we had found them in a very steep spot below us. Things never did work out, as we were hesitant to shoot and maybe loose one due to the cliffs below. Too bad, as there were two in the group that looked quite big.
Next up was a week long trip up a remote river into Stone country. Took the jetboat, and spent 8 hours getting into the mountains. Rained all night, but it started to clear early on, and we spent 4 hours in soaking brush getting to the alpine. Fantastic Sheep country, lots of trails, scat, beds, but could we find a Sheep? No way. Nothing. What was especially frustrating was that the sign was very fresh. Anyway, had a great day out. Woke up the next morning to cloud on the river, and hard rain. Used the sat phone to get a weather forecast, and it was continued bad weather for the next few days, so we loaded up and headed home. Spendy trip fuel wise, but got some good intel for next year in the same spot.
Finally, the last trip was a simple overnighter with my wife in September. Found a nice group of rams straight away, and 2 looked really nice so off into the alpine to try and get into position. Worked my way above them, and they were bedded down, and i couldn't tell which was which from that angle. After an hour, i was freezing, and they weren't making any signs of moving. I was considering throwing a rock to try and get them up when a helicopter came by. I thought "thats it, i'm done", but the Sheep stood up, didn't bolt, and slowly began grazing across the bowl away from me. By this time i was shivering and could not get a proper look through the scope, so i crawled back to the rim and made my way along and above them for a closer look. I made my way down a grassy ridge, and peered over the last tussock, and there they were, maybe 50 yards away.
Found the big feller, confirmed he was 100% legal, and one 139 gr. interbond from the 7mm and he was down and rolling. Fortunately, he stopped in a scree pile. This was about 1PM. We had him dressed and won the mountain by 6, and home for pizza and beer by 10PM, 12 hours after leaving home. Wish i had taken some more shots before dressing him out, as he went 39" at 7 years old.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5bGoJMBII/AAAAAAAAADI/pguRI4CJ0KE/s800/DSCN0857.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5bPwNlj2I/AAAAAAAAADM/X8ynN8Eg4UQ/s800/DSCN0867.JPGhttp://lh6.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5bUiBlEmI/AAAAAAAAADQ/VRX2XCjd6Hw/s800/DSCN0873.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5beNcCD1I/AAAAAAAAADU/A3WM2WTsa8Y/s800/DSCN0886.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5fJzoKEbI/AAAAAAAAAEI/_Hz8nAq6u2s/s800/DSCN0897.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5fRSpRbRI/AAAAAAAAAEM/S_kRoXC0Efk/s800/DSCN0905.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5fd9Vc8MI/AAAAAAAAAEU/EDrIgubzI00/s800/DSCN0927.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5a-soWZxI/AAAAAAAAADE/S-3wIve-5cU/s800/DSCN0943.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_-PoGgZg2WxU/Ss5ETNp3NgI/AAAAAAAAACg/N6-h8-SLohw/s800/DSCN0946.JPG