Robfriend
09-12-2012, 02:40 PM
Hello everyone, well I finally hadsome time to write my store out of my first stone sheep hunt this August. A buddy from work had asked me 10 days beforethe opening day if I had wanted to go do to his hunting partner couldn’t makeit because he tore the meniscus in his knee. I was so excited buttold him I would have to check with the wife because we just had a baby boy 2months before. After a few conversations, she agreed that I could go.
With no training and little time topack, that wasn’t going to stop me, see the hike in was going to be hard 10hours of kill me now but I’m young andin pretty good shape. Al came to myplace at 4 am on July 30th for the long drive north. We got there at about 9 pmdriving none stop; we pulled over and rested for the night. Early the nextmorning we got up, got our gear ready to start our adventure. It ended uptaking only 8 hours of steady hiking to get to our spike camp.
Our packs weighing about 70 pounds. We set upour tents in the rain and for the rest of the day just laid in our beds andlistened to the rain on our tents. The next day was opening day and when we gotup in the morning it was still raining and a little foggy. We had a bit to eatand went on our way farther up the mountain.
The rain let up and so did the fog abit and as I was glassing in a basin above camp I spotted 8 rams about 400yards away. The fog kept rolling in and out and with the spotting scope set up.The biggest ram was only 7/8 curl and was 7 years old. One other ram was about thesame, they will be legal next year. We could not really hike any higher due tothe low ceiling of the fog. We glassed what we could that day but didn't seeanything else.
Oh, last year when Al was there he met anotherguy Mike, in there and he and his dog were there again and we camped togetherand ended up hunting together. The next morning was a little better but the fogwas on and off all day. The fog was a little high and later in the afternoon wemet up with Mike and Sam (the dog) and did some glassing together. It was about2 pm, Mike showed us a Billy goat on the other side of the valley he wasthinking on going after but wasn’t sure, I told him that I would go since wehaven’t seen anything. It was a long way to go so late in the afternoon.
As we were glassing we spotted 22rams and they were running up the other side of the valley, like something waschasing them. They sure can cover ground fast. They finally settled down almostdirectly across from us about 3 km away. We watched them for a while and seenthat there was at least 4 good rams there. It took about a couple of hours ofsaying let’s go till finally Mike said ok ill go with you. See it’s about 4:30pm and in all our minds common sense said to wait till the morning but I’m hereto get a sheep so I’ll do what needs to be done.
It gets dark around 11 pm and it would takeabout 4 hours to get there. 2000 feet down straight running/sliding took 30mins we stopped at the creek stripped of our rain gear crossed the river and2000 feet up to where the rams were. Al hummed and hawed but stayed with Sammybecause it was too far for him. So he stayed there with Sam and watch from thisside of the valley. It turns out that Mike is in really good shape I washolding him up climbing up the mountain.
With no training and little time topack, that wasn’t going to stop me, see the hike in was going to be hard 10hours of kill me now but I’m young andin pretty good shape. Al came to myplace at 4 am on July 30th for the long drive north. We got there at about 9 pmdriving none stop; we pulled over and rested for the night. Early the nextmorning we got up, got our gear ready to start our adventure. It ended uptaking only 8 hours of steady hiking to get to our spike camp.
Our packs weighing about 70 pounds. We set upour tents in the rain and for the rest of the day just laid in our beds andlistened to the rain on our tents. The next day was opening day and when we gotup in the morning it was still raining and a little foggy. We had a bit to eatand went on our way farther up the mountain.
The rain let up and so did the fog abit and as I was glassing in a basin above camp I spotted 8 rams about 400yards away. The fog kept rolling in and out and with the spotting scope set up.The biggest ram was only 7/8 curl and was 7 years old. One other ram was about thesame, they will be legal next year. We could not really hike any higher due tothe low ceiling of the fog. We glassed what we could that day but didn't seeanything else.
Oh, last year when Al was there he met anotherguy Mike, in there and he and his dog were there again and we camped togetherand ended up hunting together. The next morning was a little better but the fogwas on and off all day. The fog was a little high and later in the afternoon wemet up with Mike and Sam (the dog) and did some glassing together. It was about2 pm, Mike showed us a Billy goat on the other side of the valley he wasthinking on going after but wasn’t sure, I told him that I would go since wehaven’t seen anything. It was a long way to go so late in the afternoon.
As we were glassing we spotted 22rams and they were running up the other side of the valley, like something waschasing them. They sure can cover ground fast. They finally settled down almostdirectly across from us about 3 km away. We watched them for a while and seenthat there was at least 4 good rams there. It took about a couple of hours ofsaying let’s go till finally Mike said ok ill go with you. See it’s about 4:30pm and in all our minds common sense said to wait till the morning but I’m hereto get a sheep so I’ll do what needs to be done.
It gets dark around 11 pm and it would takeabout 4 hours to get there. 2000 feet down straight running/sliding took 30mins we stopped at the creek stripped of our rain gear crossed the river and2000 feet up to where the rams were. Al hummed and hawed but stayed with Sammybecause it was too far for him. So he stayed there with Sam and watch from thisside of the valley. It turns out that Mike is in really good shape I washolding him up climbing up the mountain.