12 days, 3 hunters, 6 tags, DIY Dall Sheep & Grizzly

[mtnwrunner]

Yup......I'm in. Sounds like an adventure.......keep waiting for Jack Bauer or Mitch Rapp to show up.

Randy

 

[todde1792]

Oh this one is gonna be good...

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[Burnt Reynolds]

When the future of a free and thinking people is to be tested for no other reason than fiendish geopolitical nuclear chess maneuvering and counter-maneuvering, a lot of information good or bad will come your way when you're the tip of the spear. It can be difficult to tell good/bad apart sometimes, especially when I log onto interweb. My female marital unit sometimes makes fun of me for the time spent looking at ram hunt pics and gun porn but without doing so, particularly last week, I never would have gotten a ping from my super secret spy contact line.

While I'd been briefed on the Russian plot as a whole, I didn't have much in the way of details regarding what the grand masters had been studying related to the origination of the plot. I merely knew I was going to be in the fight of my life in a small corner of the larger battle space. Among other things, secure comms are critical infrastructure for staying abreast of new developments and how they affect tactical decision making. Getting a ping through my encrypted contact channel is no joke, all kinds of protocol's need to be executed in order to unmask the information and perhaps even respond.

The message I received after submitting a blood sample and retina scan was incredible. I had my suspicions as to who might of been the sender but I couldn't confirm until I activated the satellite link to speak with my party members. Our assessments were all the same; we were in the big leagues now given who was taking an interest in our mission. He's code named: Rock Solid. This guy is the ultimate secret agent, think Maxwell Smart meets the Incredible Hulk. Agent Rock Solid has packed out some boss rams, word is he started this when he was in high school. Unsolicited advice from Rock Solid goes to the front of the line. Makes me wish I had a better code name too, "Skinny Hippy" just isn't doing it for me.

Turns out our coordination with our pilot was good and our area of operation would place us in a good area with good options for glassing and ascending various drainage's and so forth. Now I've really got ants in my pants for the end of August. In addition to sheep and grizzly, Rock Solid added that we'll be in good mtn Caribou country and we should consider a third species given how voraciously the genome mutations were spreading among the wild game in the area. Fortunately I can downgrade my grizzly tag. Despite being able to keep the budget looking good for the bean counters a third tag would be a budget buster all things considered. Moreover we were now dealing with some mission creep. I tend to prefer to focus on one task at a time and don't want to look back and identify wasted opportunities because my attention was elsewhere and not on the ultimate prize. That said, previously on Kodiak a few years back had I not possessed multiple tags I would have come home empty handed because of stormy weather and other events beyond my control. We're confident weather will find us in addition to all other random events of nature which take place when you're hunting on the edge of the world. Be prepared takes on a whole new meaning now.

The last few days were spent with one of my party members, code named "golf ball" and his family. We traveled to a training complex for the weekend that exists on the Columbia River. The place has really changed since I was there last; it's just like you'd imagine it too, open up the doors and you'll see all manner of fork to mouth training in addition to the newest fighting technique that so many Americans seem to like. It's called "sit in a chair in the sun and drink beer". I'm told it's lethal but I have my doubts. Our activity centered around chasing threenagers around, swimming, playing soccer and deciding what to eat. Upon departure we were completely exhausted and every time we had a chance to discuss mission specifics over the weekend we'd inevitably end up several beers away from that topic and otherwise laughing our asses off over the stupid shit we've said and done over the years.

Now, having returned to my private life temporarily, I sit in my office yearning to free myself from the computer and desk and paperwork which somehow produces an annual income. August 30th can't come soon enough. Almost everything is ready. I do have one remaining major task however. That's to create a scavenger hunt or some other type of game my child co-sponsor and clones can play every day while I'm gone.

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

The morning of leg day when I'm "feeling it"

 

[KHNC]

So , this guy may have been in the military.

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

So , this guy may have been in the military.

Never served... I get a lot of information from my favorite bowhunting movie: Rambo

 

[ianpadron]

That's to create a scavenger hunt or some other type of game my child co-sponsor and clones can play every day while I'm gone.

That has got to be the greatest thing to call the wife and kids I have ever heard LOL

This story is so damn weird, I love it.

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

It was a tough fight.

8 days in ram country; we hunted hard for our quarry.

We located 5 of 6 groups of sheep we were looking for and glassed 31 rams among the 4 valleys, 7 drainage's, 1 pass and numerous micro-terrain features we hunted. 2712 ft daily elevation gain, 6.9 miles average hike per day and weather that consisted of rain, snow, high sustained winds for a few days, low ceilings and fog other days. Hunt in the wet, go to bed in the wet, get up in the wet. Kuiu Yukon raingear after several seasons of hard use still going strong! Hilleberg Akto did fantastic in these conditions, my jimmy tarp was almost in constant use either overnight for keeping packs out of the weather or during the day for shelter while taking a break and was perfect. In fact, nearly my entire kit functioned at or above my level of expectation which made the harsh conditions quite tolerable. I did suffer a bent hiking pole on day 1 (which remained in the bent position, but functioning, the remainder of the hunt) and another failure which is of the "nuclear-detonation-awful-you've-been-framed-for-a-crime-got-fired-got-dumped" type. Enough to kill some men just at the mere thought of the carnage and dead rotting flesh!

Departure from our forward operating base went without incident, but things would change for the worse upon landing at a public strip near the front lines and adjacent a hunting lodge...

 

[blackdog]

Waiting....................

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

...the weather was cool (for me; having recently departed Oregon where it was 104 and smokey) in the upper 40's, a little windy and light sprinkles of rain and sunshine: awesome! While awaiting our cub pilot and consumed with vigorous anticipation we discussed objectives and map details freely, joked about all the things and glassed a nice black bear and 4 sheep. Then we were engaged by some local business owners who seemed a bit peeved that we'd planned to hunt "their" public land and our means of transport. 60 minutes later we parted ways with a handshake and good will - but it was quite a nuisance to endure given the spirit of the moment.

We'd intended to be at our final destination around noon, but it was now 5pm. With about four hours until sunset we hurried to make final adjustments to our kits and set off like a blitzkrieg through the willows towards the mouth of a valley where we expected to camp the first night several miles away. Just prior to departure we glassed 3 rams about 2500 feet above us. 1 clearly sublegal, one on the fence and one we thought was legal. This hunt was going to be spectacular! Rather than wait and watch them we took off and in the first 200 yards I caught my left index finger in some willows and dislocated it XXXXXX! OUCH! Roughly 1.5 miles to a large open field and stopped to look again at the rams above us. Then Agent Golf Ball realized he'd lost our Delorme. I thought I broke my finger until I really looked at it. I wiggled it around with my other hand and reset it. That hurt too. Stiff and swollen we began debate about what to do about the Delorme. We opted to set camp right there for the night, get a good rest, glass the rams some more and look for the Delorme the next morning. September 1st, day one was in the books.

We have a Spot Beacon. Our pilot is planning to pick us up on the 12th at 8am unless he hears from us. There are rams right up there. These were our happily agreed to justifications for writing off the Delorme as a total loss and instead hiking west in search of fortune and glory...

 

[Yellowknife]

Then we were engaged by some local business owners who seemed a bit peeved that we'd planned to hunt "their" public land and our means of transport. 60 minutes later we parted ways with a handshake and good will - but it was quite a nuisance to endure given the spirit of the moment.

I'm familiar with that "local business owner". He's been under the impression that he owns that entire valley ever since he bought that place. He also tends to think that it's his personal airstrip. No worries though... it's all as public as public gets.

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

I'm familiar with that "local business owner". He's been under the impression that he owns that entire valley ever since he bought that place. He also tends to think that it's his personal airstrip. No worries though... it's all as public as public gets.

To be fair, and I was saving this for later; his staff and sons were extremely cordial and helpful on the outbound side of our trip wherein there were some minor mishaps

 

[mtnwrunner]

Keep it comin.........

Randy

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

When the weather gets really nice it's always smart to document the mission essential personnel.

Truly God's Country.

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

...Good Lord!... + a few expletives that I thought to myself as I tried keeping up with the freak brothers who were side hilling away as easily as a fat kid building speed on a water slide. While I'm no slouch when it comes to difficult terrain and generally get stronger as I warm up; my hunting partners just utterly and completely ate my lunch. They say it's not a competition - yeah right.

I'm generally a fairly mobile hunter. I like to cover ground and glass, but I like to observe while I'm covering ground. Just staying within 10 yards of the pace consumed me. Recovery was always quick when coming to a pause as my fitness is good, but the sweat seamed to never end. We were heading west into the first valley that'd be home for a few days. The tough going gave way to a much more accommodating valley floor once we'd gained about 600 feet of elevation - dare I say it was easy? Lot's of terrain to look at and it all looked really sheepy. All was going well until about 4pm that day, we'd been in the wet the whole day and suddenly I was starting to feel some unacceptable levels of moisture in my Lowa boots. WTF?! 3 seasons old and nary a wimper out of them ever - my rock solid boots had me a little nervous this early into our hunt as I could also feel some hotspots in the early stages.

Upon return to camp after roughly 12 hours on the go I knew by way of experience what I was in for: blisters. With 10 hunting days to go I did my best to doctor my feet and adjust laces but by the end of the 4th day I snapped these images:

 

[Nick Muche]

Sweet lookin feet Burnt! Let's hear some more!

 

[SLDMTN]

Good Lord those feet.....

 

[mtnwrunner]

That is bringing back memories of my ultrarunning days. I can truly feel your pain and I know exactly how you felt. Be curious to know how you handled the rest of the hunt.......those take a long time to heal.

Randy

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

12 days in the field under less than ideal conditions with a nagging injured finger and a pair of ugly dogs became a mental cornerstone of mine. Particularly when you're eating dinner under a tarp in pouring rain 3 miles from camp and you just don't want to move, in fact you consider sleeping right there. Everything I'd been reading over the preceding years regarding ram hunting echoed a similar theme: the mental game. You have to focus on what's going well. We were routinely finding rams, some with better stalking scenarios and able to close the gap for a better look. Just sub-legal is all, every damn day. Physically I could do the work despite the aforementioned impediments, my kit was exceeding expectations for the most part and it wasn't blizzard conditions. We had easy access at camp to water from a spring and by the end of week one we were starting to get some pockets acceptable weather. All good things. Just no legal rams. My self-reinforcing pattern of thought was punctuated with a balance of the good and the maddening.

While I'd stated I was having boot issues, we all were. Theirs were less pronounced than mine but because of the wet there wasn't a lot of hanging around outside while getting sorted for the night and comparing booboos. Agent Golf Ball has a Seek Outside teepee with stove, it's the small one for one man. Proved invaluable for huddling in there trying to keep the fire going, and licking clean a pouch of Mtn. House Turkey Tettrazini. For the most part, upon returning to camp I was just happy to get my boots off and slip on my crocs. Socks & bandages would stay. Let my feet breathe and relieve the swelling. I'd had my Lowa's up high in Kodiak, Oregon Coast Range elk hunts, all over the Santiam unit and more. Lot's of miles in wide swaths of terrain types. But never had I put them to this type of test. My problem was undersized boots that fit great until my feet grew beyond my experience under the downhill loads I asked of them - while close in the past, not enough to duplicate present demands. I'd tend to foot care in my tent where I could spread out into the vestibule for the most part. My tape supplies were replete with about a half a roll of athletic tape, some large bandages and about 1/3 of a moleskin packet. I'd become so confident with the Lowa's that I'd neglected my foot care supply, I found myself doing tape math and figuring my remaining budget of supplies, I didn't particularly like taking the tape off as it was always a mess and stuck right to the meat under my skin it seemed like. Luckily I was well versed in Rambo III where he cauterizes his abdomen wound with fire and gun powder, and my comrades were both doctor's with solid med kit supplies. Once we had a dry evening near the end of the first week I showed them my boot meat; pain pills to the rescue and lots of "Holy S@!#"

While I could move well enough I was slow as I'd pick my way through rock gardens and gain vertical elevation. This started to bother me too because I didn't want them waiting for me if they stumbled on a situation where they had to change course quickly.

On September 8th we set out from camp to climb a slope in a drainage we'd watched 4 rams feed up and over the night before. We'd gain roughly 2900 feet in elevation total, 2000 of it coming from the slope itself after about a 2 mile hike. Mtn. House granola, coffee, fresh socks & bandages, improving weather and some apparel that had actually dried out somewhat - all good things I told myself. I was borderline getting angry about it. I'd come all this way after a year of planning and years of want; I've gleaned experience over many years of how outdoorsman tasks are done, my big "ram hunt" was the centerpiece of many conversations, separated myself from my family for what seemed like ages - all this, all this to be kidney punched by sour paws.

As an athlete in my younger years I benefited from a massive supply of will power which abundantly made up for my lack of genetic ability. While I had the physique of a linebacker it was my endurance that let me defeat opponents in the 4th quarter. As a collegiate swimmer my desire to race carried me further than I should have gone considering the genetics of the best swimmers and how I didn't measure up. This was the day I needed to step up, deal with the pain and put a ram on the ground.

At the top they were 1500 feet below us in the next drainage below a pass we climbed two days prior. We knew how to get to them. The sun was out, it was beautiful out. We could see forever. It would have been my dad's 67th birthday. Seeing what I could see with my little Leica 62x spotter was breathtaking. Except, 3 clearly sub legal rams and one we debated but concurred was also sub legal. To the West was another river and some big mountains. We glassed 9 ewes and lambs and three other 4 year old rams. We sat up high on top of 5000 foot knife edge ridge top for a few hours. Sometimes quiet, joking about life or speaking about the hunt (we were under no illusions, the end was closer than the beginning and we were running out of options). There's no way I can extend my range that far and not become a serious liability. Those were the cold hard facts.

It was warm enough back at camp with sunlight to spare that everything came out of the tent for a splash of light breeze and warmed conditions. No shirts even. What to do next was the topic. My sheep hunt up high was over I told them. There's a 5th valley to the northeast of where we were that opened up about a mile from where we were dropped off on the 1st and it probably held some toad rams we reasoned. The guys could go in fast and light and have at least one night if needed. They made that plan and we decided to break camp and hike back to near the airstrip the next day. My plan was to climb a few hundred feet up and glass for moose or bear and see if I can't put something together. But, I had to get there first. While my pack was lighter it was still a big challenge and I guessed it'd be roughly 3 hours of hiking and singing my kids' songs to myself to keep my forward progress steady. 1/3 easy creek bed, 1/3 side hilling, 1/3 downhill: the worst is last which is good because there's no hill for a climber as my dad always said.

"I like Moose camp I thought out loud." "Me too, and me" were the replies...

 

[Daniel_M]

Developed by the CIA and only available to top operatives in the field. Code name "LeukoTape". Black market availability is limited, but ask for "Amazon".

Don't sweat that little guy, merely a surface wound with no degradation in capability.

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