Hey guys! Thanks for the kind words. I’ve got a better picture of my ram but I’m saving it for the photo contest!
So this hunt was something that I had wanted to do as early as I can remember honestly (like a lot of folks I’m sure) but life happens and it finally came together. Like a lot of people I researched for years and talked to outfitters everywhere and ended up deciding on the NWT. I actually had my first conversation with Harold at Gana River when I was still in college, plotting on how I could get up there.
I booked the hunt for July 2020 and then Covid happened… I had picked the first hunt because I wanted to experience the 24hrs of daylight and I felt like if we got on a ram we could stick with him until we could get a shot. That ended up being a large part of my success.
Fast forward to this year, I arrive at Gana River after two days of travel from my home in middle Tennessee. That was an experience in itself for a guy like me. Met my guide and did a gear shakedown. This would be a backpack hunt where we were dropped off by super cub so every ounce counts. I had spent a ton of time going through my gear (we all love gear right?) and studying the supplied list. I was really happy with what I took and it worked great. I’ll add that in another post.
We flew into a remote strip in some rugged country and spent the first day hiking into sheep country. We saw five rams about ten hiked miles in but they weren’t what we were looking for and set up camp. We did 13 miles that day.
Early the next morning we headed out in search of sheep and covered several miles and saw one sheep. For you guys that have done it, or haven’t, it’s amazing how much country you can travel and not see an animal. It’s very humbling. That afternoon we did spot some sheep several mountains and a drainage over that my guide thought would be rams based on how they were feeding and bedding. So we planned to check those out. There goes several more miles. Haha!
Eventually we got close enough to tell that they were indeed rams and not only that, three of them were shooters out of a band of eleven. We ended up watching those sheep two days before they would get into position for a stalk and a shot. It was amazing to be able to do that. It was obvious which one was the best one (oldest and heaviest). So it turned into a waiting game.
We stayed awake all night watching these rams to see when they would make a move. We took turns. One of us would go on watch while the other one took a nap in the tent. We watched those sheep on the rain and the snow and the 80 degree temps. The country is wild but the weather is wilder!
The next picture it had quit raining and a rainbow came out. The sheep were bedded at the end of the rainbow.
