ReddingArcher
WKR
- Joined
- May 22, 2014
- Messages
- 1,351
Hey guys I just returned from the NWT, on what is probably a once in a lifetime hunt, but hopefully not! I was very fortunate to get in with Gana River Outfitters for this year. I had talked to Harold in November of last year and he'd had someone back out of a horseback hunt for this year! It was go time! I sent my deposit and finished paying if off at the sheep show. I'd been training prior to paying it off but I had to ramp it up. I completely changed my diet to Carnivore and started rucking everyday and box step ups. I continued my training through the summer and about 2 weeks out scaled back my pack training to just walks/jogs around my neighborhood in the evenings.
My wife and kids dropped me at the airport on August 20th and I was off. The flights went off with no drama, clearing customs was a breeze in Edmonton. That night I stayed at the Renaissance Hotel at the airport there and had a really good steak dinner. The next morning as I was checking in for my flights I met a couple other guys who were headed to Gana River also. One of the best parts of the hunt was meeting all the other guys headed up for their hunts, I am sure I'll stay in contact with them and hopefully they'll get out here to California for a pig or blacktail hunt. The flights to Yellowknife and Norman Wells went smoothly and once in Norman Wells, the other guys and me met another hunter and fellow Rokslider in the airport while waiting for our bags. He's also from California and we ended up sharing camp the whole time, which was great!
It was awesome meeting other hunters that had come in from other outfits and hearing their stories while sitting in the Heritage Hotel in Norman Wells. Everyone seemed to have nothing but really positive things to say about their outfitters, it doesn't sound like you can go wrong with any of the outfitters up there.
Thursday about 3 we were picked up and taken over to North Wright Airways for our flight into base camp. They scenery on the flight in was incredible! The Mackenzie Mountains seem to get into your blood quickly and I found myself instantly in love with the country and wanting to go back as often as I can. Once we landed we got set up in our bunks and headed back over to the range to check our rifles. Then it was back to camp for dinner and off to bed. Just before bed we heard a gunshot outside, a grizzly had come into camp and one of the camp kids had scared it off. What a start to the adventure! The next morning we rode out of camp and up river to our first camp, it was about a 3-3.5 hour ride in the drizzling rain and a lot of fun! We saw multiple caribou and another huge grizzly! That night after getting to camp we walked about a mile from camp and set up on a gravel bar to glass for sheep. Almost immediately we found a couple bands of rams!
The next day we rode up the river a few miles and checked the further band of rams out, one looked very good, but was in a spot that they were basically unhuntable, there were series of cliffs and they were about 3/4 of the way up them. The following day we went back to these rams, but took a side drainage up and then another drainage and climbed up the backside of the mountain the sheep were on hoping they had moved into a stalkable position. They hadn't. So we made the trek back to the horses. The climbs in the scree fields is something unlike anything else I have hunted, its not bad going up but feels a lot more sketchy going down! That day between the horses and on foot we covered 17.5 miles.
Monday the 26th we walked out of camp to glass the band of rams that had been living on the mountain above camp. We watched them for an hour or so until the bedded and decided to make our move. I felt stronger during this climb than I had the day before, which was kind of surprising, but didn't hurt my feelings! We started our climb about 9 and made it to the top just before noon. We started to peek over the tops looking for the sheep, and as we rounded the last craggy outcropping before a saddle, my guide Dane dropped to the rocks and whispered they were less than 100 yards away feeding in the saddle! We slide back the way we came and rounded the other side of the outcropping and up onto a grassy knoll at 130 yards from the sheep! As we peeked over I could see one of the younger rams looking up in our direction and slowly lowered myself flat against the ground. After a minute or so we eased back up and all the sheep were back to doing their thing just feeding. I had already put my Spartan bipod in and had my bino pack off for a rear rest. Dane said the one we wanted was the highest sheep in the group of 3 in the bottom of the saddle. I got a couple deep breaths in and got him in the crosshairs and touched it off, I was able to watch the sheep hit the ground in the scope!! It was handshakes and hugs on the top of the mountain. We took a bunch of pictures and got had lunch on top of the world before getting to work on him. We were able to come down the face of the mountain, it was a bit wild at times to me, but saved us a couple miles coming back the way we had. Here's one of the pictures, I'll have to upload some more off my phone in a bit. I was also able to harvest a beautiful caribou in velvet also, I'll add some pictures of him as well. Hopefully you all enjoy the write up! Thanks for reading!
My wife and kids dropped me at the airport on August 20th and I was off. The flights went off with no drama, clearing customs was a breeze in Edmonton. That night I stayed at the Renaissance Hotel at the airport there and had a really good steak dinner. The next morning as I was checking in for my flights I met a couple other guys who were headed to Gana River also. One of the best parts of the hunt was meeting all the other guys headed up for their hunts, I am sure I'll stay in contact with them and hopefully they'll get out here to California for a pig or blacktail hunt. The flights to Yellowknife and Norman Wells went smoothly and once in Norman Wells, the other guys and me met another hunter and fellow Rokslider in the airport while waiting for our bags. He's also from California and we ended up sharing camp the whole time, which was great!
It was awesome meeting other hunters that had come in from other outfits and hearing their stories while sitting in the Heritage Hotel in Norman Wells. Everyone seemed to have nothing but really positive things to say about their outfitters, it doesn't sound like you can go wrong with any of the outfitters up there.
Thursday about 3 we were picked up and taken over to North Wright Airways for our flight into base camp. They scenery on the flight in was incredible! The Mackenzie Mountains seem to get into your blood quickly and I found myself instantly in love with the country and wanting to go back as often as I can. Once we landed we got set up in our bunks and headed back over to the range to check our rifles. Then it was back to camp for dinner and off to bed. Just before bed we heard a gunshot outside, a grizzly had come into camp and one of the camp kids had scared it off. What a start to the adventure! The next morning we rode out of camp and up river to our first camp, it was about a 3-3.5 hour ride in the drizzling rain and a lot of fun! We saw multiple caribou and another huge grizzly! That night after getting to camp we walked about a mile from camp and set up on a gravel bar to glass for sheep. Almost immediately we found a couple bands of rams!
The next day we rode up the river a few miles and checked the further band of rams out, one looked very good, but was in a spot that they were basically unhuntable, there were series of cliffs and they were about 3/4 of the way up them. The following day we went back to these rams, but took a side drainage up and then another drainage and climbed up the backside of the mountain the sheep were on hoping they had moved into a stalkable position. They hadn't. So we made the trek back to the horses. The climbs in the scree fields is something unlike anything else I have hunted, its not bad going up but feels a lot more sketchy going down! That day between the horses and on foot we covered 17.5 miles.
Monday the 26th we walked out of camp to glass the band of rams that had been living on the mountain above camp. We watched them for an hour or so until the bedded and decided to make our move. I felt stronger during this climb than I had the day before, which was kind of surprising, but didn't hurt my feelings! We started our climb about 9 and made it to the top just before noon. We started to peek over the tops looking for the sheep, and as we rounded the last craggy outcropping before a saddle, my guide Dane dropped to the rocks and whispered they were less than 100 yards away feeding in the saddle! We slide back the way we came and rounded the other side of the outcropping and up onto a grassy knoll at 130 yards from the sheep! As we peeked over I could see one of the younger rams looking up in our direction and slowly lowered myself flat against the ground. After a minute or so we eased back up and all the sheep were back to doing their thing just feeding. I had already put my Spartan bipod in and had my bino pack off for a rear rest. Dane said the one we wanted was the highest sheep in the group of 3 in the bottom of the saddle. I got a couple deep breaths in and got him in the crosshairs and touched it off, I was able to watch the sheep hit the ground in the scope!! It was handshakes and hugs on the top of the mountain. We took a bunch of pictures and got had lunch on top of the world before getting to work on him. We were able to come down the face of the mountain, it was a bit wild at times to me, but saved us a couple miles coming back the way we had. Here's one of the pictures, I'll have to upload some more off my phone in a bit. I was also able to harvest a beautiful caribou in velvet also, I'll add some pictures of him as well. Hopefully you all enjoy the write up! Thanks for reading!
![IMG_4184[1].PNG](https://forumdata.rokslide.com/file/forumdata/data/attachments/734/734750-a03ef67bdd6bf7270eff60a25d3b6f79.jpg)
