Sheep 2016 Sharing the passion

[Stid2677]

Sorry, but photobuckets site went down so I have to wait to finish.

 

[Daniel_M]

Sorry, but photobuckets site went down so I have to wait to finish.

Excellent recount thus far, Mr. Steve. As with all of your adventure stories, I'm right there in the hills. You should consider writing a book...!

 

[Clarktar]

As always Steve, great write up. You should have your own "corner" here on the slide.

 

[slvrslngr]

And this is why I come to Rokslide!

 

[Stid2677]

The younger smaller ram did not really want anything to do with that strange looking ram, but the larger one was pissed and he wanted a fight. As they moved closer and got behind some cover we made our dash to a rocky outcropping that I had ranged and knew would put us about 400 yards from him. We made it to rocks and this put us perfectly level with the ram, this provided us with the exact angle we needed to be absolutely sure he was legal. One last look and we both settled in to get ready for the shot. We had hustled over and the ram was calm and standing still. I ask Chris to double check his rifle and ranged the ram one last time. 400 yards perfect broadside, we both had time to let our heart rate come down, we had come to far to rush it now. I twisted the dial on my scope to 400 yards and verified that Chris too was dialed in.

I chambered a round and flipped the safety off and placed my finger on the trigger, keeping the crosshairs on the ram I slowed my breathing and waited for Chris to shoot. I was ready to back him up if needed. It seemed like forever but when Chris fired I could plainly see the hit and red spot form on the rams side. He bowed up, but stayed on his feet. For a split second it appeared he might try to leap forward, so I fired into the rock face in front of him to discourage him from attempting to move in that direction and told Chris to hit him again. Chris’s Kimber barked again, another solid hit. This ram might not have the largest horns I have seen on a sheep, but his body was huge. His size was still no match for the .308 and he dropped and rolled down into the creek below. As we both watched him roll out of our sight, we knew he was done. We worked our way back to grab the gear we dropped eager to find our way over to him. It was now 10pm, we had only a couple ours before dark and would have to move our butts if we had any hope of getting down before dark. We ever so carefully picked our way through the treacherous gorge to reach him, no way were we coming back this way.

As the ram came into view I hung back and let Chris make the final approach on his own. I wanted to give him some time alone with his first ram and to be honest I was overcome with emotion myself. We both had invested much into making this happen and seeing it come to fruition was a bit overwhelming. He proved to be exactly what we thought, full curl and no older than six or seven. What a toad he was, he was almost twice the body size of the ram that was with him.I took some time to try to get a few good photos and we got to work breaking him down.

 

[Stid2677]

Chris did the bulk of the work with a few pointers from me here and there. He had some Kuiu game bags which are new, I kind of like the bag they have that has a center zip, made it easy to bag the trim meat. I did get to try out my new Gerber Vital knife, much easier blade removal, but I found that I sometimes let my hand creep up and release the blade. Dark fell on us well before we were done and I knew we were in for a night on the mountain but wanted to drop down to a flatter spot with some water. We got our headlights on and Chris shouldered his pack, he had the entire sheep and I took his gear. He had been burping the last few minutes while we finished up his ram. I was using my light to try to pick a line when I heard a noise that made me look his way. He began vomiting like the exorcist, I never seen vomit travel so far or anyone do so while standing with a pack on, CRAP!!!!

I knew we were not moving far from where we stood. I went over and helped him drop the pack, after I helped him over to a rock outcropping that was the best we were going to have. I dumped my pack and told him to put on everything he had for clothes as I did the same. Took the pack and the two small pieces of z mat I had for sitting and made the best insulating layer I could for us to lay on and pulled my tarp out. He seemed a bit better once he laid down, but I knew we were going to be there until daylight as a minimum. Anyone that has siwashed high on a mountain knows, that you are not going to get a very restful night. We wrapped up in the tarp, which did block the cold wind, but it did little to prevent the cold from sucking the heat from our exhausted bodies. No matter how hard I tried there always seamed to be an offensive pointy rock trying to poke its way into my body. I don’t think either of us really slept, around 4am, it was light enough to move. I woke him up and ask if he was ready to head down, but he wanted more light. Really I knew he was still a bit green, but I was beyond cold and decided I would get up and move a bit to warm up.

I eased down and found some clear water and filled my bottle and hiked around to get a view. I could see that we could most likely get down this way as I saw a game trail, but I could not see all the way down without dropping almost all the way down and I did not want to have to go down and come back up. This took me an hour or so and by the time I got back with some water, he was looking better. We hydrated and ate the last of the food we had and prepped to hike down. I took the hide, head and horns to lighten his load and once packed we ever so slowly picked our way down.

 

[teamvit]

Phenomenal story and can't wait to hear the rest

 

[Stid2677]

Took us a long time to make it back to the river to recover the gear we dropped. I helped Chris drop his pack, I got the meat taken care of and went down and got our gear and some water. Chris still not fully recovered took a nap and I boiled some water and made a meal. I was hungry as a hostage and could feel my stomach trying to eat itself. Once I ate I boned out the meat and got it all ready to move. I had high hopes we could make it back to basecamp before dark. Chris was feeling better after his nap and was eating and got some water down.

We were both drinking unfiltered water and he thought he got sick from that, but I believe he simply over did it. He got target fixated and simply did not eat and drink enough and got dehydrated. Once that shot of adrenalin wore off he started hurling. With youth on his side he recovered enough for us hike back to basecamp just as light was fading. Once back at camp, we got the meat and cape cared for and shared some hot chow and a warm tent. I think we were both asleep the second our heads hit the sack.

 

[Stid2677]

We both slept in a bit the next day, the ceilings were low and it looked like it may rain. We used the day to get the cape off the head, the over whites proved to be useful for one last task, they kept the blood off us as we worked the cape and sawed the horns from the skull. While Chris worked on the trophy, I changed out the game bags and cooked us up some fresh meat. Nothing will recharge you like a gut full of fresh meat. We made some mashed taters and gravy to go with and ate like kings.

 

[Stid2677]

We prepped our gear for the move the next day and after an evening fire we retired early so we could get at it at first light. We still had a couple days walking and we knew that tundra was only going to suck more with the extra weight we now shared.

We were up and moving early, we knew it was going to be a long day. The next several hours were pleasantly miserable, those who have done this know,, you just put your head down and try to keep your feet moving. Try as I might, I could not find any better line to walk. After swimming through a flooded sea of willows full of glacier silt, I finally just said freak this and waded through the swamp back out into the tundra. We had both went over our boots so we stopped and changed into our waterproof socks and took a chow break. We had somehow lost track of time and now only had until noon tomorrow to make the strip. We were making good time and were about 2 miles from the strip, I was already thinking about the fire logs and chow I cached at the strip. The water coming down exposed the gravel bar and we were able to make much better time hiking along the river.

 

[Longstride12]

I love reading your stories Steve! I started following back in '09 or '10 and have dreamed of sheep hunting ever since. Your write up and photography are world class to me. If you ever put a book together with your stories and photos I'd be one of the first in line to purchase it! Keep the story coming, thanks for taking us with on another epic adventure!

 

[Ray]

Nice collection of memories. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[Stid2677]

My load was lighter than Chris’s so I tended to stay ahead; as we moved along the river we came to a nice spot and took a break. While we were taking a snack break I noticed a beautiful grizzly boar across the river from us. I ask Chris if he wanted to kill a bear, he brought up binos up to look and I had to tell him “not up high he is right across the river” I ranged him at 180 yards. Chris said it’s your turn,, I told him I had killed plenty of bears and even though he was a beauty I would pass. The bear was feeding on berries and wasn’t going anywhere so we glassed him over real good. I could see that Chris wanted to take him, so I ask him if he wanted to kill him. He said he did, I said “you know this means we won’t make the strip tonight and will have to make two trips from here to get it all to the strip” no way I could carry anymore than I already had. With it decided we got our rifles ready, he was close to the river and I did not want him wet or to have to fish him from the river. So we both got a good rest and I made ready to back him up, Chris fired and hit him hard. He spun and he hit him again, he was now out of ammo so I finished him off with a couple shots and was able to stop him at the waters edge.

 

[Stid2677]

With rain threatening I threw up the sawtooth while Chris got the gear together to go skin the bear. We put our waders on and crossed the river to recover the bear. His head was hanging over the river but he was dry. We took a few photos and got at getting him skinned. As we finished I was alarmed to see that the river had came up a foot in the hour it took us to get the bear ready. I had concerns that we may have trouble crossing back, the river was much higher and faster flowing. We linked up and were able to make it back with only a small amount of water getting over our waders.

It was almost dark by the time we got the hide and meat all hung and covered. I figured it would take us 6 hours or more to get it all back and we had a noon hard time. We agreed we would get up at 4am to give a few extra hours just in case. I’m not going to lie,, I felt like I had been to a gang fight and my gang had not shown up.

I was up and running on pure stupid the next morning. Every part of my body hurt and each and every step was mind numbing. I don’t even think we spoke to each other over the course of the next several hours. We just kept putting one foot ahead of the other over and over. We leap frogged the loads the last 2 miles. It was 11:30 when we collapsed on the strip. At noon on the spot we heard the plane and saw our ride inbound on final.

He taxied over and dropped off some hikers, he had to go check on some other hunters and we took a few minutes while he was gone to get our stuff ready to fly home. In about 30 minutes he was back and we quickly loaded up and flew back to the village. We flew along the river looking for a boat he was expecting to arrive for the film guys. We both were happy to be moving without weight on our backs. The plane for Fairbanks was on the ramp waiting on us as we taxied in. Our pilot had radioed ahead and got them to hold the plane for us.

On the flight back, I reflected back on the last 11 days. This could very well be my last sheep hunt. I had tried to pass on to this young man many of the lessons I had learned. My trophy was living this hunt through his eyes and enthusiasm. Without question this is the hardest I had hunted for a ram, I had pushed harder than I would have ever on my own. He earned his first ram, even got the full meal deal getting to spend a cold night on the mountain. He now is a member of the sheep hunter fraternity and is less than one no more. Chris and I are both veterans and it is healing for me to spend time with folks that understand what we lost so far away. I hope long after I’m gone, he will look at that ram and bear on his wall and fondly remember the ole guy that he shared a fire with in such a wondrous place.

Steve

 

[WCS]

Awesome story and photography, thanks for sharing a great experience.

 

[Boomer51]

Wow! Thank you!

 

[danarnold]

Man! I've got things to do today, but found myself hitting the refresh button over and over and really didn't think it could get any better, but it did!
Nothing short of Badass!
Thanks

 

[Mtslackcountry]

Thanks for sharing. Whats with the Tyvek type white suits?

 

[Stid2677]

Thanks for sharing. Whats with the Tyvek type white suits?

Make you look like a sheep, nice to keep blood off you too. Would not have killed that ram without them.

 

[Mtslackcountry]

Nice. Good info

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