Hunting season continues and I have a rare break to catch some sleep and get things back in order before the next hunters arrive.I have now been on several more hunts, with the real highlight being the resident rifle hunt for Bighorn Sheep.
We hunted an area north of the ranch up in the high mountains bordering Banff National Park. Jonas and I guided together and the hunt was split over two sessions. For the first leg, we packed in and set up a camp and the hunter came in for only a couple of days before he had to head out again. We encountered some truly bitter weather, particularly for early October.
We packed in camp the day before the hunter's arrival in cool but comfortable weather, and the following day I took a string of horses out again to meet the hunter and pack him back into camp. I spotted a ram on the way back in, however by the time we stopped to get a look at him the weather closed out our visibility and within minutes we were riding in a complete whiteout. The snow fell thickly and the temperatures continued to plummet for the rest of the day and on arriving at camp (looking like snow creatures), we were confined to the tent for the rest of the day. The following morning was clear, however it was bitterly cold (in the -20 c range) and there was about a foot of fresh snow. It would be safe to day that I had not adequately equipped myself for such weather conditions and on the morning spotting session I got dangerously cold feet. It got to the point that I could not feel or move anything below my ankles. I had to warm them up in front of the fire in our tent for some time on our return!
In the afternoon Jonas sent me up a basin system that led up to a pass from which you could see into the next gully. In normal conditions this may have been a relatively simple hike, however having never been up the valley, and the feint path completely hidden by snow, it took me many hours to struggle my way through fallen timber and at times waist-deep snow up to the tree line. From there it was of course a treacherous snow covered shale slope to the pass. Having made it so far I thought it was worth being able to see what I came up to look at, so continued on for another kilometer or so and spotted a few ewes and lambs. I was getting worried about the time, so turned and returned to the pass which I made by just on sunset. It then took me another couple of hours to make my way through the timber in the dark, continually tumbling over fallen branches hidden in the snow and pushing on through the deep snow. It was a relief to finally pull into camp and remove my stiff frozen outer garments. We packed out the next day without having seen any further shootable rams, but with an orientation and a camp set up for the next leg of the trip. It also prompted some cold weather gear purchases!
Packing into camp
Our wall tent base camp
Duke looking decidedly frosty!
I had a bit of a break from guiding commitments after that so took the time to visit Rowls in Edmonton and then he returned to the mountains with me for the remainder of his days off. We did a bit of hunting for whitetail and sheep and we had a great hunt on a group of bighorn rams that I spotted from the road about 40km from the ranch. We spotted them on Sunday (no hunting) and returned on Monday morning to find them in the same spot. We hiked up the valley behind the ridge on which the rams were bedded and crept over the ridge to watch them from about 250m. There were 8 rams in the group and after careful consideration we decided that one of them was legal. However he was a young ram and very light in his bases so I wasn't inclined to shoot him. There was a much older and heavier ram in the group, however unfortunately he was broomed off so that his horns were not of legal length. We let them all live, but got some great photos and had a fantastic hunting experience. We must have lay there in the snowy grass for over an hour watching the group.
The valley we hiked up before going over the top to the sheep
The legal ram is standing at the back
Legal ram in the middle, heavier older ram at the back
I was scheduled to hunt elk on the flat country, however our sheep hunter requested that I return as a second guide, so it was back to the sheep camp for me! As it worked out, Jonas and I had to fly in a camp with a helicopter to a nearby area for bowhunting in November. Due to adverse wind conditions the flight day got postponed until the day before the sheep hunter returned. So, we flew in the camp, Jonas walked out then met the hunter the next day and packed in with the horses and I stayed in the camp, finished packing it up the next day and then hiked across to our original camp scouting for sheep along the way. That was my first ride in a helicopter and it was pretty exciting! The wind made it touch-and-go, but the flight was without incident.
Quicker than packing in with horses! Bell 407
The bow camp, where the heli dropped us
The pass at the far back of the picture over which I came from the bowhunting camp
Unbeknownst to me, Jonas and the client had found some sheep on the way into camp the next day and spent the night half way up the valley. I survived on my snack food and waited for their arrival the next morning. By mid-morning I packed up the camp and my backpack and started hiking out by myself, unaware if they would be coming in at all. Fortunately I met the horses on the trail and got the story along with some wholesome food!
The next five days consisted of me scouting for sheep and Jonas taking the hunter up different areas looking for rams too. My spotting efforts were greatly assisted by my somewhat rash decision to lash out and purchase a Swarovski 20-60 x 65 spotting scope the day before I headed into camp. It is a big cost considering I have also just bought binos, but now I have a perfect optics kit!
Waiting out a snowstorm on a ridge...
... but we did have some good weather
On the third last evening I spotted two rams, one a good trophy for the client. It was too late to get near them that day, so we planned a stalk for the morning. I ascended a mountain overlooking the basin where the sheep had headed and Jonas took the hunter up the valley floor. I came over the ridge and tucked myself in against the rocks and set up my scope to scour the valley for sheep. Eventually I found the rams again about 800m below me on the same side as me. Over the next hour or so I helped direct the two below me into position until they could see the sheep and confirm which one to shoot. Three shots later, (the first two having clean missed!) our first trophy for the season was on the ground! I watched the whole operation from 'the bird's nest' through my scope and when the ram was hit, I watched him fall over and start tumbling several seconds before I heard the shot! He was a handsome ram, 6 1/2 years old and a full curl on one side with the other slightly broomed off. No record breaker but a beautiful sheep and the client was very happy. Jonas and I full-body caped him out so that the entire skin including hooves etc was in one piece and then we took all the edible meat and packed it in our packs. The packs were pretty heavy, and it was several hours of walking back to camp, but it was smiles all round that evening in camp!A good fire was going that night!
The two rams where I spotted them in the morning. The one we shot is on the left.
The same picture as above from outside the scope. We eventually killed the ram in the clearing just at the left edge of my scope.
Jonas and I with the trophy.
Over the course of the hunt I had a few nervous moments, perhaps the most noteworthy was my run-in with a big grizzly bear. I had seen the bear every day for the first few days in the valley behind our camp and had avoided his area. I had then ceased to see him and needed to get though that part of the valley on my way home so headed through. I came out in the area I had been seeing him on my way back to camp and immediately saw fresh diggings and sign in the snow. OK, he's still here. I was walking on a very steep grass covered slope that had a layer of about 6 inches of wet snow on top of it and the underlying ground was frozen hard. This is in my experience about the most slippery combination of conditions you could ask for and it is not possible to move around easily. So, wanting to get out of the area I started traversing carefully to the treeline, so that I could go directly down through the trees and back along the gully floor. As I neared the trees, concentrating on every step to avoid tobogganing down the slope, and keeping an eye over my shoulder where I though the bear had gone, I looked up and there he was! It was one of those moments where a blur of shapes suddenly snap into form and the bear was standing on all fours, probably 15 metres away staring at me. We both froze for a moment, me quite aware of my slippery predicament, he with a look of disgruntled surprise on his face. I put up my arms and spoke firmly to the bear. To my great relief, he turned and ran into the trees. I then shuffled backwards along my tracks for a way then made a high speed descent of the slippery slope!
The same bear two days earlier
On one of the days we had huge winds and I was pushing my way through the ice blast of fine snow along a ridge line. The wind had cleared many slopes of snow and loaded the other sides, which combined with an underlying sun-crust made for ideal avalanche conditions. As I made my way through one of the loaded sections I suddenly felt like I was slipping, but didn't feel like I had lost my footing - I hadn't, the ground was moving! A large slab had broken off above me and together we all slipped down the slope. Fortunately it was a very minor slide and we only went about a metre, but it was a worthwhile wake-up call to watch my footing and think more carefully about avalanche risks!
Facing the blasting wind!
Finally we packed up our camp and headed out with out trophy in tow. We had five horses, but needed to pack four, so I took the entire string of horses and Jonas walked out with the hunter. They say that it is never over until it is over and I think they are right! I spotted a couple of rams not far from the valley floor on my way out and stopped to look at them with my binoculars. I still had a day to fill my own tag so getting one on the way out would have just been the icing on the cake! However, within moments of stopping one of the packhorses managed to get his lead rope underneath the next horse's back leg and whammo, we had ourselves a horse wreck! I had four horses pulling and spinning and bucking plus my saddle horse. I got my saddle horse tied, then cut free the front pack horse who was relatively un-invoved in the mess, but then lost the last three who took off together in a twisted bucking string. I got back on my horse and with the one packhorse in tow took chase. I caught them where they had stopped to graze, the twisted horse's pack now completely hanging upside down over his back, and him barely able to stand. I tied up my horses and got the front one of the string tied, then managed to cut the other two free and release the pack from the tangled horse. There was blood all over the tangled horse's pack and I feared the worst. Had he managed to rip his leg open with the line around it? a quick inspection revealed no injury, and then I remembered that his pack boxes were filled with sheep meat! Phew!!
The rams turned out to be too young to shoot, and Jonas turned up to help me re-pack and we continued the rest of the way without incident.
So after 8 days of adventures in the bush, we returned exhausted but very happy. I think that I have been bitten by the sheep hunting bug - it is true mountain adventuring at its best!
At the trailer with the horses tied individually waiting for a pick-up. We made it out!
Since returning I started guiding a flat-country whitetail hunt the next day and was succesful on a small buck the first evening with a father-son hunting group.
They were booked for the week, but left early after both getting their deer, so I have an unscheduled break which is very welcome! So, three more weeks of whitetail guiding then back to Australia for Xmas. I think I will find the heat quite a shock!
No comments:
Post a Comment