Good luck on the sheep hunt. On the issue of squats, it seems for me that once I work up to squatting around 185 for 3 sets of 10 reps, hiking uphill gets considerably easier. Coming down with a heavy pack gets easier too. I've never even been in the ballpark of VEK though. Once I get a good squat rack and a good partner, I'll probably take a shot at getting up there.
