Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Back from BC! Sheep & Goat! **Details on Page 2!**

I got back from my Stone Sheep hunt with Tuchodi River Outfitters late yesterday (9-15). I had a very succesful and good hunt overall. I got a really good 9 year old Stone that had 39" horns & a 7 year old goat with 8" horns. The hunt was tough, but I had a really good guide (Lawson Peterson) that really worked his a$$ off to make sure I was succesful. I'm posting a couple of photos now and I'll add more details when I have a little more time.

Here is a photo of my sheep (it's not a great photo something was not set right on the camera, but it was the best one I have).


Here's one of the goat.


I'll add more details about gear and such tomorrow as I have time.

Congrat's!! Looks a great hunt!!

awesome animals, congrats!! 163bc

Sounds like a great hunt - the terrain looks pretty rugged there around you.

DG,
Thanks for the pics! Looking forward to your story with rifle and equipment evaluation. Way to go!

nice ram , looks like pretty steep country , is that a sitka mountain shirt your wearing ?

Nice ram! Way to go! Looks like he was high. Fine goat also, and they sure have beautiful hides. How did you like that country? See anything besides sheep & goat?

That is simply outstanding! And a double hitter to boot!

Congrads!

MtnHtr

Mr. DocGlenn:
Fine pair of animals there sir. Well done.
Pretty country that is.
Regards
Dwayne

Doc,Great animals.

RS

setting shmetting, that's a danged great photo, it's hard to get Annie Liebowitz or whatever her name is up that high to take trophy pics.

Beautfiul animals, and like others looking forward to hearing the stories that go with the great pics.

Congrats!

I've heard the story and it's amazing. Great job, congrats, WOW!
Don

Doc, very nice indeed. Country and animals fab!

great pics! looking foreward to more info.

Congrats nice critters.

Outstanding, thats my dream. When the kids are grown and out of school, maybe. No, I'll just bust my, well you know, save and make it happen.

Great Job Doc,

I've always been intrigued with BC, you are adding fat to the fire my friend. I'm interested in costs and camp setup. Tell me what you went through in choosing these folks for your hunt. Drop me a pm at your convenience if you would rather...

That is a great accomplishment. Congratulations.

OK. Time for some details! The worst thing about this whole trip was that I got to camp sick. Fever, chills, coughing, and bad sinus congestion is not a good way to start off a hunt that involves a lot of climbing and hiking. We rode 15 miles to our 1st camp, and started hunting the next day. We didn't see anything but ewes, lambs and goats the first day which turned out to be a good thing because I couldn't have made the climb to get to them anyway due to the flu I had. The second day, we got into position for a good shot at a nine nich goat (still hadn't seen any rams), but he was in some cliffs and Lawson felt that he would be very difficut to recover and he would probably be really beat up from the fall (this was some really steep, ruggged country), so we let him go.

Goats in cliffs.


We ended up moving camp the next day.

So it was back to base camp, and then on to the "high country" camp the next day. As soon as we got into the draw that headed to the High Camp, Lawson saw some Rams. We stopped short of where we ultimately wanted to go and set up camp. Lawson wanted to climb to the top of the mountain to glass the rams to see if any were leagal, so we headed out. I was feeling a little better now and almost made it to the top by the time Lawson was heading back down from checking them out. He reported a "possible" leagal ram, but thought we could do better. We ended up getting down the mountain right at dark and had a long walk back to camp in the dark. By the time we got back, I was wiped out, but a fire and a mountain house meal put a little life back in me. The next morning, we were able to move camp to where Lawson really wanted to be, in a high bowl above tree-line with good feed for the horses. From here it would be a a walking/climbing hunt. Too steep and rough for the horses.

Look close and you can see the tent.


We hiked to to top of the pass and saw sheep right away. We glassed the ram I eventually took as he headed away from us farther down the valley. We saw caribou and got to see a wolverine cross over the pass. That was very cool.
We hiked back to camp with plans to climb the mountain the next day to find where the rams we had seen had gone. So the next morning were headed to the top of the world.




[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/DocGlenn/Stone%20Sheep%20Hunt/P9050053.jpg[/img]

By now I was feeling a lot better, and the climbing wasn't killing me like it had been. We worked our way around the top until Lawson found the draw the rams were bedded in. There were 2 legal rams and 2 half curls. We watched them and hoped that they would get up and feed towards us. Of course, they feed away from us over the next ridge into the next draw. It was decesion time. It was 3:00 and Lawson said that if we went after them, we could probably catch up with them and get a shot, but we would have to spend the night on the mountain. The thought of spending the night on the mountain didn't seem as bad as having to come all the way back the next day, so we went for it. It took us about 45 minutes to get to where the rams had dissapeared over the ridge (side-hilling the whole way). We immedately got pinned down by one of the younger rams that wanted to get a close look at us. We froze in hopes that he would move off, during which time both of my feet feel asleep from the awkward position that he caught me in. The little guy just wouldn't go away, so after him staring at us from 50 yds away for 20 minutes, Lawson finally just started moving towards where he felt the rams were. The little guy spooked, and then things got really busy. Lawson saw the rams heading up the far wall of the draw, I'm trying to catch up, but I can barely walk because my feet are asleep, I range them at less than 200 yds, and try to find a place to lay down and shoot. I finally got in position, found the right ram, and pulled the trigger. The ram dropped instantly and I was all smiles. The ram tumbled down the cliffs about 50-75 feet and got scratched up a little, but nothing too bad. It took about 15 minutes to get to him, and I was really happy with his size and condition. Lawson apologized and said he just had to see how big he was.
[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/DocGlenn/Stone%20Sheep%20Hunt/P9050058.jpg[/img]
He measured out at 39" a truely great ram in my book.
Lawson took a lot of time to clean him up and position him for photos which we took until just about dark.

[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/DocGlenn/Stone%20Sheep%20Hunt/P9050073.jpg[/img]

After the photo session, Lawson began to cape him out using his headlamp for light.

[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/DocGlenn/Stone%20Sheep%20Hunt/P9060078.jpg[/img]

Before it got dark, we saw a rigde down the draw that had some trees, so once the caping was done, we headed down to try and find those trees in the dark. This was one nasty draw, every rock you stepped on rolled and it was tough going to get to the trees. We fianlly made it around midnight, so we gathered firewood, got a fire going and ate sheep tenderloin cooked on a willow branch for a late supper.

Luckily, the weather was clear and the fire kept us warm. Lawson slept some, I did not. I laid there and waited for the sun to come up. When it did, Lawson caped out the skull and we headed back up to where the meat was at the kill site.

[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/DocGlenn/Stone%20Sheep%20Hunt/P9060083.jpg[/img]

We got back up to the meat, Lawson boned it out and loaded his pack with the meat and horns, I got the cape. Lawson's pack had to weigh over 100 lbs. Mine probably was around 50 lbs. My NICE frame and Crew Cab worked well to carry the load, but the walk back to camp was tough. By this time I had had my boots on for 24 hrs. I should have packed a spare set of socks but didn't, so my feet paid the price. We spent about 5-6 hours getting back to camp with great deal of time spent side-hilling on some really steep, nasty stuff.
I'm not really sure what to think about my boots (Lowa Sheep Hunters). I got a few blisters and the support around the heal seemed to fail with all the side-hilling. I'm not sure another boot would have done a lot better under those conditions, but my big toes on both feet are still numb. My walking stick saved my but so many times I lost count, don't ever go into the high country w/o one!
We finally made it back to camp at 3 that afternoon. 36 hrs of tough climbing and hiking w/o any sleep had me ready for a quick meal and a nap. Lawson beat me back to camp by at least half a mile. He is one stout individual to carry that much weight over that nasty ground as quickly as he did.
We slept in the next morning and eventually got the horses loaded and headed back to main camp. This country was so steep we actually had to lead the horses through a lot of it, and w/o a doubt I hiked more on this trip than I dd on my AK backpack hunt.
We took a day in camp to rest up and headed 15 miles back to our original camp to look for goats which we found on the next to last day of the hunt.
[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/DocGlenn/Stone%20Sheep%20Hunt/P9090089.jpg[/img]
The goat was straight forward. Lawson spotted him on the mountain, we hiked up, and I took him at around 188yds with the .300 WSM.
[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/DocGlenn/Stone%20Sheep%20Hunt/P9110097.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/DocGlenn/Stone%20Sheep%20Hunt/P9110104.jpg[/img]
Once again Lawson made sure to take the time to get good photos, and then he caped him and boned him out. I carried the hide and head down while Lawson got the meat again. Luckily, the walk back to the horses was downhill and we made it right before it got dark. We had to lead the horses off the mountain in the dark, and it was 10:30 before we made it back to camp.

[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/DocGlenn/Stone%20Sheep%20Hunt/P9120109.jpg[/img]



We rode the 15 miles back to main camp the next day.

Here's the view of the mountains from main camp.
[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/DocGlenn/Stone%20Sheep%20Hunt/P9130110.jpg[/img]

It took me 3 days to get back to Atlanta from main camp.

Overall impressions of the hunt were that it was tougher than I had hoped for (being sick early on really made it hard). The horses don't make this an easy hunt at all. My gear worked well. Mammut Champ pants are perfect, I wore a synthetic thermal top with my Sitka Gear shirt on top of that almost everyday. The MR NICE and Crew Cab worked well while allowing me to ride a horse with it on my back. Luckily, we had good weather for most of the trip, but I wore my rain gear a lot to block wind and it worked OK. When we slept on the mountain, the embers from the fire burned several small holes in my Precip Jacket, so I'll probably need to replace that. I'm still up in the air about the Lowa boots, the .300 WSM worked. My Sitka Gear jacket was nice, but too hot to wear when climbing. A good walking stick is a must have, and the Kifaru Gun-Bearer doesn't work for me on the steep stuff. The Lecia Geovids worked great. I took my spotting scope, but left it camp due to weight. Overall a great trip and I would recommend it and Lawson as a guide highly. Stone Sheep seem to be in a little trouble in BC. With all of the oil and gas work being done in the area, access is much easier than it used to be and they are getting hunted harder than ever before. The outfitter allocations are being decreased, but residents can still buy a sheep tag over the counter, so they are getting hammered pretty good. I'm glad I was able to go when I did, with the cost going up, I'm not sure I could have afforded this hunt a few years from now.

Tremendous story! Thank you. Tough hunt and a good one, very realistic in that country and terrain. A 39" ram is a dinger. And your guide was wise on the first goat. The only B&C animal I ever killed was a goat... that fell and tumbled 1,000 vertical feet (measured on topo map) and broke off his horns so he could not be officially scored. Took me two hours to reach him and I was lucky to recover him at all, hide gashed, every major bone broken. You did much better.

Wow, great story and pics!! Thanks for sharing! Congrat's again!