Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Yukon Gold

Great pics and story Woody, please keep them coming.

OK Jeff, here you go. I fell on an elk hunt in 1998 and had back surgery for a crushed disc in 1999. You can get back out there again too.
Aug. 13 was a travel day to spike camp. We gathered our gear and Curt and I took the boat and gear to the South end of the lake while Dave and the boys took the horses around the lake. Saved Curt and I 2 hours of riding and we did some more pike fishing. After we met up we loaded the pack horses at a set of old cabins and headed out for a 5 hour ride.

We rode through bogs, up hill, down hill, past lakes, past an old bear carcass (small black bear, may have been killed by a boar or a grizzly as we saw a grizzly rubbed tree near by). We stopped at one of Dave's remote cabins on a creek to eat lunch and stretch our legs. I was starting to work the soreness out on this ride.

Dave said he wished he had built the cabin higher. You can see the high water mark from spring floods.

We rode on up the creek. The pack horses ran loose, not strung together. This always made for interesting riding as the horses all fought for rank and position.



Several hours later we arrive at our campsite above this little pond. Tomorrow we head to the ridge left of the highest peak in this picture.

Not even thru surgery and planning a Wyoming unit 7 elk hunt with Jim Schell

Coffee first, then we set up camp. Two tents, a tarp over the kitchen, some supplies were stored in the high cache, gather water from the spring. Horses were hobbled and turned loose. Dinner was moose steaks. Then a nice campfire before trying to get some sleep.





We were all tired, even Abby.

All our water came from running springs. We never treated or filtered it.
[img]http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l528/54Woody/Yukon/140_zps2c3077c1.jpg[/img]

Wed, Aug. 14, Mornings in spike camp start with Kish going out to find the horses (they are wearing bells and hobbles but it is suprising how far they may roam), and Dave fixing coffee and breakfast. After breakfast we ride down to the next creek bed and turn up the creek. This was extreamly rough going. The creek was either lined with alders or steep rock walls. If Dave couldn't cut a trail we led the horses right up the rocky creek bed. Curt's horse stuck a foot between two rocks but only had minor scraps despite a good panic attack. An hour and a half later we topped out in this alpine basin.

This bowl was huge, maybe a mile by a mile and a quarter rim to rim. We saw sheep right away, 7 bedded to the right, 20 ahead on the top of the ridge and 5 on the ridge between them. Dave set up the spotting scope and identified the 7 as all rams, bedded part way down a ridge. You can see them in this series of zoomed pictures.

The plan was to ride straight ahead, get out of sight, then turn right and ride as high as we could. From there we would hike back across and up to try and get above the rams. They helped by getting up and feeding around the ridge out of sight.



We picket the horses and eat a little lunch before starting the hike.

I did not take any pictures during the hike. The first 20 minutes wasn't too bad but once we reached the rimrock my focus was all on my footing and keeping my balance. I have a healthy fear of heights and falling and the mental part of moving over this steep, loose dirt and rock ground was harder than the physical part. Thomas was ahead of me and I just looked at his feet and stepped where he did. Dave, Thomas and Kish walked on this like it was a sidewalk. I had a handhold on the uphill slope and avoided looking down. Rock and dirt would slide out from under your feet and Dave would say just keep walking, it will stop sliding at some point. We stopped every 15 to 20 minutes to rest (I think this was all for my benefit). When we stopped at a point above where we first saw the rams Dave said "Let's look at some sheep boys". He eased to the edge and set up his scope to look around the point where the rams had fed. After about 15 minutes he came back to me and said one was bedded higher than the others and about 150 yards away. Two were bedded about 200 yards further. It was go time.

Dave asked how many shells I had. "Three in the magazine and 4 in my pocket" I answer. "Is that all?" he said. "Well I have a box and a half in camp, how many do you think I need right now"? I answer. Dave said "Give me the four. Sometimes when one is wounded we need to keep shooting so I'll hand you shells to reload".
We eased over to the ridge. I got in position with my rifle in front of me but stayed below the ridgeline. Dave wanted the ram to stand so we waited. After about 15 minutes Dave went back to get his video camera and my water bottle. Shortly after he returned he looked through the scope and said the ram was up. Dave doesn't want a round in the chamber until you are ready to shoot. I had the bolt open so slid it shut, but it wouldn't close. I open the bolt, saw the round was in the chamber, dropped the clip out because the second round was causing the jam. Closed the bolt, fixed round two and put the clip back in. A deep breath then I eased over the rim, saw the ram broadside facing my left. Crosshairs settled at the elbow and I squeezed one off. Shot felt good, second round in the chamber, ram had turned 180 degrees, crosshairs lined up and round two dumps him into a headfirst slide. Dave says "You just killed one hell of a ram!" I shook his hand and said "Glad I didn't embarrass myself by needing to ask you for a shell". Here is the view over my rifle barrel. That's all for today, more tomorrow.

Great thread and pics, thanks for sharing.


Looking forward to the rest of it!

Soooo awesome!

Thank you again

Keep the story coming 54woody! Great thread!

There is nothing like sheep hunting!

Enjoying the scenery and story. Thank you.

Excellent story and pics!! Almost like being in your shoes.

Great thread. I'm jealous. Can't wait for the rest.

Great story, can't wait to see more.

A little information about this picture.

The ram I shot was perched on the rock outcropping above the rifle barrel. It was slightly down hill although it doesn't appear so in the picture. The other rams were bedded 25 to 30 yards below him. My first shot was high lung and angled back exiting behind the ribs. Not sure on the second shot, somewhere in the chest, Dave said I killed him with both shots. The second shot knocked him off the right side of the ledge and he slid head first down the slope. Lucky he slid rather than rolled. The other rams ran toward him and stopped when he stopped.
For some of you, sorry I used gray tape on the muzzle rather than the proven blue. For Ingwe, if you are following, I used a .270.
The other rams seemed confused. Dave said I killed the leader and they were waiting for him to lead them. The whole gang rushed over and we grabbed cameras and video and got some decent footage of the remaining rams.


When Curt saw this one he said his first thought was that I killed the wrong one.

In a few minutes they decided the king was dead and the new king lead them off and away.

After we all slapped each other on the back and I thanked everyone we gather our gear and headed to the sheep. Again I was much slower that everyone else. Dave was already cleaning him up for pictures. I took this one bloody picture just to show we were not on level ground.

Then we took dozens of shots from different angles. This was a sheep I wanted to remember.




Curt decided I shot the right one after all.

[img]http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l528/54Woody/Yukon/126_zpsc61f6a95.jpg[/img]
If he had rolled rather than slid you can see he may have went a lot further and over a cliff.
[img]http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l528/54Woody/Yukon/127_zpsf45c2740.jpg[/img]