Quest for Stone's, part three

tuffcity

WKR
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
Messages
557
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YT
So this is year three of trying to get my wife her first Stone Sheep. I talked to pilots, I talked to those “in the know”, I got “come talk to me” advice from people who had been to the area and been successful… camp here, follow this drainage up, glass these mountain sides. I thought I was dialed in.

September 4th I landed in Whitehorse where Helen picked me up from the airport and we drove straight to Atlin, we had the float plane booked for an afternoon flight out. She was still in her work clothes and I was lamenting the couple of items I had forgotten to pack. (Like my frickin’ jetboil and all the jerky I had made for the trip!)

Rewind…

Usually we have our gear sitting on the dining room table for weeks before we go. It’s checked, rechecked, and finally packed up. Earlier this year Hel had taken a job with Yukon Territorial Gov’t and was living in Whitehorse. She is still technically a BC Resident so we planned on hunting Stones in northern BC. The problem with that is that we had gear scattered between Whitehorse and Victoria, only a mere 1500 miles (2500 km) apart. This made for some interesting calls: “Is (some item) up there with you?” “I can’t find this (some other item)”. Finally we had most of it resolved.

But it was the year of chaos in the packing department.

All our food was ordered online and shipped to Whitehorse (hey, they had buy “X” amount and shipping is free, plus it saved on me having to fly up with it), it arrived on September 3rd. One bullet dodged. I texted Hel from the Vancouver airport, “Forgot to pack my jetboail” She had to run out on her lunch and get me a new one. Upside, I really like the new titanium one!

We had stuff packed in totes and thrown in the truck but what the hell, we where going hunting, we’d throw it all in the Beaver and sort it out at base camp.

And so the journey began…

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We spent the first night at the lake and then rearranged our gear the next morning and started to pack in.

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When we cleared the trees we spotted a ram that, through bino’s, looked like it might be legal. He wondered off before we could get a scope on him but it set the stage for optimism.

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The wind started to really pick up on the higher ridges. I was nearly 300 pounds on the ground with all my gear and what I weigh and the wind was starting to throw me around. My wife, considerably lighter, was having a much tougher time so we decide to camp and found a spot up against a small bluff and some scrub pines that offered a bit of respite from the wind. We found the biggest rocks we could handle to weigh the tent down and rode out the storm. Our North Face tent handled it like a champ.

Made it in the next morning and once camp was set up we immediately starting seeing sheep and caribou, unfortunately ewes and lambs. The next day we spotted a couple of rams and after about 4 hours of chase the feeding sheep we got a good enough look to see that they were a half and three quarter curl. Next!

That evening the clouds set in and the rain started. That night the rain turned to driving snow and we lost the next day due to no visibility.

What’s sheep hunting without a snow storm?

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tuffcity

tuffcity

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YT
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A couple of days later we bumped into 4 sheep in the middle of a grassy plateau,

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saw a ewe first then a younger ram with her and I thought there might be another ram as well. We bellied through the grass and managed to get within about 85 yards as the sheep crossed in front of us. There was another ram but he went just shy of 7/8th. It was a classic calendar picture moment as the two rams sky lined themselves then stopped and did the quartering way look back. The clear blue sky, back-dropped mountains and two of the prettiest Stone sheep I have ever seen had me wishing I had lugged the extra 10 pounds of DSLR and 400 mm lens up with me… almost. Unfortunately my new Sony RX 100 iii wasn’t up to the task at that distance.

We put a lot of boot miles on the next 4 days.

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tuffcity

tuffcity

WKR
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
Messages
557
Location
YT
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Alas it was not meant to be and we never did find any more rams. Finally it was time to admit defeat and head back to the lake.

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So, apparently as a sheep guide I suck. :) My initial scout reports had suggested that there was only going to be one party in that area before us, and that was a month before we showed up. Turns out there were at least 3 parties in (that I know of) so pressure may have pushed the rams further back than we could go in the short time we had up there.

Looks like Hel will be in the YT long enough to be a Yukon resident hunter next year so we might be chasing white sheep instead of Stones next year.

Damn I hate strike three…

RC
 

Stid2677

WKR
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
2,349
WOW,, really enjoyed the report. Stone Sheep is on my bucket list. Best wishes to you both.
 

bizyrok

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 10, 2014
Messages
100
Location
MN
Thanks for taking the time to share your hunt and the photos. Really some wonderful country. Stay with it and your time will come!
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
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9
Beautiful country! I've flown in to a few different areas with Chris on both wheels and floats, he is an excellent pilot!
 

bcimport

WKR
Joined
Mar 15, 2013
Messages
500
Location
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Just got out from Northern BC myself. We struck out. Saw no sheep or goats, moose wouldn't come out of the timber in the wind and we couldn't close the deal on the only legal caribou we got on. Such is an unguided hunt up north without the super cub or beaver running daily recon for you.
 
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tuffcity

tuffcity

WKR
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
Messages
557
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YT
Oh I'm not bummed about no ram, I probably should have written it up a bit different. I guess I was projecting the smidgen of disappoint my wife felt. But she is a fairly new hunter and not being about to even stalk a legal ram, regardless of outcome, I think equated to a "nice trip but..." sort of feeling for her. I suspect we've all been at that stage some time during our hunting "careers". I've tipped over enough critters that any trip like that is enough if it, as I jokingly tell the people I work with, heals my soul.

Plus I didn't lose an extra 5 pounds just packing one of her beasts out- unlike last year! lol

We saw some cool new country and I would like to go back there one day, probably for longer and push back further.

RC
 

Yukon

FNG
Joined
Jun 19, 2012
Messages
58
Location
Marsh Lake, Yukon
Nice write up and great pictures. You will have an easier time spotting the Dalls next season! Stone sheep hunting can be tricky and I often do too much hiking and not enough glassing. Love the colour up on the mountains.
 

7stw

WKR
Joined
Jun 9, 2014
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500
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north of okc
Great story thanks for taking us on your adventure. It's called hunting not killing for a reason. Best of luck next year.
 
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