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Dall Sheep Hunt - Day #7

I woke at 7:00 AM this morning, which is earlier than usual. Perhaps knowing that the hunt is winding down and I may have "blown" my only chance is causing the restless nights? It can't be the lack of exercise! At any rate I stayed in the sack until almost 8:00 to give Slim a chance to get a full night's sleep.

While having coffee and watching Slim fry up some eggs and bacon for breakfast, I spotted a good sized blond phase grizzly working his way up the creek just to our south. He was on the opposite side of the small creek and seemed to be just working along feeding on berries. He paid no attention to us at all, but we spent the day looking over our shoulders! He did help us decide on a plan of attack for the day, as we were not in favor of following him up the creek into the valley to the south east of camp.

While cleaning up from breakfast, Slim spotted two rams just cross the valley from us to the West. I couldn't believe there were sheep with-in sight of camp, and crossed my fingers that the spotting scope would help verify that they were worth chasing.

One was!

We watched them for a while to get a feel for where they might be going and what trail across the open face of the near mountain they might take to get there. It wasn't until they started bedding that Slim felt comfortable putting a plan together.

The rams had been feeding along toward the north at a steady elevation. There was every reason to believe they would continue when their nap was finished. Using our field glasses we searched the mountain face both for a good ambush location and a decent means to ascend the steep slope to the ambush spot undetected. Slim and I agreed on the ambush spot, but I had serious doubts when he explained how he figured we could get there! It was time to remind him again about the lack of mountain goat DNA in my family gene pool!

In short order we were packed for the day and on our way up the valley along a creek to the North. The plan was to hike almost out of this valley along the bottom, to a spot around the bend where the rams would loose sight of us. We would then start straight uphill (I can't believe I'm calling that mountain a hill!) using a ridge to shield our efforts from view. We made a mental note of the rock outcropping we were going to use as a blind so we could find it once on the face of the mountain. The climbing gets easier every day. The mountains don't look smaller, but as my conditioning improves they feel smaller, which is the important thing.

It only took an hour and a half to climb to our vantage point. Everything looked as good once we got there as it had from the valley floor with the 10X glasses. The only bad thing is that we couldn't see the rams, and Slim likes to see the rams! He decided we'd get a much better view if we side sloped over to the next bench. I don't know which is my least favorite part, trying to find something to hold onto while sliding around the shear cliffs, or trying to run across the shale sides fast enough so you don't loose too much elevation as the mountain slips away from under your feet and rocks tumble hundreds of feet straight down from where you were just standing.

With my heart in my throat I followed Slim across to the next bench/ridge, only to find that he liked the next one even better!

The closer we got to where we thought the rams were bedded, the less noise we tried to make. With rocks tumbling down slope from under foot, being quite is not an easy thing to accomplish. Trust me on that one.

Peeking over the third ridge we got a slight glimpse of a ram working his way in the other direction. This was not a good thing! We worked our way further up hill and settled in to what was to be a long wait for the rams to feed in our direction.

One finally did.

The small ram first came into sight below us and heading our way. This got the old heart pumping, and I was sitting still! I knew he wasn't one I'd shoot, but if one ram came this way the other would most likely follow. The second ram we had glassed was in the 37" range and fairly heavy. Given a decent chance, I'd decided to launch an arrow in his direction.

We waited for over three hours before the second ram came into view. He was feeding our way as well, but he had moved much higher up the side of the mountain then when last we saw him. He was too far up for us to get a shot, and we were going to have to make a move. Trouble is, we were in his sight path, and movement was not going to be a good thing.

We were now pinned down by two feeding rams, neither of which was in shooting position. Taking a good hard look at the second ram we both agreed he wasn't the trophy class animal we had hiked up here for. There must be three rams on this mountain! We decided to just wait him out hoping he would join these other two and feed right by us. Another hour went by. The second ram was still getting closer, and had now seen us. With the correct wind, and by not moving, he was unsure what we were and decided to come check us out. This was getting "way cool" as the ram worked his way slowly over to with-in fifteen yards of me right out on the open hillside.

I didn't have my good camera with me, but was able to slowly slide my digital camera out of my pocket and get it turned on. I could hear the shutter of Slim's camera banging away and wanted to get in on the action. Turning my camera on with the minimum of movement, I got a screen that said "card full". This is not what I wanted to hear with a ram looking at me from fifteen yards!

I was able to sneak my reading glasses out of another pocket, so I could see the buttons on the camera and start scrolling through the pictures deleting out ones I figured I could do without. This accomplished, I managed to get back to where I had the ability to take this ram's picture.

Both rams finally fed around to our north allowing us to move a little more like human beings to get the kinks out. Then we started looking for the big guy, but he was no where to be found. We hiked and glassed until after 7:00PM and never laid eyes on him again. After a valiant effort to find the ram we were hunting, we worked our way around another ridge that allowed us to glass a few more mountain sides and a large basin hidden from our view at camp.

The only rams we saw were too far away to make an attempt on today, so we had to head back empty handed yet again. The thought that there was but one day left was etched deeply in my mind!

After dinner Slim cleaned the dishes and then stood to toss the soapy water out. When he did, large bubbles floated into the sky and were floating across the meadow in front of our camp.

Thinking this was pretty "neat", Slim commented, "Hey, look at the bubbles!"

Looking out from under the tarp, I commented back, "Hey, look at the grizzly!"

At first Slim thought I was joking, but a second glance brought the 600 pound grizzly into full focus at less than eighty yards. He was just walking across the meadow and happened to come close by our camp. He paid us no mind, and we decided to just watch him peacefully walk along. After about a hundred yards he dropped into the creek bed in front of camp and we didn't see him again.

Taking another bath down at the creek didn't have the same appeal from that night on however.

Aside from the talk of grizzly bears, we mostly discussed what the plan would be for the morning. Slim wasn't going to decide anything until morning, so I guess we'll all have to wait and see what the last day brings. I don't think I'll be getting a whole lot of sleep this evening!