So on we hiked and a dark thought was starting to creep into each of our minds by later admission. "Are we even going to see a ram?"
The country is spectacular though, and we were seeing enough game each day to keep us interested. To soldier on was our only option and frankly we were happy to do it. Really how often in life do you get to spend a week with a couple of your best friends doing something you absolutely love.
We edged closer to the lake and kept glassing as we went without seeing much. Soon we came to a rocky outcropping with a view that no artist could do justice to, and according to the gps we were only 1.1 miles to camp, wonderful! That beer was absolutely screaming my name. That was when I happened to look left.
Standing by his lonesome totally asleep was the perfect young eating bull caribou. I had mentioned to the boys before we left Yellowknife that if it was at all possible I would love to knock over a bou as a bonus if we got our sheep early in the hunt (Oh I was a poor misinformed schmuck). They said let's see how the hunt goes and we'll decide out there.
You see I may or may not have been guilty of shooting a moose or two in that past that would have made the Devil himself cringe at the amount of work involved getting them out. Because of these moose I am kept on a short leash and require permission from the group before I am allowed to pull the trigger on anything.
The criteria they gave me was it had to be it was within 1 Km of camp and not interfere with sheep hunting.
It was an easy sell, 0.1 miles outside the shooting area doesn't even qualify, and we were just headed to camp anyway, easy peasy right?
Allright go ahead, caribou is better than going home with nothing.
We circled the rocks and by the time we got a look at him he was bedded with his eyes closed. A 40 yd head shot allowed him to keep sleeping, he never knew a thing.
It's been four years since I shot a mountain caribou and I had maybe forgotten just how much bigger than a barren land they really are. We deboned everything but the two hinds and still all three of our packs were just stupid heavy.
The main problem was that we are not really backpack hunters and a so accordingly didn't try to shave much weight off our packs before this whole adventure. The result was that we were essentially at full load when the caribou went to sleep.
Nobody ever succeeded without hard work though and we gritted our teeth and worked our way back to the lake. 1.1 miles as the crow flies translated into 3 miles real fast as we negotiated the steep slides and drop-offs that got us home. Once again I could hear my name being taken in derision for the amount of work I had caused the group ..... I was home again.
On a side note anyone who goes backpacking in the mountains without walking poles is insane, those things were lifesavers.
I shot the bou at 8pm and we made it back to camp at 11pm, our sorry butts made it back at about 11:15. The boys were ahead of me as always and had already retrieved the beer from the lake. Brother, if I had poured that beer on my arm I swear not a drop of it would have hit the ground. My skin would have just absorbed it.
With a long gruelling hike under our belts, meat cooling in the creek beside us, a good meal and a beer in our bellies, we rolled in for the night. I don't think even a grizz could have woken one of us.
Like I said earlier I'm an early riser and was up at 6am as usual. With nothing else to do I busted out the glasses and spotting scope and looked at the only mountain we could see from camp. I had exactly zero hope of seeing anything but needed something to occupy my thoughts. Time was marching on, it was Thursday and the plane would be back tomorrow. I started to get that knot in my stomach.
I kept glassing back and forth across the slopes trying to pick out sheep where there were none when suddenly WHAT THE!? SHEEP! It was a small ram under the 3/4 curl required to be legal and he was making his way up the steep face to the top. I let the boys know I had a ram in the scope, and they didn't let out a peep, bless their little souls.
We had no game plan for today at all, but after seeing that little fella stroll out of sight over that ridge, if I had to go alone nothing was going to stop me from following him. I had seen a ram, and where there is one there are more!
The lesson I was to learn this day was that life changes in less than a second, good, bad, or ugly, I swear less than a second .............
to be continued