First Sheep with a Bow!

They say a picture tells a thousand words but this story takes more than a thousand words and certainly more than this one poor quality image.

I’d been planning on putting in a good hard effort near the start of the season to take a ram with my bow. This is my second hunting season packing a bow along so I’m still very inexperienced to say the least. Last year I made the number one mistake: bringing a rifle for backup. It's way to easy when the going gets tough to pick up your gun and pop off the animal. This year I got a permit for a bow hunting only area, so the rifle was staying at home. This hunting trip was a learning experience.

Sheep Hunting Trip #1

Day one:

I had everything packed the day before; tent, sleeping bag and pad, stove, food, bow and arrows, and my spotting scope. I woke up at 5am and ate my oatmeal while driving. I drove my truck down a 4x4 road to the end of lake where I’d scouted the area a few weeks previously. It took a couple hours to get up in the mountains. Once I was up there I started seeing sheep right away. The first ram I saw might also have been the biggest. Unfortunately we saw each other at the same time. Day one, lesson one: round every corner and come over every rise with the utmost caution. Him and his buddy he was with were up over the next mountain before I could even get my spotting scope out for a look. Those rams seemed extra spooked so I didn’t bother chasing them. I knew there were lots more up there. About an hour later I came around a corner, nice and slow this time, and saw what I thought was a ram maybe 200 yards away. I quickly ducked out of sight and unstrapped my bow from my pack. I immediately went on the stalk. When I came into view of the sheep again I saw a little lamb running around where I last saw the ram. Then more lambs and ewes appeared. I started second guessing myself that it was a ram I saw. I went back and picked up my pack and started to carry on my way. I took ten steps then quickly ducked out of sight again. There were rams there! Day one, lesson two: rams aren’t always separate from the nursery. Why the rams were hanging around the nursery, I don’t know. I went on the stalk again. They were on a grassy slope with not much cover so I had to inch my way closer, sliding on my back. It took forever to make up any ground on them and I was getting really dehydrated. Day one, lesson 3: always bring water on the stalk. I got within 90 yards of the group but the biggest ram of the bunch was still further. I waited for about an hour hoping they would feed towards me but when they finally started grazing it was in the wrong direction. With all the lambs and younger rams wandering about I decided to sneak back to my pack and put on my white suit: one piece, wool long underwear, butt flap and everything. I had a mask of sorts that I sewed out of a white pillowcase to complete the sheep costume. I started crawling on all fours towards the rams, stopping to “feed” every now and then. It fooled the younger rams and I was able to crawl within 50 yards of them. The old boys weren’t having any of it though. They knew something was up with this ugly looking sheep and walked off in the other direction. Perhaps they’d been white suited before. They seemed more wary than spooked so I followed them around the hillside to see where they were off to. That’s when I spotted my next target. There were three nice looking rams bedded in the cliffs about a mile off. I had to hike all the way to the top of the peak in order to stay out of sight and come down on them. The cliffs were steep and at some points I was getting “cliffed out” and had to go back up and choose another route. I was just getting within range of the sheep when they left their bed and started feeding down the mountain. After I’d spent a couple hours rock climbing down loose rock without making a sound it was pretty frustrating to watch them wander off. Little did I know, my frustration was just starting. I was crouched on a ledge watching the sheep wander off below me when all of a sudden a heard a scramble of rock behind me. A huge ram popped out of a gully! After ranging him at 20 yards I realized I didn’t have my trigger release on. Day one lesson 4: always wear your release when stalking. I fumbled with the buckle as the ram started walking away. I finally got it on and the ram was still walking. He paused to look back and I panicked and put my 45-yard pin on him and fired two inches over his back. Day one lesson 5: take the time to range your target. He must have been only 35 yards, not 45. He hurried off but to my surprise, he stopped and bedded down where he had before, only 100 yards from where I’d shot at him. He must not even of known what just happened. To get closer while staying out of sight I now had to climb all the way back up one gully to the peak in order to cross over to the other spine that the ram was now on. Stalking back down I made the perfect stalk and got right above the big ram. With the angle of incline he was only 30 yards. “That’s a dead sheep”, I thought. I practice shooting my bow out to 75 yards and am quite comfortable out to 50. I drew back an arrow and was like “wow, I can’t hold it steady at all!” There was probably a 60km/hr crosswind that was catching the big cams on my bow and blowing me all over the place. I missed again, this time about two inches to the left. He was out of his bed in an instant and running away. I ran over to the next cliff where he was headed and shot my last arrow from 40 yards. I missed clean again by inches! Day one, lesson five: practice shooting in wind. I couldn’t believe it. I have a five-inch group from 50 yards at the target. How can I miss three times on a sheep from a closer distance? Out of arrows and energy I took out my Iphone and snapped a couple pictures while my sheep walked out of sight. I got part way back to where I’d dropped my pack and realized my Iphone was no longer in my pocket. The last couple hours of daylight were spent looking for a black Iphone in black rock. It was my only means of photos (hence my lack of photos) and time on this hunt. I knew it must have been late though because it started getting dark and here I was hunting sheep in the land of the midnight sun. I set up camp back on the first flat spot I found and cooked rice in the vestibule. I ate half of it before I clonked out.

Day two:

I woke up haggard as can be. My plan was to leave the camp set up here and see what was over the next mountain, maybe try a pass on the same ram I missed yesterday. I didn’t see a single thing on the next big mountain to the south. I did manage to spot yesterday’s ram way down in the buck brush. Not seeing anything else to go after, I decide to hike down to him. There was good cover in the brush, but the problem was staying silent. At one point I sat down right in a huge ant town and I had red ants biting me all over and I had to stay completely still and not make a sound. I must have been within 70 yards of the ram and I still don’t know if he heard me, smelt me, or sensed me, but the next thing I heard was sliding shale and I watched him disappear. Day two, lesson one: once you’ve spooked a ram, he’s easily spooked again. I climbed all the way back to the ridge from the buck brush and made my way North, back the way I came. I hadn’t seen anything on the mountains to the south and I knew there was at least the big ram I’d bumped into face to face to first day, to the north. I picked up my camp along the way and walked for a few hours without seeing anything. Finally I spotted two rams up on a ledge looking down into the basin I was about to cross. At first I thought it might be the two with the big one that I’d seen the first day, but through the scope they looked like younger rams, maybe barely legal. I still didn’t want them to be aware of my presence so I hiked to the top of a peak, down the other side, and all the way below and around the basin. It took way longer than I thought and was the gnarliest loose boulders you could imagine. I ended up wasting a good part of the day to avoid being seen by these barely legal rams. Day two, lesson two: don’t waste your time on sheep that you wouldn’t even shoot. I made it to the northern end of the range without being seen and was exhausted again. This time I crawled into my sleeping bag and ate smoked fish for dinner.

Day three:

I awoke to see a ram bedded about a km away from my camp on the next ravine over on the same mountain I was camped on. I had to hike back up to the summit to stay out of sight and then headed down towards him. As I started to get within a few hundred meters of where he was bedded, I saw him walking down to a grassy basin. I watched him for a while to try and predict his next move. More rams started to appear in the grassy basin and I watched them go right down to tree line and play around in the fir trees. I made my way down to the grassy basin and hid behind a stubby alpine tree hoping that they’d move back up the same way after they were done playing in the trees. While I was waiting there, I saw another lone ram, a really nice one, standing on a steep grassy slope on the opposite side of the basin. It wasn’t the best terrain for stalking but I was super easy to get over to him and stay out of sight so I made a try for him. I don’t have the patience to hide and hope the rams come to me. As I was on my way to the opposite side of the basin, I watched the rams come out of the fir trees and walk right past where I was hidden. Day three, lesson one: PATIENCE! I crept down the slope really slowly knowing the ram would come into view at any time. I’d glace down at the ground to make sure I was placing my foot in a good spot to be perfectly silent and when I glanced back up the ram and I were staring right at each other. I just had time to range him at 80 yards before he bolted down the slope, up the other side and out of sight. The rams that had walked by where I hid were now bedded back where I’d seen the first one this morning. They were at the bottom of a big boulder field. I’ve found boulders to actually be quite good stalking terrain because they don’t “crunch” like dry grass does. That said if you do cause one to shift, its game over. Stalking down the boulder field was like Mine Sweeper. I’d ever so carefully test every boulder. Sometimes I’d have to take huge steps while crab walking my way down. Often a ram would get up to stretch and look right at me and I’d have to freeze in the most uncomfortable position in the middle of a step. I finally got to 70 yards, the limit that I would shoot my bow at. Only two rams were in sight. I wasn’t sure how many others there even was. I waited for the shot. Finally the biggest one stood up and was broadside. I drew back and the rams quickly turned facing me. Then several more rams appeared over the rise and were looking right at me. I didn't have a shot. When we'd stared each other down for a good minute they'd had enough, spun around and took off into the setting sun. It was getting late but I had to be home tonight. I choose the shortest route back, which was definitely not the safest. It was the kind of rock between scree and boulders, essentially boulders that slide like scree. Every couple steps the slope would slide out from under me and I’d have to catch myself with my hands. I was so beaten and battered at this point I just wanted to be back at my truck. I ended up holding on to two good-sized rocks in my hands so when I slipped my hands would be holding onto a rock already, instead of falling on an unexpected sharp rock. I got down to my truck by 10pm, alive.

Sheep hunting trip #2

Day hunt:

It was foggy with low cloud cover. The mountains were socked right in and the visibility was next to nothing. I did have one thing going for me is that I’d spotted a sheep from the road, the night before. I hiked up the brutally steep mountain in a new spot I’d never been, towards where I’d seen a sheep the night before. He was still there! I managed to spot him through the fog before he spotted me and the stalk was on. I had to drop back down the slope a ways and do a big loop around him to get the uphill advantage. It was raining and foggy. I was soaking wet but quite warm from just climbing the mountain. When I started stalking however, I was crawling. To make up some ground I took advantage of the thick fog and walked right through and open area towards the ram. All of a sudden the fog lifted and I was going to be busted right out in the open. I laid flat on my back in the pouring rain for about half an hour. I was shivering uncontrollably but trying to be motionless at the same time. Finally the fog rolled in again and I could move. The fog was unpredictable, at times it was so thick I couldn’t see the ram which I knew must be less than 80 yards by now. The next time the ram came into sight he was staring right in my direction. I sat motionless. He hadn’t seen me but maybe he got a whiff of something he didn’t like. To my surprise and delight he actually started coming towards me, stopping and tilting his head every now and then before taking another step. My rangefinder said 15 yards but I knew it couldn’t be right. I tried ranging something far away and again it said 15 yards. Everything was 15 yards! Day hunt, lesson one: rangefinders are useless in the fog. I estimated the huge sheep to be about 50 yards away but I was reminded of my first day hunting when I didn’t take the time to range the sheep and overestimated the distance. I sat contemplating on whether or not to try a shot. The sheep however, had finally satisfied his curiosity and took off running. So close, again! I carried on up the mountain a ways and then thought to myself  “even if I happen to see another sheep in this fog, my rangefinder will still be useless”. With that I called it a day and hiked back down to the road.

Sheep hunting trip #3

Day One:

After a few days rest I was going in fast and light, no tent or stove, just the essentials. My plan was only to stay the night if I needed to. Hiking onto the ridge I came upon a nursery right on my route. I generally don't like to disturb the sheep if I don’t have but after watching them for some time I just couldn’t wait anymore and it would take too long to climb all the way around them. As I climbed passed them I watched them run off below… that’s when I spotted the ram! I spooked the nursery, which in turn alerted the ram. The ram and the nursery were around the other side of the mountain in no time. I spent a little time peering down from above trying to spot them again. I found the nursery but the ram must have had a good hiding spot. I spotted some far off sheep on the next mountain over and it took a while of sitting on top of the mountain I was on and thinking before I decided to go for them. I’d put in so much effort already, what was another valley to cross and mountain to climb? The thing is, if I were to go over there I knew I’d be spending the night. A few hours passed and I was finally getting close to the bedded sheep. It was getting late in the day but I still had plenty of light. The crazy thing was this was the same group of rams I’d hit one out of the week before. Even more crazy was they were bedding in the exact same spot! By this point I’m getting to know the rams. I know the big one who roams the mountain to the north by himself, the band of five with the one broomed-off ram who hang out on the glassy slope to west and the two that play with each other in the willows, one of them big and flared out. Stalking the rams was familiar territory but the going was still slow through the loose boulder field. I was almost within range when they got up and started over to the grass to feed. I was a little late. I continued down to their bedding spot and waited behind a rock hoping they’d come back once they finished their evening meal. Out of the eight rams, four bedded back down right in the grass where they’d fed, and the other four went all the way over to an even further mountain. It was weird to see them just split up like that. It was too late to make another move tonight so I found a flat spot to sleep and watched rams through my spotting scope while in my sleeping bag. I watched four bruisers butting heads. I’d see them butt heads and then two seconds later I’d hear the faint “clonk”. It took a while for the sound to travel to me.

Day Two:

I woke up at 4:30 am, or was waken up rather, by the sprinkle of rain on my face. Not a bad night bivouacking in the mountains. I sat against a rock face that helped block the howling wind. I had a rain jacket but decided rain pants were too much of a luxury item to bring on this trip so I draped a garbage bag over my legs as I waited for enough light to spot sheep. I started spotting sheep way down in the trees. They didn’t like this weather any more than I did. It was quite a hike over to the knoll below tree line where I was seeing the sheep. But after a couple hours of sitting in the rain watching them, it was clear they weren’t going anywhere. “This could be good, the rams aren’t moving around much so I might be able to make a good stalk without them moving about”, I thought. I spotted a giant ram way down on the edge of the knoll bedded in the perfect spot and two more decent rams a few hundred meters above and to the right of him. On my way to the knoll I bumped into two more rams, one of which was legal. They were in a good spot if I wanted to try for the one but otherwise they were right in my way to get to the big guy on the knoll. I waited for an hour hoping they would move out of my way. I decided I didn’t want this barely legal ram and I knew my time was running out so it was time to spook them and carry on my way. It was quite a bush whack down to the knoll. The willows were thick. It looked more like moose country than sheep country. In fact, there was moose sign everywhere. I got down to the knoll just in time to see the two rams grazing around the backside of it. This was good, they were out of sight and now I could go straight for the big guy without spooking them. I hurried up to the top of the knoll worried that the two rams would come into view again. At the top I dropped my pack and unstrapped my bow. I was about to head down to the big ram when all of a sudden I saw white appearing over the crest of the knoll. I immediately ducked behind the buck brush to see the bigger of the two rams I’d just seen go out of sight five minutes earlier, walk into plain view. I couldn’t range him without going above the buck brush so I ranged a rock to the right of him, 50 Yards! It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I drew back my 70lb bow… barely. I was exhausted from just running up the knoll and my arm almost cramped up drawing it back. I just got it to break and waited about 5 seconds for the ram to turn broadside. When he did, I let one fly. The ram disappeared in a hurry and I had no idea if I even hit him. I ran over to the ledge of the cliffy knoll and saw him hobbling away bleeding pretty bad. He went out of sight and I couldn’t find him for about ten minutes. I was on the very edge of a cliff. I leaned just a little further over the ledge and was just able to see him 20 yards straight below me. He must have heard me right then and quickly started hobbling off again. I already had another arrow knocked, ranged him at 30 yards and sent an arrow straight through his back. Blood spewed over the white rock face and the sheep tumbled out of sight. I peered over the next cliff to see him resting in the alpine fir trees, dead as dead, arrow and broadhead protruding from his chest. It took six days of hard, hard hunting and I finally had a ram down! I was about as far away from my car as would be physically possible to make it back to in one day. I thought about hiking out to a different road but I’d have to cross a river. I caped out the sheep and boned out everything but the ribs, which I took out bone in. I went to lift my pack; it must have been 170lbs! I was worried it would come to this, but I knew the cape had to be left behind. Even without it my pack was probably 140lbs and I had a 10km bushwhack ahead of me. I swatted bugs, tramped through moss, over deadfall and creek beds, through fir, spruce, poplar, and pine forest, waded swamps and made it back to the road, beaten but not broken; my first sheep with a bow. Most important lesson: never give up!