Gilmore
10-18-2009, 04:16 PM
Well I finally got it done… it only took 19 years and 364 days. That’s how long my quest for a California Bighorn out of region 3 has been going. It was Oct 15th 1989, I was 17 years old and helped my Dad and his hunting buddy take 2 rams above the Big Bar ferry, I got bit by the sheep bug and I have been trying for my own ever since. I’ve missed 2 rams along the way, as well as numerous stalks that never panned out. From the Shulaps to Nine Mile, from Yalakom Mountain to the Fraser I’ve covered a lot of ground in 20 years. I have to admit in the past 6 or 7 years I haven’t put in the effort I used to, but after drawing a ¾ tag for Zone C of 3-32 this year I new this was my chance.
After passing on a ram on opening day and having to come home to Pemberton to harvest potatoes in the middle of my hunt for 15 days I was pretty antsy to get back out there. I went back to Lilloet from the 6th to the 9th by myself and saw 2 legal rams one of which was the same ram I passed on previously and the other ram was in a location I just wasn’t prepared to go down into alone. It was a good 4 days though with quite a few sheep spotted and I was confident I could find those 2 rams again if need be. I returned to Pemberton on the 10th recruited some help and was back on the road on the morning of the 12th. I arrived on the east side of the river to spot onto the west side at daylight and spotted some ewes and lambs but no rams. I met up with my buddy Mitch (hitch here on HBC) at the train bridge in Fountain where we made a plan to head north over Pavillion Mountain and come out the Hi Bar road to continue spotting the other side. I’m telling you some of that Kelly Creek/Hi Bar country is burnt to a crisp in spots! http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG_3267_2.jpg
I hadn’t been up to the ferry to spot yet so hopes were high on finding some sheep. Mitch and I were able to find a total of 7 rams over 2 freezing cold days, 4 of which looked pretty good and would require a closer look.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG_3275_2.jpg
Now my tag requires I hunt below the road or inside the area between the West Pavillion Road and the Fraser River so we were pretty happy with the number of rams we saw. After meeting up with my Dad Tuesday night we planned a stock on them for Wednesday morning.
We found the rams Wednesday morning along with some of the ewes they were starting to chase. After climbing a ridge we were looking out over top of them trying to decide who was legal and who was the biggest among the mingling group. I would have had about a 300 yd shot if we had time to make up our minds but a little 2 point buck decided to make things interesting for us. For some reason this buck came out on the dead run straight into all the sheep below us and started a sheep stampede like you’ve never seen. After going another 300 yds he just stopped and started feeding in front of us, I can’t remember who said it first but there were definitely some “I should shoot that little SOB” rumblings going on!
The sheep headed for the top of the mountain and about all we could do was watch. We retreated to a spot out of the wind we could spot from and had some breakfast, watched the sheep and talked about the rams we had seen. Mitch and I both agreed that one ram which had a chip out of his drivers side horn was the shooter in the group. There was another ram which had longer horns but was quite thin all the way through. Another ram had broomed off so far back he wasn’t even ¾ curl anymore. Luckily for us we watched 4 rams one of which was “Chip” leave the ewes and work their way back down the mountain and bed down on a flat spot on a ridge about half way down. So the stalk was back on.
We got back on the same ridge and had a look but the rams were way out of range and with no way of going straight at them without being seen we were left scratching our heads. For any of you who have hunted the Fraser River grasslands you know cover is at a premium. My dad suggested we simply hike up the gulley we were in get straight across from them and just see how far away they really would be. So off we went, we got up as far as we could until the gulley ran out of cover and we had to peek over the edge to see where we were. Sure enough Dad had some how got us in range, well within 415 yards anyhow. I am shooting Gatehouse loaded 150 grain Barnes triple shocks out of my 300 win mag and at our range we have a 12” gong at 330 yds which I can aim right at and hit every time so I was confident if I held top of his back I would be in the money. Mitch and I located Chip who was 3rd from the back and I got set up for the shot. Just as I was about to shoot a ewe showed up and walked right in front of my ram, then the back ram joined her, dammit! Mitch replied “just relax let them clear and take the shot”. Well they did and I let her rip, 3 rams took off up the hill and my ram and the ewe went downhill out of sight. Hmmm…then suddenly the ram showed up a ridge closer in a little saddle looking right at us…shit I missed!! I got him back in my scope just as he was turning to run. As he was turning I could see my first shot had been good as he was stumbling to turn around but I also knew a short run could put him down in a pretty ugly spot right on the river so I let him have it again, then he was out of sight for good.
We were pretty confident he was down and we couldn’t resist a few hi fives and then we made our way across to have a look. We got to where we had last seen him but no sheep, Mitch made his way to the next ridge and I stayed on the one I was on and we started working our way down. After only 30 seconds Mitch calls my name, I look over to see him looking through his binos and pointing in the bottom of the gulley and he says “he’s done”.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG_3308_1-1-1.jpg
Whooooo!! Now the partys on jumping and yelling, I think there was even a little hugging going on! After some pictures and a quick gut job, my Dad was able to get my truck unbelievably close to the bottom of the ridge we were on and Mitch and I were able to take a horn each and get the ram out whole to the truck!
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG_3298_2.jpg
A picture of Mitch and my Dad.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG_3303_1.jpg
After that a 2 hour drive back to our buddys ranch who also happens to be the guy who took the 2nd ram with my Dad at the beginning of my longwinded story here. We all drank some beers and skinned, caped and got my ram hung up for the night. I want to thank my Dad and Mitch for all the help, especially Mitch who did a lot of work caping my ram something I don’t have a lot of experience doing.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG000891.jpg
Oct. 15th 1989-Oct 14th 2009, 19 years 364 days, it was worth the wait.
After passing on a ram on opening day and having to come home to Pemberton to harvest potatoes in the middle of my hunt for 15 days I was pretty antsy to get back out there. I went back to Lilloet from the 6th to the 9th by myself and saw 2 legal rams one of which was the same ram I passed on previously and the other ram was in a location I just wasn’t prepared to go down into alone. It was a good 4 days though with quite a few sheep spotted and I was confident I could find those 2 rams again if need be. I returned to Pemberton on the 10th recruited some help and was back on the road on the morning of the 12th. I arrived on the east side of the river to spot onto the west side at daylight and spotted some ewes and lambs but no rams. I met up with my buddy Mitch (hitch here on HBC) at the train bridge in Fountain where we made a plan to head north over Pavillion Mountain and come out the Hi Bar road to continue spotting the other side. I’m telling you some of that Kelly Creek/Hi Bar country is burnt to a crisp in spots! http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG_3267_2.jpg
I hadn’t been up to the ferry to spot yet so hopes were high on finding some sheep. Mitch and I were able to find a total of 7 rams over 2 freezing cold days, 4 of which looked pretty good and would require a closer look.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG_3275_2.jpg
Now my tag requires I hunt below the road or inside the area between the West Pavillion Road and the Fraser River so we were pretty happy with the number of rams we saw. After meeting up with my Dad Tuesday night we planned a stock on them for Wednesday morning.
We found the rams Wednesday morning along with some of the ewes they were starting to chase. After climbing a ridge we were looking out over top of them trying to decide who was legal and who was the biggest among the mingling group. I would have had about a 300 yd shot if we had time to make up our minds but a little 2 point buck decided to make things interesting for us. For some reason this buck came out on the dead run straight into all the sheep below us and started a sheep stampede like you’ve never seen. After going another 300 yds he just stopped and started feeding in front of us, I can’t remember who said it first but there were definitely some “I should shoot that little SOB” rumblings going on!
The sheep headed for the top of the mountain and about all we could do was watch. We retreated to a spot out of the wind we could spot from and had some breakfast, watched the sheep and talked about the rams we had seen. Mitch and I both agreed that one ram which had a chip out of his drivers side horn was the shooter in the group. There was another ram which had longer horns but was quite thin all the way through. Another ram had broomed off so far back he wasn’t even ¾ curl anymore. Luckily for us we watched 4 rams one of which was “Chip” leave the ewes and work their way back down the mountain and bed down on a flat spot on a ridge about half way down. So the stalk was back on.
We got back on the same ridge and had a look but the rams were way out of range and with no way of going straight at them without being seen we were left scratching our heads. For any of you who have hunted the Fraser River grasslands you know cover is at a premium. My dad suggested we simply hike up the gulley we were in get straight across from them and just see how far away they really would be. So off we went, we got up as far as we could until the gulley ran out of cover and we had to peek over the edge to see where we were. Sure enough Dad had some how got us in range, well within 415 yards anyhow. I am shooting Gatehouse loaded 150 grain Barnes triple shocks out of my 300 win mag and at our range we have a 12” gong at 330 yds which I can aim right at and hit every time so I was confident if I held top of his back I would be in the money. Mitch and I located Chip who was 3rd from the back and I got set up for the shot. Just as I was about to shoot a ewe showed up and walked right in front of my ram, then the back ram joined her, dammit! Mitch replied “just relax let them clear and take the shot”. Well they did and I let her rip, 3 rams took off up the hill and my ram and the ewe went downhill out of sight. Hmmm…then suddenly the ram showed up a ridge closer in a little saddle looking right at us…shit I missed!! I got him back in my scope just as he was turning to run. As he was turning I could see my first shot had been good as he was stumbling to turn around but I also knew a short run could put him down in a pretty ugly spot right on the river so I let him have it again, then he was out of sight for good.
We were pretty confident he was down and we couldn’t resist a few hi fives and then we made our way across to have a look. We got to where we had last seen him but no sheep, Mitch made his way to the next ridge and I stayed on the one I was on and we started working our way down. After only 30 seconds Mitch calls my name, I look over to see him looking through his binos and pointing in the bottom of the gulley and he says “he’s done”.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG_3308_1-1-1.jpg
Whooooo!! Now the partys on jumping and yelling, I think there was even a little hugging going on! After some pictures and a quick gut job, my Dad was able to get my truck unbelievably close to the bottom of the ridge we were on and Mitch and I were able to take a horn each and get the ram out whole to the truck!
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG_3298_2.jpg
A picture of Mitch and my Dad.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG_3303_1.jpg
After that a 2 hour drive back to our buddys ranch who also happens to be the guy who took the 2nd ram with my Dad at the beginning of my longwinded story here. We all drank some beers and skinned, caped and got my ram hung up for the night. I want to thank my Dad and Mitch for all the help, especially Mitch who did a lot of work caping my ram something I don’t have a lot of experience doing.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/gilmore-c/IMG000891.jpg
Oct. 15th 1989-Oct 14th 2009, 19 years 364 days, it was worth the wait.