Saw some beautiful country but no luck on this years CO muzzleloader mule deer hunt in the San Juans. We only put our eyes on 4 different bucks and nothing of significant size. Weather here at the end of summer has been hot and dry, causing most of the deer to stay down in the timber and only feeding for about an hour after sunrise and 30 minutes before sunset. We actually saw more elk than anything and it was sure riles you up hearing them go off with bugles. A few days were spent chasing an enormous black bear but just couldn't connect.

Swung a few things (and I have an awesome wife), and I'm heading BACK to Colorado on Sunday evening for the end of archery season. Hoping to make it happen late in the game!

Dall Sheep Hunt
The medium sized story.
Part 1.

After a decade of dreaming, a few years ago I became determined to go on a sheep hunt. Whether I won a raffle, drew a once-and-a-lifetime tag, or paid what seemed at the time an incredible amount of money, I was determined to go. In 2019 I went to Sheep Show in Reno to scope out the options and have a chance to win a hunt in the <1 Club. My wife and I have so much fun at this event (skiing Lake Tahoe helps) we went again in 2020 and will go again in 2022.



In 2018 I met an outfitter from Alaska I really liked and began applying in his draw areas. Hunting exclusive draw areas, he is able to avoid some of the drama you read regarding sheep hunting in Alaska. After Sheep Show in 2019, I decided if I was going to pay for a sheep hunt, I'd prefer to pay a premium to hunt the Yukon or the Northwest Territories. During the 2020 sheep show, I had a list of four outfitters to visit, and ultimately decided if I ever booked a sheep hunt it would be with Griz and Ginger Turner of Raven's Throat Outfitters.

About a week before the initial covid lock-downs last year, I was on a long run where I do my best thinking, and decided to YOLO a hunt. On the last day of February 2020 I booked my dall sheep hunt for 2022, giving myself 30 months to pay and prepare.

Fast forward to late July of this year and I received a call from Griz. I was prepared for the bad news that my hunt would be moved to 2023 due to border issues. It was the opposite: "Can you come next month?" Surprisingly, I had no good reason not to go this year. My work was in a good place, my wife was supportive, I had the money, and massive amounts of travel credits due to covid cancellations. I had everything except a vaccine and proper rifle prep! I had been preparing for a high altitude archery hunt this year, so my fitness was peaking. I put the bow up and started shooting my mountain rifle every chance I got. I was going on a sheep hunt!

I had to jump through about 100 covid hoops and be poked and prodded, tested and interrogated to get to the NWT. I kept telling myself it would all be worth it. As I headed north, the aircrafts got progressively smaller, and I finally found myself in a Twin Otter overlooking base camp:



It's quite a sight seeing the line of hunting guides and camp helpers ready to meet and greet and unload supplies at the lake side dock. After a basecamp orientation, I had time to settle in to my cabin. Due to flight delays, I would not be able to deploy to sheep camp until the following day, so I had time to go over the hunting plan with my guide and slim down my kit to its fighting weight.



I was treated to a unexpected dinner that night at base (all the meals at basecamp were great!):



After what seemed like anxiously waiting forever, after lunch the next day it was time for me to deploy:



You can't hunt for 12 hours after flying, so the outfit typically deploys after lunch so you can enjoy a couple of meals at basecamp before heading out. We spotted some big caribou bulls as well as a sow grizzly and two cubs a few miles from where we would set-up sheep camp. The grizzly was foreboding, but I was excited about the chance to possibly get a big bull caribou from sheep camp. Griz had provided me and my guide Steve a map of the area with a basic hunting strategy for the week. Day 1, glass around camp and get familiar with the local drainages. Day 2, hike up the tributary drainage. Day 3, spike out with solo tents up the primary drainage. Day 4, 5 etc. move further up the primary drainage with spike camp. A nice little hike up to a glassing knob the evening of day 1 allowed my guide and I to warm-up our legs and get a good look of the area. We spotted a solo sheep so far off we couldn't put horns on it.



The next morning we began our ascent up the tributary drainage. Steve 'an avalanche man from BC' had a nice calm climbing methodology he used to not wear us out. Ascend for 20-30 minutes, stop and glass. Ascend for 20-30 minutes, stop and glass. At this point in the hunt, we had time on our side; although the extended forecast suggested making the most out of our first few hunting days. As we climbed, sheep sign thickened and freshened, and it became obvious to me sheep would be somewhere up the drainage. Near the top of what was a boxed canyon, complete with a waterfall and green grass in the flats between cliff faces, I spotted the sheep at 1000 yards. A quick glance through the binos confirmed we were on rams. Steve and I were able to quickly make up 100 yards to settle behind the last bit of cover between us and the rams. It turned out to be a group of nine rams all feeding about 900 yards away. We set-up the big glass and began what would turn into a long day of surveillance. Griz is adamant on his standards of take. Despite NWTs fairly lenient curl rule, Griz wants 9 year olds and prefers older. If you've aged sheep, you will know there are some tricks to get 8 years, but confirming 9 is more difficult.



We spent all day watching these rams so I've got a lot of pictures and videos through the phoneskope. This is a screenshot of the two largest rams of the group. The one on the left is a double broomed ram with good mass. We eventually determined he was the dominant ram of the group. Putting him likely 9 years or older. The one on the right became the target ram. Finally confirming 9 years old when he was bedded at 588 yards.



Steve and I had decided early in the day to be patient. Short of a predator spooking these rams, they had nowhere to go but to feed the grasses toward our position. We didn't have any good cover to cut more distance, and we were in perfect ambush position above the grass. My bipod was set for a prone position using a jacket for a back bag. The perfect setting for an accurate shot. So we agreed to wait.

As the day dragged on, I would go through fits of buck fever every time the rams stood to feed, followed by another hour of looking at bedded sheep trying to put nine annuli of a few of them. After about nine hours of these intervals, the concern became the climb down and the climb back, or sleeping in our gear on the side of the shooting hill. My mountain gun is a Barrett Fieldcraft in 30-06 scoped with a Nightforce SHV 3-10x42. A sweet little 500 yard combo. As a bowhunter, I always say if I can't get inside 500 with a rifle, we need to figure something else out. With the target ram confirmed at 588 yards we debated the shot. I had a perfect set-up for shooting, but this was a rifle I only practice with to 500 yards. Despite dialing my scope to 588, I told my guide we needed to wait. When the other eight rams stood up and started feeding away from our position, it became even more tempting to take the shot. For reasons unknown, the target ram stood up and immediately started walking towards us. As I lay prone I dialed my scope down after each new press of my rangefinder. When the ram stood on a grassy island in the rocky creek I ranged him at 476 yards. I had been ranging that grassy island all-day as my outer radius. I started to realize this was going to happen. My last range was at 395 yards. The ram had stopped walking and didn't indicate he would continue on his path. I took the shot.



And just like that, my first sheep hunt was a success. This is the first time I had ever tagged out early on a hunt. For this particular hunt, I wouldn't have it any other way. A beautiful NWT full curl ram.



Due to our methodical climb that morning, I did forget how far and how steep some of the climbing was. But by comparison to an elk pack-out I've done and certainly my mountain goat pack-out, this sheep was a walk in the park. Just enough to feel like a sheep hunt, but not too much to wipe the smile off my face.



The extra-long days at that latitude made it possible to get back to camp just before dark.



We built a fire, hoping to keep the grizzlies at bay, and enjoyed a dehydrated dinner with a splash of good scotch. The plan the next day was to sleep in, eat breakfast, flesh the cape, and eventually look around for those caribou bulls. A visit by a grizzly would alter these plans.

Dall Sheep Hunt
The medium sized story.
Part 2.

Knowing grizzlies were around, the guides pack prepared:



Despite the campfire, the sweet smell of sheep meat is too much for a juvenile boar to ignore. Just after breakfast the morning after killing my ram, I spotted the grizzly just south of camp at about 150-200 yards away. "Steve! Bear!" I quickly grabbed my 30-06 as Steve asked for a warning shot. My first warning shot had the opposite effect as intended. The boar starts charging straight towards camp. My second warning shot was equally ineffective, and just as quick as I could chamber my third round, the bear was hidden in the scrub brush on the opposite side of the shallow creek we were camped. In my mind, I knew what would happen next. He'd be on us. As quick as I could, I reloaded my bolt action as Steve and I are cussing the bear. He reappears on hind legs just at the creek edge. A slam dunk bow shot. Steve calls for another warning shot while he prepares his 45-70 for the kill if the grizzly steps into the water. I bring my rifle up with crosshairs on his nose, and momentarily consider escalating this experience by blood. I move my crosshairs just off fur and squeeze the trigger. Thankfully, the bear finally turns. He was curious, and it took three more shots at his feet to get him far enough away to feel comfortable enough to pack up camp. Via inReach status reports, the outfitter wanted us back at basecamp ASAP. Ginger would have a glass of bourbon waiting on me. So I would enjoy another night at the beautiful and comfortable basecamp.



This gave us time to take care of the sheep and repack for what would be a rainy and cold caribou camp.



This hunt was all about the dall sheep and admittedly I knew nothing about mountain caribou. We would be hunting over a rocky mineral field as caribou filtered through. The strategy was more like whitetail hunting than mountain hunting. Something I had no problem with. Caribou camp would be quite comfortable, despite the rain.



Raven's Throat Outfitters has a meat processing cabin at basecamp. Wild sheep burgers:



After my dream coming true with a great ram and the grizzly encounter, I more than welcomed the slower pace of caribou camp. Our tents were up on a plateau like feature overlooking the rocky mineral field. We were able to pitch a tarp at a look-out point about 75 yards from the tents and do most of our hunting from there. The first couple of days at caribou camp were non-stop rain and wind. I was very happy to have my sheep tag filled because the mountains were completely socked in. We were optimistic about a big bull coming through as the weather improved, but we actually never turned up a large mature bull at this camp. The best looking example being this young caribou:



But caribou camp wasn't without its excitement. One evening I spotted what I figured was a caribou calf out around 700 yards. Binos would reveal a classically colored wolf! I readied my rifle, and luckily enough she came into range. I shot her at 388 yards.



I actually had another opportunity at a larger wolf, but he was a bit wiser and got our wind before I readied my rifle. I looked at the bonus wolf tags as wishful thinking, but in the wild NWT, you better be ready. The outfitters get pretty giddy when a southern boy comes up and helps with predator numbers. Her beautiful coat will provide life long memories.

Raven's Throat promotes camp comradery and aims to bring everyone back to basecamp the last night of the hunt for a bonfire and feast. It was a wonderful evening with great new friends.



Before flying out the next day, we spent a bit longer with the rams. Due to new covid rules, we can't take them with us this year. Any meat and trophies will go through an exporter at the end of the season.

New leader for write up of the year award

Oh hi guys... Just thought I'd check in to let you know I've been sitting/laying in my Hornet 2P for about 3 hours now while it rains.

Had a bull rip a gravelly ass bugle right by camp about 30 min ago but it's raining too hard to go after him. Hopefully he hangs close until morning.

Now I'm going to try to run my Jetboil without burning my shanty down.

Did the bull hang around? Did you burn your tent down? We await the results, either way

My archery season is done...empty freezer, for now. Still have a cow elk tag and some other tags go fill it.

Spent 6 days hunting a new area near the NM border with some coworkers. Bumped some cows the first day, second day was phenomenal. I called in a cow for my coworker to less than 20yds for 10+min. Unfortunately, he's newer and set up inside the "bushes" and couldn't ever get a clear shot. My fault for not explaining the setup better. Then called a bull who slipped in silent. Unfortunately, we got up to go check out a responding bull. Had we stayed put, 10yd shot instead of turning around to see him trot away. That evening had a spike come and hang out for a while. Day 3 chased some bugles around in the morning and couldn't get anything to commit. In hindsight, I should have been more aggressive. The next 3 days was nothing but quiet elk and lots of hiking. Oh well, learned a new area, got to watch the leaves change, and had a fun.

WY antelope this weekend!

CO Antelope for me this weekend. Good luck on your trip to WY!