DrMike
Ballistician
- Nov 8, 2006
- 36,924
- 5,115
We left Toad River after two full days of hunting, driving back to Pink Mountain where we would camp and hunt. I've hunted the areas around Pink Mountain for quite a few years, and Gil worked throughout the area for many years both as a gas plant operator and as an inspector for the Oil and Gas Commission. He has hunted the area extensively, being thoroughly familiar with the region, having taken many head of game here. In fact, my first hunt in this area was in 1993 when I hunted grizzly and black bear.
On the first day, we focused on Pink Mountain itself. On the way up the mountain, we encountered a small herd of stone sheep. Gil asked if I minded if he took one for meat. Of course, I'm not going to stop him. This was the first of four herds we encountered that morning. You will need to look closely, but there are four sheep in the middle of this picture; they look like white rocks.
The sheep were 201 yards from where we were standing, as measured with my Leica Geovid. Gil made an excellent shot with his 7mm STW, charged with 160 grain ABs. The three and a half year old ram dropped at the shot, and then the work began. The ram was eighty-one yards below our vantage; it would mean a bit of work to get him up. The remainder of the herd scampered away about forty yards, lay down and watched all that took place from that point.
The following pictures don't really do justice to the steepness of the terrain, but it was steep and a misstep could make things unpleasant. In the second picture, you can see the remainder of the sheep lying down about forty yards from Gil as he worked to secure the ram he had just shot.
It took us about thirty minutes to move the ram eighty yards to the bench I was standing on, after which we sought out shelter from the blustering wind that was blowing so hard that it threatened at times to push us over. There, we took pictures and prepared to clean and debone the ram.
The terrain atop the mountain was relatively flat with some limited cover.
We saw elk and moose the remainder of the day, but none were legal. The following day we hunted hard in another area that we had hunted before, and though we saw a couple of elk and some moose, none permitted us a clean shot. The next day saw us puncture a tire about sixty kilometers in the bush. It was a bit dicey, but we managed to make it out. It did mean that we would need to make a three hour trip into Fort Saint John the following day to repair the tire. We managed to make an evening hunt into an area that I had hunted over fifteen years previous. Again, we saw elk, black bear and moose, but none offered a decent shot. We travelled extensively on the next to the final day, moving through an area that has been quite productive in the past. At one point, we called a young bull moose to within 365 yards of us, but he wasn't legal, so we had to let him go. We had first encountered him at 415 yards, and he whirled and ran, only to be stopped by a cow call when he was almost 600 yards away and running. He worked his way back toward us, pausing occasionally to look us over. It gave us ample time to carefully examine his rack and determine that he didn't meet regulations. We saw a number of black bear, but none were six foot or so, which was my arbitrary limit for shooting on this trip. One bear in particular, was contently grazing on clover, and though we tried to generate some interest from him, he would only glance at us and return to eating. We "woofed," popped our teeth, gave dying rabbit calls and mouse squeaks, and even tried bull moose grunts and cow elk calls; nothing would faze him. Hunter does strange things to a little bear.
We encountered a large number of wolf tracks throughout our travels, though we didn't see a wolf on this trip. I had seen wolves in this area before, but none showed this time.
On a final morning, we hunted hard in an area that was new to me. We encountered quite a few mule deer and several whitetails. We saw a number of cow moose and found a lot of grizzly scat (as we had throughout the previous several days). However, by noon, it was apparent that the game was safe on this trip. We headed back to camp to eat a quick lunch and get on the road heading back to our respective homes. Hopefully, I'll get out for another elk hunt this week, and I will be heading back into the bush to look for moose as well.
On the first day, we focused on Pink Mountain itself. On the way up the mountain, we encountered a small herd of stone sheep. Gil asked if I minded if he took one for meat. Of course, I'm not going to stop him. This was the first of four herds we encountered that morning. You will need to look closely, but there are four sheep in the middle of this picture; they look like white rocks.
The sheep were 201 yards from where we were standing, as measured with my Leica Geovid. Gil made an excellent shot with his 7mm STW, charged with 160 grain ABs. The three and a half year old ram dropped at the shot, and then the work began. The ram was eighty-one yards below our vantage; it would mean a bit of work to get him up. The remainder of the herd scampered away about forty yards, lay down and watched all that took place from that point.
The following pictures don't really do justice to the steepness of the terrain, but it was steep and a misstep could make things unpleasant. In the second picture, you can see the remainder of the sheep lying down about forty yards from Gil as he worked to secure the ram he had just shot.
It took us about thirty minutes to move the ram eighty yards to the bench I was standing on, after which we sought out shelter from the blustering wind that was blowing so hard that it threatened at times to push us over. There, we took pictures and prepared to clean and debone the ram.
The terrain atop the mountain was relatively flat with some limited cover.
We saw elk and moose the remainder of the day, but none were legal. The following day we hunted hard in another area that we had hunted before, and though we saw a couple of elk and some moose, none permitted us a clean shot. The next day saw us puncture a tire about sixty kilometers in the bush. It was a bit dicey, but we managed to make it out. It did mean that we would need to make a three hour trip into Fort Saint John the following day to repair the tire. We managed to make an evening hunt into an area that I had hunted over fifteen years previous. Again, we saw elk, black bear and moose, but none offered a decent shot. We travelled extensively on the next to the final day, moving through an area that has been quite productive in the past. At one point, we called a young bull moose to within 365 yards of us, but he wasn't legal, so we had to let him go. We had first encountered him at 415 yards, and he whirled and ran, only to be stopped by a cow call when he was almost 600 yards away and running. He worked his way back toward us, pausing occasionally to look us over. It gave us ample time to carefully examine his rack and determine that he didn't meet regulations. We saw a number of black bear, but none were six foot or so, which was my arbitrary limit for shooting on this trip. One bear in particular, was contently grazing on clover, and though we tried to generate some interest from him, he would only glance at us and return to eating. We "woofed," popped our teeth, gave dying rabbit calls and mouse squeaks, and even tried bull moose grunts and cow elk calls; nothing would faze him. Hunter does strange things to a little bear.
We encountered a large number of wolf tracks throughout our travels, though we didn't see a wolf on this trip. I had seen wolves in this area before, but none showed this time.
On a final morning, we hunted hard in an area that was new to me. We encountered quite a few mule deer and several whitetails. We saw a number of cow moose and found a lot of grizzly scat (as we had throughout the previous several days). However, by noon, it was apparent that the game was safe on this trip. We headed back to camp to eat a quick lunch and get on the road heading back to our respective homes. Hopefully, I'll get out for another elk hunt this week, and I will be heading back into the bush to look for moose as well.
