STONE SHEEP-BRITISH COLUMBIA

In 2004 I booked a Stone Sheep hunt for Northern British Columbia in the Coastal Cassiar Mountains with long time outfitter and guide Fletcher Day of Tahltan Outfitters.  This was to be a 10 day hunt, using horses as the main method of transportation.  After arriving in Smithers B.C. we flew to Dease Lake and from there we took a small float plane to Victoria Lake where we would spent the first night.  The next morning we would be leaving early for a 10 mile ride to our spike camp called BOONIE.  Named for a Stone Sheep that was taken in the area that scored high in the Boone and Crockett Record books.
 
This was to be our home for the next 10 days.  Each day we would wake early, have breakfast and ride to high mountain tops where we could set up the spotting scopes in search for Stone Sheep.  Sheep were spotted each day with the majority being nannies and small rams.  To be legal a ram it had to be a full curl.  On the 7th day of the hunt August 7, 2004 we spotted a group of five Rams of which three were legal.  They were located approximately 5 miles away on a grassy knoll on top of a very rugged mountain.

We were able to take the horses to within 3/4 of a mile of the Sheep through terrain that was virtually straight up.  If I hadn't been there I wouldn't believe that a horse could make the climb with a rider on his back.  I was nervous and a more than a little scared, but that is why they call it HUNTING.

We were able to stock to 230 yards of the trophy ram and with a sold rest was able to make a clean one shot kill.  I was using my 300 Ultra Light Weatherby Magnum with 180 grain Nosler Partition Bullets.  The rifle was topped with a Swarovski 3x12 scope.  My spotting scope was also a Swarovski in 20-60 x 65 HD and I was using Zeiss 10x40 Binoculars.  This proved to be the perfect combination of equipment for this Stone Sheep Hunt.

My ram scored 168 4/8 S.C.I. with both horns measuring 39 1/2 inches.  This was truly a GREAT EXPERIENCE that lead to a GREAT TROPHY.