Ultrahunter
Active member
No luck on the first go. We saw quite a few sheep but no rams. He's planning on a return trip as we speak.
Idaho Sheep Story
- Thread starter Buck Fever
- Start date
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
Subscribing Keep at it guys.
havgunwilltravel
Active member
Ok thanks for the update.
Best of luck on the next run in there...sounds like a tough hunt, but i hope the type of ram you guys are looking for is found. At least its encouraging to be finding a few animals.
Buck Fever
Member
Chad and I spent 9 grueling days hunting some amazing sheep country
.
spent countless hours behind the spotting scope and binos
but all we could find were mom's with little ones.
and a few of these
we had grand intentions of eating grouse, but Chad decided he had to lock up the child safety button on his son's little chipmunk gun. We didn't think the 17 mile hike back to the pickup to retrieve the key was worth it.
Instead we ate plenty of mountain house and junk food.
and found a few berries to supplement our diet.
We are glad to be home and hope not to look at another down tree or granite rock for least couple weeks!
A nice little camping spot.
Although is was hard work from the time we left the trailhead and didn't harvest I wouldn't have done anything different. We stuck to our guns but just couldn't turn up a ram. That country can humble a guy in a hurry. I have a return trip planned in a couple weeks for round two, I really feel good about it and can't wait to hit it again!
.
spent countless hours behind the spotting scope and binos
but all we could find were mom's with little ones.
and a few of these
we had grand intentions of eating grouse, but Chad decided he had to lock up the child safety button on his son's little chipmunk gun. We didn't think the 17 mile hike back to the pickup to retrieve the key was worth it.
Instead we ate plenty of mountain house and junk food.
and found a few berries to supplement our diet.
We are glad to be home and hope not to look at another down tree or granite rock for least couple weeks!
A nice little camping spot.
Although is was hard work from the time we left the trailhead and didn't harvest I wouldn't have done anything different. We stuck to our guns but just couldn't turn up a ram. That country can humble a guy in a hurry. I have a return trip planned in a couple weeks for round two, I really feel good about it and can't wait to hit it again!
ihuntelk
Member
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
Dam that smoke.
havgunwilltravel
Active member
Best of luck guys....excellent to hear you are taking the positives out of the hunt and getting back in there with the right attitude. So important on the long range hunts with low animals numbers to stay focussed and determined. As you know, it can all change in a heartbeat. Good luck!
Backcountryhunter
Member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2009
- Messages
- 84
Keep at it and don't give up, good things will happen.
d-bone20917
Member
Looks like a great trip. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Bwana
Well-known member
Best of luck in Round #2.
T Bone
Well-known member
That country will try to kill you and leave you begging for more!
Get rested up guys. Round 2 will be successful. The cooler weather will get them more active.
Give me a call if you have any questions.
Get rested up guys. Round 2 will be successful. The cooler weather will get them more active.
Give me a call if you have any questions.
trouthunterdj
Member
Good luck on the next trip! Thanks for sharing!
ddj
ddj
Buck Fever
Member
He probably should of once he beat it with a rock trying to get it to unlock!
Good luck on your hunt Bryan, find a good one.
Ultrahunter
Active member
T Bone
Well-known member
what's the news?
Ultrahunter
Active member
He's in there right now, won't be out till Sunday.
T Bone
Well-known member
10-4. Hope he's coming out heavy.
Buck Fever
Member
I spent the last 5 months preparing and then hunting for a ram in the Frank Church River of no Return Wilderness. There a reason why they call it no return wilderness. I will get to this later. After my first trip and no rams spotted I spent the last month going over every detail trying to figure out what I wanted to do on my second trip. The decision was to charter an airplane and float the middle fork of the salmon and hunt up above the breaks of the river.
Headed to never never land.
Over looking the Frank
Coming in for the landing.
Gears all loaded up and ready to hit the river. I invited my brother in-law Jeff to man the raft and help share some of the packing responsiblities. I figured if he was able to fly a plane he could navigate the river. I might mention that we neither one of us had any rafting experience and we were about to float a world class river.
Captian Jeff after running one of many class 4 rapids.
After surviving the first day on the raft we climbed 2000ft up to our first camping spot.
The next day our plan was to climb another 2000ft and glass a big drainage for a couple days.
After making the climb it didn’t take long and I had a lone ram spotted overlooking a 100ft cliff. First ram in 11 total days of hunting, to say the least I was stocked!!
It didn’t take long to make the decision to go after him.
Getting ready to make the stock.
After couple hours and many falls I made it within 150 yards of his bedding area.
I wasn’t quite sure where he was but I was willing to wait him out. Hours went by with no ram in sight so I decided to make my way into his bedding area knowing he had to be close by.
I figured he had moved down off the cliff into the adjacent chute getting out of the sun. I slowly made my way along the cliff looking for any sign of him… and about that time we made eye contact!! He was standing on a 30ft cliff just down from the cliff I was standing on only 50 yards away. I knew I had to make a decision fast as he was getting really nervous… about then he leaped of the 30ft cliff landing in the chute taking giant rocks with him…unreal the agility of these incredible animals… as luck would have it he turned left out of the chute to see what was making him so nervous. I poked my gun over the cliff and fired a shot only missing him. I let him have another and the same result losing him in the rocks below.
Now I always said I would rather be lucky then good and luck would be on my side. he appeared below and I let him have 2 more shots rolling him down the mountain. Here I was standing in the middle of the Frank Church with a bighorn ram on the ground!! I can’t begin to explain the emotions running through my mind… I have been waiting 13 long years for this moment.
I made my way down to him and was more than excited.
Another…
Jeff finally made his way down a few hours after dark.
After taking care of him we had no choice but to throw our bags within the boulder filled mountain side. Jeff making the best of it…
The plan was to make one trip with sheep and all gear out the bottom of the canyon the next day.
A shot of the wonderful canyon we had to battle on the way down.
The next afternoon we reached a point where the canyon ended overlooking a 500ft cliff into the middle fork. Talk about make a guys heart sink. If I had one piece of advice from this adventure would be to REFER TO YOUR MAP AND TRUST WHAT IT IS TELLING YOU!!
We had no choice but to find a spot to land for the night. Out of food..we cooked up some back strap only 500 ft from the river.
The only way out was to battle the brush canyon again and then climb straight out over a 1200 vertical ft ridge to see if we could make it out the other side.
Jeff double checking the map to make sure we could make it..
On the way out I stopped to over look some of the rams old stomping grounds.
Jeff trying to find a path through the brush..
We finally made it back to the river but had 3 miles to get back to our raft.
Another night of sheep meat along the river.
A neat camping spot..
After making the climb up and over to the raft we packed up and headed down river.
Enjoying a cold one on the river calming my nerves to float the river. Like Jeff kept saying “god protects children and fools”!!
Cooking dinner on the last night of the trip..
I owe a big thanks to many people for all there help and support. A huge thanks to my wife for driving all night to retrieve us from the confluence. Jeff (pack mule) for being such and trooper in some of the roughest country known to man. T-bone for all his expertise… Chad for being patient on our first trip. H for his time spent behind the glass. It takes many good people for a hunt like this to come together.
Headed to never never land.
Over looking the Frank
Coming in for the landing.
Gears all loaded up and ready to hit the river. I invited my brother in-law Jeff to man the raft and help share some of the packing responsiblities. I figured if he was able to fly a plane he could navigate the river. I might mention that we neither one of us had any rafting experience and we were about to float a world class river.
Captian Jeff after running one of many class 4 rapids.
After surviving the first day on the raft we climbed 2000ft up to our first camping spot.
The next day our plan was to climb another 2000ft and glass a big drainage for a couple days.
After making the climb it didn’t take long and I had a lone ram spotted overlooking a 100ft cliff. First ram in 11 total days of hunting, to say the least I was stocked!!
It didn’t take long to make the decision to go after him.
Getting ready to make the stock.
After couple hours and many falls I made it within 150 yards of his bedding area.
I wasn’t quite sure where he was but I was willing to wait him out. Hours went by with no ram in sight so I decided to make my way into his bedding area knowing he had to be close by.
I figured he had moved down off the cliff into the adjacent chute getting out of the sun. I slowly made my way along the cliff looking for any sign of him… and about that time we made eye contact!! He was standing on a 30ft cliff just down from the cliff I was standing on only 50 yards away. I knew I had to make a decision fast as he was getting really nervous… about then he leaped of the 30ft cliff landing in the chute taking giant rocks with him…unreal the agility of these incredible animals… as luck would have it he turned left out of the chute to see what was making him so nervous. I poked my gun over the cliff and fired a shot only missing him. I let him have another and the same result losing him in the rocks below.
Now I always said I would rather be lucky then good and luck would be on my side. he appeared below and I let him have 2 more shots rolling him down the mountain. Here I was standing in the middle of the Frank Church with a bighorn ram on the ground!! I can’t begin to explain the emotions running through my mind… I have been waiting 13 long years for this moment.
I made my way down to him and was more than excited.
Another…
Jeff finally made his way down a few hours after dark.
After taking care of him we had no choice but to throw our bags within the boulder filled mountain side. Jeff making the best of it…
The plan was to make one trip with sheep and all gear out the bottom of the canyon the next day.
A shot of the wonderful canyon we had to battle on the way down.
The next afternoon we reached a point where the canyon ended overlooking a 500ft cliff into the middle fork. Talk about make a guys heart sink. If I had one piece of advice from this adventure would be to REFER TO YOUR MAP AND TRUST WHAT IT IS TELLING YOU!!
We had no choice but to find a spot to land for the night. Out of food..we cooked up some back strap only 500 ft from the river.
The only way out was to battle the brush canyon again and then climb straight out over a 1200 vertical ft ridge to see if we could make it out the other side.
Jeff double checking the map to make sure we could make it..
On the way out I stopped to over look some of the rams old stomping grounds.
Jeff trying to find a path through the brush..
We finally made it back to the river but had 3 miles to get back to our raft.
Another night of sheep meat along the river.
A neat camping spot..
After making the climb up and over to the raft we packed up and headed down river.
Enjoying a cold one on the river calming my nerves to float the river. Like Jeff kept saying “god protects children and fools”!!
Cooking dinner on the last night of the trip..
I owe a big thanks to many people for all there help and support. A huge thanks to my wife for driving all night to retrieve us from the confluence. Jeff (pack mule) for being such and trooper in some of the roughest country known to man. T-bone for all his expertise… Chad for being patient on our first trip. H for his time spent behind the glass. It takes many good people for a hunt like this to come together.
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