2006 Stone Sheep Hunt

Although this year wasn’t the year I would take my Trophy Stone Ram it was still full of memories and an awesome hunt to reflect on.  We left Sidney BC on a ferry bound for Vancouver on July 25th. The plan was to arrive ultra early so we could get some scouting in on the area we were going to be hunting. The drive up north went fairly uneventful aside from a 1/2 curl bighorn ram we spotted in a farmers field along the highway. We watched him for a few minutes and I took a short video clip of him.

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To Watch Some Alaska Highway Wildlife

We arrived in Fort St. John on the 26th of July and after getting all of our gear together and packing up the quad & trailer we spent the night trying to shave a few measly ounces off each of our packs. We were on the road by 7:30 the next morning. We saw plenty of wildlife on the drive up and arrived at the location where our hunt would begin early that evening. We spent an hour getting our camp setup and then headed off to start glassing for sheep.

It wasn’t even 6pm the first night and we were already looking at a small group of rams 4 or 5 in total we were quite a ways away and we could tell there wasn’t a shooter in the bunch. None the less we were seeing sheep and the season wasn’t even open for a few more days.  After a nice comfortable nights sleep in the toasty warm “Eena” tent we were out of bed around 5am had an early breakfast and scurried off to start glassing again.

My dad is an old sheep guide with a set of unbelievable eyes, if sheep are on the mountain he’s going to find them and it wasn’t long until we started seeing sheep again. This time we were looking across a thick timbered valley at a small group of 4 rams that quickly turned into 5 rams, then 6 rams, no 7 rams, before we knew it 18 rams had come together in this group and were feeding somewhat scattered across a high grassy hillside. We watched these sheep carefully through the spotting scopes for over an hour and determined that 2 or 3 of the sheep were definitely legal full curl rams but not big enough to make anyone drool yet. Besides we still had yet 3 more days until opening day.

The plan to hike into our spot on the 29th went perfectly to plan and the weather cooperated with an extremely nice and sunny day for the hike in. It’s no easy hike with multiple washes to traverse, willows 15 feet high and some really steep country where you have multiple sections of lengthy side hilling to work through. I’ll admit it’s a tough hike with a fully loaded pack on!

The days before the opener we would spend picking apart the surrounding mountains with our optics. The mountains in this area are comprised of high grassy ledges, with big sweeping bowls and alpine meadows set amongst the rough black shale cliffs. There was plenty of timber and buck brush down lower to make some really wicked ram country. This particular spot we were hunting at my family has hunted for decades and there have been some real dandy rams fall in this small patch of hunting ground.  We spotted 6 ewes and lambs that night and also observed plenty of locations on the mountains where there was sheep activity but the rams had so far managed to elude us in here.

The day before opening it started raining at about 11am and wouldn’t let up for the entire day… After chasing a porcupine out of camp when we returned from glassing in the partially fogged in valleys we proceeded to cook our Mountain House freeze dried meals for dinner. I ate Pasta Primavera on this particular night and it went down really well compared to the meal I had the night before. The pasta actually tasted great and set me up for a good nights sleep. We went to bed that night in our little two man tent
with high hopes for the next day. The weather so far was no longer cooperating and we were hoping for a break.

As many of you know weather in the mountains can change rapidly and I awoke several times during the night to the pounding of the rain on the sil-tarp covering our tent (another great gear investment Sil-Tarp II). The weather had no intentions of going along with our plan. I awoke in the morning and it was still raining and so cold I figured there would be snow on the ground. I wasn’t too far off. The mountains were almost completely fogged in aside from the snowy peaks we could see through the clouds… Not even 1000 feet above us and there was probably 6 inches to a foot of fresh snow.

Glassing was impossible as the fog was rolling down really low and we couldn’t see anything. This lasted nearly the whole day with some brief patches to get glassing in. We waited out the rain for another day and when it had not let up in nearly 3 days we decided it was time for us to head out and try our luck in another area we had planned to hunt.

The hike out took most of the day and was raining the entire time. Good rain gear is a must when hunting for sheep in August!

We arrived back at our base camp in the evening and had a great steak dinner before retiring to bed. I awoke at 5am the next morning to my dad firing up the wood stove and heating up the tent… That makes it a whole lot easier getting out of bed to start looking for sheep again. While my hunting partner and I were in the mountains my dad was able to get some more scouting in and found several more small bunches of rams. He had spotted a few legal ones in the bands he had found but we would need a closer look to know what they were for sure. Upon returning to these locations the rams were nowhere to be seen.  In fact sheep were nowhere to be seen. It was now into the season and it was obvious there was a lot of hunting pressure in the area. The sheep had started to really move around.

The real clincher happened when we had spotted 3 beauty rams in a very unlikely place. The lead ram was a really heavy, dark colored ram that my dad figured would go 40+” and the second ram was real light horned and light colored and figured it would go 38-39″. After looking at plenty of
rams through the spotting scopes these were definitely the most impressive we had seen so far. The decision was made to pack up our camp at it’s current location and make a move closer to where these rams had been spotted and then hike in and have a go at them. It was still going to be a 2 mile hike just
to get to the mountain they were on and then it would be a long haul to even get to the rams. They were in a really sketchy spot.

The camp was packed up and everything ready to move within an hour and we were on our way to the new spot. My dad had arrived there ahead of me and was watching through the scope when we got to him.  He wanted to get a bead on the rams before we finalized the plans. When I finally caught up to my dad he looked over at me and said… So, You want the good news or the bad news?”…. I knew what he meant right away but let him finish, “Gimme the good news” I said… “Well” my dad replied… “The good news is your ram is still there… The bad news is there are two hunters already skinning him!” That sucked!  But I have to tell you I was a little relieved of not having to make the trek to get to him anymore. All of the hiking was beginning to take a toll on my feet.

The last few days of the hunt were a little more relaxed and we spent a few days scouting and just enjoying the scenery. We met two great guys from the Kootenays that were up there hunting also and shared a couple of campfires with them and had an all around really great time. The quest for my ram will continue next year.

Nothing Beats Sheep Hunting - No, No… Wait… Nothing Beats You Up Like Sheep Hunting!

Happy Hunting!
Carl

Ronyn Wear Waterproof Fleece Camo Review.

Product: Ronyn Wear Waterproof Fleece Camo Bomber Jacket & Pants.

Pattern: Realtree Brown

Price Paid: $149.00 USD (Included Shipping) on eBay.

I discovered Ronyn Rugged Outdoors waterproof fleece camo while surfing around eBay one night. They were auctioning off sets complete with pants and a jacket at a price any hunter could easily afford. I was interested so decided to dig a little deeper before making my purchase decision.

The Ronyn waterproof fleece camo is made from a 100% polyester low pill (resists burring) polar fleece material that is laminated with a waterproof breathable Gore-Tex like membrane that can provide protection in some of the most extreme seasonal weather conditions.  All Ronyn garments are constructed with a black, 100% brushed polyester lining that won’t cling to your underclothes.

The fleece camo comes in 4 different patterns, Realtree brown, Realtree Grey, Mossy Oak Treestand, and Advantage Classic hardwoods.

I was looking to get some waterproof camo for  Stone Sheep hunt of 2005 and decided that I would give Ronyn camo a try.  I ordered pants and a bomber jacket in a realtree brown pattern.  I ordered the non-insulated version.  Everything was size Large.

Shipping took about 5 days and I had the camo at the door. At first glance I was extremely impressed with the quality and materials of the camo. The jacket fit really well and the lining on the inside made it comfortable to wear with just a t-shirt. The outside of the jacket was very soft and obviously would make very little noise while going through any kind of brush.

The pants were also very good quality but I did find the fit was a little large around the waist and long in the leg it’s not that bad though if you like to have on multiple layers. And it’s nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a belt. There are huge pockets on these pants and you can easily carry any gear you’d need for a day or several in the field. The side pockets are large enough to hold my 8×30 swarovskis, sony video camera, extra shells and more… The knees are reinforced as well as the butt these are solid pants.

Before my hunt I started hiking around some smaller hills locally with my camo and pack on as I planned to be in the field and it was then that I realized that I might have made the wrong choice of camo for my sheep hunt. This is awesome camo don’t get me wrong. But the pants are fairly heavy and if your hiking with a weighted pack they simply get way to hot. I found my legs sweating to the point that it was uncomfortable. This is even the non-insulated version so it’s warm gear no doubt about that.

The jacket was okay to wear if it was raining or cold but for hiking around it was also way to hot for my comfort. For backpack hunting both the pants and jackets are quite heavy compared to some of the more compact and lightweight gear available but I highly doubt you’d be getting the same quality and comfort with some of the lighter gear. On my sheep hunt this year I took only my jacket and while it still takes up some room in the pack it was sure nice to slip on when you wake up at 5am to start glassing for sheep. I was glad I packed it in.

Where my Ronyn waterproof camo has really proven itself was on my deer hunting trip of 2005 and my spring bear excusions on Vancouver Island during 2006.

While deer hunting November in region 7 the temperature got to near -18 degrees. I wore my ronyn wear bomber jacket and pants with nothing but long-johns underneath and was ample warm enough. This was the non-insulated stuff to by the way. The camo patterns seemed to work very well and broke up my
outline and shadow. I was able to stalk within 100 yards of my whitetail buck in almost plain view while crawling on my hands and knees. The camo was absolutely silent as I moved through the brush which was a big plus.

I also put the camo to the test while spring bear hunting the island this year. The camo proved to be an awesome addition to my hunting gear collection as it constantly put up with the beating I gave it hiking through the rain drenched forests of Vancouver Island. The camo pants & jacket kept me dry and comfortable all day and since I wasn’t carrying a pack the over heating problem was non-existant. I really was impressed with how this camo performed.

If I were to change anything about my Ronyn camo I would do a few things….

1. I would make the pockets on the bomber jacket either zip-closed or button closed.  You have to be careful storing gear in the bomber pockets as they are just flaps and rather shallow.  I lost my dads hunting knife out the pocket while I was taking a shit in the woods. No Joke. I had to go back out into the bush at 10pm at night and search for two hours till I finally found it and was able to put the story together

2.  I would have some sort of mechanism on the bottom of the leg to tighten it up around my boot.  I found as the pants got really wet that they started to drag down at the back of my boot.

3. If Ronyn offered a snow-camo pattern I would buy it in a heart beat. This fleece camo is absolutely perfect for winter hunting conditions.

Bottom Line - If your heading out on a backpacking trip this Camo should be left at home.  While comfortable it is too bulky and heavy to efficiently pack with room to spare. On the other hand if you’re heading out via quad, pickup or horse into rough, wet and cold conditions I wouldn’t leave home without my Ronyn Rugged Outdoors waterproof fleece camo.

Happy Hunting!

Carl