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It started out like our normal hunting trips with Dan and I waiting for Todd and Mark to get their stuff together. When we finally got back to our pre-scouted area of WMU 402, it was getting dark. We loaded up the quads with everything we needed and headed out. As we were quadding in, we came across a lynx right in the middle of the trail about 60 yards in front of us; we were able to catch some quick pics of the stealthy animal none of us had ever seen before. We continued on and came to a sketchy part of the trail. Todd went first, then Mark and then Dan and I, who were doubling. Todd made it through fine but as Mark went forward, his quad tipped and he rolled down the mountain. He came very close to being severely injured as he was pinned beneath his quad and landed just inches away from a fallen tree with sharp limbs that pointed up. We were able to winch his quad up the mountain and get set up at camp.
That night was so gorgeous we decided to sleep under the stars. I’ve never had a more amazing night in the mountains as I did that night. I think all of us just pretended to sleep because when the alarm clocks went off, we were all ready to go.
We suited up and headed into the valley. Just as we got to the bottom of the valley, Todd decided to try out a bugle and let one rip. Almost instantly, we got a reply from an elk up on the mountain. Not sure what to do, we decided Dan and Mark would go one way, while Todd and I would go the other. We set up about 25 yards from each other. Todd would bugle and I would cow call. Suddenly we could hear the bull running through the trees and then splashing through a creek. As he came up on the other side of the creek, he bugled and my spine tingled from top to bottom. Todd and I were caught behind a tree and couldn't see the bull but Mark and Dan were set up perfectly. After what seemed like an eternity, I saw them raise their guns and start the countdown. I could hear Mark count and then... BANG! As soon as they had shot, I stood up and saw the elk fall where it stood. I let out a cry and was so happy of what we'd just accomplished.
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| Kyle Steed (top photo) and Todd Bolokoski pose with the incredible ram that green scored 197 1/4”. |
We walked over to the elk and he was a nice five-point bull. We knew we had our work cut out for us as none of us had cleaned anything bigger than a deer. We rolled up our sleeves and made a mess of a quartering job I'm sure, but we got it all anyways. We packed it on the quads and hauled it back to high camp. Just as we got back to camp, Todd began glassing the side of the mountain and spotted two sheep. We could tell they were rams but that was about it. At this point, it was almost noon and the temperature was reaching the mid 20’s. We were nervous about leaving the meat but decided we would make a quick hike up and then get the meat out as soon as we could. Todd and I were the only ones with sheep tags so we took off up the mountain with the other guys watching us through the spotting scope the whole time. Todd and I had previously discussed that in this situation, even though he spotted the rams first, that I would be the shooter.
We decided to follow the tree line rather than trying to get up high; we figured that would be too noisy. We crept along the edge of the trees for a couple hundred yards and then we spotted a ewe sitting on a cliff just above us. We thought for sure she would blow our cover but instead, she just lay there and let us walk right on by. We continued hiking a couple hundred more yards and knew that we had to be getting close to the rams but we couldn't see them yet. Once we did spot them, we were only about 50 yards away. We lay down and looked at them both through our binos; we knew right away that one was legal but the other we weren't sure about so we decided to just take the one and play it safe. From where we were it was hard to see the rams through the grass so we belly crawled until we were 35 yards away. We did the countdown: three... two... one... BANG! The sheep took off in the opposite direction and ran for about 40 yards before trying to jump up the mountain edge. As he did this, he toppled over backwards and started rolling down the mountain. I didn't want him to break his horns so I ran over to try to stop him as he rolled past me; but I was kicked in the face by his flying hooves instead. Finally, he came to a stop and we knew we had something good. Funny part of this is this was our first time sheep hunting so we had no idea how good of a sheep we really had. Todd and I both tried to move him to a better spot to work on him but he was so heavy that the two of us could barely move him five feet.
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Mark Baril, Todd Bolokoski, Dan Webster and Kyle Steed pose with the
5-point bull that started their adventure. |
We took some pics and started to work on caping him out. This was also my first time caping an animal but luckily, I had just been to my taxidermist and he had given me some pointers just in case. Neither of us had thought to bring a backpack as we could see camp from where we shot him. So we each grabbed a horn and started hiking down the mountain. It was ridiculously hard hauling his head and horns and wet cape down the mountain but finally we met up with Dan and Mark who were on the quads. Mark and Todd took the horns back to camp and Dan and I started back up the mountain to recover the meat. By this time it was high 20’s so we decided to haul everything out and head for the butchers in Cowley.
We quadded out without incident and Tim at Backcountry Butchering met us after hours and took our meat and let me store the horns and cape in his freezer. When he asked if he could see the sheep, we took the lid off the tote the sheep was stored in and he couldn't believe it; this is when we started figuring out what we had.
We hunted the next two days without success and then decided it was time to head home.
We stopped by the shop in Cowley to pick up the horns and Tim told us he had a friend measure up the sheep while we were gone and that it had measured 197 1/4”. We thought, “Wow that sounds cool” and then he told us that it would probably place us in the top 100 ever shot. That’s when it hit us that we had something truly amazing.
While this was probably the most successful hunt any of us had ever had, it was also the most enjoyable one we’ll ever have as well. It was an amazing experience shared with good friends and the memories won’t be forgotten anytime soon. ■
For previous Reader Stories click here.
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