CANADA: 2023 Yukon Dall’s Sheep & Caribou With BPO

[Firebird]

Both animals are studs! Congrats on your success. Cool hunt, I hope to do something similar to this hunt someday, thank you for sharing

 

[Inline6]

Congratulations to you both!

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Wow! and Congrats on an epic father/son hunt! These trips are the ones that you will always remember and cherish. Incredible trophies and majestic terrain.

HH

 

[Altitude sickness]

August 20 & 21
After the long hike with heavy backpacks and setting up camp the evening before, my leg was definitely sore. In addition, my good leg was doing about 70% of the work to compensate. I needed any easy hunt so Devon and I hiked up the valley about half a mile and climbed up the left side a couple hundred yards to glass. We glassed all day and spotted several caribou and moose but no shooters. We had a freeze-dried dinner that evening while glassing and returned to camp at dark.

Cody and both the Wyatts went up the valley a bit further and hiked up the right side to look into a bowl on that side that made a dogleg turn to the left. They spotted some caribou and two rams. One of the rams was legal but it wasn’t the heavier ram that was broomed on the right side that they were looking to find so they turned it down and returned to camp.

On the 21st, we all started up the valley again and spotted three caribou bulls feeding on the right side and about 3/4 of a mile up valley from camp. The bull with the most developed antlers was a bit narrow but had good tops with seven points on the tops, decent bez points and one nice shovel. He also had back tines that pointed backwards off the mainbeams. Not all bulls have back tines or so many points up on top so even though he was a bit narrow, I decided to go for him.

The wind was coming down the main valley in our faces. The caribou were up the valley a bit from us and up in the bottom of a big bowl to the right that emptied into the main valley. We thought if we climbed up the right side of the bowl to look down into it where the caribou were feeding that the wind would be fine as a crosswind. All was going well until the wind switched. I saw our target bull lift his nose into the air and get nervous. With the curvature of the bowl, we could see the caribou while we were standing but if I dropped down to make a rest to shoot, I couldn’t see them. It wasn’t long until the caribou got more nervous and started walking up out of the bottom of the bowl. They began climbing our side but I still wasn’t able to get down to shoot because of the curvature of the mountain. Even though the wind was now bad, I started moving faster forward while gaining elevation at the same time in an effort to get an unobstructed shot before the caribou topped out of the bowl. The caribou were about to disappear over the top and I realized it was now or never. The range was 250 yards. I dropped down to a kneeling position in the rocks and fired. There was no time for a solid rest off a backpack. I hit the caribou as it was quartering away. It didn’t drop but was obviously hit hard and couldn’t keep pace with the other two bulls. While trying to chamber another round, the mountain gave way beneath me and I slid about five feet. It was very steep. I got a new round chambered and moved back up the mountain for another shot. I took another kneeling shot at about 280 yards and the caribou dropped and began rolling down the mountain! The caribou came to a stop in an awkward precarious position. I could see it kicking one leg in the air.

After gathering our wits and chambering another round, we headed towards the caribou. It was slow going for me. The mountain was steep and loose. When we were about halfway to the caribou, it started rolling again but then stopped after about 50 yards. When we got to it, it was dead and could see that my first shot had quartered all the way through and out the right shoulder. My second shot went into the right shoulder and into the left shoulder without exiting. The guides were pretty happy with my shooting without much of a rest.

The mountain was so steep that the caribou was sliding down while we took pictures. After pictures, we dug out a flat spot on the mountain so we could skin and quarter it safely. I caped it and quartered it while the other guys started packing loads down to the main valley.View attachment 553817

 

[Altitude sickness]

First of all, it does not surprise me that you were there after just getting off crutches. Your son looks as lean and tough as you Scott.
I knew at the start of this story that some animals were in trouble.

Both animals are impressive. But that Ram looks like a stout Bighorn. MASS

Congrats

 

[cpr0312]

Looks amazing! Congrats and thanks for sharing!

 

[Scott CWO]

First of all, it does not surprise me that you were there after just getting off crutches. Your son looks as lean and tough as you Scott.
I knew at the start of this story that some animals were in trouble.

Both animals are impressive. But that Ram looks like a stout Bighorn. MASS

Congrats

Thanks, my friend! You must come elk hunt again sometime. Although I doubt we can top your last bull, it would be fun. We got another Forest Service Permit area.

Cody is now tougher than me. I was 15-0 in our wrestling matches until he got into college. Now I am 15-1 after he beat me badly a while back. Just about choked me out! I quit at 15-1 and still tease him that he’s 1-15!

 

[Altitude sickness]

Oh we will be back in the Comanche Wilderness. Hopefully the Stormy camp again. We had a great hunt

 

[Bighorn191]

Great writeup and pics Scott! I'm glad you and Cody go to go do that! Last time I saw him, he was probably about 5-6 years old. Great ram and 'bou!

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

Awesome Scott! Congrats to you and Cody!!

 

[Fatback]

Congrats to all involved. A tremendous hunt with great trophies to remember it by. Nothing better than a father keeping a promise to their children. Well done sir

 

[CoElkHunter]

What a fantastic hunt! Congrats to Cody on his ram and to you on your caribou. Great hunt report and thanks for sharing your adventures with us.

 

[375Fox]

That’s a beautiful ram. What did you end up doing with the remaining days of your hunt? Did you go home early or stay and fish maybe?

 

[Scott CWO]

That’s a beautiful ram. What did you end up doing with the remaining days of your hunt? Did you go home early or stay and fish maybe?

Sorry I didn’t see this earlier. Cody and his guide shot the ram pretty late and ended up sleeping outside on the mountain before returning to spike camp the next day. We all spent the next day fleshing the hides and eating as much meat as possible. Then we packed out and back to the river to the jet boat with heavy loads and took the jet boat to base camp.

After resting a day and cleaning capes and skulls, Cody went out with the guides again for a few days for caribou while I stayed at base camp and glassed the river for grizzlies. Neither of us saw anything we wanted to shoot so we headed back to Whitehorse and then home.

Later at SCI in Nashville, Chris told us that Cody’s ram was officially aged at 14 years old and was the oldest taken in the Yukon in 2023, according to the government reports.