In the fall of 2006, once more I returned to Whitehorse and the Yukon, to catch a Beaver plane for a flight up into the Kulane Mountains, right on the Alaska border.
A bad storm held us up for awhile, until the bush pilot got tired of waiting.
We took off, leaving Whitehorse behind as we head west into the mountains.
The Alaska Highway criss-crosses the British Columbia and Yukon border 7 times, but this is the official Yukon welcome sign.
This base camp, originally used by the outfitter’s grandfather, was high in the mountains. The original cabins are still being used.
From here, we would leave on horseback at first light for the 25 mile ride up into the high country.
We did our hunting from a spike camp.
In the morning, we would ride the remaining 5 miles up the drainage, then leave the horses and climb 4 to 5 hours up to where the sheep were.
Here, we’re still only halfway up the mountain but at our frequent stops, we’d glass the surrounding mountains.
We saw many sheep and a few rams as we searched the high mountains, but found no rams large enough or old enough to make a stalk.
Our spotting finally paid off. After a 2 hour stalk and a 350 yard shot, I had taken my ram.
Night was falling as my guide hurried to skin out and quarter up my ram.
We still had a 4 hour climb in the dark down to the horses and a two-hour ride back to camp.
