king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated Magazine Dec/Jan 2008 - Coyote Crazy! - Index

32
T here
I was, sitting in the airport
nervously waiting for my fl ight.
I was traveling with several
other sheep hunters to the Northwest
Territories of Canada. Every single
one of us was hoping for a chance
at our dream ram. Kelly Hougan
and his crew at Arctic Red River
Outfi tters was our destination. Arctic
Red River Outfi tters is well known
for the great sheep that come from
there each year. Little did we know
of the adventure that awaited us!
Don Peay had set up this
hunt for all of us and was going along
HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
as well. Don has become the sportsman’s
voice. He has a true passion for what he
does. His work benefi ts wildlife as well
as hunters. He and a few others started
a sportsman’s group called Sportsman
for Fish and Wildlife. The conservation
success, in just a few short years, of
S.F.W. has been amazing.
Just getting to base camp was
a trip in and of itself. It took three days
to travel from my home in Wyoming
to base camp. Along the way, I was
able to meet and get to know the
other hunters. Each of us was from a
different walk of life, yet we all shared
of the
5NORTH BORDER5
R. Mark Lefaivre
NORTH OF THE BORDER
Beauty and the Beast
Dall sheep and caribou adventure.
the same passion for hunting. One
hunter who I become good friends
with was Sid Groll, a sportsman and
gentleman. One evening, we started
talking about the backpack trip we
were headed up on. Sid and I began
wondering if we would be able to
keep up. My answer to Sid was that
I fi gured I would concentrate on
one step at a time, just one step at
a time. Hopefully, that should work
just fi ne.
I was fl own into my spike
camp by Bernie, Kelly Hougan’s
bush pilot. There I met my guide
Jeremy Bergen. Jeremy is the kind of
guide that you hope to meet. He was
ready to go and loves to hunt sheep,
kept a positive enough attitude for
both of us, and was willing to go the
extra mile. After saying goodbye
to Bernie, we crossed the creek and
made our way over to the camp.
Along the way, Jeremy asked me
if I had a problem with getting my
sheep the fi rst day. I told him no,
not if he was a real good one. Then
I asked Jeremy if he had found the
mystical forty-inch ram. As soon
as we got to the tent, he sat down
with his spotting scope, looked for
a bit and then turned to me and said,
“Well, how do you like this one?”
When I looked through the scope, I
could not believe what I was seeing.
This ram was everything that I had
hoped for with horns sweeping way
up over his nose. After looking him
over, we estimated him around the
forty-inch mark. What a beauty! I
then told Jeremy that if I could get
close enough for a shot, then I would
really like to shoot this ram. I would