Yukon Mike
Well-known member
After not being able to tag along last year I was happy to get offered a camp Nannie position for Mac and Marcus' big fly in adventure into some new country this year. The boys are both 16 now which means they don't legally need an adult to accompany them on an actual hunt, so this trip was a shakedown cruise to see if they were really ready to go without anyone else. My job was to just hang around camp and be there when they returned each day. The physical stuff is no problem for them, I wanted to see if they had the maturity to make good decisions on a multi day back country hunt. It started with Mac picking out a place on the map back in the winter and doing the research he needed to know what to expect. No one we knew personally had ever been in that area so that was interesting. Those boys don't realize how fortunate they are to have each other for hunting partners so that they can cover the ground they want to.
Right away they scoped out some goats, but very few sheep considering the amount of ground they could see from up high. On day 3 they got one stalk on a group of 9 rams with one shooter, closing to 200 yds or so before the sheep just moved off, never to be seen again. No shots fired. I was glad to hear they didn't loose their cool and fling a bullet at a ram walking away at 300 yds. Good decision. The following day they hiked up to the place in the picture to have a better vantage point across the valley to see where the ram might have gone, but couldn't find his group again. We did see two rams on the last day while waiting for the plane, isn't that the way.
View attachment GOPR4478.jpg
I knew the day would come when the boy would be this independent, and I'm very proud of him. He's got a paying gig coming up next week as a packer for our outfitter friend on a Stone sheep hunt and I know he'll be helpful.
We talked a lot about how hunting ducks and grouse was such a good education for him as a young fella. It doesn't matter what or how you hunt, whatever gets you out of bed in the dark to go sit in the cold works. When he was about 4 or 5 I remember him sleeping in his long johns so he'd be ready to go faster in the morning. He started packing snacks for us when he was 2. Who doesn't enjoy a juice box at any age? All those trips were good experience for other adventures. The way I always did it was to invite him along but if he wanted to sleep in, no problem.
My congrats to all the dads out there that go to the trouble of taking their kids along fishin', huntin', dump shoppin', whatever you enjoy together.
Mike
Right away they scoped out some goats, but very few sheep considering the amount of ground they could see from up high. On day 3 they got one stalk on a group of 9 rams with one shooter, closing to 200 yds or so before the sheep just moved off, never to be seen again. No shots fired. I was glad to hear they didn't loose their cool and fling a bullet at a ram walking away at 300 yds. Good decision. The following day they hiked up to the place in the picture to have a better vantage point across the valley to see where the ram might have gone, but couldn't find his group again. We did see two rams on the last day while waiting for the plane, isn't that the way.
View attachment GOPR4478.jpg
I knew the day would come when the boy would be this independent, and I'm very proud of him. He's got a paying gig coming up next week as a packer for our outfitter friend on a Stone sheep hunt and I know he'll be helpful.
We talked a lot about how hunting ducks and grouse was such a good education for him as a young fella. It doesn't matter what or how you hunt, whatever gets you out of bed in the dark to go sit in the cold works. When he was about 4 or 5 I remember him sleeping in his long johns so he'd be ready to go faster in the morning. He started packing snacks for us when he was 2. Who doesn't enjoy a juice box at any age? All those trips were good experience for other adventures. The way I always did it was to invite him along but if he wanted to sleep in, no problem.
My congrats to all the dads out there that go to the trouble of taking their kids along fishin', huntin', dump shoppin', whatever you enjoy together.
Mike
