DEFYING THE ODDS PT 2
Since we didn't get back to our tent until 6:50 a.m. we slept hard until 1:00pm when a spat of driving rain beating on our tent like a drum woke us out of our slumber. With sore legs and backs we reorganized gear, laid out meat and cape to dry and did our best to rehydrate and catch up on calories.
Resting was made easy by the fog and drizzle. We did glass up a small group of 2 young rams, 3 ewes, and 3 lambs from the tent. Back in our sleeping bags with the remainder of our wet gear we drank coffee, listened to podcasts, looked at pictures of our ram and relived the hunt with each other a million and one times. We were on cloud 9 with no plans of getting off.
The following day was chore day! We needed to get the head skinned off and cape fleshed. First time fleshing a hide for either of us so we went slow and it took a long time. Mid afternoon we concluded that we need to get some stuff back to the lake in order to be a one and done trip if we got another ram so we loaded up bear fence, ram, and a few other non essentials and made the 8.2 mile round trip across the muskeg. Back at the lake we needed to devise a plan to keep this meat and cape good. We did an initial salting of the hide then we went to work building a raised rack out of caribou sheds to get the meat bags off the ground so air can flow around it. With several more sheds we made additional space above the meat. Shaking the cape free of the wet salt, we then applied a second, generous coating of more salt and folded it skin on skin and placed it on the rack with the meat. Placing my rifle beside it we covered it all with a blue tarp making sure to build up openings on either end to allow air flow. Our ram head and many more shed antlers were placed on top of the tarp to keep it pinned. Our beloved bear fence was constructed to keep all of it safe and with everything squared away we bid farewell. It was agonizingly painful to leave such precious treasure unattended but we had one more ram to find and we were hell bent on achieving the impossible a second time. With the burden of that chore done we were free'd up to go anywhere and do anything we could think up. Arriving back at camp with screaming hip flexors due to racing a rain storm we ate our dinner and found sleep quickly.
We woke reasonable early but thick fog and rain kept us pinned down. We finally got a window mid day so we packed camp and forded the river to make our ascent up drainage. A bit before 9pm we spotted 2 rams through the fog. We found a flat spot and set camp for the night. Leaving this area wasn't an option until we found these rams again and any friends they may have hiding back in the cracks and folds of their rock fortress.
As "light" pulled us from our slumber a layer of fog laid across the mountains like a white ribbon. We nicknamed this elevation "ram level". The fog was always right where the sheep wanted to be or maybe the sheep always wanted to be consealed in the fog, but either way it always hung at "ram level". As the fog rolled over the ridges like waves in the ocean 2 rams straight across the valley from us appeared. It was the two rams from the night before. Neither were legal. We glassed everything we could and then moved up valley a few miles to get a different look. Of course the fog came back with a vengeance and we spent the day hunkered under the tarp staring at nothing once again. Finally we called it and hiked back to the tent. That evening it got very cold and we retreated back to the security of our sleeping bags a bit before 9.
That night was COLD!!! A stiff northern wind, misting fog, and frozen tundra greated us as we awoke to zero visibility once again.
After hours of staring at nothing we decided to make a move to attempt and escape the fog. We moved down valley to our last bit of food we cached right as the rain began. We hurriedly set up camp and eventually gave up on going anywhere as the rain pounded away.
