NWT Dall Hunt

[roger]

Above is a picture of a ram that I took last month on a backpack hunt in the NWT with Harold Grinde of Gana River Outfitters. The story would be more interesting if I hiked for days and fought through bad weather and dangerous conditions, but that was not the case.

We were dropped off by the bush pilot the day before the hunt and we set up a our tent. The next morning I crawled out of the tent at 5:00 AM and was looking at 6 legal rams within 300 yards of the tent. With sleep still in our eyes we were already looking through the spotting scope at two very good rams. It was decided the largest of the two was 38". We decided to hold off since it was the first minute of the hunt.

After we had a quick bite to eat we started working around a small range along the Ram River. We were seeing rams in almost every drainage, but nothing to get excited about. At 2:00 PM we found 5 rams and 10 lambs and ewes in a very green valley about 1.5 miles from our position. We could tell that two of the rams seemed good enough to hike down and take a closer look. We stayed behind a ridge and got to within 300 yards of where we thought the rams were. As we were trying to get a better look over the edge we got pinned down by the lambs and ewes. After they fed off we looked over the edge and much to our surprize there were 11 rams bedded directly under us. Once I pulled up my binoculars it was immediately clear which ram was the best in the group. We looked over the other rams just to be sure. I rested my rifle of the edge of the cliff and took the shot and the ram wilted in his bed.

After only 1/2 a day my ram hunt was complete. The ram is almost a curl and a half and his measurements were 14 x 41 and exactly the same on both sides. The ram had quite a bit of color and could be classified a Fannin. In half a day I seen 22 legal rams. So I had nine days to find a mountain caribou and we did. Harold Grinde runs a class outfit made up almost entirely of family, his guides are superb and his gear is excellent. I recommend Harold to anybody looking for a quality Dall hunt.

 

[roger]

Side view

 

[High5]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-11-05 AT 08:51PM (MST)[p]WOW! thats a cranker ram.
What do they call that "up & out".
Thanks for sharing.

Wait,I thought Bill Mckenzie owned Gana river outfitters? Was Harold your guide or has that outfit changed hands?

 

[redrabbit]

A hearty congrats, as I gawk at the curl.

RR

 

[TBinKodiak]

Awesome ram Roger. He's got to be over 170" or dang close, probably one of the top ten Dall's taken this year. Congrats.

 

[scottyboy]

Wow... That is a super ram. He is beautiful. Congrats!!


--Scottyboy--

 

[roger]

High5

Bill McKenzie retired last year and sold the business to his head guide Harold Grinde. Harold had been guiding in the area for many years for Bill. All of the cooks are Harold's nieces and most of the guides are newphews, brothers, or close friends. The outfit was more than I ever expected. The basecamp is full electric from a turbine that generates all the power from glacier runoff. Pretty amazing operation when you think ever single piece of eqiupment had to be flown in.

Roger

 

[MNHunter]

Nice Dall!!!!!

 

[Blueoak]

Great Ram! One like that is hard to come by.

 

[sjhgraysage]

Congratulations on a great ram!
Wilderness hunting at its finest!

 

[predator]

Dang nice ram, Roger!!

 

[ridgerunner]

Sweet looking ram. Sounds like a fun hunt.

 

[kilbuc]

Congrats, Great ram. Gana River has been a top notch outfit for years. Looks like the change in ownership has not changed results much.

from the "Heartland of Wyoming"

 

[okiebugle]

Congrats, You did well.

 

[YukonDall]

OUTSTANDING, CONGRATS. YD.

 

[Splash]

Congratulations on a great ram and thanks for sharing the pictures!

 

[Pappabull]

Great ram and pictures. What gun, caliber and bullet did you use?

 

[ramslam]

That is one special ram. Cherish it forever.

 

[roger]

Pappabull,

The gun was Winchester Model 70 in 300 WSM with Federal Premium 150 grain Nosler ballistic tip. The ram was shot at 286 yards. There were ten other rams with him when I shot. Created quite a memory to see 11 Dall rams together at once. Below is a picture of the caribou and my guide Abe Dougan. While in the process of caping out the caribou I was also able to get a very long shot at a black wolf. I only made him run faster.

Roger

 

[NVBighorn]

Fantastic ram! And the caribou doesn't look too bad either, although I know nothing about them. Congratulations on a great hunt.

 

[predator]

Um, having not scored one yet....but that 'bou looks like a booner to me!

 

[bigbull1]

Smoker Ram and Bou, Congrats!

Ed

 

[BUCKSPY]

I had to laugh at the comment "nice ram". I would put that ram about 10 notches above "nice ram".

Absolutely awesome looking ram!!!! Congrats.

 

[Lucky2Hunt]

Amazing Sheep and bou! Does that outfit have a website? I looked and had a hard time finding one. Would be my dream hunt...

 

[martini]

WOW, 2 awesome trophies, well done!! What was the price for this hunt if you do not mind sharing, or a website would be good,

thanks

 

[DonV]

That is an awesome ram, congrat's, nice bull too.

Pictures are great too, you worked hard to make them come out that good and it shows.

 

[BCBOY]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-17-05 AT 10:26PM (MST)[p]Unfreakinbelivable Ram! WOW! That bou ain't to shabby either. Congrats BIG TIME! Abe Dougan lives just south of me. I used to work with his sister. He's killed some incredible animals. The BC Record Book is full of the animals that Abe and his dad have taken, like the #1 and #2 BC Book Record Dalls both scoring over 170.

 

[BCbucks]

Awsome ram !!!!!! Good going ....

I am totally vidicated !! I tried telling YUKONDALL that backpack hunts are the way to go for BIG RAMS....

But he went with an outfit using horses and not known for producing giant rams on a consistent basis.

AWSOME SHEEP !!!!

 

[BCbucks]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-18-05 AT 09:40PM (MST)[p]
Awsome ram !!!!!! Good going .... thats a slammer !!!!!

I am totally vidicated !! I tried telling YUKONDALL that backpack hunts are the way to go for BIG RAMS in the NWT / Yukon.....

But he went with an outfit using horses and not known for producing giant rams on a consistent basis. Although I know its a very good Mom / Pop operation. (sorry buddy --)

AWSOME SHEEP !!!!

Gana River is well known for producing giant rams on backpack hunts as well as Arctic Red River Outfitters which is exclusive backpack hunting only !!

Any outfit who hires Abe Dougan sure got one of the best guides in the business.

 

[YukonDall]

GOOD TRY BCPUNK, HEH,HEH!!!!

 

[roger]

It has been a while since I have been on the forum, so I will try to answer the questions in one post. Gana River does not have a website but there is always an ad in the back of the FNAWS magazine the NWT section.

As I mentioned my hunt was a backpack hunt and from what I seen that is the only way to go. The only advantage that I seen on the horseback hunt was the hunters got to spend each night in a warm cabin with a hot meal. In my opinion the horseback hunts spend far to much time going TO and FROM the sheep. Just seemed like wasted hunting time to me, but to each his own. The horse back experience really adds to the hunt for a lot of people. When I was in camp Gana River had 3 backpack hunters and 4 horseback hunters. The backpack hunters killed much better sheep and seen A LOT more sheep.

The hunt was $10K with a $2K trophy fee for a caribou. The NWT hunts are usually more than Alaska but the success rate is much higher. I know there are some real top end rams killed in AK each year but as an average the NWT will produce much better rams.

My guide for the sheep hunt was Ryan Faehmel out of BC, and Abe Dougan was my caribou guide. Kalem Grinde was scheduled to be my guide but tore his ACL while guiding Bryan Martin on an earlier hunt. Picture of Ryan below. Ryan was a great guide and a blast to be around. He had been guiding for Stones with Big9 for the last few years.

 

[roger]

This is my favorite picture from the hunt. This is looking over the bush pilot's (Bill Gorley) shoulder. We landed on the small flat spot that you can see to the upper left of his GPS antannae. My first time on a bush plane and quite an experience. Bill has been flying for Gana River for many years.

 

[roger]

A backpack hunters camp.

 

[roger]

This should have been the camp photo.

 

[roger]

One of the dedicated guides at Gana River. His goal is to guide a grand slam and get the Desert and the Stone tatoo on his other arm. This guy is a true sheep fanatic.

 

[walltenthunter]

Your Dall was one of the most beautiful dalls I have ever seen. My late grand dad shot a 41" curl and a half Dall in the 1950s in the Yukon, and your Dall looks one heck a lot like that ram. We had it remounted 2 years ago and it literally drops jaws amongst sheep enthusiasts. Congrats, in another 10 hunts you would not likely take another one like it.