So you want to hunt sheep? Part 2- What’s your “Why”?

Kyle Sinclair-Smith

We looked and looked but the best shot we could get was a hard quartering away shot at 33 yards. I wasn’t overly fond of the angle but I had confidence that I could make it.

*A picture showing the exact angle I had to shoot the cat

I studied the cat and the limbs hard, there was a small branch that I needed to hit two inches to the right of and it would be perfect. I drew back as a test to make sure I could see my marker though my peep site and get all my land marks figured out for aiming. Once that was all confirmed, we got the dogs tied up, the videos rolling, and we were ready for the moment. I drew back, settled in, bent at the waist, put the pin where it needed to be, slowly squeezed the trigger and watched the arrow sail right into the branch that I needed to be two inches to the right of. The worst part was, the arrow deflected to the left and hit the cat back. He exploded in the tree, came crashing down, and tore off through the bushes. After things settled down, we looked at the blood and reviewed the video; it didn’t look good. Nate made the call that we would have to run him again. The cat went up and over the ridge away from the truck, through a nasty blow down, and into the depths of hell. We finally caught up to the cat bayed up under a willow just before dark. In this situation, the bow was no longer an option because either a person or a dog was going to get killed.

Finally with the cat dead, a recap of the show, a few pictures and high fives, I was out of gas.

Left: Scott Kennedy Center: Kyle Sinclair-Smith Right: Nathan Digby

I was beyond tired, hungry, and very thirsty. Scott Kennedy was kind enough to share an Eat-More bar (he had a fresh case from Costco), his water, and his lunch. While Nate, Brant, and Scott got to skinning the cat, I warmed up by the fire and tried to get some wind back in my sails. Brant noticed that I was plumb wore out, and suggested that we start heading back while Scott and Nate finished up; also knowing my state, I thought this was a great idea. Brant took my backpack, my bow, and two of the dogs; all I had to do was get myself up the hill. This is where things went very badly for me. I was so physically and mentally exhausted, I honestly didn’t know if I was coming out of there. By my GPS, we were 6.8 km to the truck, and 5 km of it was on foot. The hill was steep, so steep that I could only take ten steps until I was completely exhausted to the point of getting dizzy. Brant kept reassuring me to take it slow and we were making ground. By the time we got to the top of the hill, Nate and Scott, along with my cat, some meat and the rest of the dogs had caught up to us.

*Scott Kennedy and Nathan Digby skinning the cat with Brant Chutter tending the fire

The rest of the way back to the truck was a serious struggle. My chest was hurting, my legs were weak, and the only thing that kept me going was the thought of my wife and eight month old son at home. We finally got back to the truck around 10:00 pm and I was in bad shape. Nate suggested driving me in my truck to the Sundre hospital so I could get checked out; it was that bad. On the way there I drank four Gatorade, and ate some food; this improved my condition enough that I thought I didn’t need to see a doctor. We got back to Nate’s house around mid-night. Initially I had this plan that we would crack open a nice bottle of scotch I brought, cape the head out, and celebrate a successful hunt. What really happened was I walked into the house, laid down by the wood burning stove on a blanket with a pillow and went to sleep. That was the day that I got a real good look at what “sheep shape” was, and how far I was from it.

After returning home and licking my wounds for a week or so, I started talking about sheep hunting. My wife, very clearly remembering my recap of the Cougar hunt, was quick to object. She wasn’t in objection to me sheep hunting, she was objecting to me sheep hunting in my physical condition. Being quick on the draw, I simply replied with “I’ll train, it will be ok”. Even after everything I had been though on the cat hunt, the physical and mental anguish, the extreme low, I still wanted to sheep hunt. Sheep hunting would be they “Why” I got in shape and changed my life. But how would I do it? Where do I start? How fit do I need to be? What is good enough condition to hunt sheep? I would soon find out.