Yukon Stone's 2007 Newsletter
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She’s turned to winter in the Yukon and is working on it here in Northern B.C. as I type this. We had another awesome season in the Yukon. Mac headed north in early May with crew and did a bear hunt. Jason Housley came up for a week, watched a big grizzly walk into the bush as the camera was not running, and did kill a great “look like Grizzly Black Bear.”
June 20th saw the liner at Lappie Lake with the first of the horses. Mac, Eric, and Byron headed west into the Magundy river country and extended the Stewart landing area. Dave, Glenda, and Ian went southeast and fixed up and repaired landing areas as far south as the McNeil country.
Both groups spent a month with shovels, picks, and the teams and were ready for a week at the Dawson City Music festival in late July. No one wound up in jail and all were back in camp and ready to start sheep hunting July 30th.
Mac went back into the same country he and Fred Eichler had missed the monster Ram in ’06. Everything clicked and Don Snyder took his unbelievable Ram Aug. 3rd. Dick Henry had come up to ride along on this hunt and due to its early finish he kept busy re-roofing all the cabins at Northern Lake. Thanks to Dick we have an awesome camp good for another 30 years. Joe Drexler hunted McConnell with Dave and shot up most of the rams there. Good luck kicked in on the final day and they did collect a last minute trophy. Jamie Conners put long bow hunter Pat Koelzer on several rams as close as 20 yds. But he was unable to get an arrow in one. Unfortunately this set the trend for our bow hunters and we were 0 for 5 for the season. Our second hunt started of with Greg Almond whacking his Ram on the first day and partner Byron Christie collected his a few days later. They had so much fun they rebooked for ’08. This was Greg’s 5th and first successful Stone Sheep hunt. Long time friend and incredible bow hunter Tom Hoffman hunted a few days and had to leave or another commitment. He did manage a “almost” but not quite close enough stalk on a band of Rams. Long bow hunter Tom Taylor hunted hard but was never able to get a shot at a good Ram.
Our third hunt went well, except James Schneider had some medical problems and left after 2 days. He had been on a band of 12 Rams. We moved Clay and David Lancelot in and they killed a super Ram the first day. John Matsunaga and Jeb Butler hunted together with Dave, Glenda and Jamie and took two great Rams. Johannes Von Trap hunted with Byron and Art out of Stuart Camp and harvested a great Ram from their saddle horses.
Our last rifle sheep hunter came in with our Moose Hunters on Sept. 7th. I flew Mac, Byron And Richard into Seminof Lake and in a brutal wind and rain storm they caught up with a super Ram at 40 ½ inches and our oldest ram of the year at 13 years. A small band of sheep and almost no cover. We will rest this band for several years. Not a good bow area. Richard went on to kill a great bull Moose at Stewart Camp. On this same hunt Chuck Semborski took a super bull at Stuart camp as well. Bill Schagel had an unbelievable 10 days, harvesting a super Bull Caribou, a monster Bull Moose, and a great Grizzly! Gainer Waldbillg in Camp with Bill took a super Bull Moose and a great Grizzly! Gary Swantek float hunted with us and did not get his Moose, had opportunities at Moose and Caribou and couldn’t make it work with his muzzle loader. Ron Majeroni also float hunted, his luck was great taking a Caribou, a Moose, and a Wolf. Jonas Vos and Shay McGowan hunted Stuart camp for their Bulls, Shay’s was the widest Bull of the season. Tom Benninger and Larry Williams pioneered a new camp into Thomas Creek, a rugged hunt but very successful. Larry took a good Bull and Tom killed the biggest bull of the season at green score 225. By the later days of this hunt our great weather abandoned us. Three days late getting the guys out and our new clients in. Not Good! Our last Moose hunt was late starting and nothing but snow for weather. Also all Bow Hunters! Leo Torres, father and son, Michelle Eichler, Mark Buehrer, Don Keady, and Don Karcewski joined us for the last hunt and it was brutal! Leo Jr. Missed a bull, Leo Sr. never had a chance, Don Keady never had a chance, Michelle, Mark and Don Karcewski all took bulls with there bows. Not one of our best hunts but the circumstances were out of our hands.
Our last hunt was later than we have hunted Tom Hoffman, Tom Foss and TJ Swanky joined us Tom and Tom for sheep and TJ for Moose or Caribou. We did find a big band of Rams but the open terrain and deep snow never allowed a stalk to bow range. The continuing heavy snow left us no option but to throw in the towel five days into the hunt. Two-four feet of snow did not allow us to move around as we needed to. Not a great ending to a excellent season but that is what we were dealt. We had an awesome second season and left some huge trophy’s for next season. We will have some new areas again next season and will be hunting the great Mountain Caribou at McNeil Lake again next season with some new places to land. As well we hope to get into the head of the Magundy River with a new Moose and Caribou camp.
I will be at Dallas Safari, SCI International, and Grand Slam. Mac will be at FANAWS in Salt Lake while I am at Grand Slam. If any of you will be at these shows, Stop and have a chat at our booth. We will be happy to have you book a hunt, or just visit.