Mt.
Hull Hunt 1997
By Scott Olson
After returning from a vacation at Wanacutt
Lake, near Orville Washington I checked my mail, only to find I had been drawn for a
California Bighorn in that same area. I was unable to return to the area to scout Mt. Hull
due to my work schedule in Southeast Alaska, it did, however give me plenty of time to
prepare for the hunt which I greatly anticipated.
I was fortunate meet Bob Thorndike whose name I got in the Washington Chapter of FNAWS
Newsletter. Bob was thanked in the newsletter by the hunter who took a ram from Mt. Hull
in 1996. Bob lives on the west side of Mt. Hull where he is able to watch the sheep at the
base of the mountain. After talking to Bob he referred me to Steve Stewart. Steve had a
great knowledge of Mt. Hull and the sheep that lived there. He gave me a lot of
information to use on hunting the south side of the mountain where the rams live during
September and October. The best way to hunt the mountain is to glass it in the late
afternoon, find the sheep and wait until they bed down, then go in early the next morning.
I hunted a total of 10 days.
I saw rams everyday, but I never found the
ram I wanted, then I got a call from Steve, he had been glassing the mountain and found
two rams, one of which looked good. I headed back over the mountains on October 3rd and
met Steve at a prearranged location; Steve already had the ram in the spotting scope. We
stayed until the rams bedded down for the night. We made plans to go after the ram early
the next morning. Steve and I could not locate the rams at first, but we moved up to a new
vantagepoint and spotted them quickly. It took Steve and I an hour to stalk the ram
through timber and steep rocks, we where within 275 yards of him. The ram had moved 30
yards up from where we first spotted him. He stood broadside to me; I got a solid rest,
put the cross hairs on the front shoulder and fired. At the shot from the .270 Winchester
the Ram spun around and went down 30 yards from where he stood, to the same rock where we
had first glassed him that morning. Congratulations and handshakes were given, and many
pictures were taken before caping, quartering, and loading the pack boards for the trip
out.
Washington State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife tooth analysis aged my Ram at 11.5 years; the
unofficial score was 160. Special thanks to my good friends Steve and Jeannie Stewart of
Orville, Washington.
© Copyright 2002 Washington
Chapter, FNAWS
All rights reserved