A RECOVERY DAY AT TENT IN REST,
TROPHY PREPARATION, SERIAL LETTER AND WRITING IN THE RAIN
AS WE PACK UP FOR STRENUOUS DAY OF HIKING AND SPIKE CAMP
PREPARATION TOMORROW WITH FULL BACKPACKS
AND "LOADED FOR BEAR" HEADING TO THE STORICH RIVER WATERSHED
FOR FISIHG AMONG OTHER CARNIVOROUS FISHERMAN FOR WHICH WE WILL BE HUNTING
August 23, 2001
THE TROPHIES
They could not believe what they were seeing when the bighorn ram skull was rolled out with the full fleece with hooves attached. I could hardly, either. To get ahead of my story by the time of the next morning's "rest day" preparation of the trophies, I will add here the measurements that were made the following day. The measurements of the big ram came the morning after I had joined in the whole base camp's rejoicing in the celebratory Vodka toasts---in which Alan, a non-drinker, even participated with all repeatedly drinking to the fine completion of a hard hunt for the noble Kamchatka Bighorn Snow Sheep Ovis nivicola:
The measurements are preliminarily made as follows: 91 centimeters is the length of one curl, which did not mean very much to me. What did mean something more is that Alan was shaking his head, saying he never expected to see such fine sheep trophies, and particularly mine, which were already the highlights of the trip. He had rough scored his and then set about making steel tape measurements of mine, and after consulting his small book of such matters, returned to say my sheep would place in the range of number 12 or 14 in the world record books, and his would be somewhere in the twenties!
TROPHY SCORING OF THE KAMCHATKA BIGHORN RAM
SNOW SHEEP
OVIS NIVICOLA
GWG
14 ½ in. L Base
14 ¼ in. R. Base
34 ½ in L. Curl
35 ¾ in. R. Curl
25 ½ in. Spread Beam Width
13-year-old prime ram
ALL
13 ½ in. R. Base
13 ¼ L. Base
33 in L. Curl
32 in R. Curl
22 in Spread Beam Width, broomed
15-year-old, "last winter" ram
The plaque for my trophy will read:
KAMCHATKA BIGHORN SNOW SHEEP
Ovis nivicola
Glenn W. Geelhoed, Hunter
Sergei Maximov, Jaeger
August 22, 4:50 PM, 2001
Mount Tumrak, Kamchatka, Russia
55* 20.30 N, 160* 48.32, 1650 meters altitude volcanic crater
Range: 315 meters, single shot chest .300 Win. Mag. BAR
35 ¾ in R., 34 ½ in L. Curl, 25 ½ in beam width spread,
13 year-old ram
Eurasian Expeditions, George Sevich, Outfitter