By Terry Henley

Dall sheep hunting is not for everyone. It is the most physically challenging thing I have ever had to encounter in my entire life.

On July 15, 2000, Mark Drummond and I booked a trip to the Northwest Territory in the Mackenzie Mountains with NWT Outfitters and Eric Mikkelson. Many of my friends had been sheep hunting, including one of my college teammates, Dennis Campbell.
Dennis has been known to bag many grand rams and he has one of the most exotic sheep collections in the world. Dennis encouraged Mark and I to go Dall sheep hunting. Little did I know that while on the face of these mountains, some 10,000 feet up and in very thin air, that I would make not only a pact with God to return me homeafely but also make a promise to our guide that he could have all my money and all the equipment in my tent if he would only arrange for a rope from a helicopter to get me off that mountain!

I know the big question you ask is: should I take this trip? The answer is yes. You should take this trip. It is an enjoyable trip. However, let me set the record straight on the physical challenges that you will face. One of the first things you need to do before leaving the United States for Canada on a three-day air trip (changing planes four different times) is go to the nearest drug store and purchase as much bug repellent you can carry. You will need all of it. There are mosquitoes out there that they put 500 gallons of gasoline in before they realize they are mosquitoes. That's how big these things are!

Next, you need to learn to is ride a horse. If you haven't ridden a horse lately you better sign up for some lessons, quick. You're going to be riding six to eight hours a day and that's just for warm-ups. The old tushie gets a little rub-bed and chapped while riding, especially for those of us who haven't much meat back there.

Then, you need to go up to Talladega and practice walking sideways on one of those 33-degree banked turns. Walking on the side of these mountains is pretty much the same thing -- except in the mountains you're hanging on for dear life
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After fulfilling these three requirements you are now ready to proceed to the Mackenzie Mountains with Eric in search of the elusive Dall sheep. Our flight took us from Dallas to Calgary, Calgary to Alberta, Alberta to Norman Wells, Norman Wells to Mackenzie Mountain. That's where a float plane waits to take you to a river and a small base camp. From there 12 horses carry humans and equipment for the remainder of the trip. You, a guide and a wrangler head out on an eight-hour ride through the mountains.

It is some of the most beautiful territory you will ever encounter. The snow-covered mountain peaks, the crystal blue streams, the visions of trout in the streams, the bears, the wolverines, the wolves, it is certainly a breathtaking, experience that you will never forget. Once you and the horses reach your destination, you set up camp, whichwill be your "Hilton in the mountains" for the next 10 days. For me it was a "revival" tent, because it was the place I revived myself and tried to rest for what was in store.

There was no nightfall this time of the year. We had daylight 24 hours a day. We did not leave camp until somewhere around noon, then rode horseback three hours into the mountains where we would canvas the mountains for these elusive sheep. You would think a white animal weighing 200 pounds with 35-40 inch horns would be easy to spot, these things are harder to find than Bigfoot! Their color blends in with the mountain tops; their movements are slow so it's not something you can pick up quickly; and they are very hard to see. When you do see them, they are usually 8,000 feet up the side of a mountain and that makes it rather difficult, too.

After climbing 3,000 to 4,000 feet up the face of mountains and then back down into valleys hoping to get a glimpse of a sheep, but having no luck, you head back down the side of the mountain, climb back onto a horse, and ride another three hours back to camp, usually arriving about 1:00 in the morning. After five knee surgeries, two shoulder surgeries and one neck surgery, I survived this trip on Gatorade, aspirin, pain pills and Flex-All 54 that I rubbed into my joints every night before going to bed. I had so much Flex-All 54 on me there was smoke coming out of my sleeping bag! It's what kept my alive.

On the first day I saw eight sheep. Two were nice-sized sheep that I could have bagged with ease. But no! Being the brilliantly intelligent person I am, I pas-sed those up thinking I wanted a larger challenge. I should have had my brain checked. It would be five long days before I saw another "shootable" sheep.

The endurance required to climb 3,000 to 4,000 feet up the face of a mountain at age 50 is something that most people don't comprehend until you're faced with it. I'm not at all saying that people should not go sheep hunting. I'm just saying that people should he prepared. It is a wonderful sport and I encourage anyone that has not tried it to do so. It's you chance to bag one of the world's beautiful animals.

On the second day of our hunt, I was notified by radio that Mark Drummond had already bagged a 12-year-old sheep with 37-inch horns and was already back at the camp and waiting on me. If you were looking for somebody who was disgusted, worn-out, frustrated and wanting to give up, that person was me. I had several changes to give up but remembered what Dennis Campbell said about putting one foot in front of the other to get up the mountain. Actually getting up the mountain was not the problem. My problem was coming down the mountain. I mean to tell you, that is a tough thing for people with bad knees.

On the fifth day while climbing up the mountain to possibly get a shot at the sheep that I would be bringing back to Alabama, I was one excited soul. I knew that this was going be my sheep and it was going to be the end of the trail. When I was able to see the animal through the scope of my gun on the face of the mountain about 350 yards away, I was so excited. I literally was almost unable to pull the trigger. At the sound of the gun and when the animal dropped, I fell back on the mountaintop and lay there and thanked God. I asked Him to please help me get off the side of this mountain.

The nine-year-old sheep that I shot might not have been the biggest one, but I certainly was the proudest guy on the mountain that day for having lived through this endurance test.
There are several things that Mark and I learned during this trip. And I can tell you, iff I can't call it in; if I can't hunt it over green fields; if I can't use decoys; if I can't hunt it with dogs l assure you Terry Henley is not going after it anymore.

I do challenge you as you read this article to pursue the Dall sheep, and I do suggest that you go with Eric Mikkelson. He is one of the finest outfitters I have ever been associated with. He is a wonderful person and he is associated with a wonderful operation. I can promise you that you will never treasure a trophy animal as much as you will a Dall sheep.