(Editor Note: This month, Senior Western Correspondent Lance Stapleton features three booking agents with last-minute openings for this fall. If you received a rejection notice for one of the big game drawings or you simply are looking for a high-quality, discounted hunt, read on!)

      Clark Jeffs of Safari Outfitters (307-587-5596), who also arranged the Nepal hunt profiled elsewhere in this issue, suggests a 10-day, mid-October bighorn sheep hunt in British Columbia's East Kootenay Mountains with a well-known outfitter. Good populations of sheep here result in generally high hunter success, and while the full-curl minimum normally produces rams scoring in the 160- to 170-range, rams up to 180 points have been killed! Clients glass sheep on the China Wall directly across from the comfortable lodge that serves as base camp. Vehicles and horses are then used to access the mountain for the final stalk.

     This 1x1 hunt is discounted by $5,000 to $22,500, plus $800 for the license and tag (seven percent GST applies), and the nonresident fee of $200. Mule deer can be taken for a $1,500 trophy fee after purchasing a $125 license. Representative bucks will score 160-170 points with 23- to 26-inch spreads. Clients fly into Kalispell, Montana, where the outfitter provides transportation to the lodge ($300), or you can rent a car and drive the 100 miles to the lodge. As in all Canadian hunts, the required firearm declaration form ($25) can be obtained at the border.

     Jeff also recommends an elk hunt in the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy, some of the most pristine country in southern BC. This wilderness horseback hunt is conducted from remote cabins six hours from base camp. Hunters glass the open slides morning and late afternoon. Legal bulls must have at least six points on one side, which results in mature bulls scoring in the 270- to 300-class, and hunter success is generally over 90 percent. Hunts are available in early October when the bulls are in rut, or early September in the pre-rut.....

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