Sheep Dreams

[dave99]

2019 will be a year to remember. After chasing sheep around the mountains for the past 7 seasons, luck and hard work finally aligned to show me success.

Special thanks to my hunting companions for their hard work and selflessness.

Morning of opener found us glassing two basins. One yielded only ewes and lambs, while the other drainage gave up precious little.

A hike to the top of the peak found many more ewes and lambs. Over the other side of the windy summit, as if by magic, a group of 7 rams about 1000 yards away. Putting my spotter on them showed at least 3 close to, or legal. My heart jumped in my throat as I remembered that 1 year prior, my twin brother and I found 8 rams on the same plateau, with an awesome broomed ram amongst them.

As (bad) luck would have it, in last year’s hunt, a traveling grizzly blew the rams out of the basin before we could stalk them. We never did find them again.

But this year was different. With no annoying bears in sight, I ran back down to our camp along the ridge line to let my partner know that I’d found rams.

He would take position on the summit to watch and direct if needed. With a large peak between me and the rams, I dumped 1000 feet of elevation in a scree chute to put me well below the sheep, who were way up in the basin.

I took my time and swung wide right, as the wind was gusty and unpredictable, slowly gaining elevation. After about 2 hours of work I was within 400 yds of where I’d last seen them. But where were they? I scoured the area, taking a few steps and then stopping to survey again.

Finally I reached the plateau where the sheep had been feeding two hours prior. Looking over of a small cliff below me, I finally spotted the rams, as they fed in the creek bottom at 150yds from me.

I carefully jacked a round, put the KSA 6.5CM Finnlight on safe and dialed the Z5 to 18x to judge them. At this close range, setting up the spotting scope would be cumbersome and would risk detection. It took me 5min to size them all, but when the largest ram finally turned, I could see that he tipped up and was well past the eye.

I dialed back down to 4x and kept my eye on the large ram as they walked up to my right, still below the cliff. My heart was nearly bounding out of my throat. I have shared 5 successful sheep hunts in past years, but had never myself put crosshairs on a ram. The sight of sheep in the reticle was a thrill that I’ll never forget.

I carefully thumbed the safety, and waited for the sheep around the large one to clear, as they walked up the hill closely bunched together. The moment a small ram cleared from behind my target, steady trigger pressure released 143 grains of lead and copper at a devastating 2780 fps.

At about 170 yards the bullet found lungs and the rams startled and spooked uphill. I jacked another into the chamber, but the ram was down within 50 yards.

The feeling was unbelievable. Tears, laughter, incredulity. I went through a lot of emotions in those first 5 minutes!

My partner took an hour or so to reach me, and as darkness closed in, we finished deboning and skinning. We would spend the night in a bivy beneath a large boulder where the ram had rested from the midday sun just a few hours prior.

The next two days of packing are a blur of pain and effort of hiking out a sheep. The sheep is now in the freezer, with cape and skull at the taxidermist.






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[dave99]

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[bonedogg]

no pic, holy cow congrats anyways!!

one minute early I guess

[sage 13]

congrats on a beautiful ram

[badbrass]

Congrats!!!!!!!!

[Hawkhills]

Like it when a plan comes together. Thanks for sharing

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[DelQ]

Wonderful story, many congrats on a true mtn monarch, a bighorn ram. Enjoy those steaks and memories!

[czechm8]

Nice, Congrats!

[Jim Blake]

Looks like you made a great shot on him! Congratulations!! Nice to see some posted pics.

[NextRidge]

Originally Posted by dave99

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Beauty ram, congrats

[teledogs]

Congrats Dave. Great job.
Nice tent too!

[coxy95]

Beauty! Well done!

[Speckle55]

Grats

quest finished

Thanks for sharing

David

[marky_mark]

Awesome!
Congrats

[Scouter]

That’s a beauty!!
Congrats!!

[JTRED]

Congratulations on a hard earned sheep. I can't wait to wrap my hands around my first ram. Absolutely love hunting in the high country.

[dave99]

Thanks everyone. Here is another pic.









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[hayseed]

Huge congratulations!!!

[saskwhitey]

Congrats! Thanks for posting

[Artistic Taxidermy]

Congrats

[Mountainaccent]

Congratulations that’s incredible

[510-Gem]

Congratulations on what read like a very patient and disciplined hunt. Well done.


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[alpineguy]

I've been waiting for a sheep hunt post since the morning of the 25th...........wow that is awesome!!!
Congrats on your first ram......enjoy the moment and thanks for posting

[cowmanbob]

Congrats on a fine ram, nothing like flame fried sheep meat.

[dave99]

Originally Posted by Artistic Taxidermy

Congrats

Thanks Brian. The ram is already in your shop

Looking forward to seeing how he turns out.

Here is a pic of a ram that Brian did for my twin brother a couple years ago. Stunning work.




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[Bigwoodsman]

Love the story and pictures. Congratulations on your trophy Ram!

What kind of mount are you having done?

BW

[wbl170]

Congrats! Well done.

[kmacisaac]

Beauty start to the season! Huge congrats on your effort out there.

[Dylan hunter]

Congrats!! Hard work pays off, gotta love when a plan comes together and there's a legal ram at the end of it 👌!

[flyguyd]

Nice Ram !!