Yeti GOBOX Collection

2019 WY Sheep

BuzzH

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 9, 2001
Messages
17,807
Location
Laramie, WY
Going to be tough to capture this hunt and do it justice...but I'll give it a go.

This is really a story of 26 days in sheep country on 4 separate trips. I got to know a friend of mine via some hunting and policy issues and through that communication we of course started to chat about hunting. I told Eugene I had enough sheep points to draw up by Cody and he told me to apply and he would give me a hand. That was an understatement as this hunt would have been one hell of a lot tougher without his time, effort and knowledge of the area, no question. I'm grateful and humbled by his generosity, a better woodsman, horseman, and hunter would be tough to find.

We made the first trip in together in early September and saw some very good rams. I also learned a whole bunch about horsemanship as well, we took horses into places I didn't believe was possible. His horses and mule are top notch mountain horses and really are impressive to be around.

Anyone we found rams about like this and got the drop on several that would have been no problem to kill. But, we chose to pass since it was early and both Eugene and I agreed that this hunt was going to be about the adventure and not the taking of a ram. There had to be a story, or why bother?

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So, with that trip a big success in my book, I left after several days fully satisfied with the first effort. My next trip was a backpack trip with Wallace, another friend. Wallace said he wanted to go, so away we went. Turned out to be a great trip as well, finding several more nice rams. Started the hike wading the river:

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We set up a decent camp and I'm pretty impressed with the seek outside tent and stove, light and effective with the ability to have a wood stove.

Camp:

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Some of the country where rams live:

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We found 5 good rams just to the right of the burnt tree in the foreground of the picture in the upside down "V" line of trees on the far hillside. We hauled the mail and got within about 900 yards with wayyyy more than enough time to get them killed.

The rams:

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I elected to pass these rams as well, 2 of the 5 were tough to walk away from, but decided to keep hunting as I didn't want to rob myself of the once in a lifetime opportunity.

Wallace on the hike back to camp:

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So, with 2 good trips in the books, I went back with the idea of hunting the last 21 days.

I hunted a couple days with Eugene before he had to head back to work. We had an encounter with a grizzly one day, that ended well even though the bear got to 50 yards or so. We found a bunch of rams on those days, one really old broomed ram, probably over 10 years old but not more than 28 inches long and barely half curl. He was a beast of a ram, clearly 1/3 bigger in the body than his 7 buddies. It was tempting to take that ram too, as he was just a tank of a ram.

Next I hunted solo for several days on another backpack trip. I again found a bunch of rams, including 2 that I decided I would kill if I got the chance. I could never turn them up again after seeing them the first time, have no idea what happened to them. We made another trip to a new area with the horses and mule and again turned up some good rams, but we felt they were all too young, the oldest being maybe 6.5 years old.

Another photo of the country those rams live in:

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About like 4-wheel drive for your feet...cross logs, icy rocks, bare rock, slick sidehills no problem:

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Glassing, and glassing, and glassing some more. Your eyes better be as tired as your legs:

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After a bunch of days of hiking, glassing, and an impending storm, I decided to give my mind and body a break for a couple days and headed home to heal up a bit. That country just has a way of beating a person up, physically and mentally.

After a couple days of relaxing, I was ready to head back and Eugene again agreed to help me out, which is hard to believe as he had already done wayyyy more than I could ever ask of anyone. We made a run at a group of 4 rams we found, got up to about 300 yards. This would turn out to be one of the more fortunate parts of the hunt for me. The best ram in the bunch was just barely something I would consider shooting. We talked it over and I decided to try to take the best of the 4. But, before I could get it killed, they all walked around the corner of a ridge never to be seen by us again. I realized it was crunch time and was wondering if my last chance had just walked away...
 
The next day, we decided to go back to the country we had hunted on our initial trip. Things were much different with the snow. We worked our way upcountry, seeing a bunch of elk all along the way that were migrating due to the snow. It was also impossible to not notice an over-abundance of grizzly tracks in the 6 inches of snow, big bears, medium bears, sows with cubs. We also found a couple sets of wolf tracks, but never did lay eyes on one.

We rode the horses for about 5 hours or so, glassing as we went along. We saw a lot of ewes and lambs but couldn't turn up any rams. Finally, about as far as we were going to ride, we stopped and started glassing the south facing ridge. Eugene spotted 2 rams right away, both as he said, "shootable rams". I took one look and decided that either ram would be fantastic so I grabbed my rifle and off I went. It was slow going up the ridge, but the conditions were good. I snaked along a main ridge keeping the rams out of sight. I edged up when I thought I was about right and found the 2 rams bedded right where we saw them. I decided to get closer as I didn't want to risk anything on this stalk, knowing this was too good of an opportunity to squander. I got further up the ridge and peeked over the edge, rams were still bedded, 119 yards away. I chambered a round in my rifle and edged up to a dead whitebark pine and rested my rifle on the side of the tree. Now was the decision to make, one ram was heavier and clearly a couple years older. The other ram was longer horned, but not as heavy, maybe 2 years younger too. The mass, age, and color of the heavier ram won out. I placed the leupold dot tight behind the rams shoulder as he laid in the snow on the ridge. The trigger broke and I knew my hunt was over. The ram stood up, stiff legged and just stood there. I chambered another round and was just thinking about shooting again when he began to wobble and was down, about 10 feet from his bed.

I looked down and saw Eugene getting the horses and mule together and start riding up the ridge. By this time, in no surprise to me, with his top notch horses and mule and horsemanship he was up to the ram in about 20 minutes.

Moments like these are sort of hard to believe really. All the effort, all the time, finally came together in the culmination of probably the most difficult hunt I've done. Besides the physical part, there's just the mental game of staying engaged for all those days. Hiking, and glassing...and glassing and hiking. I think maybe physically, I would have preferred to not do this hunt at age 50, but mentally, I believe I'm way tougher now than I was 20 years ago.

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Ram down:

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Ram was checked in today at the GF office in Cody, 9.5 year old ram, great cape, and exactly what I hoped to get.


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All loaded up and 4.5 hours from the truck:

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Wont ever forget this hunt, got to spend 26 days in some absolute rugged country, rode some awesome horses and got to spend quality time with a couple good friends...cant really ask for more than that.
 
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Congratulations Buzz. That sounds like an amazing hunt. I can’t imagine how it could get any better.
 
This are some fabulous pictures. Congratulations on a great looking ram.
 
You had a full adventure in some beautiful wild country pursuing some amazing creatures. Glad the grizzly escapade stayed at 50 yards distance.
 
I know you already know this, but that is an absolute hunt of a lifetime. I hope it lived up to your expectations. It sure would have mine. Congrats on not only a magnificent animal but also on staying with it and getting the most out of it. Well done sir.
 
Were you able to use your Dad's Pre 64 Model 70 in 30-06 to harvest your sheep? The rifle you mentioned in the Family Heirloom thread I started a couple years ago?
 
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