YoungNVHunter
New member
Finally got a chance to sit down and post this. I was fortunate enough to draw a California Ram this year in NV, a draw I thought would take way longer than it did, definitely not complaining! After a 3 ½ long months I finally got to go out and look for rams, something I have only done with a good friend on his property for fun, never for a hunt. I am extremely fortunate enough to have a close friend that has been hunting sheep for longer than I have been alive, so I had a definite advantage with this one. He is actually a guide for sheep in NV and although I didn’t hire him as a guide I can’t say that he didn’t guide me. He did take me to where he has seen rams before, but his guidance was far more than that. He was more of a mentor than anything, learning from him on how to glass for sheep, patience when it’s needed and not giving up are lessons I will pass on to my friends and family. I never would have been in the position to harvest a beautiful ram if it weren’t for him. The experience I had hunting these amazing animals will be one I never forget. I experienced highs and lows throughout this adventure and in the end walked off the mountain with a memory that I will always cherish! Thank you John!
We headed out from Sparks north to the Black Rock Playa around 6:30pm. After stopping for gas we were finally on our way. When we hit the playa it was dark, mistake number one, pitch black on the playa equals driving way further than we had planned. When we finally found a landmark, we realized that we were nowhere near where we wanted to be, in fact we were on the complete opposite side of the playa. Once we got our bearings and turned around we made our way back to where we needed to be. We were hoping to start making camp by 11pm but as it turned out we didn’t even get to the road we were looking for until then, no worries, things happen, I’m going on a sheep hunt! After another hour pulling the trailer down one of the bumpiest roads I have been on something triggered John to roll down the window, it was then that we could hear a metallic clanking sound, as if we were dragging something. We got out, did a walk around and found this.
Somewhere between where we got off the playa and here the tire had gone flat. Pulling that rig with a big truck down a nasty road gave us no indication that anything was wrong, and this was the end result. We spent a couple hours trying to get this wheel off with absolutely no success, so needless to say…………we finally made it to camp!
The next morning was a bit of a late start as we hadn’t gotten to bed until 3am, but we still got out because nothing was gonna stop this from happening! Spent the entire day, well 10am till dark glassing. Our first location yielded minimal results, but the cool thing was that we did find sheep, the wrong sex, but we did find sheep. We moved to two other locations throughout the day, but were unable to pick up any rams. We were never skunked, did get to see sheep everywhere we went, so for me, it wasn’t a bad day at all. There was nothing else I would rather be doing and nowhere else I would rather be! After more than a few cocktails that night and some fine dining we were back up and at it the next morning. We were out before sun up with hopes finding rams. We started at a different location with some different views of what we glassed the day before. Again, same ‘ol stuff, more ewes and lambs, some antelope, but nothing we were looking for. We moved a few times chasing the shadows as the sun continued to rise from behind the mountain. Glassed a ton of beautiful country but never found any rams. Around noon we decided to head back to camp and have lunch and come up with a new strategy. After lunch the decision was made to head further north and glass a portion of mountain that John had never really been to. We pulled off the main drag and hit a trail a ways around this mountain, found a good spot in the shade of big boulder and began to glass. We couldn’t have been glassing more than ten minutes when I hear John say “ram-a-lam-a-ding-dong”. Up on the mountain four rams come strutting out as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Upon closer inspection, we could see three more just on the horizon. Through the 15’s we could see that they were indeed rams, but once we got the spotter up we could see that there was one that was really nice. I sat and stared at this guy through the spotter…..”Wow, he’s nice……….John, he’s really nice……….John, I like that guy……….John, I got tag for that guy….” The excitement I felt staring at a big mature ram got my heart pumping. We watched as they grazed over the ridge and out of sight then came up with a plan to get on top and make a stalk.
We got up to the top after about an hour hike, made it to where we thought they may be, suddenly John sits down, looks at me and signals that there was a young ram staring at us. Busted. Well, we sat for a minute, didn’t seem to spook the guy, so we backed around a hill out of his view and made our way to a far peak on the other side of him hoping to see the ram we were after. Got to a viewing point in time to see our boy walk right over the ridge in front of us heading our way. We sat and watched for a few, and after getting a close look at this guy made the choice to take him. I snuck up to a rock, got a nice rest, ranged him at 265 yards, I thought this is it. He knew something was up as he just stood there head on staring at us. I had him in my scope for what seemed like an eternity, just waiting for him to turn and give me that broadside. He finally did, turned to his right, stopped and gave me an absolute perfect shot. After composing myself and catching my breath, I squeezed the trigger. Well I thought I squeezed the trigger, in my excitement I must have pulled it because after I watched all seven rams up and bolt over the ridge John says “you missed, low and left”! I couldn’t believe it, just amazed that I tanked that shot. Well after an extremely long walk of shame back down the mountain, I got it in my head that we would head back out in the morning with hopes that this guy would give me another shot.
The next morning, we returned to the base of the mountain, and with seconds to spare before the sun crested the ridge I picked up movement at the very top. Two rams were standing there eating. With the sun climbing fast we had to move locations so that we could continue to watch. We sat and watched for three or four hours, found five of the seven rams we glassed the day before, but none of them were the one I wanted. We decided to head back up in hopes that the other two were nearby but not visible from where we glassed. After another 1-2 hour climb, we got to the point where the rams were, but during our ascent the rams had headed out. We made the assumption that they were headed to water, so we followed in the direction that made the most sense. At a point where we had a good view to glass from, it wasn’t long before John picked up some rams, except now there were only four, these were definitely the same rams as one of them had a busted left horn which earned him the name “Lefty” during all of our glassing sessions. We watched them move out of site heading down to water and made our way there in hopes that the other three were just in front of them. Watching the ridge above the water waiting to see if they came back out I noticed some movement on the other side of the canyon.
I picked up these three rams, and one certainly looked like the big guy we had seen yesterday. The decision was made quickly that I would head over there while John stayed to keep an eye on them. After a 45 minute hike I was in a position to get a good rest and take a shot. I ranged them at 400 yards, I looked around but there was absolutely no way I was going to get any closer as there was no cover. I was a bit nervous taking this shot as yesterday I tanked one at 265 yards. The rams were bedded so I had nothing but time to catch my breath, slow my heart rate and relax. I must have practiced the shot six times before I finally made the decision to take it. I slowly squeezed the trigger, and once I was able to get him back in the scope I could see that I was successful! Joy filled me, I couldn’t believe it. I still had to cross this canyon and climb up the other side to get to him. I got to the other side and found this amazing ram laying there.
By the time John made it over to me we had roughly and hour and a half left of daylight so we had to make quick work if we were gonna get off the mountain before dark.
With all four quarters on my back and the cape, head, straps and loins on John’s we made our way out. It was slow going and definitely took a lot longer than I thought. We worked our way down this drainage and as the light faded we realized that we were not going to get off the mountain unless we left our gear and came back in the morning. It got to a point that trying to get everything off at night would jeopardize our safety. In the morning when we came back to where we left everything, we could see exactly what we were up against. In the dark it’s hard to realize just how bad things could have went.
At the center of the above picture is about a 15 foot drop off that would probably be a wonderful waterfall if there was any water.
Both of us became mountain goats getting over this rock wall in the pitch black.
Here we are making the final leg of this journey.
I apologize for the long winded story but like I said, this was an adventure that I will truly appreciate for the rest of my life. I hope that someone I know will draw this tag soon as I cannot wait to get back out there looking for sheep.
We headed out from Sparks north to the Black Rock Playa around 6:30pm. After stopping for gas we were finally on our way. When we hit the playa it was dark, mistake number one, pitch black on the playa equals driving way further than we had planned. When we finally found a landmark, we realized that we were nowhere near where we wanted to be, in fact we were on the complete opposite side of the playa. Once we got our bearings and turned around we made our way back to where we needed to be. We were hoping to start making camp by 11pm but as it turned out we didn’t even get to the road we were looking for until then, no worries, things happen, I’m going on a sheep hunt! After another hour pulling the trailer down one of the bumpiest roads I have been on something triggered John to roll down the window, it was then that we could hear a metallic clanking sound, as if we were dragging something. We got out, did a walk around and found this.
Somewhere between where we got off the playa and here the tire had gone flat. Pulling that rig with a big truck down a nasty road gave us no indication that anything was wrong, and this was the end result. We spent a couple hours trying to get this wheel off with absolutely no success, so needless to say…………we finally made it to camp!
The next morning was a bit of a late start as we hadn’t gotten to bed until 3am, but we still got out because nothing was gonna stop this from happening! Spent the entire day, well 10am till dark glassing. Our first location yielded minimal results, but the cool thing was that we did find sheep, the wrong sex, but we did find sheep. We moved to two other locations throughout the day, but were unable to pick up any rams. We were never skunked, did get to see sheep everywhere we went, so for me, it wasn’t a bad day at all. There was nothing else I would rather be doing and nowhere else I would rather be! After more than a few cocktails that night and some fine dining we were back up and at it the next morning. We were out before sun up with hopes finding rams. We started at a different location with some different views of what we glassed the day before. Again, same ‘ol stuff, more ewes and lambs, some antelope, but nothing we were looking for. We moved a few times chasing the shadows as the sun continued to rise from behind the mountain. Glassed a ton of beautiful country but never found any rams. Around noon we decided to head back to camp and have lunch and come up with a new strategy. After lunch the decision was made to head further north and glass a portion of mountain that John had never really been to. We pulled off the main drag and hit a trail a ways around this mountain, found a good spot in the shade of big boulder and began to glass. We couldn’t have been glassing more than ten minutes when I hear John say “ram-a-lam-a-ding-dong”. Up on the mountain four rams come strutting out as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Upon closer inspection, we could see three more just on the horizon. Through the 15’s we could see that they were indeed rams, but once we got the spotter up we could see that there was one that was really nice. I sat and stared at this guy through the spotter…..”Wow, he’s nice……….John, he’s really nice……….John, I like that guy……….John, I got tag for that guy….” The excitement I felt staring at a big mature ram got my heart pumping. We watched as they grazed over the ridge and out of sight then came up with a plan to get on top and make a stalk.
We got up to the top after about an hour hike, made it to where we thought they may be, suddenly John sits down, looks at me and signals that there was a young ram staring at us. Busted. Well, we sat for a minute, didn’t seem to spook the guy, so we backed around a hill out of his view and made our way to a far peak on the other side of him hoping to see the ram we were after. Got to a viewing point in time to see our boy walk right over the ridge in front of us heading our way. We sat and watched for a few, and after getting a close look at this guy made the choice to take him. I snuck up to a rock, got a nice rest, ranged him at 265 yards, I thought this is it. He knew something was up as he just stood there head on staring at us. I had him in my scope for what seemed like an eternity, just waiting for him to turn and give me that broadside. He finally did, turned to his right, stopped and gave me an absolute perfect shot. After composing myself and catching my breath, I squeezed the trigger. Well I thought I squeezed the trigger, in my excitement I must have pulled it because after I watched all seven rams up and bolt over the ridge John says “you missed, low and left”! I couldn’t believe it, just amazed that I tanked that shot. Well after an extremely long walk of shame back down the mountain, I got it in my head that we would head back out in the morning with hopes that this guy would give me another shot.
The next morning, we returned to the base of the mountain, and with seconds to spare before the sun crested the ridge I picked up movement at the very top. Two rams were standing there eating. With the sun climbing fast we had to move locations so that we could continue to watch. We sat and watched for three or four hours, found five of the seven rams we glassed the day before, but none of them were the one I wanted. We decided to head back up in hopes that the other two were nearby but not visible from where we glassed. After another 1-2 hour climb, we got to the point where the rams were, but during our ascent the rams had headed out. We made the assumption that they were headed to water, so we followed in the direction that made the most sense. At a point where we had a good view to glass from, it wasn’t long before John picked up some rams, except now there were only four, these were definitely the same rams as one of them had a busted left horn which earned him the name “Lefty” during all of our glassing sessions. We watched them move out of site heading down to water and made our way there in hopes that the other three were just in front of them. Watching the ridge above the water waiting to see if they came back out I noticed some movement on the other side of the canyon.
I picked up these three rams, and one certainly looked like the big guy we had seen yesterday. The decision was made quickly that I would head over there while John stayed to keep an eye on them. After a 45 minute hike I was in a position to get a good rest and take a shot. I ranged them at 400 yards, I looked around but there was absolutely no way I was going to get any closer as there was no cover. I was a bit nervous taking this shot as yesterday I tanked one at 265 yards. The rams were bedded so I had nothing but time to catch my breath, slow my heart rate and relax. I must have practiced the shot six times before I finally made the decision to take it. I slowly squeezed the trigger, and once I was able to get him back in the scope I could see that I was successful! Joy filled me, I couldn’t believe it. I still had to cross this canyon and climb up the other side to get to him. I got to the other side and found this amazing ram laying there.
By the time John made it over to me we had roughly and hour and a half left of daylight so we had to make quick work if we were gonna get off the mountain before dark.
With all four quarters on my back and the cape, head, straps and loins on John’s we made our way out. It was slow going and definitely took a lot longer than I thought. We worked our way down this drainage and as the light faded we realized that we were not going to get off the mountain unless we left our gear and came back in the morning. It got to a point that trying to get everything off at night would jeopardize our safety. In the morning when we came back to where we left everything, we could see exactly what we were up against. In the dark it’s hard to realize just how bad things could have went.
At the center of the above picture is about a 15 foot drop off that would probably be a wonderful waterfall if there was any water.
Both of us became mountain goats getting over this rock wall in the pitch black.
Here we are making the final leg of this journey.
I apologize for the long winded story but like I said, this was an adventure that I will truly appreciate for the rest of my life. I hope that someone I know will draw this tag soon as I cannot wait to get back out there looking for sheep.
