Southern Elk
Well-known member
You are killing us Oak! I hope this story is nearing it's end.
Colorado sheep
- Thread starter Oak
- Start date
npaden
Well-known member
It is very un-Oak like in the volume of narration that's for sure! (I actually appreciate the narration though!)
I disagree, I hope it is quite a bit longer. I am enjoying it. Congrats again Terry, you definitely earned this one.
HSi-ESi
Well-known member
I just need a new post to read. Long, boring con-call right now.
Dinkshooter
Well-known member
Dinkshooter on opening morning. The thing you can't tell in this photo is that the snow isn't falling, it's blowing sideways.
Come on a sheep hunt he said, it will be fun he said............more opening day weather........
huntin24/7
Well-known member
I've been sitting here at work checking this thread every 5 minutes to read the rest of the story.
The weather was ridiculous on opening morning. We endured the driving snow and rain for about 4 hours before heading back to the tents. Of course it was blue skies within an hour of us bailing, so we hiked back over to the adjacent drainage to glass.
The afternoon view:
Dink and Oak:
We found 4 young rams bedded way up on the skyline in the wind, and no other sheep. We also saw the guided NR sheep hunter far down the valley. Nothing else was spotted the rest of the day. Pretty sure the NR killed one of these rams the next day.
We hiked back out the next morning, glassing the golf course drainage on the way. No sheep. Dink headed home that afternoon and Doug and I decided to drive over and look for Von Miller and his buddies before dark. No luck with that either. So we grabbed a real meal before driving to the trailhead camp we would hike from the next morning.
Doug and I hiked into the "secret" ram basin the next morning, the same place I had seen the 1-horned ram 4 days earlier. Indeed, the upper basin was full of sheep when we finally reached a spot from which to peer in! Eighteen ewes and lambs and a young ram. We decided to take a little nap and see what might show up before hiking out.
After hiking out we drove to the area we intended to glass the next morning and saw this guy along the way.
The next morning we gave the golf course and adjacent drainages another good look. Doug had to head back to the real world, so with nothing seen that morning and only 5 rams located in 6.5 days, I decided to head home for a shower and some physical and mental rest.
The afternoon view:
Dink and Oak:
We found 4 young rams bedded way up on the skyline in the wind, and no other sheep. We also saw the guided NR sheep hunter far down the valley. Nothing else was spotted the rest of the day. Pretty sure the NR killed one of these rams the next day.
We hiked back out the next morning, glassing the golf course drainage on the way. No sheep. Dink headed home that afternoon and Doug and I decided to drive over and look for Von Miller and his buddies before dark. No luck with that either. So we grabbed a real meal before driving to the trailhead camp we would hike from the next morning.
Doug and I hiked into the "secret" ram basin the next morning, the same place I had seen the 1-horned ram 4 days earlier. Indeed, the upper basin was full of sheep when we finally reached a spot from which to peer in! Eighteen ewes and lambs and a young ram. We decided to take a little nap and see what might show up before hiking out.
After hiking out we drove to the area we intended to glass the next morning and saw this guy along the way.
The next morning we gave the golf course and adjacent drainages another good look. Doug had to head back to the real world, so with nothing seen that morning and only 5 rams located in 6.5 days, I decided to head home for a shower and some physical and mental rest.
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Bambistew
Well-known member
Whats with this picnic weather? I thought this was sheep hunt? Man I need to get me one of those CO sheep tags.
Dink donned in Kuiu and is ready for battle, you can't keep him cooped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBRfVGg7f_g
Great story and pics so far, by the way.
Dink donned in Kuiu and is ready for battle, you can't keep him cooped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBRfVGg7f_g
Great story and pics so far, by the way.
So I headed home Friday evening and took the weekend off mostly for mental recuperation and to come up with a new plan. I was in communication with one of the ewe hunters in the unit and learned that the other resident ram hunter had been hitting the area I had seen #1 and #3 pretty hard, including having reported seeing 9 rams on Saturday in our Thursday napping basin.
So I headed back up solo on Monday morning, and decided my first stop would be to take another look at the golf course. I really felt like those sheep would return to that area eventually. The weather wasn't great when I got up there, but between snow squalls I spotted three rams bedded way, way off, about 2.5 miles away, in the area we had sat through the snowstorm on opening day.
That bump on the far ridge is the head of a bedded ram after the other two had gotten up and walked out of sight.
Soon I spotted 8 more rams on the nearer ridge, just one basin above the golf course. It didn't appear that the chocolate ram was in the band, but I was feeling pretty good having seen more than twice as many rams this first afternoon than I had seen the entire previous week.
I watched the rams until dark, and decided that I would hike around to the other side of the ridge in the morning to see if I could find the missing rams. Things were looking up!
This was my view from the trailhead the next morning.
By the time I got up the trail far enough to see the basin where the 8 rams had been the night before, the fog had moved in and I couldn't see anything. Of course, once I was a mile beyond that basin it began to clear up. This is a photo of the golf course shrouded in clouds. The ram basin is out of frame to the right.
I continued up the drainage to the pass and circled back down the adjacent drainage. When I reached the basin the 8 rams had been in the night before, I decided to bypass it for now and continue to the main drainage below, as the chocolate ram had not been there the night before. I glassed the main drainage briefly and prepared to climb the point I had seen the three rams bedded on the night before. Black clouds loomed very close to the southwest, so I dropped my pack to put my rain gear on before climbing. When I turned around there was a whole band of rams that had just come up out of the drainage from the night before, staring intently at me from about 200 yards away. I reached down and popped my rifle off my pack, chambered a round, and laid down across my pack.
So I headed back up solo on Monday morning, and decided my first stop would be to take another look at the golf course. I really felt like those sheep would return to that area eventually. The weather wasn't great when I got up there, but between snow squalls I spotted three rams bedded way, way off, about 2.5 miles away, in the area we had sat through the snowstorm on opening day.
That bump on the far ridge is the head of a bedded ram after the other two had gotten up and walked out of sight.
Soon I spotted 8 more rams on the nearer ridge, just one basin above the golf course. It didn't appear that the chocolate ram was in the band, but I was feeling pretty good having seen more than twice as many rams this first afternoon than I had seen the entire previous week.
I watched the rams until dark, and decided that I would hike around to the other side of the ridge in the morning to see if I could find the missing rams. Things were looking up!
This was my view from the trailhead the next morning.
By the time I got up the trail far enough to see the basin where the 8 rams had been the night before, the fog had moved in and I couldn't see anything. Of course, once I was a mile beyond that basin it began to clear up. This is a photo of the golf course shrouded in clouds. The ram basin is out of frame to the right.
I continued up the drainage to the pass and circled back down the adjacent drainage. When I reached the basin the 8 rams had been in the night before, I decided to bypass it for now and continue to the main drainage below, as the chocolate ram had not been there the night before. I glassed the main drainage briefly and prepared to climb the point I had seen the three rams bedded on the night before. Black clouds loomed very close to the southwest, so I dropped my pack to put my rain gear on before climbing. When I turned around there was a whole band of rams that had just come up out of the drainage from the night before, staring intently at me from about 200 yards away. I reached down and popped my rifle off my pack, chambered a round, and laid down across my pack.
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When I looked through the scope all I saw was white rumps disappearing back down the drainage from which they had just emerged. It was over so quickly I couldn't tell you how many sheep were in the group. I hiked across and followed their tracks down the drainage, but after a couple of hundred yards it was apparent that they had not slowed down. I continued down the drainage and hiked out to the trail I had come up that morning, returned to the trailhead and climbed to my glassing point that allowed me to see the entire valley. I soon located the rams, bedded in the nastiest stuff they could find, in the middle of this mountain. The golf course is visible on the far right.
I kept my eye on them the rest of the afternoon until they all got up and started feeding. There were about 15 rams now, including the chocolate ram. I watched as they slowly made their way across the mountain to the right, moving towards the golf course. If they ended up down there it would be an easy stalk to within rifle range.
They made it about 1/3 of the way across the mountain but then turned around and began to feed back the direction from which they came. Bummer. I watched until a snow squall obscured my view and then headed back to camp. The plan the next morning would be to return to my glassing point and relocate the rams.
The next morning I quickly located 4 rams on the skyline, on the left side of the nasty mountain. Snow soon obscured my view, and when it finally cleared I found 20 rams moving along the base of the cliffs and back to the fortress where they had bedded the day before.
The chocolate ram was still in the group.
The rams ended up bedding in the same place as the day before, many of them laying in the same beds. Once it was clear that they weren't going anywhere quickly, I decided to drive to another part of the unit and do some glassing. The wind was howling and there were frequent snow squalls forecast, but the following day was supposed to be the best weather of the week. I wasn't going to force the situation in a bad location and bad weather.
When I returned that afternoon I found that the rams were already up and feeding and had moved north (right), nearly halfway to the golf course! There were now 23 rams in all.
As I watched them they did the thing wild sheep often do. Suddenly a couple of them started running down the mountain towards the golf course, and soon all the rest were following. In a matter of a couple of minutes they had covered the several hundred yards to the golf course and were feeding on the grassy slope. I watched them until it was too dark to see, confident that they wouldn't go anywhere overnight.
I kept my eye on them the rest of the afternoon until they all got up and started feeding. There were about 15 rams now, including the chocolate ram. I watched as they slowly made their way across the mountain to the right, moving towards the golf course. If they ended up down there it would be an easy stalk to within rifle range.
They made it about 1/3 of the way across the mountain but then turned around and began to feed back the direction from which they came. Bummer. I watched until a snow squall obscured my view and then headed back to camp. The plan the next morning would be to return to my glassing point and relocate the rams.
The next morning I quickly located 4 rams on the skyline, on the left side of the nasty mountain. Snow soon obscured my view, and when it finally cleared I found 20 rams moving along the base of the cliffs and back to the fortress where they had bedded the day before.
The chocolate ram was still in the group.
The rams ended up bedding in the same place as the day before, many of them laying in the same beds. Once it was clear that they weren't going anywhere quickly, I decided to drive to another part of the unit and do some glassing. The wind was howling and there were frequent snow squalls forecast, but the following day was supposed to be the best weather of the week. I wasn't going to force the situation in a bad location and bad weather.
When I returned that afternoon I found that the rams were already up and feeding and had moved north (right), nearly halfway to the golf course! There were now 23 rams in all.
As I watched them they did the thing wild sheep often do. Suddenly a couple of them started running down the mountain towards the golf course, and soon all the rest were following. In a matter of a couple of minutes they had covered the several hundred yards to the golf course and were feeding on the grassy slope. I watched them until it was too dark to see, confident that they wouldn't go anywhere overnight.
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Jorgy
Well-known member
this is like having a really good conversation with someone who has a really bad stutter.
mmw194287
Well-known member
Count me among the page-refreshers watching to see how this one ends...
The next morning I headed up the trail before light. When it was light enough to see, I glassed up towards the golf course and could see several rams, both bedding and up feeding. I didn't bother getting out the scope. I cut down to the creek so that I was out of sight, found a spot to cross, and waded through the mountain willow. It didn't take long and I was at the base of the hill below the golf course. The prevailing wind was down the main valley fairly strong, but when it let up it was a bit squirrelly. I stayed to the down valley side of the golf course as I climbed. When I got to the point that I could peek up and see a couple of rams I dropped my pack and pulled the piece of Z-rest out of my pack that I use to sit on when glassing. I took that and my rifle and crept forward.
Many of the rams were down in a drainage in front of me where I couldn't see them, but several were more distant and up the slope so that I was exposed. I could see the chocolate ram on this farther slope and hit him with the rangefinder: 345 yards. I decided that I could sneak around the little knoll I was on and across a rockslide to cut some distance off. When I got nearly across the slide I was really becoming exposed to the distant sheep, so I found a higher rock and laid the Z-rest down on top of it for a rest. I looked down the side of my rifle barrel to make sure the bore trajectory cleared the rocks in front of me...barely. Another range on the chocolate ram...228 yards. Not bothering to dial the turret...aimed a touch high...squeezed the trigger.
All the rams jumped at the shot and ran. The chocolate ram went about 30 yards and started wobbling...got stiff-legged and tipped over down the little rock shute he was in. The rest of the rams bolted and stood in a tight group about 150 yards from where he fell. They watched me walk back to my pack and never ran until I started back up the hill towards my ram.
I'm not going to lie. Things may have gotten a little emotional on the hike up to that ram. Here's where I found him.
I sent an inReach message to a few people when I killed the ram. Dink happened to be passing through the area and was nice enough to meet me on the trail as I headed out with the first load. He retrieved the rest of the sheep and I met him on my return trip to split the load. He saved my bacon...I was hitting the wall when I reached the truck with the first load.
Many of the rams were down in a drainage in front of me where I couldn't see them, but several were more distant and up the slope so that I was exposed. I could see the chocolate ram on this farther slope and hit him with the rangefinder: 345 yards. I decided that I could sneak around the little knoll I was on and across a rockslide to cut some distance off. When I got nearly across the slide I was really becoming exposed to the distant sheep, so I found a higher rock and laid the Z-rest down on top of it for a rest. I looked down the side of my rifle barrel to make sure the bore trajectory cleared the rocks in front of me...barely. Another range on the chocolate ram...228 yards. Not bothering to dial the turret...aimed a touch high...squeezed the trigger.
All the rams jumped at the shot and ran. The chocolate ram went about 30 yards and started wobbling...got stiff-legged and tipped over down the little rock shute he was in. The rest of the rams bolted and stood in a tight group about 150 yards from where he fell. They watched me walk back to my pack and never ran until I started back up the hill towards my ram.
I'm not going to lie. Things may have gotten a little emotional on the hike up to that ram.
Here's where I found him.I sent an inReach message to a few people when I killed the ram. Dink happened to be passing through the area and was nice enough to meet me on the trail as I headed out with the first load. He retrieved the rest of the sheep and I met him on my return trip to split the load. He saved my bacon...I was hitting the wall when I reached the truck with the first load.
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BeartoothFront
Well-known member
Congrats Oak! Great story. Had a hell of a time following along. Saw a picture of the ram this morning. Beautiful sheep.
BuzzH
Well-known member
Good job...great play by play story and a beauty of a ram.
Congratulations!
Congratulations!
Big Foot
Active member
Well done sir! Thoroughly enjoyed your story.
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