Hey Randy 'Curley' is down!
- Thread starter shootxs
- Start date
shootxs
New member
A big ram will weigh around 350lbs if I were to guess give or take. The 190 ram pictured was a horse, he was 11.5 years old, so I would say he was closer to 400. Just a guess though, I do know that the sheep in this area are typicaly larger than they are of other states and areas. Tank, the ram that was poached and left last year, was simply as big as they get, for sure in the 400 area.
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shootxs
New member
This sheep "Hole In The Horn" went to the Governors tag this fall, almost 100% possitive on this as I did not see the ram in person, shot with archery equipment. I was told by the warden and an other tag holder that he had broomed over the year. Hole in the horn, had a history with the governors tag. In 2008 he was shot in the horn by the gov. tag. In 2009 he gave Jimmy John and crew the slip. Jimmy was able to connect this fall after having is brisket sliced by an other hunter as well as an arrow bounced off his horn by the same hunter. The score was 198 and change horn lenght of 41 ish I was told. 
Shoot, when were those pics taken.
shootxs
New member
Mid July 2009. Lost track of him in late August and decided to go after the 190" ram. We didnt know squat then and believed he was upper 90's. The morning my friend arrowed his sheep I finnaly found him, arcoss a canyon, and getting to him would have been difficult to say the least, so we opted for the other ram that was bedded in a great spot. Ive been hooked every since that hunt and vowed that if I every gut shoot the draw that I would, WITH OUT A DOUBT, know what a big sheep was when I saw one.
csutton7
Active member
wow and congrats on a great ram
noharleyyet
Well-known member
Great pics and info....had no idea they weighed that much.
I already spoke with shootxs, but just to clarify, this is the same ram I have shots of from last year. He was not killed by the Gov tag holder this year. He was shot last season by a draw hunter. The Gov ram from this year was bigger.
Mudranger1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2010
- Messages
- 2,894
Those are awesome pics....Never hunted sheep but the Bighorn is numero uno on my want to list for sure
shootxs
New member
Continued...
After a nice long day of driving through the unit, and looking at a few bands of rams, that camp cook Bruce spotted from the back seat. Bruce and Scott have been long time hunting buddies and was able to join us for the first few days of season. None of the rams we looked at were shooters, as we drove back to camp we regrouped and came up with a plan B. We elected to focus on locating Curly. For the next day and a half we kept returning the same area that I had seen this great ram better than a month eirlier. On the last evening, before we needed to pull out of the area due to a 3 day storm that was headed our way, I decided to go on walk about. I wanted to see if I could find any evidence that the sheep had been in the area. After a 3 hour tour and nothing for sign it was time to head out.
On my way back home to help out at the family ranch for 2 days, I recieved a call from an other sheep hunter we had bumped into. He was callng to see how we had done and to bring me the news that the hunter that was parked where we were on the opener had taken a stud of a ram in that area. After a brief description of the ram I knew right away that it was Stubby, from the year before, coming in with 17+ bases, 40" long and a score of 199 2-8". Cripes! What a stud! With that option gone from the pool, Crurly was looking like our only bet.
After two days of weather and chores caught up at home, Scott and I met up and headed out to camp. On way there we discussed our options and decided that Curly was still our best option beings we were the only ones that had been in the area. We arived at camp at 2:30 in the afternoon, cooked up some brats, played a game of cribbage in our borrowed camper, and were ready to go find Curly.
At 4:05 mid-afternoon we reached our parking spot, threw on our packs and started our hike. We both had mixed feelings on weather or not we were going to be able to locate the ram in the next days. Sheep if not bothered or in the rut, have a tendancy to stay in the same small area if not bothered, the only problem in my mind was that these sheep were in an area that just shouldnt carry sheep, this was what left a doubt that they may have moved on. As we were walking we were only a hundred yards from the pickup when I look across the canyon and noticed two white spots that were unfamiliar to me. I quickly lifted my glasses and holy molly there they were feeding 600yrds away! After 9 or 10 dry trips to this very spot the rams had reappeared a month later and only 200yrds from were I had last seen them. The only problem was there were only 2 rams not 3. After Scott got his eyes on them, I pulled out my scope and tripod to see what rams were there, sure enough he was in there, looking as big as ever!
We retreated in order to get out of sight and began to plan our stock. We began sidehilling, making our way closer, staying just out of site, my mid way through the stock the rams had bedded down and the excitement had turned itself all the way up! I was nervous and excited beyond belief, seeing things finally come together. Scott was pumping out sweat, we had closed the distance to 350yrds, time to drop clothes and get ready for the shot.
All along Scott had been braging about his old 06 and these shots that he had pulled off in the past, with that, I kept ribbin' him telling he had better not miss and he had better give me 3 extra rounds, trying to make him as nervy as possible, After all he was about to take the shot of a lifetime so why not make it memorable. We picked out a little bump on the ridge across from the rams, crawled up into possition, I set my pack in front of him, moved to the side, took a seat and readied for the shot. Scott looked over, asked for one final range, 315 I said, as I was putting my glass back up to watch the action the report of the 06 rang came. A quick glance showed that a perfect shot had been made! Curly was finally down! We had a brief celebration walked our 400yrds back to the pickup, called the warden and some friends and took the fourwheeler down a trail to just below the ram. We took a few pictures and decided to wrap the whole sheep in a tarp and to get him back whole, guts and all to the pickup. The warden met us, and recorded all the information for records and plugged him. At drark 30 the warden ran a tape around him and started the caping process.
Curly ended up taping out at 195 2-8, the warden and I couldnt believe a few measuments and measured twice as they were off from side to side, normally not the case. His bases were 15 6-8 and 16 2-8 and 40 6-8 and 41 5-8 with 11 2-8 3rd quarter measurments. I felt he would have gone 197-199 but his bases had me fooled a little, as well as 1/2" on his lengths. Oh well such is hunting, he is still a stud of a ram. Congrats to Scott on a beautiful ram!!
The next day we made it back to town dropped the meat off and dropped the head off at the taxidermy shop. The taxidermist insisted that the sheep was larger than what we had told him, so he took it upon himself to have him remeasured by an official measurer and has since told Scott that he was in fact larger. Im doubing that he is much larger, but who cares, Scott has HIS troqhy of a lifetime. I sure am glad we stuck to our guns and were patient. That, and lucked out and he was there that afternoon and highly acessible! Who honestly gets a sheep out whole!
After a nice long day of driving through the unit, and looking at a few bands of rams, that camp cook Bruce spotted from the back seat. Bruce and Scott have been long time hunting buddies and was able to join us for the first few days of season. None of the rams we looked at were shooters, as we drove back to camp we regrouped and came up with a plan B. We elected to focus on locating Curly. For the next day and a half we kept returning the same area that I had seen this great ram better than a month eirlier. On the last evening, before we needed to pull out of the area due to a 3 day storm that was headed our way, I decided to go on walk about. I wanted to see if I could find any evidence that the sheep had been in the area. After a 3 hour tour and nothing for sign it was time to head out.
On my way back home to help out at the family ranch for 2 days, I recieved a call from an other sheep hunter we had bumped into. He was callng to see how we had done and to bring me the news that the hunter that was parked where we were on the opener had taken a stud of a ram in that area. After a brief description of the ram I knew right away that it was Stubby, from the year before, coming in with 17+ bases, 40" long and a score of 199 2-8". Cripes! What a stud! With that option gone from the pool, Crurly was looking like our only bet.
After two days of weather and chores caught up at home, Scott and I met up and headed out to camp. On way there we discussed our options and decided that Curly was still our best option beings we were the only ones that had been in the area. We arived at camp at 2:30 in the afternoon, cooked up some brats, played a game of cribbage in our borrowed camper, and were ready to go find Curly.
At 4:05 mid-afternoon we reached our parking spot, threw on our packs and started our hike. We both had mixed feelings on weather or not we were going to be able to locate the ram in the next days. Sheep if not bothered or in the rut, have a tendancy to stay in the same small area if not bothered, the only problem in my mind was that these sheep were in an area that just shouldnt carry sheep, this was what left a doubt that they may have moved on. As we were walking we were only a hundred yards from the pickup when I look across the canyon and noticed two white spots that were unfamiliar to me. I quickly lifted my glasses and holy molly there they were feeding 600yrds away! After 9 or 10 dry trips to this very spot the rams had reappeared a month later and only 200yrds from were I had last seen them. The only problem was there were only 2 rams not 3. After Scott got his eyes on them, I pulled out my scope and tripod to see what rams were there, sure enough he was in there, looking as big as ever!
We retreated in order to get out of sight and began to plan our stock. We began sidehilling, making our way closer, staying just out of site, my mid way through the stock the rams had bedded down and the excitement had turned itself all the way up! I was nervous and excited beyond belief, seeing things finally come together. Scott was pumping out sweat, we had closed the distance to 350yrds, time to drop clothes and get ready for the shot.
All along Scott had been braging about his old 06 and these shots that he had pulled off in the past, with that, I kept ribbin' him telling he had better not miss and he had better give me 3 extra rounds, trying to make him as nervy as possible, After all he was about to take the shot of a lifetime so why not make it memorable. We picked out a little bump on the ridge across from the rams, crawled up into possition, I set my pack in front of him, moved to the side, took a seat and readied for the shot. Scott looked over, asked for one final range, 315 I said, as I was putting my glass back up to watch the action the report of the 06 rang came. A quick glance showed that a perfect shot had been made! Curly was finally down! We had a brief celebration walked our 400yrds back to the pickup, called the warden and some friends and took the fourwheeler down a trail to just below the ram. We took a few pictures and decided to wrap the whole sheep in a tarp and to get him back whole, guts and all to the pickup. The warden met us, and recorded all the information for records and plugged him. At drark 30 the warden ran a tape around him and started the caping process.
Curly ended up taping out at 195 2-8, the warden and I couldnt believe a few measuments and measured twice as they were off from side to side, normally not the case. His bases were 15 6-8 and 16 2-8 and 40 6-8 and 41 5-8 with 11 2-8 3rd quarter measurments. I felt he would have gone 197-199 but his bases had me fooled a little, as well as 1/2" on his lengths. Oh well such is hunting, he is still a stud of a ram. Congrats to Scott on a beautiful ram!!
The next day we made it back to town dropped the meat off and dropped the head off at the taxidermy shop. The taxidermist insisted that the sheep was larger than what we had told him, so he took it upon himself to have him remeasured by an official measurer and has since told Scott that he was in fact larger. Im doubing that he is much larger, but who cares, Scott has HIS troqhy of a lifetime. I sure am glad we stuck to our guns and were patient. That, and lucked out and he was there that afternoon and highly acessible! Who honestly gets a sheep out whole!
Goldtip
New member
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2009
- Messages
- 1,142
One helluva a ram and great story.
highmountian
New member
Great read and again congrats!! Very cool rams!
shootxs
New member
A few more.
![0920101122[1].jpg](https://www.hunttalk.com/data/attachments/9/9089-3982039c1a634628b15671032bec5d9b.jpg "0920101122[1].jpg")
Bwana
Well-known member
That is a GREAT story and thanks for sharing!
