Keeping A Secret....
- Thread starter Hem
- Start date
Hem
Well-known member
Tried to get my wife trained.
Nothing doing...
I hunt during the week.
Clean house and food shopping on the weekends.
Nothing doing...
I hunt during the week.
Clean house and food shopping on the weekends.
Hem
Well-known member
In fact, bless her heart, she pulled a little tit for tat. You are hunting sheep..im going to Hawaii. Fine by me, go for it Babe.
Except now she is gone, I'm done hunting, and I'm sitting on the couch drinking beer typing to you blokes.
All good!
Except now she is gone, I'm done hunting, and I'm sitting on the couch drinking beer typing to you blokes.
All good!
Hem
Well-known member
Oops, sorry meant to acknowledge the women present and any "they" ,as well.
Hem
Well-known member
Focus grasshopper.
"We talkin practice"?
"Practice", "Practice" (Allen Iverson)
No talkin rams.
So during one of the recent ventures with a friend..pics prior, we did spot 5 rams on one summit, and three on another. With snow on mostly North sides these guys were hugging South sides at well over 10k. They were not budging, and stayed on their feet grazing easily to noon. 9 miles in, and at a minimum another mile to the rams...but the approach was terrifying. We debated. The three rams were simply out of reach. The logistics impossible. The 5 rams seemingly the same. The only option on them was to drop in the basin beneath them fully exposed and possibly ascend on the far side.
I'm gonna eat humble pie on this one. I had no visual on how far we would have to drop in to the basin to back door these rams. Two weeks later I came at that location from the opposite side of the range and realized it would have been totally doable. Yep , major f-up. Still kicking myself for easing up .
Shoulda, but didnt. I let off the gas.
Don't ever let off the gas.
"We talkin practice"?
"Practice", "Practice" (Allen Iverson)
No talkin rams.
So during one of the recent ventures with a friend..pics prior, we did spot 5 rams on one summit, and three on another. With snow on mostly North sides these guys were hugging South sides at well over 10k. They were not budging, and stayed on their feet grazing easily to noon. 9 miles in, and at a minimum another mile to the rams...but the approach was terrifying. We debated. The three rams were simply out of reach. The logistics impossible. The 5 rams seemingly the same. The only option on them was to drop in the basin beneath them fully exposed and possibly ascend on the far side.
I'm gonna eat humble pie on this one. I had no visual on how far we would have to drop in to the basin to back door these rams. Two weeks later I came at that location from the opposite side of the range and realized it would have been totally doable. Yep , major f-up. Still kicking myself for easing up .
Shoulda, but didnt. I let off the gas.
Don't ever let off the gas.
Hem
Well-known member
2nd to last weekend.
March in from the West.
Finally I get to hunt with a friend who was planning to be there from the beginning.
An unfortunate fall from a ladder back in July blew apart his ankle apart. Surgery, two screws, and a boot. No weight on foot until the end of September.
Welcome to hard-core, steel determination, ...full on Beast Mode.
Dude has killed a ram, goat, moose with rifle, and a 380 bull with bow in this country. He IS the man. We have become brothers.
Off we go at 4:00 on a Friday afternoon. 8 miles. By dark, it starts raining sleeting.
Unfamiliar country to me we are climbing to 9000 ft plus, on a secret trail. Headlamps . Clear a snow footprint for two tents and crawl in soaking wet. I never got warm that night. Snow / sleet all night.
Next day locked in fog. Spent the entire day in the tent.
By evening things showing a change. A few elk bugling.
Welcome to sheep hunting.
March in from the West.
Finally I get to hunt with a friend who was planning to be there from the beginning.
An unfortunate fall from a ladder back in July blew apart his ankle apart. Surgery, two screws, and a boot. No weight on foot until the end of September.
Welcome to hard-core, steel determination, ...full on Beast Mode.
Dude has killed a ram, goat, moose with rifle, and a 380 bull with bow in this country. He IS the man. We have become brothers.
Off we go at 4:00 on a Friday afternoon. 8 miles. By dark, it starts raining sleeting.
Unfamiliar country to me we are climbing to 9000 ft plus, on a secret trail. Headlamps . Clear a snow footprint for two tents and crawl in soaking wet. I never got warm that night. Snow / sleet all night.
Next day locked in fog. Spent the entire day in the tent.
By evening things showing a change. A few elk bugling.
Welcome to sheep hunting.
T
timmy
Guest
Enough til Monday. You got your moneys worth we should too.
Hem
Well-known member
Next day..wow, visibility.
Not a sheep, or a track.
But we did have a large chocolate colored black bear come over our ridge from the basin behind and run down the snowfield 100 yds on front of us. REALLY cool.
Not a sheep, or a track.
But we did have a large chocolate colored black bear come over our ridge from the basin behind and run down the snowfield 100 yds on front of us. REALLY cool.
Hem
Well-known member
You all have been patient..
The Final Act tomorrow.
I just have to figure how to attach a phone video to the thread.
The Final Act tomorrow.
I just have to figure how to attach a phone video to the thread.
Hem
Well-known member
We decided to jump drainages the next weekend. Thanks to another tag holder we got a hot lead. He and his friend offered up their wall tent ,as well, which they left for the elk opener. The hunter had killed a great ram and was done.
Saturday morning we head up the snowy trail , six miles to tent.
Saturday morning we head up the snowy trail , six miles to tent.
Hem
Well-known member
We made the tent by noon.
No kidding, rams spotted in 5 minutes high up the back basin in previous pic.
We were a bit tired but didn't go that far in to knit. Ditched our camping gear and headed up. Guestimation four hours to get in stalk mode.
Sneaking in at the bottom of the basin we set up to glass and devise a stalk.
No kidding, rams spotted in 5 minutes high up the back basin in previous pic.
We were a bit tired but didn't go that far in to knit. Ditched our camping gear and headed up. Guestimation four hours to get in stalk mode.
Sneaking in at the bottom of the basin we set up to glass and devise a stalk.
TrumpkinTheDwarf
Well-known member
This is making me really reevaluate my life choices. Think my wife will go for a move to Canada?
EKYHunter
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2020
- Messages
- 1,189
Man this so great to read and see. Your pictures give me a feeling of awe and leave me thinking about what a creator God is! Just to see this small portion of his handy work amazes me. Thank you for sharing!!!
Hem
Well-known member
There is a cliff band on the mountain, center of previous picture. Rams in timber 300 yds above the cliff, slightly right.
My partner marked the spot on phone map.
We decided to sneak around the bottom of the basin and check the wind at the bottom of that cliff.
Once there, wind was squirrely. Not wanting to bump the rams we made a plan to stay pretty far left and climb until were above the sheep, and then drop in on them with the wind in our favor.
Up on the mountain we couldn't put eyes on their bedding location. Now almost five hours from the wall tent we had an issue...running out of daylight.
Decided to go in on them.
Creeping across the mountain we spotted a couple ewes 100 yards below us. They bedded down. Waited a bit to see if any rams were mingling with them.
Nope.
Keep shifting across the mountain.
70 yards further we walked right in to a banana ram . He took one look at us and bolted. Feeling things were getting urgent, we moved forward quickly , on a snow covered rock field. I was in front.
I moved in to a 10' circular depression in the rocks but my friend was just behind me on higher ground. He spotted the 5-6 rams directly in front of us, across the face of the mountain.
"Rams". Good one in the center.
I crawled up on a snow covered boulder and peeked over. They were all looking at us with the largest ram(body and horns) in the middle, but clear of the others.
Less than three seconds. Decent bases, good mass, horn length so-so.
Shot him at 84 yards.
My partner marked the spot on phone map.
We decided to sneak around the bottom of the basin and check the wind at the bottom of that cliff.
Once there, wind was squirrely. Not wanting to bump the rams we made a plan to stay pretty far left and climb until were above the sheep, and then drop in on them with the wind in our favor.
Up on the mountain we couldn't put eyes on their bedding location. Now almost five hours from the wall tent we had an issue...running out of daylight.
Decided to go in on them.
Creeping across the mountain we spotted a couple ewes 100 yards below us. They bedded down. Waited a bit to see if any rams were mingling with them.
Nope.
Keep shifting across the mountain.
70 yards further we walked right in to a banana ram . He took one look at us and bolted. Feeling things were getting urgent, we moved forward quickly , on a snow covered rock field. I was in front.
I moved in to a 10' circular depression in the rocks but my friend was just behind me on higher ground. He spotted the 5-6 rams directly in front of us, across the face of the mountain.
"Rams". Good one in the center.
I crawled up on a snow covered boulder and peeked over. They were all looking at us with the largest ram(body and horns) in the middle, but clear of the others.
Less than three seconds. Decent bases, good mass, horn length so-so.
Shot him at 84 yards.
Hem
Well-known member
Blood bath down the mountain, then he hit the ground and slid.
MThuntr
Well-known member
"Looks like a legal ram to me"...sorry I couldn't resist
NICE RAM CONGRATS!!!
NICE RAM CONGRATS!!!
Hem
Well-known member
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