Many of you have read my thread a few weeks back about how to score and identify a mature bighorn ram. With the information you all shared on that thread, my friend, who is the lucky tag holder, and I took off on our first scouting trip of the summer last week. I especially want to thank @Mica Man , @Fowl Hunter , and @nvborn for some great information to better understand the Idaho unit in which he drew the tag. Both my friend and I have hunted zone 28 in the past for elk and deer, but this whole sheep hunting idea was new to us. In a nutshell, all the areas of the zone which we chose to stay away from because of it's rock scree and steepness were the areas that these three gentlemen suggested we scout out first. On our first day of scouting we ran into a couple of ewes and a lamb. This area was steep, but was not nearly as rocky as some of the other parts of the unit.
Our second day of scouting started out with a Salmon River crossing in a couple of small Pontoon Boats. Though the river was running fast and at Spring runoff levels the crossing went uneventful, until we got out on the other side. As I was pulling my boat onto the grassy shoreline. My buddy said, "Hey, isn't that your Camelback Daypack floating down the river?" In the excitement of the morning, I had secured the dry bag that contained my boots to the back of the boat, but forgot to clip in my daypack. This was the same pack that contained my Binos, Spotting scope, Tripod, wallet and cell phone. I now had a couple thousand dollars floating five feet from shore in about six feet of water, moving at a fast walking pace and a hundred yards from the next class three rapids. Knowing that there was no way of catching up to the pack in my boat, I started sprinting down the shoreline. All the while, looking for a stick long enough to reach the pack. By the grace of God I found a stick that was about 4" longer than the distance from the pack to the shoreline. I reached out and hooked one of the arm straps and pulled it to shore. This pack was water repellent but not water proof. Fortunately, the only thing that didn't survive was my cell phone and my lunch. With the phone went all my pictures of our trip. The ones you see here are ones that my friend took.
After the theatrics of the morning, we saw some more great country and saw another two groups of ewes and lambs. This time on much rockier country. It is amazing how agile these creatures are. Some of the lambs looked to be only weeks old, but jumped from rock to rock like nobody's business.
Making it to the tops of some of these ridges was insane. Taking one step up and sliding two steps down while crossing the rock scree was commonplace. Great way to get in shape. I can also see why the sheep chose this place to live. Not many predators would even attempt to mess with them.
By the end of the third day I was ready to lie down next to this fellow and call it good.
Next trip will be at the end of this month. I will report back with our findings when I return.
Our second day of scouting started out with a Salmon River crossing in a couple of small Pontoon Boats. Though the river was running fast and at Spring runoff levels the crossing went uneventful, until we got out on the other side. As I was pulling my boat onto the grassy shoreline. My buddy said, "Hey, isn't that your Camelback Daypack floating down the river?" In the excitement of the morning, I had secured the dry bag that contained my boots to the back of the boat, but forgot to clip in my daypack. This was the same pack that contained my Binos, Spotting scope, Tripod, wallet and cell phone. I now had a couple thousand dollars floating five feet from shore in about six feet of water, moving at a fast walking pace and a hundred yards from the next class three rapids. Knowing that there was no way of catching up to the pack in my boat, I started sprinting down the shoreline. All the while, looking for a stick long enough to reach the pack. By the grace of God I found a stick that was about 4" longer than the distance from the pack to the shoreline. I reached out and hooked one of the arm straps and pulled it to shore. This pack was water repellent but not water proof. Fortunately, the only thing that didn't survive was my cell phone and my lunch. With the phone went all my pictures of our trip. The ones you see here are ones that my friend took.
After the theatrics of the morning, we saw some more great country and saw another two groups of ewes and lambs. This time on much rockier country. It is amazing how agile these creatures are. Some of the lambs looked to be only weeks old, but jumped from rock to rock like nobody's business.
Making it to the tops of some of these ridges was insane. Taking one step up and sliding two steps down while crossing the rock scree was commonplace. Great way to get in shape. I can also see why the sheep chose this place to live. Not many predators would even attempt to mess with them.
By the end of the third day I was ready to lie down next to this fellow and call it good.
Next trip will be at the end of this month. I will report back with our findings when I return.
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