My 2023 Colorado Sheep Hunt - details, story and recap

BAKPAKR said:
Congrats on your ram! Looks like you were using a lever action rifle. What cartridge?
Click to expand...
.338 Marlin Express. I know it’s overkill but also sentimental. My Dad purchased this gun a few months before he passed - wanted a fun lever action to use for elk. That gun has found many elk down over the last 12 years since and I wanted to use that for a ram as well.
 
JoMo said:
.338 Marlin Express. I know it’s overkill but also sentimental. My Dad purchased this gun a few months before he passed - wanted a fun lever action to use for elk. That gun has found many elk down over the last 12 years since and I wanted to use that for a ram as well.
Click to expand...
I am sorry to hear about your dad. That really adds to the whole story.
 
I love reading sheep adventures. To me, they are almost as fun as being on a sheep hunt of my own.
I especially love reading about virgin sheep hunters, willing to take on the whole experience with little help and crushing it.
I sincerely thank you for sharing with the rest of us. Great story, great pictures, great sheep, epic experience!
Well done.
 
Thanks for taking us along and those are some awesome photos thanks again for sharing that with us! Congratulations that’s so huge! Hope to be in your shoes one day with a rocky to call mine.
 
Thank you all for following along! As I complete this write up, I am sure at times it felt long, uneventful, boring. What I hope I captured is the absolute highs and lows I felt throughout my 13 days straight of hunting and 7 days of scouting. It was an amazing roller coaster that challenged me more physically and mentally than I have ever experienced. Learning from @Mudranger1 (https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/colorado-bighorn-sheep-2023.320865/post-3649145) , I will also try to capture my high level takeaways and lessons learned. I agree with his list and only have a few items to add.

I hope I get to experience this again at some point and will use these as a launching point for that opportunity.
  • Take the advice that I received and make this hunt THE priority of the season. Do what you need to to get the hall pass from both work and home. Just like @KipCarson mentioned in the post #10 on this thread, having the support from your spouse is incredible.
  • Pack even more calories than you think if you plan to be up that high and away from a camp or truck. I packed between 3,000 - 4,000 calories per day in my daily meal bags, finished them all, and still lost a good amount of weight. This was after already getting into the best shape I have been since college. Have your creature comforts back at the truck so you can crush those once you're back/restocking. I am both ashamed and proud of how many chips ahoy, oreos and milk I put down at trailheads.
  • If you're going to be solo, make sure you have an inreach (or similar) and opt for the unlimited pack. It was great to have a chance to connect with folks. I used mine to stay in touch with both loved ones as well as new friends and contacts I had made while putting my plan together for the hunt.
  • Talk to everyone you run into while in the field. I was blown away how open and willing folks were to share sightings they had either recently or in past seasons. 99% of the people I met were stoked to hear I had a tag and willing to share what they had.
  • Do what you need to get good glass. I used my Vortex binos the first half of my hunt and got to borrow a friends pair of Swarovski's for the second part of the hunt. The difference was remarkable. The thing that sucks was that using them side by side highlighted yet another piece of gear I now need to save for.
  • Get as high as you can and post up to safely camp/glass.

I send good juju to you all to draw a tag in the future so you can experience it too!
 
Such an awesome write-up, thanks for sharing and congrats on an amazing experience and ram. It was so detailed I feel as tired as though I was also chasing rams in the mountains! Hope to one day get a chance to experience this.
 
Very cool to see you giving a special tag all the attention it deserves. Congrats and thanks for sharing!
 
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