NV Silver State Desert Sheep Hunt

[robie]

I was the lucky guy who drew the silver state sheep tag this year. Some of you guys might be interested in this tag and how I chose to hunt it.

Season is open July 1st through Dec 31 and I can hunt any unit in the state that has more than 2 tags. There are 3 tags total that have the same set of rules, 2 auction and mine.

I talked to several outfitters about this hunt and was given several recommendations on who to choose. I ultimately decided to hunt this like the big money guys do, my thought was I will never get a chance to hunt like this in my life and might as well try this experience. I hired an outfitter and we set a scouting budget to scour the state looking for a giant. As soon as they find a ram we want I will fly out and start hunting. Some of you may know that sheep in NV are down overall, population and size wise. Every sheep killed is measured and checked out so the data is available in great detail.

All that being said I will be happy with any ram and excited to see what is out there. A giant in NV in the last year or two would push the 180" mark. For me personally I would rather a beautiful ram that tips out than a massive boy that is broomed. I say that now but it will all depend on what all we can find.

So far to date both of the auction tag holders have tagged out. The second guy shot a ram we had at the top of our list but had decided to keep looking at what else was out there. Time will tell how much or if I regret that decision at all. It stung a little to see that ram on Instagram but we made the call to hold off and drag this hunt out as long as possible.

I'm honestly enjoying seeing the pictures of what my guide is finding each week and am ok with this going on for a while. I'm know a little about sheep but love to hear my guide geek out over the slightest variation in base measurement making all the difference. I can tell it stresses those guys out and I'm just enjoying learning all about it.

For those interested the first ram is around 177" and the Curley ram is around 175". Both are great rams.

For the units we are focused on I'm the only guy that can hunt until Nov 20. That is when the regular season begins.

I keep the post updated as the weeks tick by.

My bag is packed and my rifle is dialed!

 

[LIK2HNT]

Both those 2 in you photos are great rams. Wish you luck on your quest.

 

[robie]

Both those 2 in you photos are great rams. Wish you luck on your quest.

Thank you. I've learned that I'm a terrible trophy hunter!

I would have killed any of the rams my guide has found, but I'm doing my best to just listen to him as we talk about each sheep and not get in a hurry.

Hopefully October is good to us and we find a few more to add to the pile of great sheep.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Hoping you have the best of luck finding your ram. I also like the ram in the pics with the wide flaring tips.
I'm hoping you don't find a monster in the area I have a bighorn tag that I was able to defer to this year after breaking my ankle last year.

 

[robie]

Hoping you have the best of luck finding your ram. I also like the ram in the pics with the wide flaring tips.
I'm hoping you don't find a monster in the area I have a bighorn tag that I was able to defer to this year after breaking my ankle last year.

Lol. Thank you. Feel free to ping me if you want to chat. There are only a handful of units that consistently produce 170+ rams. Several other units can from time to time.

If your tag isn't for one of the consistent units you are probably safe!

 

[Khunter]

Time for an update @robie !!

 

[robie]

Nothing to exciting! I will be heading to NV in a couple of weeks. If for whatever reason it doesn't work out I'll be back in December. My tag is good until 12/31.

The guides are in the field everyday looking for a next level ram. We don't have a specific ram but a few we are looking at. They finally got a cool front and we are hoping that gets a few of the older rams up and moving around.

I'm ready to be hiking and glassing. I love seeing the daily picture dump but its time to sit behind some glass.

 

[robie]

Almost go time! I'll try to add pictures but might not be until after its all over.

 

[MaddH]

Almost go time! I'll try to add pictures but might not be until after its all over.

Any hints are where you’ll be hunting ? Just excited for you and curious

 

[Deeraddiction4]

Awesome Rams! Good luck

 

[robie]

Any hints are where you’ll be hunting ? Just excited for you and curious

Nevada We have a unit we are going to start and look at a couple of rams my guide has found and see if we can dig out anything new. If I'm not ready to shoot he wants to take the team to another unit and tear it apart for a couple of days.

I would like to be done before the regular season begins but we have all of December if we need it.

 

[WNC2500]

Good luck @robie
Excited to be following along!

 

[robie]

Good luck @robie
Excited to be following along!

Thank you! This week at work is rough.

I've got a kids soccer game to coach Saturday then I'm on a plane!

 

[WNC2500]

Does that mean you have identified the one you wish to shoot and you are in search of him once the soccer game is over?

 

[fmnjr]

Hoping you have the best of luck finding your ram. I also like the ram in the pics with the wide flaring tips.
I'm hoping you don't find a monster in the area I have a bighorn tag that I was able to defer to this year after breaking my ankle last year.

Good luck G...break a leg!

 

[fmnjr]

Good luck @robie!

 

[littlebighorn]

Almost go time! I'll try to add pictures but might not be until after its all over.

Wow, what a tag!
For what it's worth, I would prefer mass and age over length, but that's just me. Any sheep hunt is special, but having a tag like your's is incredible.
Keep us posted and best of luck.

 

[robie]

Does that mean you have identified the one you wish to shoot and you are in search of him once the soccer game is over?

The guides have found a few that are great rams and I would be excited to kill any of them. But we are going to hunt a couple of units hard for a few days to see what else is out there hiding. I've got a decent chunk of time blocked off to hunt.

We've got trail cam pictures of a ram I would shoot the first morning if we turn him up, other than that I'm excited to hunt sheep with the experts and take some pictures and videos.

 

[robie]

Wow, what a tag!
For what it's worth, I would prefer mass and age over length, but that's just me. Any sheep hunt is special, but having a tag like your's is incredible.
Keep us posted and best of luck.

Age is very high on my lists of importance. We've got 1 of each spotted as backups at the moment. I've gone back and forth a hundred times trying to decide which one I would love to look at forever. Both area really cool rams that get there in different ways.

When I got the tag I thought killing a buckle ram (top 3 in state) would be a cool, the more I look at sheep the less I care about the final score. They are just cool animals. I want to sit on a mountain for a few days and just watch some.

The weight of this tag has been something I thought I could put aside. The fact that over 10k people put money in the hat to have a chance at this opportunity is hard for me to ignore. I've tried to appreciate every part of the process and am now just ready to see what we can find and enjoy some time off in the mountains.

In the end it will be my sheep but my guide has put months into this hunt. He's either been in the field looking or had one of his guides looking and running cameras since May. I'm looking forward to hanging out with his crew for a week+ and hearing stories about all of their adventures over the last few months. I've been keeping a journal about the entire experience with small weekly updates so I can share this experience with as many as possible so whoever wants to can get a glimpse into what this tag was like for me.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Good luck G...break a leg!

Not again!!