TheGreek
Well-known member
Tomorrow I am pulling outta the snow and cold that is NW CO in February and am headed to SE NM to chase Barbary sheep DIY and solo for a week. No clue what this hunt has in store but I’m hoping it will be an adventure either way.
When I drew this tag last April, I was still living and working in Chicago but with all the plans in place to move back to the town in NW CO that my wife and I both grew up in in order to be able to raise our children in a similar setting as we grew up in. After a 26 foot u haul and a DIY cross country move with three kids 6 and under, we were home.
Pulling outta Chicago.
And finally home.
The thing with this tag, was when I drew it, the hunt was on the backside of so many big changes in my life. A cross country move, new jobs for the wife and I, new schools for the kids and new temporary housing and a search for a permanent home. The hunt was always gonna be after all that stuff. And like always, time has flown by and the hunt is here.
And the first year back home was busy. The job is more time consuming than I had expected but that’s life. Three little kids don’t help. But I did manage to get a little backpacking and fishing in this summer.
And some dusky grouse hunting this past fall.
And chased ptarmigans above timberline a few times, to no avail. Never did see one, but gorgeous scenery.
I even got to tag along with @Mountain Man for his successful moose hunt.
I managed to make the yearly grouse trip to N WI with a bunch of friends, as mentioned here:
Thread 'WI Grouse Camp 2023'
https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/wi-grouse-camp-2023.321595/
And even snuck back to IL and managed to kill a buck on a very short trip for the IL gun season.
And killed a few ducks here too.
Maybe that’s a long way of saying I’m not as prepared for this hunt as I probably could be. I was unable to get down to SE NM this past year to scout like I had hoped but I did manage to do a fair bit of e-scouting. It took me months to figure out what BLM would be accessible from the public county roads but I finally managed to get ahold of a nice woman in the county assessor’s office who sent me the “unofficial county road map” as she said there was not currently an official one. With that map I’ve been able to determine the large pieces of BLM I think I’ll be able to get into. A telephone call with the local game warden confirmed what parts of the unit I should be hunting and what parts not to bother with. I can’t say I know a lot about Barbary sheep but I’m hoping I know a lot more about this unit and the animal by the end of the week.
I’m gonna try to keep this thread updated throughout the hunt depending on what service is like. If nothing else, I’m hoping it will be a welcome addition of actual hunting content at a time when there isn’t a lot of big game hunting going on across the country.
When I drew this tag last April, I was still living and working in Chicago but with all the plans in place to move back to the town in NW CO that my wife and I both grew up in in order to be able to raise our children in a similar setting as we grew up in. After a 26 foot u haul and a DIY cross country move with three kids 6 and under, we were home.
Pulling outta Chicago.
And finally home.
The thing with this tag, was when I drew it, the hunt was on the backside of so many big changes in my life. A cross country move, new jobs for the wife and I, new schools for the kids and new temporary housing and a search for a permanent home. The hunt was always gonna be after all that stuff. And like always, time has flown by and the hunt is here.
And the first year back home was busy. The job is more time consuming than I had expected but that’s life. Three little kids don’t help. But I did manage to get a little backpacking and fishing in this summer.
And some dusky grouse hunting this past fall.
And chased ptarmigans above timberline a few times, to no avail. Never did see one, but gorgeous scenery.
I even got to tag along with @Mountain Man for his successful moose hunt.
I managed to make the yearly grouse trip to N WI with a bunch of friends, as mentioned here:
Thread 'WI Grouse Camp 2023'
https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/wi-grouse-camp-2023.321595/
And even snuck back to IL and managed to kill a buck on a very short trip for the IL gun season.
And killed a few ducks here too.
Maybe that’s a long way of saying I’m not as prepared for this hunt as I probably could be. I was unable to get down to SE NM this past year to scout like I had hoped but I did manage to do a fair bit of e-scouting. It took me months to figure out what BLM would be accessible from the public county roads but I finally managed to get ahold of a nice woman in the county assessor’s office who sent me the “unofficial county road map” as she said there was not currently an official one. With that map I’ve been able to determine the large pieces of BLM I think I’ll be able to get into. A telephone call with the local game warden confirmed what parts of the unit I should be hunting and what parts not to bother with. I can’t say I know a lot about Barbary sheep but I’m hoping I know a lot more about this unit and the animal by the end of the week.
I’m gonna try to keep this thread updated throughout the hunt depending on what service is like. If nothing else, I’m hoping it will be a welcome addition of actual hunting content at a time when there isn’t a lot of big game hunting going on across the country.
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