SD Black Hills Bighorn

[warmer]

I'm not the story teller that most on Hunt Talk are, but I'll give it a try.
It started like all good things, "you are successful" email from the SD GFP.
I drew a Sheep tag in 2008, killed my ram on November 15 and when I was checking my sheep in, the hunter from the Elk Mountain unit was checking his in also. So when my son drew the Elk Mountain tag , our intention was to hunt late October into November. Our scouting was not adequate, but we were not really concerned about finding sheep in October.
We headed out to orientation the last weekend of August, fully intending to scout and get the lay of the land. But to our surprise, the biologist informed us that we needed to kill our ram early, no later than September 9, or the sheep would all move over into Wyoming. We had no intention of hunting that early, so this was a huge surprise. We made plans to return the second weekend of September, in hopes of harvesting early.
In the mean time, my son made contact with a 6th generation rancher that, and about half way thru the tour, we found three rams grazing on the hillside. agreed to show us the mountain and give us some glassing points. He was extremely helpful and a great guy! We agreed to meet at the base of the mountain and he would show us the spots. So on September 8 we headed up the mountain in the hopes of learning something about sheep. He did not disappoint.

 

[warmer]

About half way thru the tour, we found three rams grazing on the side of a hill. a quick check thru the glass showed a decent 160+ ram. The rancher confirmed the ram would be a good representation of what we could expect to see. We backed out and climbed a hill in order to gain some elevation and try to get a shot from the top of the ridge. We lost them for a little bit, but we were able to find them tucked under a small rock ledge. They busted and ran thru the valley and up the opposite hillside. I failed to get my range finder out and estimated the range at 300 yards. My son shot and it was a clean miss. After he fired< I ranged the place the sheep were standing. It was 216 yards. So he shot high.

 

[Djfan]

Mrs. Fan and I drove the Black Hills tonight. Had to stop while a big boy and his harem ignored me.

 

[warmer]

Mrs. Fan and I drove the Black Hills tonight. Had to stop while a big boy and his harem ignored me. View attachment 301232

We saw a real dandy in there on one of our many trips through!

 

[Dakota79]

Mrs. Fan and I drove the Black Hills tonight. Had to stop while a big boy and his harem ignored me. View attachment 301232

They like licking the salt off of the road from the snowplows.

 

[Djfan]

They like licking the salt off of the road from the snowplows.

You can see them doing it here -

 

[warmer]

We continued the tour and thanked the rancher and split up. We spent several hours glassing and then decided to move to an area that the Biologist had suggested we hunt. My son in law turned up a small ram and a mule deer and that was it.
The next 2 days were spent glassing all the spots we had visited on day one. Found zero sheep anywhere.
Monday we started a hike up into some open , steep country. We found 7 sheep, including one small ram. Most of the area, was easy to glass and we decided to bail out and head home.

 

[warmer]

Work and life kept us off the mountain till Oct 27. We glassed all the usual spots and took off on a hike in some drainages that should have held sheep. About 3 miles from the trail, my son dropped his rifle off his shoulder. Ten minutes later, I tore a sole from one of my boots. We stopped for a break and boot repair. When we started back to the trail, I slipped on a log and snapped one of my hiking poles and landed flat on my back, uninjured. Thankfully. We headed back to the truck and to the comforts of the cabin. About a third of the way home the "Low Tire Pressure " alarm came on in the truck. We jumped out to check and found a rock stuck in the tire. So a quick tire change in the dark on a dirt road and we headed to the cabin.

 

[warmer]

Saturday morning found us trying to find a tire repair shop, a boot store and new hiking poles. We were lucky enough to find a tire shop that was closed, but the owner was inside and the door unlocked. He fixed the tire and off we went to New Castle, Wy, in search of new boots. Bomgaars in New Castle provided me with some new Rockys and back to hunting we went. Got on top of the mountain and the fog rolled in. Visibility was 50 yards and we decided to bail out. Day 2 was a bust. Day 3 was just as bad as day 2. We hung out at the cabin and waited for the weather to break. It never did. Day 4 dawned clear and crisp. We hiked in on the ridge where we found sheep on our last trip. All we found was a GFP Biologist taking pictures of mule deer.. It turned out to be the best stroke of luck of the entire trip.

 

[warmer]

The bio was on a trail that would bring her within half mile of where we were at. We worked our way to the trail in hopes of talking to her about any sheep she might have seen. We missed her at the trail but she didn't get to far away and we were able to catch up with her. She had seen some sheep and gave us an approximate location. We worked our way that direction and found three ewes and four rams in a group. We were able to determine 2 of the rams were shooters, but weren't sure which one we wanted to shoot. The sheep were below us about 200 yards. We settled in and figured we would just let them stand up and make our decision. Something went wrong, as you can imagine, and those sheep busted into a full run and we lost hem in some breaks and never found them again. We spent a day and a half trying to relocate them to no avail.

 

[warmer]

We spent half of Tuesday trying to relocate the sheep from Monday. No luck. So we headed for our favorite glassing spot. When we got there, there was a ram headed right up the mountain where we were headed. We followed him up the hill. I kept thinking to myself, " no way we are ever going to catch up with this ram". About half mile in to the hike we crested a small ridge and there he was, bedded down!!!. The wind was right and we were in no hurry. My son moved to get a better rest and the ram caught our movement. My son was trying to get a solid rest but trees and rocks kept getting in his way. Finally he said he was good to shoot. I gave him the range and BOOM. The ram didn't react like he was hit. We went to where he was standing and no blood. We found his tracks, trailed him for 200 yards and never found any blood. Clean miss #2.

 

[warmer]

From there the mood turned really dark. We both were extremely disappointed that we had the chance to shoot a nice ram that had just magically appeared and it didn't happen.
Wednesday was tough to get back on the mountain, but the bio was supposed to be back on the mountain and she had proven to be very helpful. We glassed our usual spots and no sheep. It was opening day of Black Hills deer season and we ran into a father/son that were hunting deer. They had not seen any sheep but were glad to find us if they did. We ran into the bio again and she suggested an area about three miles from where we had been hunting. We headed that way and found our father/son deer hunters. They had not seen any sheep but wished us well. We found a good glassing spot and sure as shit, SHEEP!
We planned a stalk and off we went. We ran out of cover, so my son moved forward to get a good solid rest. BOOM, sheep running away and no injured sheep. I asked him which one he shot at and the answer was the one with the collar. I couldn't find a collared sheep in the bunch so we figured he went over the ridge.

 

[warmer]

We were able to follow the group for several hundred yards. They were all grouped up and we waited an hour for a shot that never happened. Finally we stood up and spooked them. They moved 300 yards and stopped to graze again. We got behind a dewad tree and my son got a good rest. I told him to stay on the ram and I would let him know when the ram was clear. It took about 15 minutes, but finally the ram was clear. BOOM! Dust flew behind the group and they ran toward us. I told my son he was high, about a foot high. Clean miss #4! We waited for the ram to clear a second time. Ten minutes or so and he cleared. BOOM! I could see the bullet hit right in the wheelhouse!!! The ram headed down hill at high speed and I watched him nose dive and roll ass over appetite three times. He got to his feet and started up the other side of the drainage. He made about three steps up the drainage and I watched him tip over backwards, fully knowing he was dead!!

 

[warmer]

Then came the emotions!!!! 10 days total hunting and we had a ram. 3/4 mile from a trail and 500' below the trail. We got to him and took some pictures. Not near as many as we should have, but it was 4pm and we had some work to do to get him out. 4 hours later we had him on a game cart ready for the trip out. It was brutal, almost killed us both, but we got him out! We had help from a couple locals and they will forever be on my Christmas list. Complete strangers that will drop everything to help are rare and we are forever in their debt. Thats the story. I know it isn't on par with some of the Hunttalk story tellers, but its the best I got. Thanks for following along

 

[warmer]

No tents were shanked in the telling of this story

 

[warmer]

Found these markers on top of a hill. The dash picture shows 5 degrees

 

[Wild Bill]

Great job! I always tell myself this is the year when I submit my app. Someday!