Sheep hunting

[Firedude]

I've begun my sheep hunt training based on previous experience. I start by making sure I'm seriously dehydrated. Borderline pickled. Now wearing a 100 pound pack I have a "Friend" kick me squarely in the dangles. You need to make sure you get the gut wrenching quality of pain combined with shocklike sweating before running up a sand dune with pins stuck in your feet. Now repeat for "friend" as we never sheep hunt alone. If he agrees he'll be a good parter. Now repeat about 12 times a day. Eat mountain house half raw but blisteringly hot. Now find a good roof. The steeper the better. Throw your sleeping bag out on top of marbles of varying sizes. Throw in a couple jax for good measure. Spend the night trying to sleep while gripping fingernails into said roof to avoid death while trying the most comfortable stabbing pain you can. Do this for a week and you're ready to start the more intense program where we add rattlesnakes, a CO2 extinguisher shot for cold, and shot with BB gun for random stinging pain in various anatomic locations. At some point you'll end up hanging on a brick wall with fingernails and toenails through the end of your worn out boots while we pelt you with ice balls from the freezer... Now. You have to know I'm kidding but any sheep hunter is laughing at the hint of truth here. It's horrible but you'll seriously want to do it again, and again, and again. You'll never regret it. I've got my app fee saved up for this year already.

 

[Highground]

I've begun my sheep hunt training based on previous experience. I start by making sure I'm seriously dehydrated. Borderline pickled. Now wearing a 100 pound pack I have a "Friend" kick me squarely in the dangles. You need to make sure you get the gut wrenching quality of pain combined with shocklike sweating before running up a sand dune with pins stuck in your feet. Now repeat for "friend" as we never sheep hunt alone. If he agrees he'll be a good parter. Now repeat about 12 times a day. Eat mountain house half raw but blisteringly hot. Now find a good roof. The steeper the better. Throw your sleeping bag out on top of marbles of varying sizes. Throw in a couple jax for good measure. Spend the night trying to sleep while gripping fingernails into said roof to avoid death while trying the most comfortable stabbing pain you can. Do this for a week and you're ready to start the more intense program where we add rattlesnakes, a CO2 extinguisher shot for cold, and shot with BB gun for random stinging pain in various anatomic locations. At some point you'll end up hanging on a brick wall with fingernails and toenails through the end of your worn out boots while we pelt you with ice balls from the freezer... Now. You have to know I'm kidding but any sheep hunter is laughing at the hint of truth here. It's horrible but you'll seriously want to do it again, and again, and again. You'll never regret it. I've got my app fee saved up for this year already.

Anyone who is considering a backpack hunt into the mountains for a few day should read this. Awesome post!

 

[EYJONAS!]

I've begun my sheep hunt training based on previous experience. I start by making sure I'm seriously dehydrated. Borderline pickled. Now wearing a 100 pound pack I have a "Friend" kick me squarely in the dangles. You need to make sure you get the gut wrenching quality of pain combined with shocklike sweating before running up a sand dune with pins stuck in your feet. Now repeat for "friend" as we never sheep hunt alone. If he agrees he'll be a good parter. Now repeat about 12 times a day. Eat mountain house half raw but blisteringly hot. Now find a good roof. The steeper the better. Throw your sleeping bag out on top of marbles of varying sizes. Throw in a couple jax for good measure. Spend the night trying to sleep while gripping fingernails into said roof to avoid death while trying the most comfortable stabbing pain you can. Do this for a week and you're ready to start the more intense program where we add rattlesnakes, a CO2 extinguisher shot for cold, and shot with BB gun for random stinging pain in various anatomic locations. At some point you'll end up hanging on a brick wall with fingernails and toenails through the end of your worn out boots while we pelt you with ice balls from the freezer... Now. You have to know I'm kidding but any sheep hunter is laughing at the hint of truth here. It's horrible but you'll seriously want to do it again, and again, and again. You'll never regret it. I've got my app fee saved up for this year already.

This is effing awesome! Love this post, its brutal but for some you want to again and again and again. Only if your either half dumb or crazy though..

 

[ltho98]

I've been tempted to ask a sheep question but have been hesitant as it night cause some anger or even break some hearts!

Growing up as a kid i had a list of animals I swore I'd some day hunt. At the top we're red deer, sika, hog deer, tahr and sheep.

I've hunted the first three and loved it, I've also done some tahr hunting but after a few trips I started getting really disheartened, mainly cause they're just so stupid. I'd grown up reading about how hard they are to hunt and this and that but once I experienced it myself a lot of the allure just disappeared. Don't get me wrong the country they live in can be brutal and the also breathtakingly spectacular but the animals themselves quite often will see you and just let you walk up and shoot them even big bulls.

The more I watch sheep videos and read articles and look at pics the more I'm wondering is it the same thing? Is the novelty of hunting a sheep outweighing the actual challenge of the animal itself? Or are they a truly tough adversary to hunt and what I've seen just hasn't represented that properly?

I like the idea of hunting the almost unnatainable because its a challenge not just because it's hard to draw or cost prohibitive to moat people. Mind you we all hunt for different reasons, I hunt for the love of hunting as opposed to collecting trophies so I guess in that respect I'm hardwired to want a challenge.

Curious of people's thoughts

I hunted desert sheep on public land and i'd say the challenge is just different. Desert sheep are skittish but when animals are not pressured by humans they don't has as much fear of them. I made a few mistakes with my sheep hunt and still managed to harvest. The big challenge with sheep is that they can get to messed up places that you can't quickly. They also like to inhabit places that are straight up uninhabitable. I will say that they are hands down the coolest animal to observe. In my opinion, elk and deer are harder to hunt than sheep.

If you want a challenge - archery ibex in new mexico. Probably the hardest hunt in north america. I did it last year solo and realized I was way in over my head. I don't consider anything hard after that.

 

[glass eye]

I helped a friend scout for desert sheep in an area where only 1 tag is issued per year. We kicked a ram out of a wash and ran about 60 yards, stopped, and bedded down in plain sight. After my friend took numerous photos from his camera attached to a Swarovski spotting scope, he wanted me to get the ram to stand up because all his pics were of it bedded. I decided to try and sneak in close to get pics from my pocket camera. Along the way the ram got up and walked up to me within 15 yards and fed while I took pics. Then the ram walked over towards my friend and acted like it was feeding so it could get close to this human without spooking him. I walked over there and we had the ram between us were taking pics of eachother with the ram. ( He never did give me copies of his pics) These pics are from a pocket camera. We were about 15 ft. away at times.