This brief story is for you hunting junkies like me that need to hear some details.
I was fortunate enough to drop the hammer on a great ram on Saturday afternoon, October 23rd. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to those that helped me in this hunt. They were there to help field judge, calm me down enough to get the shot, and last but most strenuous, the pack out.
The Sheep in my area acquired a sickness late in the summer that is nearly always fatal to Bighorns. This put a serious wrinkle in my plans, as there is no way to know what sheep are going to be live week-to-week. I had decided to hold out for a ram that had three characteristics.
#1. Good bases and retained mass in the 3rd quarter of his horn,
#2. Longer than 36”, and
#3. the “flare” in the horns that is seen in many sheep in this area.
I had spotted this sheep while hunting alone in the morning, and after putting glass on him, I realized that this sheep met all three criteria! The ram was in a 600’ deep basin surrounded by cliff bands on three sides, and the downhill exit was many miles from anywhere. I knew this would be a tough hole to get him out of, for sure.
I immediately got a case of buck fever so bad, I couldn’t get it together to make a shot before he got in the timber. I started to make a move on him, but the wind was wrong and I backed out. It is refreshing to me to get that excited, as over the years it is easy to become less and less emotional hunting the same species every year, because our opportunities and expectations become normalized. This tag and opportunity was anything but normal, and I was as excited as a 12-year old looking at his first buck deer in the scope!
After heading down the mountain, I met my some friends (Brian, Fred, Joe and their hunting buddy Sean) in town for lunch, and we discussed how to spend the afternoon. After driving back up the mountain, we glassed several areas before heading back to the basin where I saw the ram. We drove into the area, and walked to the edge of the basin. Fred knew of a way to a vantage point that provided a perfect view of the basin. As we dropped down onto the rocky vantage point we immediately spotted a smaller ram in the same area where the ram I had seen feeding earlier in the day. A few minutes later, the larger ram came into view, appearing to get out of his bed. Immediately I got a case of the shakes worse than ever! Fred wanted to be sure that it was the right ram, and I was getting way too excited. Joe sat me down and made me take a minute or five to collect myself. Truth be told, it took a lot more than five minutes.
We got a camera and spotter set up on him, and watched for quite a while as the two rams fed in the small cirque basin. Brian, Joe and I eased farther down this rocky spine, with Fred and Sean watching from above, keeping an eye on the rams. When we got to a better shooting position, we could no longer see both rams, though they were still in the same general area. The smaller ram kept his stare fixed on us, but he never spooked, and eventually began to feed.
After about 30 minutes, both rams were feeding in and around the trees on the edge of timber. After about an hour or so of watching them, the larger ram came into view between two trees. The severe angle from above made it a difficult shot, but I was steady on my pack, and was ready when the shot opportunity came. The end came quickly for this Ram, and I am really happy with him. Brian was able to video the whole thing, and did an amazing job of clearly capturing the shot. I can’t wait to see the rest of the video.
We went straight down through the cliff bands to the sheep, which was a bit sketchy at times. After skinning, and quartering him, we started up the cliff bands in the dark loaded with 5 packs of meat, hide and head. In the dark you can’t see as much of the steep stuff that scares you! Brian had the heaviest pack and grunted it up the hill with no complaints… what a brute!
What a great hunt, with some even better people. Those Anaconda boys are built as tough as it gets! They have earned my respect and appreciation for their help, advice and camaraderie. It was a great hunt, and I am hopeful that the sheep herd survives this pneumonia outbreak.
