So, we're going to be Sheep hunters....

[KayakMacGyver]

Thanks for following along. We just got off the mountain this afternoon and are on the road. This forum doesn't work well with my Android so it's a bit of a process between devices. I'll spit this story out at an agonizingly slow pace as we continue the drive east.

We got to the trailhead late Sunday night, with a planned two day purgatory in order to give our bodies some more time to recover and prepare for the high altitude we had coming. Our friend, Howard, came down from Nebraska and went up mountain on Monday to survey the sheep zones scouted in July.



I noted a couple of specific Rams to look for, including the #1 hit lister that was identified by heavy, heavy horns and and double broomed tips that came to about mid eye socket. This was the first sheep I spotted on the scout trip and it didn't seem like anything else matched his impressiveness. He is the Ram from pictures 2 and 4 from my prior post. I watched him for 3 straight days on the July trip and got a pretty good understanding of where he liked to hang out at various parts of the day and hoped Howard would find him.

 

[WNC2500]

Congratulations!! How is both of your health by the way??
Come on, we gotta hear more. Anxiously waiting to hear......as Paul Harvey said, "The rest of the story"
Drive safe back home.

 

[KayakMacGyver]

Wednesday came and our packer arrived early with fresh horses. Though horses weren't in the original plans, they became a necessary tool after losing more than half of the hunt due to covid and still feeling the after-effects of being sick for so long. George and his son, also George, from Premier Outfitters came WAY out of their way to help us. The agreement was for a horse ride up and back, including a day of horses while on top to get around. If we couldn't get it done by Thursday, the George's world leave and return on Monday. We were hoping, based on the prior intel gained and the fact that Howard had been up for 2.5 days, a plan would come together quickly and we could maximize the horsepower at our disposal.

 

[KayakMacGyver]

We arrived at the top the of the mountain around 1 pm on Wednesday afternoon with a great update from Howard. He had located our big ram, right where he had been a little over a month ago, along with another good Ram and some up and comers. Per usual, they were visible early and late but disappeared during the mid-day hours. The sheep would either work into the trees at a lower elevation or go over the top to a high alpine meadow before returning in the afternoons.

Sheep Camp!


We quickly got to glassing, the best place to post up being around 100 yards from camp, and sheep began to appear from the treeline and from over the top of a peak 2 miles to our West. A group of 4 mature Rams grabbed our attention and I could tell, even from our distance, that our target Ram was in the group. Though, frustratingly, the group never worked our way for a closer look.





The big double broom at the top.



We debated going after them but opted to put sheep to bed and have a game plan for daybreak in the morning. As the evening progressed we watched several other Rams, including a new hit lister we named "Tip Flare". This was a very, very good Ram that had everything you could ever want in a sheep. Tip Flare had a broomed-off right horn and full curl with his lamb tip on the other. He flared out real wide and was definitely the man, so long as the double broom ram wasn't around. He was only a mile away and gave Alicia plenty of time to drool over him as the sun was going down.

Tip Flare second up from the bottom



As we put sheep to bed that night, Alicia decided she would gladly take either Ram, but was growing partial to Tip Flare due to his impressive length and width....and proximity. I asked her to try her patience just a little more to get a clear look at the double broom before making a final decision, which she obliged. So, we went to bed content with a couple of options for pursuit at daybreak the following morning.

Various Sheep Pics

 

[KayakMacGyver]

We woke up restless on Thursday morning with sheep where we left them the night before. We watched the group of 4 with the double broomed Ram work a zig-zag toward the top and then over to the other side and out of sight. Tip Flare and a group of buddies stayed low, near treeline, and briskly worked in the same direction that the other Rams had gone.



At that point, Alicia still hadn’t gotten a good look at the Double Broomed Ram. I was a true salesman, though, building up how great I thought he was hoping the reputation would live up. As luck would have it, Tip Flare had no intentions of hanging out on the mountain very long that morning and eventually worked down into the trees with his buddies. The only option for him would be to wait him out until the afternoon, and Alicia was ready to go. We discussed that the group of 4, which included the double broom, should be on the backside of the top they went over. We figured we could go after them and if it didn’t work out, we would just get in a position to where all the Rams came out to feed every afternoon and wait them out. One way or another, we felt confident that we’d get a crack at a Ram at some point in the day if we took our time. With a game plan set, we waited for the George’s to show up so we could make the 2.5-mile ride to the other side.

The ride across to where the sheep had gone over the top was uneventful, and we were very thankful for that. For the first time in all the days I had spent on the mountain, there wasn’t a single Ram on our side of the mountain that would have tipped our presence off. We tied the horses a mile or so from where we expected the Rams to be and hiked just below skyline around to their anticipated location.

 

[KayakMacGyver]

We got to the point where the Rams had gone over the top and slowly did the same ourselves. As we peaked our heads over the top, sheep were nowhere to be seen. The bowl just below us had plenty of sheep trails and beds, but it quickly became clear that they had gone a little further north to the complete backside of the mountain. So, we eased back down and out of sight and continued around the bowl to the next ridge.

Following a similar strategy, Alicia and I slowly crept over the top in our new location and immediately spotted 4 Rams bedded down 300 yards in front of us in some trees. Two were facing us, while the biggest Ram of the group and another was facing away. It was instantly obvious that one was our target Ram. This was the first time we had set eyes on him closer than a mile away and he was an absolute tank, living up to every expectation and exceeding them all. When I turned to Alicia to confirm that this was the double broom Ram and see if she wanted to take him, she was already getting into the prone position to line up for the shot.

We had everything in our favor at this point and Alicia took her time. The sheep were very comfortable and had no clue anything was going on. She got the scope dialed in for 300 and, before inserting a round into the gun, took a practice squeeze on the Ram to settle her nerves. We talked through the shot, which was going to be a hard quartering away, and I got my binos set up on the tripod behind her to watch the shot.

As I sat behind Alicia, waiting for her to take her shot, it took everything in me to keep my mouth shut. Every time the wind blew, I wanted to whisper “wait for the wind”, but she knew better. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, a long break in the wind and the report of the rifle. The Ram dropped and rolled.

Alicia racked another round and kept her scope trained on the Ram, who, after a minute, began to try and get up and crawl away from us. It appeared that the shot hit a little further back than Alicia had planned for and broke his hip/back. After an agonizing period of time, the Ram finally cleared a tree that was in the way and a perfect follow-up shot was made, this time putting him down for good.

We hugged, high fived and rolled in the skree pile like it was a field of grass. Months of hard work, preparation, and even some bad luck made this dream feel like it would never come true. Alicia’s once-in-a-lifetime Ram was down. As we walked up to it, for the first time in my life I experienced the opposite of ground shrinkage.

 

[KayakMacGyver]

This is Dr. Eric Rohminger, a true legend of the sheep world and Biologist for New Mexico Game and Fish. We had a lot of conversations with Doc Rohminger since Alicia found out she drew the tag in April and it was the icing on the cake to have him do the sealing. He played such an integral role in the reintroduction, recovery, and conservation of these animals in New Mexico and has over 40 years of service with the State working with Sheep. He is a true hero for conservation and one of the coolest dudes you'll ever meet. Kind of like hitting a home run and having Babe Ruth bring you the game ball.








Finally, this is a picture with Colleen, Alicia, and I. Colleen was a prior tag holder and such a critical part of the success. We must have talked over a dozen times since April and she was always so excited for us and willing to help in any way she could. When we called her after coming down from the mountain it just so happened she was not far from Sante Fe and drove over to NMGF to meet us. It was so cool to be able to share that moment with her and thank her in person.





We feel so fortunate and blessed for this opportunity and look forward to telling the story for the rest of our lives. Thanks for following along!

 

[choc dogs]

Dang. Thanks for taking us along this ride. Congrats.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Congrats!!

 

[duckhunt]

That is an awesome hunt.

 

[kansasdad]

Amazing that you all pulled it off. All of the planning and hard work paid off.

Congratulations!

 

[BigHornRam]

Congrats to your wife on a great hunt!

 

[kiwi hunter]

great hunt right there

 

[Corn king 60]

Congrats big time. Awesome animal . Thanks for sharing

 

[TheTone]

Congrats! Beautiful ram and some really cool looking country to hunt sheep in

 

[Zootownelk]

Fantastic! Thank you, that was incredible!

 

[Hunting Wife]

Very happy everything worked out for you guys. Great ram! Congratulations to Alicia.

 

[shines@times]

Great job! Very nice ram. Nice also, how you included those who participated and contributed to your success.

 

[huntandfly]

Amazing, way to make it happen through adversity

 

[Hawk Tuah]

This is absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing and congrats to both of you.