Bambistew
Well-known member
Short version... and I didn't take many pictures.
We hunted sheep 20 days last year and didn't connect. We had a couple nice rams lined out, but couldn't' get them on the ground. I skipped 2022 due to low sheep numbers in my spot. So its been a few years in the making.
Was supposed to fly in on the 7th, didn't make it in until the 12th due to weather. My favorite hunting partner (wife) came along, but she's been nursing an ankle injury and couldn't put in 100%, but didn't give up or let it keep her down.
Hiked in a ways and set up camp. We found a few rams rams the second day, one looked legal, and his buddy might be by age. Watched them till dark, made a plan.
Found them again the morning at dawn they were feeding left to right, made a 2000ft climb to intercept, but they slipped around and above me before I could get into position. The wife stayed down below to watch and couldn't believe I missed seeing them. I was about 5 min late on the intercept. I hung out there a bit, and finally located them again feeding in some bedding rocks about a mile off and as high as a sheep would sanely go. I had to drop down and circle around below to get into position, but would have to wait all day to make a move due to wind and exposure.
I made it as far as I could go without being exposed, found a bed and took a nap. I glassed on/off all day and finally spotted a ram bedded just below the snow mid-afternoon. I figured they'd feed into the nearby chute for the evening feed (sheep are stupidly predictable). I took a few naps, waking to keep tabs on them. Around 6:30-7ish the ram had been watching had got up and moved out of sight. I assumed they were up and feeding, so I slowly crept up looking for them every few steps. I made it about 400 yards and spotted a back as they fed along the hillside.
They were in the chute about 350-380 yards out. A quick look with binos verified it was same 2 rams... I dropped back down in the chute and snuck closer ~180 yards to a large rock. Set up spotter and looked really hard at both rams. One was for sure legal age/curl, other was age legal and 8 for sure possibly 9 and a bit bigger but not FC... dilemma.
Look down at my "POS" Kimber rifle and wonder if I should get a better, longer-range shooting rifle? Contemplate the adequacy of a 308 and wonder if its still a viable cartridge for mountain hunting. [shrug] Its now or never.
Its getting dark, I'm a ways up a steep mountain with a bunch of rock slide to get through and forgot my headlamp in camp when I left that morning. I take 3 pictures and get to work.
Load entire sheep, and gear into pack, and quickly realize I'm not in sheep shape and can't pack 120lbs off the mountain... "next year will be the year I get in sheep shape," I say to myself. I left the head/cape and spotter for a return trip the next morning.
Get back to camp, find new fancy tent twisted up by a little wind. A torn fly, a broken pole, and two buckles/pole connectors snapped in half. Duct tape, tencious tape and 550 cord to patch it up and was back in business, hope for no more wind. My old version of the same tent was bullet proof and went through dozens of wind storms of higher velocity, snow and rain. The new version made it 3 days, sad. Hilleberg in the future.
Return to get head/cape spotter next morning.
Weather rolling in, could be stuck for a week due to fog and winds if we don't get out soon.
Friend comes in and picks us up couple days later.
The end.
We hunted sheep 20 days last year and didn't connect. We had a couple nice rams lined out, but couldn't' get them on the ground. I skipped 2022 due to low sheep numbers in my spot. So its been a few years in the making.
Was supposed to fly in on the 7th, didn't make it in until the 12th due to weather. My favorite hunting partner (wife) came along, but she's been nursing an ankle injury and couldn't put in 100%, but didn't give up or let it keep her down.
Hiked in a ways and set up camp. We found a few rams rams the second day, one looked legal, and his buddy might be by age. Watched them till dark, made a plan.
Found them again the morning at dawn they were feeding left to right, made a 2000ft climb to intercept, but they slipped around and above me before I could get into position. The wife stayed down below to watch and couldn't believe I missed seeing them. I was about 5 min late on the intercept. I hung out there a bit, and finally located them again feeding in some bedding rocks about a mile off and as high as a sheep would sanely go. I had to drop down and circle around below to get into position, but would have to wait all day to make a move due to wind and exposure.
I made it as far as I could go without being exposed, found a bed and took a nap. I glassed on/off all day and finally spotted a ram bedded just below the snow mid-afternoon. I figured they'd feed into the nearby chute for the evening feed (sheep are stupidly predictable). I took a few naps, waking to keep tabs on them. Around 6:30-7ish the ram had been watching had got up and moved out of sight. I assumed they were up and feeding, so I slowly crept up looking for them every few steps. I made it about 400 yards and spotted a back as they fed along the hillside.
They were in the chute about 350-380 yards out. A quick look with binos verified it was same 2 rams... I dropped back down in the chute and snuck closer ~180 yards to a large rock. Set up spotter and looked really hard at both rams. One was for sure legal age/curl, other was age legal and 8 for sure possibly 9 and a bit bigger but not FC... dilemma.
Look down at my "POS" Kimber rifle and wonder if I should get a better, longer-range shooting rifle? Contemplate the adequacy of a 308 and wonder if its still a viable cartridge for mountain hunting. [shrug] Its now or never.
Its getting dark, I'm a ways up a steep mountain with a bunch of rock slide to get through and forgot my headlamp in camp when I left that morning. I take 3 pictures and get to work.
Load entire sheep, and gear into pack, and quickly realize I'm not in sheep shape and can't pack 120lbs off the mountain... "next year will be the year I get in sheep shape," I say to myself. I left the head/cape and spotter for a return trip the next morning.
Get back to camp, find new fancy tent twisted up by a little wind. A torn fly, a broken pole, and two buckles/pole connectors snapped in half. Duct tape, tencious tape and 550 cord to patch it up and was back in business, hope for no more wind. My old version of the same tent was bullet proof and went through dozens of wind storms of higher velocity, snow and rain. The new version made it 3 days, sad. Hilleberg in the future.
Return to get head/cape spotter next morning.
Weather rolling in, could be stuck for a week due to fog and winds if we don't get out soon.
Friend comes in and picks us up couple days later.
The end.
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It was my fault not adjusting for range/angle, and shot over him at 425 yards. Still sick over that one. One of the best rams I've seen. I may have been a little excited too. Either way I didn't throw the rifle away after. 
