DonMartin
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This year, I had the opportunity to go sheep hunting with Glendale, AZ resident Jerry Weiers, who had FINALLY drawn his coveted sheep tag!
I think he had 24 bonus points, and drew tag 6 out of the 8 that were offered in there this year.
As you may know, this unit is PROBABLY the best unit in northwest Arizona right now.
Jerry has been a member of the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society for many, many years, and has assisted the organization in many fundraisers in the past.
That being said, Jerry had NEVER been on a sheep hunt and to be honest, really had no idea as to what to expect on his hunt.
The only thing that Jerry said to me about score was that he had taken an elk that scored something 366 and he thought taking a sheep that scored 166 would be neat!
In most hunts units in northern Arizona, there just aren't any rams that big out there. Take Unit 15B West for instance.
I am hunting there now with another sheep hunter and we're looking for a ram that will score over 150, and so far we haven't found any like that! Best ram we've seen there is in the low 140's!
But back to Jerry's hunt.
I was going to be on the Kaibab on a deer hunt up to almost the day the sheep hunt opened, so I had Cody Jalbert, one of my guides at Arizona Wildlife Outfitters, and local sheep affectionado Ryan Chan, do the pre-season scouting.
What they fouhnd was the unit had a lot of BIG mature rams in it, and there was really no reason to believe that Jerry couldn't take one if he was patient.
On opening day Cody and Ryan found a ram they really liked. They though he might even make Jerry's dream of taking a ram that would score 166.
Jerry and I made the hike to where we too could see the old ram, but int he end, I decided that even though this was indeed a great ram, we could do better.
That day between all of us, we spotted about 30 rams.
Day two wasn't as good as we tried different areas in the unit.
Oh Jerry and I did see about 10 rams, and Ryan and Cody saw about double that, but we didn't see anything of real interest.
Day three came and Cody had to leave for an elk hunt, but Ryan was joinged by his father, Jay.
Jay has been my best friend for over 30 years and has been with me on many, many hunts.
He too knows sheep and even though not a guide, is a valubale asset to the AWO team.
The day started off slowly, and we were seeing a lot less rams know.
We had heard that several rams had been taken by the other 7 hunters, including rams that scored from 151 to 158.
We were in no hurry, and were determined to lok over the unit from top to bottom to find Jerry that special ram.
Late that afternoon I heard Ryan say he was going to check a canyon, while his dad wiated below.
Jerry and I were mehtodically working our way around a huge rocky complex. We were seeing sheep, but nothing that really interested us.
Then I heard Ryan tell his dad, "Get Don and Jerry up here. I found a BIG ram!"
We weren't bey about 3 miles away and I knew where Ryan was at, so off we went. I was able to drive to within a mle of the canyon that Ryan was in, and Jay had already loaded up and was heading up the mountain when we got on site.
We quickly loaded up and scuried as fast as we could, as the sun was getting low in the Black Mountains.
It wouod be a race to see if we could get there in time to look at and then make a stalk on the ram.
As we were working up the trail, I heard Jay say, "Don I see him and he is the real deal!"
That made us speed up even more, but eventually we made to a spot where the big Swarovski spotting scope was set up and pointed at the ram in the distance.
I took one look and told Jerry, "Look at this!"
Jerry peered into the scope and stepped back, his eyes large!
"You like him," I said to Jerry and he said "Yes" and it was game on.
There were three rams and a hot ewe at 693 yards away at the bottom of a vertical cliff.
It was almost straight up and I told Ryand and Jerry to head out while Jay and I stayed on the scope.
I couldn't believe how fast a 58 year-old man could climb.
At 400 yards, Ryan asked Jerry if he could make the shot. Jerry, being totally honest, said no, and they contiubned the almost vertical climb.
I told Jay I thought they were going to run out of time and that we would have to come back in the morning and find him.
Then suddenly, a single shot from Jerry's 7mm Magnum echoed throughout the mountains.
Jay was dust fly, and saud, "I think he missed," and I watched as the ewe and a ram scurried around the base of the rock cliff.
But the rma loked much smaller that I had been watching.
Ryan tried to literally run up the mountainand found the magnificent ram. He was done!
Time for just a few pictures and then field dress him and leave him on the mountain. No one had a tape, but it didn't matter. Anyone who knew anything about sheep wopuld know this was indeed a trophy ram!
In my opinion, it was just too trecherous and dangerous to try and bring the ram down the mountain.
The next morning we were joined by Kingman resident Johnnie Hoeft anf Golden Valley resident Ryan Borden. Both offered assistance in packing out the ram.
when we all got to the sheep, there had not been any gfrounbd shrinkage. He was just as big as we thought he was.
We all made down the mountain with varrowing amount of sheep on our backs, and then it was off to the Region 3 office of the Arizona Game & Fish Department.
Jeff Pebworth scored the ram. It had 35 inch horns on one side and 34 6/8 on the other. With 15 inch basses on one side and 14 7/8 inches on the other, and just once chip that was at the the first quarter measurement, the ram had few deductions.
The ram scored 168 6/8 gross and 168 2/8 net. Right now it is the second largest ram taken in the unit.
Pebworth aged him at just 6 years old, a testiment to the great genetics of many of the sheep in this unit.
I appologized to Jerry that we hand't got him on a 166 ram, but he didn't seem to mind!
Don Martin
Arizona Wildlife Outfitters
I think he had 24 bonus points, and drew tag 6 out of the 8 that were offered in there this year.
As you may know, this unit is PROBABLY the best unit in northwest Arizona right now.
Jerry has been a member of the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society for many, many years, and has assisted the organization in many fundraisers in the past.
That being said, Jerry had NEVER been on a sheep hunt and to be honest, really had no idea as to what to expect on his hunt.
The only thing that Jerry said to me about score was that he had taken an elk that scored something 366 and he thought taking a sheep that scored 166 would be neat!
In most hunts units in northern Arizona, there just aren't any rams that big out there. Take Unit 15B West for instance.
I am hunting there now with another sheep hunter and we're looking for a ram that will score over 150, and so far we haven't found any like that! Best ram we've seen there is in the low 140's!
But back to Jerry's hunt.
I was going to be on the Kaibab on a deer hunt up to almost the day the sheep hunt opened, so I had Cody Jalbert, one of my guides at Arizona Wildlife Outfitters, and local sheep affectionado Ryan Chan, do the pre-season scouting.
What they fouhnd was the unit had a lot of BIG mature rams in it, and there was really no reason to believe that Jerry couldn't take one if he was patient.
On opening day Cody and Ryan found a ram they really liked. They though he might even make Jerry's dream of taking a ram that would score 166.
Jerry and I made the hike to where we too could see the old ram, but int he end, I decided that even though this was indeed a great ram, we could do better.
That day between all of us, we spotted about 30 rams.
Day two wasn't as good as we tried different areas in the unit.
Oh Jerry and I did see about 10 rams, and Ryan and Cody saw about double that, but we didn't see anything of real interest.
Day three came and Cody had to leave for an elk hunt, but Ryan was joinged by his father, Jay.
Jay has been my best friend for over 30 years and has been with me on many, many hunts.
He too knows sheep and even though not a guide, is a valubale asset to the AWO team.
The day started off slowly, and we were seeing a lot less rams know.
We had heard that several rams had been taken by the other 7 hunters, including rams that scored from 151 to 158.
We were in no hurry, and were determined to lok over the unit from top to bottom to find Jerry that special ram.
Late that afternoon I heard Ryan say he was going to check a canyon, while his dad wiated below.
Jerry and I were mehtodically working our way around a huge rocky complex. We were seeing sheep, but nothing that really interested us.
Then I heard Ryan tell his dad, "Get Don and Jerry up here. I found a BIG ram!"
We weren't bey about 3 miles away and I knew where Ryan was at, so off we went. I was able to drive to within a mle of the canyon that Ryan was in, and Jay had already loaded up and was heading up the mountain when we got on site.
We quickly loaded up and scuried as fast as we could, as the sun was getting low in the Black Mountains.
It wouod be a race to see if we could get there in time to look at and then make a stalk on the ram.
As we were working up the trail, I heard Jay say, "Don I see him and he is the real deal!"
That made us speed up even more, but eventually we made to a spot where the big Swarovski spotting scope was set up and pointed at the ram in the distance.
I took one look and told Jerry, "Look at this!"
Jerry peered into the scope and stepped back, his eyes large!
"You like him," I said to Jerry and he said "Yes" and it was game on.
There were three rams and a hot ewe at 693 yards away at the bottom of a vertical cliff.
It was almost straight up and I told Ryand and Jerry to head out while Jay and I stayed on the scope.
I couldn't believe how fast a 58 year-old man could climb.
At 400 yards, Ryan asked Jerry if he could make the shot. Jerry, being totally honest, said no, and they contiubned the almost vertical climb.
I told Jay I thought they were going to run out of time and that we would have to come back in the morning and find him.
Then suddenly, a single shot from Jerry's 7mm Magnum echoed throughout the mountains.
Jay was dust fly, and saud, "I think he missed," and I watched as the ewe and a ram scurried around the base of the rock cliff.
But the rma loked much smaller that I had been watching.
Ryan tried to literally run up the mountainand found the magnificent ram. He was done!
Time for just a few pictures and then field dress him and leave him on the mountain. No one had a tape, but it didn't matter. Anyone who knew anything about sheep wopuld know this was indeed a trophy ram!
In my opinion, it was just too trecherous and dangerous to try and bring the ram down the mountain.
The next morning we were joined by Kingman resident Johnnie Hoeft anf Golden Valley resident Ryan Borden. Both offered assistance in packing out the ram.
when we all got to the sheep, there had not been any gfrounbd shrinkage. He was just as big as we thought he was.
We all made down the mountain with varrowing amount of sheep on our backs, and then it was off to the Region 3 office of the Arizona Game & Fish Department.
Jeff Pebworth scored the ram. It had 35 inch horns on one side and 34 6/8 on the other. With 15 inch basses on one side and 14 7/8 inches on the other, and just once chip that was at the the first quarter measurement, the ram had few deductions.
The ram scored 168 6/8 gross and 168 2/8 net. Right now it is the second largest ram taken in the unit.
Pebworth aged him at just 6 years old, a testiment to the great genetics of many of the sheep in this unit.
I appologized to Jerry that we hand't got him on a 166 ram, but he didn't seem to mind!
Don Martin
Arizona Wildlife Outfitters
