mtncowboy
Active Member
- Messages
- 174
YEEHAW! After waiting my whole life, scouting all summer, and dreaming about it daily, I finally got to pull the trigger and we got ourselves a dandy old ram! I am super excited and extremely grateful! A big thanks to my family and everyone who supported and helped me achieve this goal, it's a dream come true!
Here is a frontal view of the old mountain monarch. If you are wondering, yes that is a bullet hole! I hit him too far back as he was walking through a small gap at about 100 yards. At the shot, they bolted through the trees and came trotting out, away and uphill from me on a shale side hill at about 200 yards and I drilled him in the horn, surprisingly there was zero effect on the ram, it didn't knock him down or anything. He took off on a run and the third shot brought him down for good.
I spent about a month scouting the wildest, most rugged country in Wyoming I have ever seen. It was amazing, I loved the scouting trips nearly as much as the hunt. Joining me on these trips at various times were my beautiful wife, my dad, my brother, my 2 year old son (on a short scouting trip here and there), and some of them were solo. I was very grateful for all the support from my family and friends.
While scouting I went days without seeing a mature ram, or even a sheep, and then after grinding it out in uncharted territory, I finally spotted what I was looking for. We were elated to see these rams. The sheep were few and far between, but in the end, perseverance paid off. (This isn't my ram, but he was my #1 for quite awhile)
The whole experience was a real team effort. On the actual hunt I was joined by the best hunting partners in the whole world, my dad, brother, and wife.
Here is the sunset on a dream come true! I approached this hunt just like I always do, I was going to work as hard as I could and enjoy every moment, and that is what I did. It was everything that I could have ever hoped for, lots of days afield, breathtaking scenery, scary mountain passes to cross, hair raising bear encounters, coupled with the sweet success of harvesting one of greatest animals that I have ever had the privilege of hunting.