WIDOW_MAKER
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I was very fortunate to draw a Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep tag for the Nine Mile Range Creek Unit in Southeastern Utah. I only drew with 9 points. I thought that I would never get lucky like this to draw an awesome once-in-a-lifetime permit. I was also very fortunate to have Coby Hunt of Utah Big Game Outfitters contact me. Knowing that I didn't have a lot of money to pay for a guide, Coby was willing to help me out anyways because of his love of hunting sheep. Coby knows the unit very well and helped me out a ton by showing me awesome areas and where I could find some big rams.
I hunted opening weekend and saw several sheep. I passed on some decent rams. It was fun to see rutting behavior of the sheep. Bighorn sheep are a difficult animal to hunt and they live in some crazy terrain. The next weekend, Coby took my brother and me out to a good area that held some sheep and big rams. Coby got me onto a giant ram, but the sheep spooked before I could get close enough for a shot. The next morning, as we were hunting along the river, we found a nice ram heading back toward his ewes that he had left to check out some other rutting behavior nearby. The ram looked pretty darn good for me. I got real excited and knew that that was the ram I wanted. I was able to get within 240 yards from the ram as he was starting to climb the mountain. Coby and my brother helped me stay calm and made sure I got off a good shot. I made a good shot, right in the front shoulder. I t was an amazing experience to harvest a bighorn sheep. I will start putting in for desert bighorn sheep in Utah now, and hopefully during my lifetime, I can complete the grand slam.
WIDOW_MAKER