dogdoc
Active Member
- Messages
- 343
I want to start out by thanking some fellow MM members who were willing to help me out and get me started in the right direction. Silverstatehunter, bombardeer, and Nvpinstripe. Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.
When I found out I had drawn a tag in an area I did not know, I knew I had my work cut out. I made 4 trips to the unit during July, August, and September. I spent countless hours on google earth looking at the area. I put some trail cameras on a couple of the springs and at that point I started to get really excited. At one point I had 6500 pictures on a camera in 5 days ( holy cow!!). I will post some of the best pics below.
Not being able to scout the area since mid September , I wanted to get there a few days before my hunt to start looking. Over the next 3 days I was able to look at over 50 different rams. Of those I considered 4-5 of them something I wanted to shoot. Being my first sheep hunt, I was no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but at least these rams looked good to me. My hunt started Wednesday . Monday night I saw a group of 9 rams with one nice shooter. I watched them until dark from a mile away. That night my dad, brother, brother in law, and son arrived. The next morning we relocated the group of rams and decided that he was worth a try if we could find him the next day.
The remainder of the day we looked at some other areas and saw several other nice sheep, but not quite as good as him. That evening found us back in the same canyon looking for the group of 9. No luck. As we hiked to the top of the next ridge to glass the canyon, my brother in law happened to glass back by camp, another mile or so away. He spotted 4 sheep literally within 300 yards of camp. I got a quick look through the spotter just as they fed over the hill. With light fading fast we rushed through the canyon back to camp, and came face to face with Mr Big at 300 yards. We all watched him feed on the ridge above camp until dark and they disappeared over a small ridge. He was the best ram we had seen.
Not much sleep that night as I lay there wondering how far from the tent he had gone. Morning light came and we slipped out of the tent and a few hundred yards around the hill we found the 3 smaller rams bedded. No Mr Big ( bad news). They looked at us for less than a minute, then suddenly bolted and disappeared around the small knob. We hiked to the top of the knob and began to glass, no luck. For the next 10 minutes we frantically looked in every direction for the rams. I finally spotted them up in the canyon moving away at a fast walk, and yes Mr Big was in the lead. Too far to shoot, they finally made the top of the canyon and crested. My brother, son, and myself hurried back to the quads, as there was a road that circled up around the top. As we crested the top I saw2 rams down the ridge from us. Stopping, I got ready and my brother ranged them at 465. Mr Big was head on and feeding towards us, but not an ideal shot. I decided to climb the closest ridge and gain 100 yards on them. As we arrived at the edge of the next draw, once again I could see the 3 smaller rams, but no Mr Big. Just at that moment, another hunter came over the ridge to the north, and the rams focused on them. All at once they broke into a run in our direction. Patiently waiting for them to round the ridge in front of us, they never came. We hiked over to the edge of the canyon they had originally come up, no sheep. Around the next ridge we go, coming face to face with the same 3 rams again. As they bolted, we ran to the top of the hill and finally had Mr Big at 75 yards and it was over. It is a humbling experience to hunt such a majestic animal. Even better my son was by my side to see it all go down. Priceless memories. To top it off, NDOW scored him unofficially at 168 gross and 167 5/8 net, very symmetrical . The biggest ram ever killed in the unit to date. I want to thank my dad, brother, and brother in law for all their help. This hunt will go down as unforgettable.
When I found out I had drawn a tag in an area I did not know, I knew I had my work cut out. I made 4 trips to the unit during July, August, and September. I spent countless hours on google earth looking at the area. I put some trail cameras on a couple of the springs and at that point I started to get really excited. At one point I had 6500 pictures on a camera in 5 days ( holy cow!!). I will post some of the best pics below.
Not being able to scout the area since mid September , I wanted to get there a few days before my hunt to start looking. Over the next 3 days I was able to look at over 50 different rams. Of those I considered 4-5 of them something I wanted to shoot. Being my first sheep hunt, I was no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but at least these rams looked good to me. My hunt started Wednesday . Monday night I saw a group of 9 rams with one nice shooter. I watched them until dark from a mile away. That night my dad, brother, brother in law, and son arrived. The next morning we relocated the group of rams and decided that he was worth a try if we could find him the next day.
The remainder of the day we looked at some other areas and saw several other nice sheep, but not quite as good as him. That evening found us back in the same canyon looking for the group of 9. No luck. As we hiked to the top of the next ridge to glass the canyon, my brother in law happened to glass back by camp, another mile or so away. He spotted 4 sheep literally within 300 yards of camp. I got a quick look through the spotter just as they fed over the hill. With light fading fast we rushed through the canyon back to camp, and came face to face with Mr Big at 300 yards. We all watched him feed on the ridge above camp until dark and they disappeared over a small ridge. He was the best ram we had seen.
Not much sleep that night as I lay there wondering how far from the tent he had gone. Morning light came and we slipped out of the tent and a few hundred yards around the hill we found the 3 smaller rams bedded. No Mr Big ( bad news). They looked at us for less than a minute, then suddenly bolted and disappeared around the small knob. We hiked to the top of the knob and began to glass, no luck. For the next 10 minutes we frantically looked in every direction for the rams. I finally spotted them up in the canyon moving away at a fast walk, and yes Mr Big was in the lead. Too far to shoot, they finally made the top of the canyon and crested. My brother, son, and myself hurried back to the quads, as there was a road that circled up around the top. As we crested the top I saw2 rams down the ridge from us. Stopping, I got ready and my brother ranged them at 465. Mr Big was head on and feeding towards us, but not an ideal shot. I decided to climb the closest ridge and gain 100 yards on them. As we arrived at the edge of the next draw, once again I could see the 3 smaller rams, but no Mr Big. Just at that moment, another hunter came over the ridge to the north, and the rams focused on them. All at once they broke into a run in our direction. Patiently waiting for them to round the ridge in front of us, they never came. We hiked over to the edge of the canyon they had originally come up, no sheep. Around the next ridge we go, coming face to face with the same 3 rams again. As they bolted, we ran to the top of the hill and finally had Mr Big at 75 yards and it was over. It is a humbling experience to hunt such a majestic animal. Even better my son was by my side to see it all go down. Priceless memories. To top it off, NDOW scored him unofficially at 168 gross and 167 5/8 net, very symmetrical . The biggest ram ever killed in the unit to date. I want to thank my dad, brother, and brother in law for all their help. This hunt will go down as unforgettable.
