Over the years, I've really enjoyed reading everyone's hunt story posts. Thought I should contribute ...
Got lucky in 2015 and drew a sheep tag here in NV. Having hoped to draw any unit for the CA bighorns, I was very happy to end up with an area I knew well and knew held big sheep. As a bonus my father drew, an antelope tag in the same unit. Being able to combine sheep scouting with the antelope scouting/hunt was an added bonus to spending time chasing goats with my dad. The couple of weekends spent looking for animals with my son and dad won't be forgotten. Additionally I drew a Oregon deer tag just over the border and was able to work sheep scouting into the coming and going for that hunt.
I elected to wait until later in the season to try and take a ram in their winter coat and to allow the pre-rut / hunter activity (deer and chukar seasons) to move the herds around. Essentially reshuffling the deck and hopefully bringing out some of the rams that summered in places that no one finds. As you can imagine, leaving the rifle at home to insure I didn't harvest a ram early was very difficult. Although truthfully, I knew I could find a ram and have a buddy bring me my rifle, from Reno in a few hours helped (and it did cross my mind on two occasions in Sept).
In mid October, I packed up and headed out to fill the tag. After scouting solo for 4 days, I headed into Winnemucca for a much needed shower and to meet up with a couple good friends. I explained to them that I had two different spots that I wanted to focus on. Each spot held a pair of rams that anyone should be happy with and truthfully any one of these rams would do. The decision was made to hit the easier access location first, as I thought the sheep there would be impacted by bird hunters, if we waited til the weekend. So, the next morning we left town and headed back to the sheep hunt.
After explaining to my buddies what the rams we were after looked like, and a couple hours of glassing, we turned up one of the rams pushing a ewe and being trailed by 4 young rams, who appeared anxious to get in on the action. The sheep ended up in a small sage bowl 1000' above us. Assuming they would stay bedded or at least corralled in this little bowl (cliff behind them - two big empty shale chutes on either side), we loaded up and started climbing. At 350 yds, 4 rams poke their heads out and look us over. I'm in the gun, my buddies are range finding and glassing, expecting this to be over at any moment. After a 2-3 min stand off, the rams split with one going right, and 3 going left. We watch them pick there way across the shale. Still no big ram / ewe, so I decide to push on up the hill, expecting to bump the ram at any moment. No dice, it's a ghost town, I'm still scratching my head over it to this day. I think while the young rams were watching us and we were watching them, that old ram pushed that ewe up the cliff and away from us and the competition. Back down the hill we go....
As our attention turned from looking uphill, we noticed another band of sheep about a mile away and more importantly with Ram #2 in the mix. Icing on the cake is they are located at the toe of slope - in the transition area from the cliffs to the valley floor. That downhill stalk looked pretty good after the hike up the hill earlier. We sidehilled to the last decent cover between us and the sheep and poked our heads around a rock outcrop to find them bedded. Since this was the last flat spot on the hill with any cover, we got out the range finders. Spent the next twenty minutes building a benchrest of sorts with rocks/packs and dry firing the rifle, while waiting for the ram to clear.
Eventually, we agreed the best shot was actually while the ram was bedded, due to the angle of the terrain, distance, and the fact that everytime he got up it was to push a ewe around/sniff ass/etc. At the shot, the herd that we thought was 15+/- exploded like a covey of quail. White butts going every direction, turns out there were over forty sheep bedded. We could only see a portion of the herd prior to the shot. The adrenaline shot at seeing all those running sheep as I came out of recoil and racked a round was way worse than the pre-shot jitters. Especially as I asked my buddy where is he !?! and heard "I don't know" and "I can't see him". As I got back behind the gun, it settled back down in the rest we had made and thru the scope I could see was 4 hoofs in the air as he rolled over down hill. Thru both shoulders - one and done, Hi fives all around and then the realization that my sheep hunt was over hit!
Focusing on getting down the shale/cheatgrass slope required paying attention, so as not to break a leg. Because of that, I almost walked right past the ram. When I did realize it was right there, almost beside me and I got my hands on it, I had to sit down scratch my head a bit. Four days scouting/hunting solo earlier that week, had me talking myself out of believing how big these rams were. Can't wait to have the taxidermy done and put this guy beside the desert I got a few years back.
Hope you guys keep posting sheep stories while I dream and scheme on how to chase these creatures again! Thnx Jason
Thanks Dad, Ronnie, and Jake for helping make this hunt happen!
Got lucky in 2015 and drew a sheep tag here in NV. Having hoped to draw any unit for the CA bighorns, I was very happy to end up with an area I knew well and knew held big sheep. As a bonus my father drew, an antelope tag in the same unit. Being able to combine sheep scouting with the antelope scouting/hunt was an added bonus to spending time chasing goats with my dad. The couple of weekends spent looking for animals with my son and dad won't be forgotten. Additionally I drew a Oregon deer tag just over the border and was able to work sheep scouting into the coming and going for that hunt.
I elected to wait until later in the season to try and take a ram in their winter coat and to allow the pre-rut / hunter activity (deer and chukar seasons) to move the herds around. Essentially reshuffling the deck and hopefully bringing out some of the rams that summered in places that no one finds. As you can imagine, leaving the rifle at home to insure I didn't harvest a ram early was very difficult. Although truthfully, I knew I could find a ram and have a buddy bring me my rifle, from Reno in a few hours helped (and it did cross my mind on two occasions in Sept).
In mid October, I packed up and headed out to fill the tag. After scouting solo for 4 days, I headed into Winnemucca for a much needed shower and to meet up with a couple good friends. I explained to them that I had two different spots that I wanted to focus on. Each spot held a pair of rams that anyone should be happy with and truthfully any one of these rams would do. The decision was made to hit the easier access location first, as I thought the sheep there would be impacted by bird hunters, if we waited til the weekend. So, the next morning we left town and headed back to the sheep hunt.
After explaining to my buddies what the rams we were after looked like, and a couple hours of glassing, we turned up one of the rams pushing a ewe and being trailed by 4 young rams, who appeared anxious to get in on the action. The sheep ended up in a small sage bowl 1000' above us. Assuming they would stay bedded or at least corralled in this little bowl (cliff behind them - two big empty shale chutes on either side), we loaded up and started climbing. At 350 yds, 4 rams poke their heads out and look us over. I'm in the gun, my buddies are range finding and glassing, expecting this to be over at any moment. After a 2-3 min stand off, the rams split with one going right, and 3 going left. We watch them pick there way across the shale. Still no big ram / ewe, so I decide to push on up the hill, expecting to bump the ram at any moment. No dice, it's a ghost town, I'm still scratching my head over it to this day. I think while the young rams were watching us and we were watching them, that old ram pushed that ewe up the cliff and away from us and the competition. Back down the hill we go....
As our attention turned from looking uphill, we noticed another band of sheep about a mile away and more importantly with Ram #2 in the mix. Icing on the cake is they are located at the toe of slope - in the transition area from the cliffs to the valley floor. That downhill stalk looked pretty good after the hike up the hill earlier. We sidehilled to the last decent cover between us and the sheep and poked our heads around a rock outcrop to find them bedded. Since this was the last flat spot on the hill with any cover, we got out the range finders. Spent the next twenty minutes building a benchrest of sorts with rocks/packs and dry firing the rifle, while waiting for the ram to clear.
Eventually, we agreed the best shot was actually while the ram was bedded, due to the angle of the terrain, distance, and the fact that everytime he got up it was to push a ewe around/sniff ass/etc. At the shot, the herd that we thought was 15+/- exploded like a covey of quail. White butts going every direction, turns out there were over forty sheep bedded. We could only see a portion of the herd prior to the shot. The adrenaline shot at seeing all those running sheep as I came out of recoil and racked a round was way worse than the pre-shot jitters. Especially as I asked my buddy where is he !?! and heard "I don't know" and "I can't see him". As I got back behind the gun, it settled back down in the rest we had made and thru the scope I could see was 4 hoofs in the air as he rolled over down hill. Thru both shoulders - one and done, Hi fives all around and then the realization that my sheep hunt was over hit!
Focusing on getting down the shale/cheatgrass slope required paying attention, so as not to break a leg. Because of that, I almost walked right past the ram. When I did realize it was right there, almost beside me and I got my hands on it, I had to sit down scratch my head a bit. Four days scouting/hunting solo earlier that week, had me talking myself out of believing how big these rams were. Can't wait to have the taxidermy done and put this guy beside the desert I got a few years back.
Hope you guys keep posting sheep stories while I dream and scheme on how to chase these creatures again! Thnx Jason
Thanks Dad, Ronnie, and Jake for helping make this hunt happen!
