Colorado Bighorn Sheep 2023

[Mudranger1]

Well long story short I did not kill a sheep on my hunt but if you want to follow along with my adventure I'll try to write up a very eloquent tale
I chose unit S32 for the number of sheep and tags available and archery well just to increase my odds by that little bit. It paid off with 11 total points and my first actual time putting in a hunt code and not just for points.
I made my first trip on June 3rd and 4th to get aquatinted with some access and see what I was getting into. I saw rams down on the road heading up into the timber and after checking a couple of access points went back and parked and walked in a mile or so but never saw them or any sign of them going up the mountain. Coming back out I glassed some rams across the highway up above timberline for my first actual sightings. They were about a mile straight line in the rain right at dark so no grand pictures but here are a few from the first evening and what I found when I got back to the truck





I headed to town so I could at least be near something useful if I had a complete flat when I woke up.

 

[Mudranger1]

I woke up to the tire still holding some air so I topped it off and figured I would try to make it up near where I saw the rams the night before. Hiking in the trees was a miserable experience.


Just before treeline it got to its worst...this was taken before I was waist deep contemplating life's choices

I pushed on just to be able to see this wonderful sight for the rest of the morning


I headed home and got the tire all taken care and was hopeful for the next trip

 

[Mudranger1]

June 10th and 11th was my next trip. Hiking still sucked



but the views were better.



I got to my glassing spot and picked up elk on the skyline and a little later some sheep down lower on the mountain. 11 ewes and about 500 yards away from them were 5 rams


I watched them til dark and made my way back down to the trailhead. I chose a shortcut which was a terrible mistake. Much deeper snow drifts and hours of excruciating exertion to boot. I knew better but eventually made it to the truck.

 

[Mudranger1]

June 11th I headed back towards where I was the night before to find 7 rams feeding about 100 yards from where I had been glassing. I watched them until about 9 when they bedded just inside the trees. I made a move to get closer but they weren't there when I got there. Glassed for a few more hours but only saw elk.

It was Saturday night I realized my 15x56 binos weren't going to cut it...I could see they were rams from a mile away but making any kind of size determination wasn't happening. I had set 3/4 curl goal but making that decision with the binos wasn't going to work.

 

[Mudranger1]

Up to this point I'm feeling pretty good. I haven't spotted any for sure shooter sheep but why would things change. Week 3 I decide to hike a little farther into the next drainage. I watch 1 lone ewe for a couple hours expecting her to join up with some others but she did not. She probably covered at least a mile in that time feeding, looking and moving. She was the only thing I saw that weekend. Well besides elk and deer. Plenty of them. On a funnier note I was taking a little mid day nap when I hear something coming down the rocks above. I sit straight up and startled a woman about 10 yards from me. Shes like are you ok? Said I'm just resting and she runs off. Now I wasn't far from trail but I was off the side of the mountain...no idea how she saw but thankful she came to check but pretty sure I scared her more when I sat up.

 

[Mudranger1]

Well after that sheep sightings were very sparse the next 4 weeks a few ewes here and there and 0 rams. I was in a very depressed state but had been in some awesome places. Anyone ever had a couple guys jump off the mountain in front of them? Cannonnnnballlll.... I tried out different setups from just a tarp to my single person to what I eventually settled on my 2 person tent
And some mandatory old Betsy pics

 

[Mudranger1]

So We are at Tuesday July 25th now. 1 week from the opener. I'm depressed dejected kicking things around lol I have a Dr appt that is going to put me right thru rush hour traffic in Denver. My wife basically pushed me out the door trying to say all the things to keep me motivated. I finally agree to go and head off for a extra hour sitting in traffic. I finally make it to a road glassing spot and spot at least 9 ewes up in a basin I had been to earlier in the summer. Morning plans set to hike in. I hit the trail around 5am and get about a mile when I notice my shoe feeling really loose....ehh broken cable lace on the boa system. I forgot to mention the weekend before I managed to lose my brand new pair of glasses somewhere on the mountain. Things were not going good.

So as I'm sitting on a stump debating the possibilities of fixing my shoe or getting blisters this close to the season when fate intervened and made my decision easy. I look up and a cpw officer is coming up the trail. We say hellos as she looks at my shoe. I ask what she is up to in the area just expecting a casual checking people or what not....she's says I'm meeting my partner to count sheep. Well I'll be damn. She shows where they plan to be and says I'm more than welcome to join if I can. It was where I was heading anyways so I said I'll figure this out and meet up with y'all. 1 part duct tape 2 parts bungee cords and I'm racing up the mountain

I glass a drainage as I'm headed up and low and behold 8 rams feeding. I take a few pictures and keep moving

I eventually catch them as they are looking at some elk. Formal introductions and we keep heading up to the planned glassing spot. Eventually set up watching a drainage that's actually in one of the earlier posts. We glass and talk and glass and talk lol still not seeing anything but at least conversation is good and making time go by. After a couple hours go by I look and spot some sheep where we all have been looking for hours. Turns out 10 rams with 1 giant and 1 very nice ram. Being about 2 miles away and the middle of the day pictures aren't great
But here is the group

He classifies them for his reports and we start making our way over to the rams I spotted earlier so he could count them. We find the original group and as he is making his stats 5 more young rams join in. Pretty neat and by far the best pictures I got of the trip. We were about 300 yards from them
according to the officer entering the info the 2 biggest ones from the group of 10 dwarfed this guy...ill take his word but I know the biggest 1 for sure did and he was close to 2 miles away

As we were walking down I made sure to let them know my sincere gratitude and what an uplifting day it had been. Hell even just having someone to talk to was lifting instead of just staring at rocks all day. 23 rams spotted in 1 day I was beyond excited! Shoe note. It held together all day...1 small blister on pinky toe nothing to be concerned with

 

[Mudranger1]

Saturday July 29th I make my way back to see if the rams are still in the same spot. I find 7 in the first drainage but it's getting late and just assume the rest are in there somewhere.


On Sunday I hiked over to where we had saw the 10 with the mucho grande but did not see anything.

 

[Mudranger1]

Work problems....need to know more let's have a drink some time lost a couple days....season has started.

I like to call this day "The Day We Learned How To Spot Sheep". A buddy of mine joins me for a few days and we hike to the top of Mount Parnassus at a lovely 13579 ft. You can see both drainages where I have seen the rams from here but it is a beast...side note I hit this peak 8 times during my hunt alone... We start off glassing the drainage where the biggest ram had been seen. I don't remember how long we had been there but I eventually find some ewes and young ram feeding in the grass ...then more and more in the rocks. Then they disappear then more and more and more pop out higher up and I'm like are those the same ones and then the original ones would get back up. It was crazy , nothing legal but to know there were that many sheep and you would never see them 99% of the time even with binos was wild...I'll be damn the sheep experts may have been right. Ended up counting 20 in the drainage.

 

[Mudranger1]

We switched to other drainage after a while and immediately spot 15 rams coming up it. They start feeding and milling around so we start making a plan for a stalk. They eventually bed on the side of hill in a pretty good spot. I start making way down and not 50 yards into I spot a ewe then another 1 and a 3rd so I sit down praying they don't take off and spook the rams too. They eventually work up above the rams and past them where they have 2 others join them...sheep everywhere lol. I start moving down slowly. I get to where I think it's time to start creeping more into a direct line towards them when I glass a horn thru the rocks. Now with 15x binos he ended being a little further away than I thought but the stalk was still going good. I work my way a little lower and come around and have at least 3 rams 3/4 plus bedded in front along with several 1/2curls. The biggest ones must have been a little higher up and out of view but 3/4 was what I was after so. Range 60 yards from closest shooter ram with another 64 just to his right. Both facing the opposite direction. Darkness is starting to factor in but still have about 30 minutes legal light. He stands and I put tension on the string but he immediately picks up something and turns straight on. We have a stare down for what seems like 10 minutes when he finally starts to turn broadside. I draw back but instead of stopping he just does a 360 back to facing me. I eventually let down with darkness looming and his friend next to him stands. Yank it back without thinking and let it fly and watch my arrow go right under him....freaking laser beam of a lighted nock. That's right my sight was still set at 60 and I guess he was just far enough away..clean miss. They trot about 300 yards and darkness falls. Work our way back to camp and I'm more disappointed at the lost opportunity than the missed shot itself if that makes sense to anyone. Ton of effort went into getting there just to miss.

 

[Mudranger1]

We roll into the tents about midnight and agree no alarms. As I'm laying there I here some scurrying around the tent but must doze off before dealing with it. I'm awaken to a rustling just above my head...head lamp goes on, tent lamp on and I catch a glimpse of the dreaded sucker run by pillow. A chase ensues back and forth top to bottom of the tent several times over ...I don't won't the little rodent in my sleeping bag or my pack. I have a chance if I can keep him out of those...at least my thoughts at this point in the night. I have the tent door open and a couple times he tries to get out but just not tall enough. My hammy locks up, I'm in agony and he somehow corners himself, I don't even remember in between what now but I manage to get a hold of him and chuck him about 20 yards out of the tent...I never heard from him again or fell back asleep...when I pop out the tent at 6am my friend is like I thought we were sleeping in lol
I laid there the rest of the night thinking of this.

 

[Mudranger1]

We reload on water and head up to the peak again to see if we can locate the rams. They are back in the same spot only there are 9 instead of 15. 4 half curls but legal and the rest shooters in my book. They bed down in some rocks below us. I think I can get to a rock 100-150 yards above them but will need luck from there. I ease my way down and begin the wait. I don't remember straight line distance but angle was 88 yards to the closest one. They had to be easily over 100. I sit for 3 hours 1 or 2 would get up and feed and mingle around then bed then more then bed. Eventually they all get up and feed off a couple hundred yards and then start working their way back. Somehow they are feeding up towards me and I'm confident in getting a shot. I range them at 62 but they are still coming so I let it play out. Probably around 55 they go under the rock im perched on still angling up but I can't see them because of how steep it is. If they come out either side and still coming up I can shoot how I am. Well in the mean time a storm is brewing winds are cranking and then it begins raining then the hail and I see them moving back down and out of range. The only true thing I feel maybe should have done differently is standing up when they were at 50. Our day ends and this is my last true opportunity of the hunt.

Luckily the hail was soft or I would have been up shits creek lol

 

[Mudranger1]

I have tons of pictures and memories I could post but I was never within 300 yards again. I take that back the last day of my week long trip I just decided to give them the ol hikers walk of going straight towards them. 90 yards was as close as I could get.
On the last day of the season we made a run for it but found 7 rams after my cutoff time...I extended it by an hour but it would have been a four hour hike to get there safely and coming off 3 hours sleep im honestly glad I didn't do that as it took literally every ounce of energy I had to get back to the truck. It was a great experience and with 100% honesty I can say I'm not in the least disappointed that I didn't bring home a sheep. I'll add more thoughts and pictures in the coming days but this is my adventure coming to an end.... Til the next one

 

[kiwi hunter]

Great read.

 

[duckhunt]

Awsome hunt

 

[kansasdad]

Wow @Mudranger1 you had a great adventure. Brain bending that your sheep season is already over, when so many of us are still slinging gear around and making lists to get ready to get going.

 

[Mica Man]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Oak]

It’s a lot of work to do a thread like this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sandbrew]

Impressive writeup. Thanks for sharing. I'm currently helping a buddy with second season archery tag in the unit. If you have any tips you didn't mention free free to PM me.

 

[photohunter]

Great story and adventure! Thanks.