MNHunter
Well-known member
I doubt I could ever tell an epic hunt story like some of you guys so I'll just post a brief recap and a picture.
I never dreamed I'd actually draw a sheep tag but I kept on applying anyway because as the saying goes, "someone has to draw". Well, this year I struck gold and drew a NR sheep tag in MT. My first thought on May 8th when I got the "congratulations" email from MT was that someone was pranking me. I soon dismissed that thought and instead started to panic that I had messed up my app and probably put in for an ewe tag. I raced to my computer but couldn't log in because I was so worked up I couldn't type. After a few deep breaths I logged in and confirmed I had not messed up but had, in fact, drawn the tag of a lifetime. My first call was to Randy who likely deduced why I was calling given the results came out earlier that day. I'm sure I was talking a mile a minute and barely coherent due to my excitement but managed to extend an invitation to him to join me on the hunt and I'm thankful that he agreed to come with. The next 6 months seemed to take forever but the excitement never waned. I also came to find that a tag like this carries with it anxiety, doubts, and what-ifs to counterbalance the excitement. I'm thankful to Hunttalkers Gerald & Brandon for the many phone calls & texts with all my questions and the info and advice they provided. Without them this would have been a lot more difficult and lot harder on my mental health.
Fast forward to last week and I headed to MT. Met up with Randy and met Marcus for the first time and I can attest that Marcus is an A+ dude..... a cool guy and the hardest worker you'll find anywhere. Excitement was high and I was confident the 3 of us would find a good ram. I didn't know how long it would take to do that but I also told the guys that I'm not a guy that passes up quality animals early in the hunt that I would be happy with on the last day. Truthfully, I didn't really know what I was looking for other than a "pretty" one. I'm not a big "score" guy but I know what kind of sheep makes up a high scoring ram. I definitely wanted symmetry so rams broomed on one side but not the other would get a pass but between a double broomed ram or one that still has his lamb tips, well, I could be happy with either. At the end of the day I told myself that I'd know when I saw the right ram.
I never thought we'd see as many sheep as we did and I really never thought I'd have so many quality rams to look at that I wouldn't be able to keep them all straight. We ended up resorting to descriptors like "nice", "big", and "lunker" when looking at rams but eventually some of those terms started losing meaning. It's a great problem to have and I knew whatever I pulled the trigger on was not going to disappoint. On day 3 it rained as we headed out in search of sheep. Not long into our hike we spotted a group of rams on the top of a ridge. They were content up there but were also keeping tabs on a group of ewes below them. 3 of the rams looked "nice" but we believed 2 of them to be broomed on only 1 side so they'd get a pass from me. We watched them for 3 hours while we waited for the ewes to get out of sight. Once they did we scurried to a spot we hoped they were heading to. As soon as we did, the rams started to come down. This allowed us to get a better look at the rams and as soon as one of them appeared in Randy's spotter I knew he was the one. I told the guys I was going to shoot that ram. We set up and if all went well the rams would come through the trees to an opening only 160 yards from us. Within minutes I could see the band of sheep (including the rams) in the trees but no shot presented itself. We repositioned a couple times and finally the target ram came right to the aforementioned opening. I had a solid rest and felt really comfortable and fired. First shot was a bit back and hit his liver. He didn't go far and bedded down as he was clearly not doing well. A follow up shot ended it.
It was emotional knowing I had accomplished something that prior to May 8th, I was starting to accept may never happen. Walking up to my ram I felt blessed to be in that moment and share it with 2 people that I will forever be indebted to and share a bond with. I gave thanks for the ram and the experience. I now need a new #1 on my bucket list.....
I never dreamed I'd actually draw a sheep tag but I kept on applying anyway because as the saying goes, "someone has to draw". Well, this year I struck gold and drew a NR sheep tag in MT. My first thought on May 8th when I got the "congratulations" email from MT was that someone was pranking me. I soon dismissed that thought and instead started to panic that I had messed up my app and probably put in for an ewe tag. I raced to my computer but couldn't log in because I was so worked up I couldn't type. After a few deep breaths I logged in and confirmed I had not messed up but had, in fact, drawn the tag of a lifetime. My first call was to Randy who likely deduced why I was calling given the results came out earlier that day. I'm sure I was talking a mile a minute and barely coherent due to my excitement but managed to extend an invitation to him to join me on the hunt and I'm thankful that he agreed to come with. The next 6 months seemed to take forever but the excitement never waned. I also came to find that a tag like this carries with it anxiety, doubts, and what-ifs to counterbalance the excitement. I'm thankful to Hunttalkers Gerald & Brandon for the many phone calls & texts with all my questions and the info and advice they provided. Without them this would have been a lot more difficult and lot harder on my mental health.
Fast forward to last week and I headed to MT. Met up with Randy and met Marcus for the first time and I can attest that Marcus is an A+ dude..... a cool guy and the hardest worker you'll find anywhere. Excitement was high and I was confident the 3 of us would find a good ram. I didn't know how long it would take to do that but I also told the guys that I'm not a guy that passes up quality animals early in the hunt that I would be happy with on the last day. Truthfully, I didn't really know what I was looking for other than a "pretty" one. I'm not a big "score" guy but I know what kind of sheep makes up a high scoring ram. I definitely wanted symmetry so rams broomed on one side but not the other would get a pass but between a double broomed ram or one that still has his lamb tips, well, I could be happy with either. At the end of the day I told myself that I'd know when I saw the right ram.
I never thought we'd see as many sheep as we did and I really never thought I'd have so many quality rams to look at that I wouldn't be able to keep them all straight. We ended up resorting to descriptors like "nice", "big", and "lunker" when looking at rams but eventually some of those terms started losing meaning. It's a great problem to have and I knew whatever I pulled the trigger on was not going to disappoint. On day 3 it rained as we headed out in search of sheep. Not long into our hike we spotted a group of rams on the top of a ridge. They were content up there but were also keeping tabs on a group of ewes below them. 3 of the rams looked "nice" but we believed 2 of them to be broomed on only 1 side so they'd get a pass from me. We watched them for 3 hours while we waited for the ewes to get out of sight. Once they did we scurried to a spot we hoped they were heading to. As soon as we did, the rams started to come down. This allowed us to get a better look at the rams and as soon as one of them appeared in Randy's spotter I knew he was the one. I told the guys I was going to shoot that ram. We set up and if all went well the rams would come through the trees to an opening only 160 yards from us. Within minutes I could see the band of sheep (including the rams) in the trees but no shot presented itself. We repositioned a couple times and finally the target ram came right to the aforementioned opening. I had a solid rest and felt really comfortable and fired. First shot was a bit back and hit his liver. He didn't go far and bedded down as he was clearly not doing well. A follow up shot ended it.
It was emotional knowing I had accomplished something that prior to May 8th, I was starting to accept may never happen. Walking up to my ram I felt blessed to be in that moment and share it with 2 people that I will forever be indebted to and share a bond with. I gave thanks for the ram and the experience. I now need a new #1 on my bucket list.....
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