Archery Bighorn Hunt in Southern Colorado

[Valen]

Man if I ever do an awesome hunt like this remind me not to post anything until after the trip is over. I appreciate all of your generous updates throughout.

You worked your butt off and sounds like an amazing hunt. Wish it ended with a ram but still awesome. Thanks for sharing.

lol that’s probably something I would have done different. I don’t think my tag went unfilled for lack of effort, so I at least can feel good that I honored the hunt that way.

 

[rogerthat]

Took a few days after the season ended for myself to hang with the fam and reflect a bit.
Sad news, I didn’t end up filling my tag. I appreciate y’all bearing with the radio silence for the last couple of weeks. I won’t bother with a day by day recap but the last I saw those rams was on the 17th. I spent the my time from the 20th to the end of the season descending and climbing back up ridges, glassing up top, and working timber and the treeline checking out any bench that had a sort of “sheepy vibe” to it. And I had zero luck in turning up those rams which really came as a shocker to me. I definitely was surprised that out of 23 days in the field I only saw that 3/4 curl twice (especially since I was seeing him pretty regularly throughout July). I was also taken aback that the last time I saw the 3/4 curl, he ended up taking my back up plan 1/2 curl with him! Ah well, thus is the way of the sheep.
I had a lot of fun, and was able to creep into the herd of ewes and rams within 30 yds multiple times. I knew this hunt would be challenging with the total number of sheep being so low, more opportunities certainly would have been nice considering I was able to get within 40 yds of that 3/4 curl in July.
It certainly sucks to have failed in filling my tag and I can see how some guys could fall into the “I should have done this differently” trap.. to be honest, if I could do it all over again, there’s a lot I would have done differently, things I realized towards the end of the season but wasn’t able to implement cause of the weather. That said, it’s hard to walk away from this hunt feeling anything but an overwhelming amount of gratitude. Sure, I only got 3 legitimate stalks in.. but that’s three more than the archery hunter last year got. I got to spend over three weeks in a beautiful landscape watching sheep, elk, deer, and bear (not including all my time scouting). I met a lot of cool people, I got to report an asshole on an ebike in the wilderness (that’s a whole different story), and I get to go back up this month to help the rifle tag holder find these rams with a bear tag in my pocket.
I appreciate you all following along, I wish I had a sweet grip n grin to share with ya but I have memories that’ll last me a life time and if I ever get lucky enough to get this opportunity again, I’ll be sure to put my lessons to use.

PS.
Some quick side notes I forgot to include. After speaking with the warden in the area and showing him pictures of that ram, he said that was the largest ram he’s seen since covering the area.
I got turned on to marmot hunting so that’s neat.
This season, even without a tag punched, has shown me how cool and impressive these critters are and how amazing of an experience chasing them around in the mountains can be.. for this reason I’ll be a heck of a lot more active in the RMBS. People that share a passion for these animals are just awesome people.

Thanks for the follow-up and taking us along. Awesome hunt!

 

[Oak]

You put in a great effort; sorry it was not rewarded. Rams often change their habits in late summer, and it sounds like that happened to you. "Sheep karma" will go a long way towards drawing that next tag. You should consider volunteering for RMBS to build it up.

 

[Valen]

You put in a great effort; sorry it was not rewarded. Rams often change their habits in late summer, and it sounds like that happened to you. "Sheep karma" will go a long way towards drawing that next tag. You should consider volunteering for RMBS to build it up.

I’ll see you in our Regional Representative call

 

[Gerald Martin]

You gave it your best effort and got to spend a lot of time in sheep country, saw sheep, got stalks in and don’t have major regrets. That sounds like a successful hunt to me. Sometimes the process is as important as the results.

 

[jpc01101]

Man i'm envious of that hunt, super envious. Glad you got to experience that, most of us won't ever get that chance!

 

[warmer]

Thanks for the update Jake. Sheep hunting is special, the experience is indescribable. A filled tag is the end goal, but man what a ride. Good luck on the next tag.

 

[Bowkill1978]

Man, what an adventure! Thank you for taking us along. You certainly have the right attitude.

When you get a minute, give us the story of the guy on the E-Bike.

 

[brownbear932008]

Man you may not have got the tag filled but what you did get was a real HUNT! It's been great following you on the journey.

 

[Holdin4horns]

Amazing experience. Sounds like you used that tag to the fullest. Thanks for sharing!

 

[JoMo]

Echo all that has been said. Epic adventure - thanks for letting us ride along. I am sure you learned a ton more throughout this process than has presented itself yet that will translate into future success.

Also - I bet you are in shape now! Maintain some sort of program to maintain all of the physical gains you surely made over the last few months.

 

[kiwi hunter]

Echo all that has been said. Epic adventure - thanks for letting us ride along. I am sure you learned a ton more throughout this process than has presented itself yet that will translate into future success.

Also - I bet you are in shape now! Maintain some sort of program to maintain all of the physical gains you surely made over the last few months.

Lose and gain some. Now that youre in shape consider a tahr hunt in nz, dec, gives you three month to get it together.

 

[Valen]

Man, what an adventure! Thank you for taking us along. You certainly have the right attitude.

When you get a minute, give us the story of the guy on the E-Bike.

Oh man.. well on the 17th after I lost sight of the rams I was trying to relocate them, checked everywhere I thought they went and then had the thought to double back to the herd to see if they just had did one big loop. I ended up using a pretty trafficked trail and ran into some marmot hunters, while stopped and chatting with them a middle aged guy cruises by us on an e-bike headed to the south near the summit. It wasn’t until afterwards I thought I should say something.. it wasn’t until I confirmed the rams didn’t come back to the group that I took that same trail back to the north where I had intended to end my day by glassing the treeline. On my way out the guy passed me again and stopped to ask what I was hunting. I let him know I was hunting bighorns and then casually mentioned that “I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to be riding bikes in the wilderness area”, he responded with an “oh? Ive been riding back there a bunch”, I let him know that I was pretty certain that there were a few signs at the trailhead stating such. He pleaded ignorance then peddled off. When I got to the trailhead I ran back into the marmot hunters and chatted with them for a bit as they’re pretty local like myself and exchanged numbers. I asked him if they saw that guy bike by and they said yeah he just went down the road. I made a comment about yuppies not taking the time to read signs. A few minutes later the same guy peddles back up, apparently his truck was at the trailhead. He unpacked a sandwich and walked up the hill a ways, I snapped a pic of his truck and e-bike. When he came back to his truck I took the opportunity to point out the signs stating it was a wilderness area and bikes were not allowed, he said “oh yeah I just saw those when I came out, my bad”.
At this point I chalk it up to yuppie ignorance and figure now he knows so I let it go and don’t think much of it.
That was on the 17th, now let’s fast forward to this last Saturday, 8/30.. second to last day of my season.. I’ve spent the last ten day trying to find these rams, the last 7 dealing with shitty weather and not getting much done in the afternoons with the thunderstorms hitting up top. I spent the morning hours searching for the rams before the weather moved in around noon, about that time I was forced off the top and back down to camp to make lunch and figure out a plan for the remainder of the day. I live close to this mountain, I can see the east side of it from my house.. I’m camped on the west side of the mountain which is completely socked in. I log in to my ring app to get a view of the mountain from the east and it looks like the south side is starting to lighten up so I decide to head back that way for the remainder of the day. I finish scarfing down my gastric gnome rigatoni and head up to the trailhead which is about a two min drive from my campsite.
Well what do you know.. as I pull up to the trailhead I see a guy with an e-bike starting off down the trail.. here’s what gets me though.. I see this guy looking back, I see his facial expression change because he recognizes my truck and then I see him turn and hurry down the trail. I recognize that this is the same guy I saw two weeks prior. I now have a new found empathy for the old mountain man Bearclaw Chris in Jeremiah Johnson, “you are molesting my hunt!”.
The rain was heavy but I set off down the trail following this guy knowing we are headed to the same spot since he can’t take his bike anywhere else. I knew he’d be able to put some distance between us on that bike but that if I didn’t catch up to where he ended up I’d at least catch him on his way out. 3 miles later and I’m rounding the south side of the mountain and sure enough here comes dude pushing his bike up the hill on the trail. We see each other and I start to head towards him. This guy has a Bluetooth speaker on his bike as well, it’s blasting Katy Perry. Ol boys first words out of his mouth, “gosh if you were headed up that way I probably spooked whatever was over there”.
We had a quick exchange where I asked what he was doing back here in that thing, that I had talked to him about this before. This is where it got weird.. he mumbled something about hiking to the top to put a picture of his wife at the summit. When I asked again about the bike he just started walking off and pushing his bike up the trail. I started up the trail after him, not to continue to the conversation but because it started hailing and I’m still trying to figure out why a guy would bike in with this weather listening to Katy Perry to put a pic of his wife at the summit..
he turns as I head across a meadow to cut him off and asks what I was doing. I reply by shouting back, “well you already f’ed my hunt up so might as well go some place else, get on your bike and peddle your ass out of here”.
He did which I was grateful for. I called the game warden and reported the incident, supplied him with pictures, and was reassured that they would be pursuing this guy as they take the wilderness area very seriously.
Just wild.

 

[squirrel]

The Indians lost for a good reason... bow is hard!

 

[txco]

Sorry you didnt get a ram. I enjoyed following along. Way to give em hell!

 

[Silentstalker]

Quite an adventure. Thanks for sharing g it with us!

 

[Khunter]

I’ll see you in our Regional Representative call

Very cool! And congrats on a great hunt and effort on the hunt.

Impressed you are going to help the rifle hunter as well.