corndog1
Well-known member
I was going to write this up a while ago but lawnboy posted his awesome story so wanted to let everyone get a chance to read that one. And no I did not get one that big holy moly. I did meet Bart before opening day and he is super nice guy. I was drawn for the 2019 680 breaks sheep tag. I put in for the draw like every year and pretty much forgot about it because it is such a long shot. Like most, I just planned on my usual hunting routine for the up coming season. For me that is usually a small rag horn or cow elk and then on to what I love most,ducks and geese. In June I was at a wedding and I heard some folks talking about moose hunting and I remembered the results had come out so I checked and I just didn't know how to react. Just shocked. I told a buddy of mine at the wedding and I swear he was more excited than me. Then came the, "you gotta shoot a monster, less than 190 is not ok". Oh ok what's that look like because as of now I have seen zero sheep in the wild besides the ones by the road in big sky. Also I'm pretty average at big game hunting. I started feeling this pressure that I have never associated with hunting before. I knew of a couple guys that had the tag within the last couple years and messaged a guy on this site for starters. Thankfully they suggested to make this my hunt and assured me that I would see Rams and to just shoot one that I liked which took alot of pressure off. I obviously wanted a breaks monster but this also needed to be enjoyable. I'm an excavator and summer time is less than ideal for me to get away and scout so I decided to do four separate trips to the breaks the last being a river trip in November of five days. I had pretty much made up my mind I wasn't going to shoot one till November when the rut was on. My first trip was mostly just to get familiar with area and I was only going to hunt opening morning.
Three days before opening day at Stafford ferry. I must say my only equipment regret is not having a phone scope.
My first camping spot. The phone camera is not to bad for landscapes but could never get a field photo of Rams though. Any ways first trip was awesome and hot. I cruised and hiked around to various spots and saw zero sheep for two days. The third morning day before opener I took off from camp just north of ferry and started hiking towards some state land I was going to get to on my second trip. I round a corner and look up to my left and there he is, the first ram I have ever seen in the wild. He was not a big ram but a ram nonetheless. I worked further up on my side of the draw and he just stood there. I stopped to look again and from behind this outcrop a group of five Rams bolted out. One of these Rams was bigger than the others and man did they get to the top through the nasty in a hurry. I continued on noting where they went up and over back towards the river. I ended up finding that bigger ram later that afternoon evening. Back at camp I met a hunter whom I had not known before and found out he was not hunting the opener. He had really nice optics and a phone scope and showed me some pics of sheep they had seen. At this point I told the guy about the ram and asked if he could put the scope on him on his way out. This ram was visible from the road headed up from ferry to Winifred. He said sure we exchanged numbers. I had no intentions of shooting this ram but I went up in morning of opener to get a second look and he looked pretty nice. I went home and texted the hunter he sent the text saying it was a real nice ram but in the 170s. So now I kinda had an idea of what a 170s sheep looked like. Of course the "number" I keep hearing is 180 but man that sheep was nice. Plenty of time left.
I was unable to go back until mid October which was hard. As my second and third trips near I notice that it had just been raining and snowing up there quite a bit but nothing I can do about it so I just go. I have permission on some private land that gets access to Blm and sheep country on Tuesday and Wednesday. I have a buddy meeting me Tuesday morning at the ferry. I get there Sunday night and it has just began to clear up. Monday morning at first light I start driving north from the ferry. Don't have the best feeling but I have to get up there to where I can access more country. Well as I take the first left where it starts to get steep I gun it and I end up facing back down hill almost in an instant. Well I guess I'm not making it up today. At this point it is early morning and just gorgeous without a cloud in the sky but everything is still mud. Well I decide to head back to where I saw the Rams first trip and to take a stab at getting to that state land. Two steps up slide back three steps. Try a different way get cliffed out and a little schetched out. I'm feeling this is not the safest thing by myself.
the base of that ridge behind me had a sheep trail but once I got around it, it became so slick and this was my route to where I wanted to go. When I got back to the truck I saw that some guys had just come down off the top from the north on the ferry road. Their truck was brown from mud and their faces where kinda white. They said that was the scariest ride of their life and they were going sheep hunting else where and headed across the ferry. My buddy showed up next day with a little fifty inch side by side or refered to as a gawd damn razor. Well this little razor thing barely made it up and out of there but we were on our way. The place that let us on got us within a mile or so to where the sheep lived. The next two days were full of ewes and smaller Rams and the same could be said for my third trip. Lots of mud and smaller Rams but amazing anyways. One trip up there I saw elk mule deer antelope Huns sharptails and geese.
time to go back to work.
Now it is the second of November and I have five days. It's looking pretty nice until wednesday night Thursday where it's supposed to be ten below. I'll tell you what, the boat on the river is awesome. We get to sheep country and there are ewes and Rams everywhere. We count like thirty Rams that day but none of them are even like the 170s ram I saw first trip but I have a feeling if we stay around these ewe groups we will seethe big guy. The second morning we walk up a drainage from the river and it's the same thing, lots of ewes and smaller Rams but we get to see and hear them butting heads. We go up one other drainage and see the same but we got to within a group that had a real nice ram in it. I mean I'm looking at his left horn and thinking I'm gonna shoot this thing and then he turned his head and was missing half the other side. Third morning brings clouds and I'm sure we are gonna get dumped later. We park boat to glass up accross river and we spot a couple and then my buddy waved so I went over to look through his scope. I had several conversations with people that had this tag and they said when you saw a big one you know it. Well when I looked through his scope I knew I was looking at a massive sheep that curled to the eye and did I say massive. On horn a bit shorter. He walked over a little hump with his ewes and we hurried accross knowing they would be headed up draw to bed. We Huff it up to where he went over. It is so broken up I'm sure he is going to appear any second. We wait and wait. I'm thinking did these thing button hook us and get below us some how? I go check and pop over and there they are at fifty yards all in a bunch with him in the middle they leave in a bunch and he is huge. Gun up and all I can do is watch. I'm not gonna shoot into that. I usually don't get too discouraged hunting big game but this is devastating. I have not gone to bed one time since then without thinking about that ram. Then it starts snowing. The next morning is cold and it had snowed six inches and supposed to get below zero that night. we glass and glass and are having hard time finding sheep. We then spot a group and they are moving in a direction we can get to. We have to skirt some private but we are on our way up and there is a chocolate 170 s ram in there I would be glad to take now. We have this kinda timed perfect we should be getting to a saddle a little before them. We get close to saddle and spot and duck before they see us. I'm getting the pack off and the unbelievable happens, a flash off to the right and three cyotes blows up the whole thing. Those sheep are up on a cliff eight hundred yards away in an instant.we go back to the boat.
it looks like the river is going to freeze up but we don't know. This is last time my phone camera would work it's now about zero and getting colder. The next morning is Cold the truck says minus twelve but somehow the boat starts and we buggy. Now the next day is supposed to be fifty I don't know how but it is which means all that snow is gonna melt. Any way we glass and glass and see a ewe group sneek closer and no ram look again ram. He is heavy but short he is also beautiful and chocolate and I have not regretted pulling the trigger. It's true I wish I had gotten the big ram but at least I had a chance and will always cherish the time I spent up there. If any of you draws I will not hesitate to show you on a map where I saw sheep, ranch numbers, or anything else. Good luck in the 2020 draw.
Three days before opening day at Stafford ferry. I must say my only equipment regret is not having a phone scope.
My first camping spot. The phone camera is not to bad for landscapes but could never get a field photo of Rams though. Any ways first trip was awesome and hot. I cruised and hiked around to various spots and saw zero sheep for two days. The third morning day before opener I took off from camp just north of ferry and started hiking towards some state land I was going to get to on my second trip. I round a corner and look up to my left and there he is, the first ram I have ever seen in the wild. He was not a big ram but a ram nonetheless. I worked further up on my side of the draw and he just stood there. I stopped to look again and from behind this outcrop a group of five Rams bolted out. One of these Rams was bigger than the others and man did they get to the top through the nasty in a hurry. I continued on noting where they went up and over back towards the river. I ended up finding that bigger ram later that afternoon evening. Back at camp I met a hunter whom I had not known before and found out he was not hunting the opener. He had really nice optics and a phone scope and showed me some pics of sheep they had seen. At this point I told the guy about the ram and asked if he could put the scope on him on his way out. This ram was visible from the road headed up from ferry to Winifred. He said sure we exchanged numbers. I had no intentions of shooting this ram but I went up in morning of opener to get a second look and he looked pretty nice. I went home and texted the hunter he sent the text saying it was a real nice ram but in the 170s. So now I kinda had an idea of what a 170s sheep looked like. Of course the "number" I keep hearing is 180 but man that sheep was nice. Plenty of time left.
I was unable to go back until mid October which was hard. As my second and third trips near I notice that it had just been raining and snowing up there quite a bit but nothing I can do about it so I just go. I have permission on some private land that gets access to Blm and sheep country on Tuesday and Wednesday. I have a buddy meeting me Tuesday morning at the ferry. I get there Sunday night and it has just began to clear up. Monday morning at first light I start driving north from the ferry. Don't have the best feeling but I have to get up there to where I can access more country. Well as I take the first left where it starts to get steep I gun it and I end up facing back down hill almost in an instant. Well I guess I'm not making it up today. At this point it is early morning and just gorgeous without a cloud in the sky but everything is still mud. Well I decide to head back to where I saw the Rams first trip and to take a stab at getting to that state land. Two steps up slide back three steps. Try a different way get cliffed out and a little schetched out. I'm feeling this is not the safest thing by myself.
the base of that ridge behind me had a sheep trail but once I got around it, it became so slick and this was my route to where I wanted to go. When I got back to the truck I saw that some guys had just come down off the top from the north on the ferry road. Their truck was brown from mud and their faces where kinda white. They said that was the scariest ride of their life and they were going sheep hunting else where and headed across the ferry. My buddy showed up next day with a little fifty inch side by side or refered to as a gawd damn razor. Well this little razor thing barely made it up and out of there but we were on our way. The place that let us on got us within a mile or so to where the sheep lived. The next two days were full of ewes and smaller Rams and the same could be said for my third trip. Lots of mud and smaller Rams but amazing anyways. One trip up there I saw elk mule deer antelope Huns sharptails and geese. time to go back to work.Now it is the second of November and I have five days. It's looking pretty nice until wednesday night Thursday where it's supposed to be ten below. I'll tell you what, the boat on the river is awesome. We get to sheep country and there are ewes and Rams everywhere. We count like thirty Rams that day but none of them are even like the 170s ram I saw first trip but I have a feeling if we stay around these ewe groups we will seethe big guy. The second morning we walk up a drainage from the river and it's the same thing, lots of ewes and smaller Rams but we get to see and hear them butting heads. We go up one other drainage and see the same but we got to within a group that had a real nice ram in it. I mean I'm looking at his left horn and thinking I'm gonna shoot this thing and then he turned his head and was missing half the other side. Third morning brings clouds and I'm sure we are gonna get dumped later. We park boat to glass up accross river and we spot a couple and then my buddy waved so I went over to look through his scope. I had several conversations with people that had this tag and they said when you saw a big one you know it. Well when I looked through his scope I knew I was looking at a massive sheep that curled to the eye and did I say massive. On horn a bit shorter. He walked over a little hump with his ewes and we hurried accross knowing they would be headed up draw to bed. We Huff it up to where he went over. It is so broken up I'm sure he is going to appear any second. We wait and wait. I'm thinking did these thing button hook us and get below us some how? I go check and pop over and there they are at fifty yards all in a bunch with him in the middle they leave in a bunch and he is huge. Gun up and all I can do is watch. I'm not gonna shoot into that. I usually don't get too discouraged hunting big game but this is devastating. I have not gone to bed one time since then without thinking about that ram. Then it starts snowing. The next morning is cold and it had snowed six inches and supposed to get below zero that night. we glass and glass and are having hard time finding sheep. We then spot a group and they are moving in a direction we can get to. We have to skirt some private but we are on our way up and there is a chocolate 170 s ram in there I would be glad to take now. We have this kinda timed perfect we should be getting to a saddle a little before them. We get close to saddle and spot and duck before they see us. I'm getting the pack off and the unbelievable happens, a flash off to the right and three cyotes blows up the whole thing. Those sheep are up on a cliff eight hundred yards away in an instant.we go back to the boat.
it looks like the river is going to freeze up but we don't know. This is last time my phone camera would work it's now about zero and getting colder. The next morning is Cold the truck says minus twelve but somehow the boat starts and we buggy. Now the next day is supposed to be fifty I don't know how but it is which means all that snow is gonna melt. Any way we glass and glass and see a ewe group sneek closer and no ram look again ram. He is heavy but short he is also beautiful and chocolate and I have not regretted pulling the trigger. It's true I wish I had gotten the big ram but at least I had a chance and will always cherish the time I spent up there. If any of you draws I will not hesitate to show you on a map where I saw sheep, ranch numbers, or anything else. Good luck in the 2020 draw.
