Fourth times a charm

Lawnboy

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 2, 2008
Messages
3,655
Location
Bozeman, Montana
We have been glassing across to this other drainage now for 3 years seeing rams and many sheep and finally decided to go for it this year. Well actually last year my brother and I went in but got socked in with clouds and rain for 3 days and it was a bust. My dad and brother Jeff were along for the hunt as well this year.

This area has no airplane access so all of it must be done on foot. We traveled to the outlet of the creek that would lead us to the mountain by 4 wheeler then we started the nasty creek hike. The hike in consists of 4 hours of in and out of the creek. You are constantly stumbling on boulders and wet rock. I don't think my dad believed us when we told him that he would be basically hiking up a creek. This is the easiest (relative word) way to access the high country. Like Bambistew mentioned in his hunt the alders and dwarf birch are wicked so anything other than that stuff is better. Here's a couple shots of what it looked like. The water was real high this year from all the rain.
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I forgot to mention that when we started up the creek there were already 2 other vehicles there and that's not good because the area isn't that big. My brother had gotten word that a local family had gone up on the opener and had taken a couple rams so we were hoping that they would be gone by the time we got there. Unfortunately one of the vehicles was theirs so they were still up there.
With all the boot tracks heading up the fork we had planned to go to we adjusted our game plan to take another fork in hopes that the people had pushed some animals in another direction. It was also a good area but not the place we really wanted to be. We set up camp and spent the evening glassing but only found a handful of ewes and lambs. It took 5 and a half hours to get in so we hit the sack in hopes the next day would produce rams.
Here's our first camp.
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We woke up and soon realized that there just weren't any rams in this area and so we climbed up this steep mountain and began to head towards the area we originally intended to go. We spent the day climbing and glassing and still no sheep. We got to the spot we wanted and found that the people had left so we set up camp again and began to spot for the evening. We immediately found ewes lambs and finally a group of rams. At first look none seemed legal but we were into sheep and our spirits were lifted. We headed for bed and knew the next day would be better.
Second camp
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I will continue this a little later tonight. It's my anniversary and the wife isn't going to want to wait for this story to end before I take her out to dinner. Be patient it's a fun hunt:D
 
Bart, I sure hope your not walking around up their with just one gaiter still...as per our conversation. Did you figure out which legs they go on?
 
Great beginning to the story. I hope you hurry up with your big mac for anniversary dinner and get back to story telling soon:D
 
Your killing us!!! But she is worth it. Your anniversary is the only thing from me coming up there and dragging the rest of the details out of you....the things we will do for women. AHHHHHHHHH
 
Take .her to Mickey D's and get on with the story. I hope it has the ending you were wanting
 
How do you like it Fin?;) Now you know what you put us through each and every night of your hunts.:)
Ok I'm bound to finish this tonight by 10 o'clock. Back to writing
 
The third day brought us some hope having seen at least some rams the night before. Our plan was to continue farther in along a ridge which would put us at the head of the basin were these smaller rams were and maybe we'd stumble onto something bigger. My dad being 67 was starting to the feel the effects of the brutal hikes we'd done and opted to stay at this camp and continue to glass. It's a good spot to be because of the numerous saddles that the sheep cross through. Jeff and I decided we'd better take our sleeping bags and at least the one man tent in case we got into something and couldn't make it back. We grabbed some bagels and the water purifier and left my dad with the big tent and stove. I was going to be hungry:eek:

Just as Jeff and I started to hike up this huge ridge he says "what the heck" and points. Way on the top there is a silhouette of a guy standing in the fog. So much for being alone and so much for our plan. We decide to side hill around the peak in case he couldn't see off the edges very good and maybe we'd catch something he didn't. We made it around the peak and back to the ridge on the other side of the peak but no sign of the guy and no boot tracks in the sheep trails on top. Don't know where he went:confused: Suddenly Jeff says there's some sheep. A quick look and he says " rams and some nice one's". We break out the spotter and soon realize we have 5 rams and 3 look like dandys. Surely that guy had to of seen them. We searched frantically to see if he was putting a sneak on them but didn't see anything. The rams are feeding up into the basin heading toward the top so we decided to stay on the ridge and loop around above them. It would be quicker and we could keep our eye on them.


I'm excited it looks like we might have some legal rams
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.Jeff spotting the rams. My dad is in the far saddle you can see behind Jeff.
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We circle to the head of the basin and begin looking off the edge to see the rams. We find them and they are still feeding up. We are a good 800 yards above them and it is steep. So we sneak down a little ways to get a better look with the spotter but didn't want to commit and loose all our elevation. Jeff sure seems to think that 2 or 3 might be legal and one is real heavy and flared. We go back to the top of the ridge and eat lunch and make our plan.
Again Jeff suddenly says "What the" I look down and here comes a guy right up underneath us. He doesn't look happy and says "man I'm not glad to see you" and Jeff says "likewise". He climbs up to us and says I suppose your heading for those rams and we say yes. He had just been 375 yds across from them and said that only one looked full curl to him and that the big one was shy by a few inches. I asked why he didn't shoot and he said the wind was to strong and he didn't feel confident. He was going to do the same thing as us and try to intercept them or come down on top of them.

After a lunch break he says "Well you beat me here so you better have first chance." What a sportsman this kid was. He'd worked as hard as we had and actually had been closer than us but was willing to let me have a shot at them just because we were above him. I still can't believe his character. Awesome guy. I asked him if he wanted to sneak down on them with us in case there were multiple legal ones or if I missed and he declined.
I forgot to mention that earlier that morning I noticed that sometime when I had fallen in the creek I had smacked my gun so hard that it broke the bolt off that anchors the barrel to the stock so basically I had almost an inch of light between the stock and barrel. Not good.:eek: I used some tape to get it back to a close as I could but had my doubts about the accuracy. Another reason he should tag along with us. I didn't feel confident in my tape job.

Almost there I'll start another page.
 
So he decides to pursue some other sheep farther in and Jeff and I are left to our plan of sneaking down on them. They have now bedded and are still a good 800 yards straight down off the top of the ridge. We still have no idea if any are legal and only know that one might be based off of this guys word. We wait almost 2 hours to see if they will feed up and they don't. Jeff is getting antsy and says lets drop down this rock chute and see if we can get an angle on them with the spotter make a call.

We painfully slide down this chute and have some jagged rock out croppings providing a shield for us. We get down do were we think we might be a 100 yards above were they are bedded and find that they had gotten up and started feeding away from their beds and they are 250 out and still at a steep incline. The spotter comes out and I begin ranging them. 15 minutes goes by and Jeff is still not sure if they are legal but is confident that the large one is a really nice ram but nice doesn't mean full curl or 8 years old.

They continue feeding and now are at 300 yards. I tell him we need to do something because I'm not even sure my gun is still on and it is a steep angle. He tells me that he thinks the big one is going to be legal so I settle in one him. I can't believe we are going to shoot something that we aren't 100% sure is legal because we can't get on the level with them to judge. Probably stupid but I go ahead with the shot. The rifle cracks and the sheep scatter and begin to run straight up hill toward us. I felt like I had hit him but wasn't sure. Soon sheep show up just underneath us and the big one has blood coming out his nose and beds right down. They basically ran back to were they had bedded before because they felt safe I guess. We are now only 80 yards above them and Jeff is looking through the spotter and can see he is loosing blood out the mouth. I must of hit him somewhat decently. One more shot finishes him off and Jeff is freaking out. He says that it is a heck of a ram.

We gather the packs and go down to him. He is way bigger than I thought. I was going to be happy with any legal ram and this one had some great mass and ended up being full curl. One of the prettiest sheep I've seen. It was really humbling to harvest such a great animal. It may sound cheesy but I felt such great respect for this guy. Never have had that feeling about an animal. Neat experience.

I'll go ahead and post a bunch of shots of him. I didn't have time to do any blood removal by photoshop so you picture police will just have to deal with what I have.

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I'll finish up on another page
 
No picture police in my house. What an adventure, and with your dad on the trip to make it even more special. Could he see what was going on with you all during the stalk and eventual success?
 
It ends up being dark by the time we get him in pieces and cooling. We find a somewhat flat spot to set up the one man tent and crawl inside. Can't be a homophobe when your packing light and sleeping tight:D
The next morning we load up and head back toward my dad and the original camp. It takes 2 hours to get over to him and I can tell that the packs are going to be heavy after we gather up the rest of the gear.

We snap some more photos and begin the trek out down that nasty creek bottom. It took us 6 more hours to make it out and I thought I was going to die. My ankles are still sore. Felt good though.

What a great experience to have my dad and brother along. I've had great hunts with both of them. My brother is a great hunter and I'm sure there are going to be Moose, sheep, bou, etc.. in trouble in the years to come. He's a brute packer weighing in at 148 pounds he can out pack me any day. I was proud of my dad. Sheep hunting is a young mans sport and he did it at 60+. The packs weighed right at 87 pounds. Now I know why I hunt off horses:D

Finally after 4 years my dream has come true. What a great ram and great hunt. He came in at 37" long and 13.5" bases.

Here's some final shots on the way out.
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Congrats Bart on a killer ram. What a great hunt to do with your family, I am sure it will be one you all will never forget. Did you ever hear how the guy you ran into did?? Again congrats and thanks for the story and pics!!
 
Great story Bart !!!! Congrats nit only to you but the family. I look at it like that was a family hunt with the trophy in the end. Later man
 
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