The Hedgehog
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He’s the one I ended up with. 9.5 years old and probably the largest bodied of any I saw this year. Wasn’t along the highway the day I got him.
MT Ram
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mountain monster
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Thanks for sharing all summer and fall ! Great job, congratulations on a beautiful ram!!
shines@times
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Another quest achieved I see.
The Hedgehog
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Cakebread Cab
The Hedgehog
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bone in ribs, heart & liver came out.
sacountry
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I was gonna say something when you posted pics of your ram. You made it sound like you decided to pull plug on the adventure so you went out and just took a ram. You didn't exactly just go shoot any ram, you took a great ram. Great length on that left tip and then the flare that goes with it. Awesome trophy.
The Hedgehog
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When I saw Jim’s son & grandson muscling around the red tag ram in the trees there was a 7.5 year old ram that I passed on 9/24 rutting right there. Later, after we got Jim’s ram to the trail, the same ram was in the open within 300 yards. They commented that they didn’t think I could hit it. I did think about pulling the plug. Glad I didn’t. My ram is much nicer.
JV842
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Definitely something to be said w sticking to YOUR plan and goals. May not always come home w a trophy u can put ur hands on but always come out w ur head held high. Seems like u got both this time. Well earned
This is a case where I am happy to be wrong. What a great ram.
Wrong Burgundy
Well-known member
Big congrats, @Greenhorn. That is an epic from start to finish. When you are done braising sheep ribs and caping that thing out, can I get you to sign this? It has been hermetically sealed in a glass case in the gun safe since August right next to a case of IPA.....Nice work and what a helluva sheep!
The Hedgehog
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Cut and paste from my tent - last night of season in peaks , after elk. Got this email from Jim Boorman..
2021 bighorn sheep hunt, Jim Boorman
I was working for the US Forest service and got transferred from Oregon to Montana in 1977. That next year, 1978, I started applying for a Big Horn Sheep permit. I missed a couple of years as I forgot to apply in time but I figure that I have applied about 40 times.
This past May when checking the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, (FWP), web page I found that I had finally been successful and had drawn a tag for unit 301, Spanish Peaks. My wife said "at age 81 you are still going to go up in those mountains and try to get one of those goats"? I replied, not a goat but a sheep and yes I am. The quest was on.
I called FWP and asked who was the biologist for the sheep in that area. I was put in contact with Julie Cunningham and I set up an appointment to learn what I could. I do believe that when I met with Julie, she was more excited than I was on my getting that tag. I told her that "I am 81 years old, had two heart attacks, had a bout with cancer, have one artificial knee, and neuropathy in my feet. Where can I get me a sheep?" She set about showing me where their summer range and winter ranges were and when and where the sheep in that unit have been harvested. Most were harvested not too far from Big Sky, and in late November. Julie was one of my greatest fans and encouragers from that point on.
From June on I spent a lot of time climbing around those mountains. I put in a lot of 12 to 15 mile days in the back country, scouting the craigs and valleys. Some days I went from below 6,000 feet to over 9,000 feet. The sheep seemed to have a way of eluding me.
When Season opened on September 15 the hunt was on in earnest.
On October 15th I had to have a heart procedure where they inserted 2 stents and then on November 7, I turned 82.
A problem that I was having was most of the people that would be willing to go with me still have to work for a living. Those who were retired or were available to go weren't in the physical condition to go those kind of days. So most of the time I was going solo. One day I went up from Durnham Meadows. Went in about 2 miles and found some fresh sheep tracks. I had followed them for about 200 yards and when I poked my head over the berm, that ewe spotted me and sprinted out of there with the rest of the herd. I was amazed at how spooky she was. So I started back tracking the sheep tracks and found fresh wolf tracks. I had come in between the herd of sheep and 3 wolves. I proceeded in further and when ever I found sheep tracks in the snow, there were wolf tracks following them. At about 1:00 I figured I had better head on out as according to my Onx maps I was about 4 1/2 miles in and a little over 9,000 feet. I decide to go out a different way than I had come in so went to the next ridge North and started hunting down. I ended up in an old burn with lots of down trees and a large boulder patch for the next 2 + miles. There was about 2-4 inches on snow on the rocks and constantly climbing over the down trees was very slow going. AT 5:00 it was getting dark so out came the head lamp. I finally got out a little after 9:00. According to my Onx I had traveled 12.5 miles. My wife wasn't too happy with my schedule that day.
I figure I had put in at least 15 days of serious hunting and had yet to find my sheep. But on November 23, the last week of the season, my son Stephen and Grandson Reid drove up from Idaho Falls to take me hunting. I had about given up and figured I was going to get skunked. We went up Dudly Creek a little over 4 miles when Stephen spotted a ram up in the cliffs. Even after He had spotted it, I had trouble seeing it. All that could be seen was it's horns as it was peaking over a rock ledge. Stephen ranged it at 265 yards. As we set there and I got ready to shoot, it finally stood up and turned broad side. I felt myself pull a little as I pulled the trigger. It then walked very slowly to my left for about 30 yards thru some trees. It then stopped again at 290 yards and I fired a second shot that was good and it only traveled about 20 yards and went down.
When I was shooting, all I could tell was that it was a nice sheep. When I finally got to the sheep I could not believe how big it was. Not only a good set of horns but how large a body it had. Julie scored it at 176 7/8. So far it is the largest sheep taken in that unit this year. We have tried a couple of the steaks, and meat has excellent flavor with no gamey taste at all.
For those who like the technical things, I shoot a Remington model 7600 pump action rifle topped with a Bushnell banner 3 X 9 scope. I hand load with 54 grains of IMR 4350 powder and shoot a 180 grain Remington core lokt bullet. I can shoot a 1 1/4 inch group at 100 yards and I sight it in 2 inches high and it is right on at 200 yards. So far I have taken 33 elk with that load and have no idea how many deer and antelope.
I can only give God thanks for allowing me to be able to get out and enjoy the mountains, still be able to hike well and then to get such a magnificent animal.
An interesting side note. I had run into another hunter before, who had a sheep tag also, but had no idea that he was in the area that day. Come to find out, he was in the cliffs above where we were and was looking at two other rams. He had spotted the ram I got back on July 4th. He had determined that this is the ram he wanted. Altogether he had spent 88 days following and hunting that ram but had not been able to pull it together. As soon as I shot it he got to where he could see the ram and knew that this was the ram that he had been in pursuit of all season. He then came down and even with his disappointment of someone else getting the ram that he had spent 88 days trying to get, pitched in and helped us skin and de-bone my sheep. Then he and his hunting buddy helped us pack out my sheep. The good news was that he shot a very nice ram the next day in the adjacent drainage to the north that scored 168.
2021 bighorn sheep hunt, Jim Boorman
I was working for the US Forest service and got transferred from Oregon to Montana in 1977. That next year, 1978, I started applying for a Big Horn Sheep permit. I missed a couple of years as I forgot to apply in time but I figure that I have applied about 40 times.
This past May when checking the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, (FWP), web page I found that I had finally been successful and had drawn a tag for unit 301, Spanish Peaks. My wife said "at age 81 you are still going to go up in those mountains and try to get one of those goats"? I replied, not a goat but a sheep and yes I am. The quest was on.
I called FWP and asked who was the biologist for the sheep in that area. I was put in contact with Julie Cunningham and I set up an appointment to learn what I could. I do believe that when I met with Julie, she was more excited than I was on my getting that tag. I told her that "I am 81 years old, had two heart attacks, had a bout with cancer, have one artificial knee, and neuropathy in my feet. Where can I get me a sheep?" She set about showing me where their summer range and winter ranges were and when and where the sheep in that unit have been harvested. Most were harvested not too far from Big Sky, and in late November. Julie was one of my greatest fans and encouragers from that point on.
From June on I spent a lot of time climbing around those mountains. I put in a lot of 12 to 15 mile days in the back country, scouting the craigs and valleys. Some days I went from below 6,000 feet to over 9,000 feet. The sheep seemed to have a way of eluding me.
When Season opened on September 15 the hunt was on in earnest.
On October 15th I had to have a heart procedure where they inserted 2 stents and then on November 7, I turned 82.
A problem that I was having was most of the people that would be willing to go with me still have to work for a living. Those who were retired or were available to go weren't in the physical condition to go those kind of days. So most of the time I was going solo. One day I went up from Durnham Meadows. Went in about 2 miles and found some fresh sheep tracks. I had followed them for about 200 yards and when I poked my head over the berm, that ewe spotted me and sprinted out of there with the rest of the herd. I was amazed at how spooky she was. So I started back tracking the sheep tracks and found fresh wolf tracks. I had come in between the herd of sheep and 3 wolves. I proceeded in further and when ever I found sheep tracks in the snow, there were wolf tracks following them. At about 1:00 I figured I had better head on out as according to my Onx maps I was about 4 1/2 miles in and a little over 9,000 feet. I decide to go out a different way than I had come in so went to the next ridge North and started hunting down. I ended up in an old burn with lots of down trees and a large boulder patch for the next 2 + miles. There was about 2-4 inches on snow on the rocks and constantly climbing over the down trees was very slow going. AT 5:00 it was getting dark so out came the head lamp. I finally got out a little after 9:00. According to my Onx I had traveled 12.5 miles. My wife wasn't too happy with my schedule that day.
I figure I had put in at least 15 days of serious hunting and had yet to find my sheep. But on November 23, the last week of the season, my son Stephen and Grandson Reid drove up from Idaho Falls to take me hunting. I had about given up and figured I was going to get skunked. We went up Dudly Creek a little over 4 miles when Stephen spotted a ram up in the cliffs. Even after He had spotted it, I had trouble seeing it. All that could be seen was it's horns as it was peaking over a rock ledge. Stephen ranged it at 265 yards. As we set there and I got ready to shoot, it finally stood up and turned broad side. I felt myself pull a little as I pulled the trigger. It then walked very slowly to my left for about 30 yards thru some trees. It then stopped again at 290 yards and I fired a second shot that was good and it only traveled about 20 yards and went down.
When I was shooting, all I could tell was that it was a nice sheep. When I finally got to the sheep I could not believe how big it was. Not only a good set of horns but how large a body it had. Julie scored it at 176 7/8. So far it is the largest sheep taken in that unit this year. We have tried a couple of the steaks, and meat has excellent flavor with no gamey taste at all.
For those who like the technical things, I shoot a Remington model 7600 pump action rifle topped with a Bushnell banner 3 X 9 scope. I hand load with 54 grains of IMR 4350 powder and shoot a 180 grain Remington core lokt bullet. I can shoot a 1 1/4 inch group at 100 yards and I sight it in 2 inches high and it is right on at 200 yards. So far I have taken 33 elk with that load and have no idea how many deer and antelope.
I can only give God thanks for allowing me to be able to get out and enjoy the mountains, still be able to hike well and then to get such a magnificent animal.
An interesting side note. I had run into another hunter before, who had a sheep tag also, but had no idea that he was in the area that day. Come to find out, he was in the cliffs above where we were and was looking at two other rams. He had spotted the ram I got back on July 4th. He had determined that this is the ram he wanted. Altogether he had spent 88 days following and hunting that ram but had not been able to pull it together. As soon as I shot it he got to where he could see the ram and knew that this was the ram that he had been in pursuit of all season. He then came down and even with his disappointment of someone else getting the ram that he had spent 88 days trying to get, pitched in and helped us skin and de-bone my sheep. Then he and his hunting buddy helped us pack out my sheep. The good news was that he shot a very nice ram the next day in the adjacent drainage to the north that scored 168.
Nameless Range
Well-known member
It can’t be said enough how this thread and the stories within it are just the best.
Hunting Wife
Well-known member
That’s an incredible story. Thanks for posting it.
Wow. That is about as cool as it gets. I hope to someday see Mr. Boorman and shake his hand. If I live to be 82, very unlikely, I can only hope to be half of the "mountain goat" he is.
Thanks for sharing that, @Greenhorn. It adds even more to an already epic story.
Thanks for sharing that, @Greenhorn. It adds even more to an already epic story.
sacountry
Well-known member
So, so, good! Kurt, you have had an amazingly blessed season. Mr. Boorman's journal entry isn't even icing on the cake of your season, it's a whole other piece of it that no other hunter got to experience.
MarvB
Well-known member
As if this story needed more…frickin WOW what an adventure, amazing!
And Mr. B? What a tough SOB you are!
And Mr. B? What a tough SOB you are!
Carl 9.3x62
Well-known member
Not sure if this hunt could have gone any better, from a readers point of view anyway. Thanks for taking us along.
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