Carl 9.3x62
Well-known member
They both look great but yeah I think I'd go for the left one as well. I like the mass.
My Lucky Year!
- Thread starter Mule Kick
- Start date
rogerthat
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2015
- Messages
- 3,629
Love these sheep threads! I think these and the public land advocacy are what keep me coming back! Good luck!
WNC2500
Well-known member
I am thinking will be seeing a better picture of the one on the right from @Mule Kick maybe in the As They Lay section soon. I sure do enjoy following along with these sheep hunts. Such an amazing animal.
Ok time to update and tell the full story. We got home last night. A lot has happened since I last posted, some good some bad. Shots were fired but I didn’t come home with a ram.. As much as I would love to just leave out some details or act like this thread never existed, I feel like I owe it to you all to be honest about everything that went down and tell the whole story. Somehow it seems like this is a tough year for sheep hunters on HT, especially when it comes to making good shots/clean kills! Personally I experienced more highs and lows on this hunt than I ever have.. Bear with me and I’ll get it typed out.
npaden
Well-known member
Oh no! Hope this is just a temporary didn't come home with a ram deal since you still have a lot of season left.
These once in a lifetime type tags do put some extra pressure on a person for sure.
These once in a lifetime type tags do put some extra pressure on a person for sure.
Picking up where I left off, evening before opening day..
That night it started sprinkling in the evening. I laid in my tent and watched video of the rams for an hr or 2. I kept coming back to the broomed off one (I’ll call him the ‘left’ one because of the pic above) and decided he would be the target.. I will try to post more pics of the 2 later. I slept decent that night even though it was crazy windy for awhile then turned into a steady rain.
We were up and headed up the ridge as it was getting daylight.
Made it to the top and it kept getting more foggy/ rainy and then it changed to sleet and snow.
Peeked over the top into the basin where the rams had been the night before- nothing!
We sat up there for awhile before deciding that with the weather they obviously moved. We decided that Eric and I would drop down to the bottom of the bowl while Jeff and Ethan circled around up on the ridge to peek over the other side. Dad would stay put for the time being.
We parted ways as the fog rolled back in and it snowed harder than ever. We got down to the bottom and decided to huddle up by a rock until visibility improved and we could keep going to look around down lower and to the right where we kind of expected the rams had gone.
this pic shows the bowl the rams had been in. Eric n I were in the bottom, Jeff n Ethan on the ridge to the right..
After waiting a half hr or so it started to clear up a bit and we kept going.
Went down and around to the right and sure enough there they were! Eric and I got up behind a big rock and watched for a bit. They were bedded and totally relaxed. My rangefinder didn’t wanna work (the stupid thing has issues when it gets cold and refuses to work sometimes) but I finally figured out they were closer than we first thought- 550 yds. But both of the big rams were bedded where I didn’t have a shot.
I texted the guys we had found them and decided to wait til Dad and Jeff got down there.
When they got there, Jeff and I decided to drop down and get to about 350 yds. It was pretty easy to stay out of sight and we thought we had all the time in the world.
The blue dots are where they were bedded. We dropped into a little ravine to the left and worked our way down to the trees.
However as we left the rock where dad and Eric stayed (Ethan was still up high on the ridge where he had a birdseye view) it started dumping snow again.
It hadn’t been more than 10 mins we really started studying where they had been and we couldn’t see them. Looking back up at Dad he put his hands up indicating he couldn’t see with the fog and snow. We kept going to about 350 yds and waited while it dumped snow for another 20 mins or so. We kind of thought they might have gone in the trees to the left but when it finally cleared up there was no sign of them anywhere! Just disappeared.
That night it started sprinkling in the evening. I laid in my tent and watched video of the rams for an hr or 2. I kept coming back to the broomed off one (I’ll call him the ‘left’ one because of the pic above) and decided he would be the target.. I will try to post more pics of the 2 later. I slept decent that night even though it was crazy windy for awhile then turned into a steady rain.
We were up and headed up the ridge as it was getting daylight.
Made it to the top and it kept getting more foggy/ rainy and then it changed to sleet and snow.
Peeked over the top into the basin where the rams had been the night before- nothing!
We sat up there for awhile before deciding that with the weather they obviously moved. We decided that Eric and I would drop down to the bottom of the bowl while Jeff and Ethan circled around up on the ridge to peek over the other side. Dad would stay put for the time being.
We parted ways as the fog rolled back in and it snowed harder than ever. We got down to the bottom and decided to huddle up by a rock until visibility improved and we could keep going to look around down lower and to the right where we kind of expected the rams had gone.
this pic shows the bowl the rams had been in. Eric n I were in the bottom, Jeff n Ethan on the ridge to the right..After waiting a half hr or so it started to clear up a bit and we kept going.
Went down and around to the right and sure enough there they were! Eric and I got up behind a big rock and watched for a bit. They were bedded and totally relaxed. My rangefinder didn’t wanna work (the stupid thing has issues when it gets cold and refuses to work sometimes) but I finally figured out they were closer than we first thought- 550 yds. But both of the big rams were bedded where I didn’t have a shot.
I texted the guys we had found them and decided to wait til Dad and Jeff got down there.
When they got there, Jeff and I decided to drop down and get to about 350 yds. It was pretty easy to stay out of sight and we thought we had all the time in the world.
The blue dots are where they were bedded. We dropped into a little ravine to the left and worked our way down to the trees.
However as we left the rock where dad and Eric stayed (Ethan was still up high on the ridge where he had a birdseye view) it started dumping snow again.
It hadn’t been more than 10 mins we really started studying where they had been and we couldn’t see them. Looking back up at Dad he put his hands up indicating he couldn’t see with the fog and snow. We kept going to about 350 yds and waited while it dumped snow for another 20 mins or so. We kind of thought they might have gone in the trees to the left but when it finally cleared up there was no sign of them anywhere! Just disappeared.
Attachments
We sat there glassing for a few minutes, a little dumbfounded about how 12 rams just disappeared in front of us and then Jeff and I decided to head over there slowly and see if we could turn them up again.
We worked our way past where they had been all the way to where we could see down to the next basin, down to a lake.
Remember this pic for future reference
We didn’t see any sign of the rams anywhere and decide they must have gone into the trees somewhere. The other guys had text saying they were cold and going back to camp. We were a little ways from camp ourselves at this point so decided to head back. 
I came across this old skull on the way back. I think it’s a bighorn ewe?
Made it back to camp around 4 PM.
Still foggy and wet everywhere. My feet were absolutely soaked!
The others had a fire going and we spent the rest of the day trying to dry out some gear between rain showers and hanging out in our tents when it rained.
We worked our way past where they had been all the way to where we could see down to the next basin, down to a lake.
Remember this pic for future reference
We didn’t see any sign of the rams anywhere and decide they must have gone into the trees somewhere. The other guys had text saying they were cold and going back to camp. We were a little ways from camp ourselves at this point so decided to head back. I came across this old skull on the way back. I think it’s a bighorn ewe?
Made it back to camp around 4 PM.
Still foggy and wet everywhere. My feet were absolutely soaked!
The others had a fire going and we spent the rest of the day trying to dry out some gear between rain showers and hanging out in our tents when it rained.
That night it snowed and rained most of the night. I woke up pretty often to whack snow off my tent and occasionally I would wake up to the sound of someone else whacking their tent to knock snow off as well haha.
The next morning I peeked out briefly at daylight and could see there was a couple inches of snow on the ground and socked in with fog.
Went back to sleep for a couple hrs before I got up.
It ended up only snowing about 2” but was a very wet snow and visibility was about 200 yds all morning. The others had a fire going again and we hung out there for awhile as we came up with a plan for the next few days.
The next morning I peeked out briefly at daylight and could see there was a couple inches of snow on the ground and socked in with fog.
Went back to sleep for a couple hrs before I got up.
It ended up only snowing about 2” but was a very wet snow and visibility was about 200 yds all morning. The others had a fire going again and we hung out there for awhile as we came up with a plan for the next few days.
Dad decided he wasn’t sure he could make it back up the ridge and down to where the rams were last seen, so we decided he would stay at that camp another night and then hike out a different route to a different trailhead where it was mostly downhill. One of my brothers would plan to hike out earlier the next morning and drive around to the other trailhead to pick him up.
The rest of us packed up camp around noon (Tuesday) in the fog and decided to move over the ridge and down close to where we had last seen the rams. We knew the weather was supposed to start clearing up that afternoon.
The rest of us packed up camp around noon (Tuesday) in the fog and decided to move over the ridge and down close to where we had last seen the rams. We knew the weather was supposed to start clearing up that afternoon.
While looking for a decent spot to pitch our tents we were spread out a bit in the trees and Ethan made one of the coolest finds ever! A mostly intact mtn goat skull! The horns were off the sheaths but were laying right there. I’m guessing winter kill but who knows?
npaden
Well-known member
Those rocks look slippery! Very cool find on the goat!
This is where I pick up where I left off a few days ago.. hopefully you can still make sense of the sequence of things.
We got camp set up and an hr or 2 later the fog lifted and the sun came out. Jeff was antsy to get going and I told him to go ahead and go up on the ridge to take a peek while the rest of us gathered our gear and followed him.
He was ahead of us by 15 mins or so and as we were hiking up he called me and said he got a glimpse of the rams right down by the lake. He had hiked up while more fog rolled in and it had cleared just long enough for him to see them… and then more fog!
He told us to circle around and get up close to where he was. We did and the fog (or clouds haha) kept dwindling- it was in and out all evening but from here on out the fog never lasted more than a few minutes.
We were on a steep slope and kept scooting forward until we could finally see the rams. Remember the previous pic of this lake? Yep they were right down there! Still have no idea where they had been the day before but probably in the trees somewhere…
Ethan and Eric stayed back 10 yds or so(Jeff was 20 yds behind and above us yet) and I kept scootching down on my butt until I could see them well. I took my pack off and laid it in front of me for a rest. Here is a screenshot of the video. Rams were kind of hidden from sight behind me in this pic, but about where the blue dots are.
I got a round in the chamber and laid the gun on my pack. Got out the binos and studied them for several minutes while also whisper-yelling at Jeff to figure out which ram was what. They were in and out of the rocks and the big one (left one)was below a rock shelf. Got it confirmed with Jeff and settled in for the shot.
Side note- yes I know my orange isn’t on me. I made the mistake of taking a fleece orange vest and at this point it was absolutely soaked so I had it strapped to my pack..
We got camp set up and an hr or 2 later the fog lifted and the sun came out. Jeff was antsy to get going and I told him to go ahead and go up on the ridge to take a peek while the rest of us gathered our gear and followed him.
He was ahead of us by 15 mins or so and as we were hiking up he called me and said he got a glimpse of the rams right down by the lake. He had hiked up while more fog rolled in and it had cleared just long enough for him to see them… and then more fog!
He told us to circle around and get up close to where he was. We did and the fog (or clouds haha) kept dwindling- it was in and out all evening but from here on out the fog never lasted more than a few minutes.
We were on a steep slope and kept scooting forward until we could finally see the rams. Remember the previous pic of this lake? Yep they were right down there! Still have no idea where they had been the day before but probably in the trees somewhere…
Ethan and Eric stayed back 10 yds or so(Jeff was 20 yds behind and above us yet) and I kept scootching down on my butt until I could see them well. I took my pack off and laid it in front of me for a rest. Here is a screenshot of the video. Rams were kind of hidden from sight behind me in this pic, but about where the blue dots are.
I got a round in the chamber and laid the gun on my pack. Got out the binos and studied them for several minutes while also whisper-yelling at Jeff to figure out which ram was what. They were in and out of the rocks and the big one (left one)was below a rock shelf. Got it confirmed with Jeff and settled in for the shot.
Side note- yes I know my orange isn’t on me. I made the mistake of taking a fleece orange vest and at this point it was absolutely soaked so I had it strapped to my pack..
I ranged them at 260. It was a very steep slope and am guessing LOS was more like 350.
I knew i didn’t have much clearance with the way the hill rolled around but checked and still thought I had enough to shoot half prone/ half kneeling.
Got settled in and felt pretty solid. Breathe deep, let it out, squeeze- boom!
At the shot I lost the impact and the rams instantly ran left and disappeared for a few seconds before popping out a little closer and moving back to the right. Jeff said he thinks I hit high (he saw dirt fly behind him) but at this point we all thought I had hit him.
They didn’t really know what happened but were still getting out of there pretty quick. I confirmed that the one I ‘hit’ was in the lead ahead of the others by a good bit. Second shot was a click! Misfire. Racked another one in and got steady as I could- boom!
We all heard it hit and he took off at a run with the rest of the rams following 30-50 yds behind. I ran down the slope a bit and got off another shot just before he disappeared but am confident I missed.
At this point they disappeared to the right through a low saddle and we hustled as hard as we could around the ridge. It was about 200 yds and steep and slick. I was out of breath and thought I might not make it in time but we get over to where we could see the back of this bowl. We heard rocks rolling and finally found them still lower than we expected. 360 yds they weren’t moving fast anymore. I got a solid rest on a rock and got them in the scope. Start checking rams and he’s not with them! Double check- I was sure he’s not there. Jeff whipped out the spotter as they started moving up again. He also confirmed my ram wasn’t there. Counted them- only 10. Jeff had counted 11 earlier when he was watching them before the shot. (No idea where the 12th one was from a few days ago, but will touch on this later)
At this point we sat down for a few minutes to catch our breath and talk it over. From this ‘spine’ on the ridge we had a great vantage and could see every direction where the ram might go.
I knew i didn’t have much clearance with the way the hill rolled around but checked and still thought I had enough to shoot half prone/ half kneeling.
Got settled in and felt pretty solid. Breathe deep, let it out, squeeze- boom!
At the shot I lost the impact and the rams instantly ran left and disappeared for a few seconds before popping out a little closer and moving back to the right. Jeff said he thinks I hit high (he saw dirt fly behind him) but at this point we all thought I had hit him.
They didn’t really know what happened but were still getting out of there pretty quick. I confirmed that the one I ‘hit’ was in the lead ahead of the others by a good bit. Second shot was a click! Misfire. Racked another one in and got steady as I could- boom!
We all heard it hit and he took off at a run with the rest of the rams following 30-50 yds behind. I ran down the slope a bit and got off another shot just before he disappeared but am confident I missed.
At this point they disappeared to the right through a low saddle and we hustled as hard as we could around the ridge. It was about 200 yds and steep and slick. I was out of breath and thought I might not make it in time but we get over to where we could see the back of this bowl. We heard rocks rolling and finally found them still lower than we expected. 360 yds they weren’t moving fast anymore. I got a solid rest on a rock and got them in the scope. Start checking rams and he’s not with them! Double check- I was sure he’s not there. Jeff whipped out the spotter as they started moving up again. He also confirmed my ram wasn’t there. Counted them- only 10. Jeff had counted 11 earlier when he was watching them before the shot. (No idea where the 12th one was from a few days ago, but will touch on this later)
At this point we sat down for a few minutes to catch our breath and talk it over. From this ‘spine’ on the ridge we had a great vantage and could see every direction where the ram might go.
We had about 2 hrs til dark and decided I would stay right there and watch for him in case he got bumped while the others circled around to the bottom and looked for blood etc.
These pics were taken from my vantage point. The yellow line shows the approximate route the rams took up and out of the bowl.
The red dots are about where my shots were taken.
The blue in bottom pic is where we relocated them after hustling over there…
These pics were taken from my vantage point. The yellow line shows the approximate route the rams took up and out of the bowl.
The red dots are about where my shots were taken.
The blue in bottom pic is where we relocated them after hustling over there…
This is where we should have taken more time to communicate better on where I had last seen him, right after the third shot. I sat up there freezing and going bananas for almost 2 hrs til Jeff text and said they are headed back up on the ridge.
I watched for a bit longer then went over and met them. Turns out in the rush of things they had thought the rams were down closer to the trees by the lake and had spent most of the time looking down there. I was confident I knew where he was at the third shot and had seen him go into the little saddle above the lake. At this point it was getting dark and we were up on the ridge about 300 yds from where we had last seen him. We then looked at the video. Eric was just videoing with his phone and we knew he never got the ram because of the roll of the hill but he was just videoing me.
Looked at the first shot in slowmo- uh oh this isn’t good!
You can clearly see debris of some kind fly up about 10 yds in front of me. Big mistake on my part. I should have tried sitting up for more clearance over the hill instead of being set on shooting prone. The more we watched the more convinced we became that the first shot was a miss. Jeff was also pretty sure he had seen dirt fly up behind him. Without knowing where the second shot was we decided the best thing to do was wait til morning. We went back to camp knowing it would be a long night.
To make matters worse, that night we laid in our tents listening to more rain. It rained pretty hard for about an hr.
Whatever blood there might have been was washed out as we never found a drop the next day.
We were leaving camp at first light and it was just full daylight by the time we got down there.
This is where I don’t have a whole lot to say… the 4 of us grid searched the whole area around the lake and up into the basin where we had seen the other rams. Like I said, never found a drop of blood. There were some tracks but with that many rams in there the last few days plus very rocky terrain it was hopeless trying to follow tracks... There were also goats in there down close to the lake. We basically combed the entire area for about 5 hrs and sat and glassed the upper end of the bowl as well.
Not a single sign of him anywhere. To say I was sick would be an understatement! Still am actually. As rocky and rough as the terrain was, it was still pretty open and just not that many places he could be hiding if he was still close by.
I’m stilled confused and have so many questions. Was it somehow just a flesh wound and he was hanging tight in the bottom in the evening and then he got out in the night? Where was he while the other rams got out? Did I even hit him at all?
The only facts we know: We all thought we heard a solid hit on the second shot. He was always the lead ram, even a few days before when we watched them, wherever he went the others would follow. When we saw them @10 mins after the third shot he wasn’t with them. Zero blood. And that’s about it.
In hindsight I should have obviously done some things differently. I should have taken more time on the follow up shot. I was so sure I had hit him and was honestly surprised he was still moving as good as he was. It was all about getting another round in him- I’m one to keep shooting until they don’t move anymore! I remember he was standing still at the second shot but I think he just started taking a step and I was definitely a little rushed at that point. I feel like i hit back if i did hit him. So many more things still going through my mind. Feel free to ask questions and offer advice! Like I said it would be so much easier to just say I missed.. but I can’t confirm that one way or another.
I do feel like we did everything in our power to find him and if there was anything more we’d have done it. I will post a few more pics of different angles of the location as well as screenshot of OnX tracks…
I watched for a bit longer then went over and met them. Turns out in the rush of things they had thought the rams were down closer to the trees by the lake and had spent most of the time looking down there. I was confident I knew where he was at the third shot and had seen him go into the little saddle above the lake. At this point it was getting dark and we were up on the ridge about 300 yds from where we had last seen him. We then looked at the video. Eric was just videoing with his phone and we knew he never got the ram because of the roll of the hill but he was just videoing me.
Looked at the first shot in slowmo- uh oh this isn’t good!
You can clearly see debris of some kind fly up about 10 yds in front of me. Big mistake on my part. I should have tried sitting up for more clearance over the hill instead of being set on shooting prone. The more we watched the more convinced we became that the first shot was a miss. Jeff was also pretty sure he had seen dirt fly up behind him. Without knowing where the second shot was we decided the best thing to do was wait til morning. We went back to camp knowing it would be a long night.
To make matters worse, that night we laid in our tents listening to more rain. It rained pretty hard for about an hr.
Whatever blood there might have been was washed out as we never found a drop the next day.
We were leaving camp at first light and it was just full daylight by the time we got down there.
This is where I don’t have a whole lot to say… the 4 of us grid searched the whole area around the lake and up into the basin where we had seen the other rams. Like I said, never found a drop of blood. There were some tracks but with that many rams in there the last few days plus very rocky terrain it was hopeless trying to follow tracks... There were also goats in there down close to the lake. We basically combed the entire area for about 5 hrs and sat and glassed the upper end of the bowl as well.
Not a single sign of him anywhere. To say I was sick would be an understatement! Still am actually. As rocky and rough as the terrain was, it was still pretty open and just not that many places he could be hiding if he was still close by.
I’m stilled confused and have so many questions. Was it somehow just a flesh wound and he was hanging tight in the bottom in the evening and then he got out in the night? Where was he while the other rams got out? Did I even hit him at all?
The only facts we know: We all thought we heard a solid hit on the second shot. He was always the lead ram, even a few days before when we watched them, wherever he went the others would follow. When we saw them @10 mins after the third shot he wasn’t with them. Zero blood. And that’s about it.
In hindsight I should have obviously done some things differently. I should have taken more time on the follow up shot. I was so sure I had hit him and was honestly surprised he was still moving as good as he was. It was all about getting another round in him- I’m one to keep shooting until they don’t move anymore! I remember he was standing still at the second shot but I think he just started taking a step and I was definitely a little rushed at that point. I feel like i hit back if i did hit him. So many more things still going through my mind. Feel free to ask questions and offer advice! Like I said it would be so much easier to just say I missed.. but I can’t confirm that one way or another.
I do feel like we did everything in our power to find him and if there was anything more we’d have done it. I will post a few more pics of different angles of the location as well as screenshot of OnX tracks…
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This is some of our tracks. Eric wasn’t tracking because his onX wasn’t working (figured out his subscription had run out then haha) so some of the holes would have been filled in by him.. After they shared their tracks with me we did take another pass through there and checked off some of the bigger holes. This also doesn’t include the tracks of the evening before.. the waypoint is where the last shot was and where he disappeared right after. The red line is where they had run through going from left to right.
It might not look like that big of an area was searched but like I said everything around it was open, very steep rock and we glassed it all a lot. My opinion is that if he made it up higher he probably has a good chance to survive?
In my experience, mortally wounded animals go downhill. There was no water up higher in the bowl.
But my experience is with elk and deer so maybe sheep are different?
My goal here is just to be open and honest about it- not trying to hide anything or make it sound better than it was! Fire away!
In my experience, mortally wounded animals go downhill. There was no water up higher in the bowl.
But my experience is with elk and deer so maybe sheep are different?
My goal here is just to be open and honest about it- not trying to hide anything or make it sound better than it was! Fire away!
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