Should I get a tag too?! Alberta Big Horn Sheep hunt

[bonedogg]

Our ram stands and the rest do so in sequence. He turns quartering to me, turns his head and I feel like its the best time to send one. Still a guess on distance as my rangefinder is dead.

Boom. miss.
sheep scatter
Boom miss. sheep comeback together into a group
My son says you are shooting low
my ram steps away from the group to lead them up the mountain
Boom. hit. I take out his back leg, shattered and hanging on. WTF??!!
reload
Boom. miss.
Boom. miss.
The more I miss the more i started to shake.

Boom miss, boom miss. boom miss..............

Now I'm freaking out as something isn't right... Is the gun off, did it get bumped on the way up, how many bullets do I have left, whats the actual distance, did I pack 10 or 8 shells.....I'm thinking i packed ten but realize i only have 8 and the ram comes out of a cut and beds within 125yds. He is sick and drooling and can't put pressure on that back leg, its no bueno for him. He lays down and gets back up a few times. I have no more bullets and I am sure he's gunna die but I cant stay here all night. What if he dies in the dark and tumbles past me and I don't see where he goes? At that moment my phone rings and my buddy below asks, did ya kill him? There were alot of shots he says....... I say no, ram isn't dead and I need your gun ASAP!!!

At this moment I was scrambling, I ain't gunna lie. My son looks at me and says, "I'll go get Ken's gun". I was enamored and knew he was right, someone had to watch the ram and someone needed to meet ken on the way up and get that gun to me, and it was him. I have asked that kid to do a few things in the past and I got that look all of us dad's have seen....not this time, and I was proud!!

 

[bonedogg]

I watched that ram for 30 minutes and he didn't go ten yards. He laid his head down once and tipped over and I thought he was dead, but nope, he gets up and spins around a few more times. Ten minutes later here comes the boy and he has the gun. What a trooper he was! I know I would have barfed a lung with the excitement and stress of the situation. I told him afterwards that none of this would have happened without his help. He was a main clog in the wheel that made it happen!

Boom, ram was dead with a shot to his neck as he only gave me frontal view and the cartwheels were in full affect as he tumbled past us on the same slope, approx. 200yds down and came to a halt on this small ledge. Bullet came out on his spine. Time to get to work, it was close to 5pm now. My son and I walked down together to the ram and our fiend was on his way up to help pack out the ram. here he lay.

 

[bonedogg]

We get to him and he's not pretty. Both sides of his horns were damaged, one was broken in 3 spots and splintered up, but still attached thank god! The other side was slightly damaged but not that bad. the slope he died on was severe and the pucker factor was on as no more than 20 yds below us was a 100foot cliff. I never did tell my kid or buddy that as I didn't want them to get woozy.......Cape was scared up and his face was pretty dirty.

 

[bonedogg]

 

[bonedogg]

 

[bonedogg]

We start the process of quartering him up, caping him, and loading the packs. We got to the top of the hill right at dark and had to make the decent down in the dark. 5 grueling hours later, a few rolled ankles, a few tumbles and sliding down the steep parts on our buts we were back to my buddies truck. Another 2 hours back to mine and we pulled into McDonalds at 2am for some eats. When my son and I got home, 230 am, I could smell fuel bigtime and thought, man my truck must be running rich!!! 4 hours later its time to get up and go to work, I have a 2 hour drive that day for a meeting and I stop to get fuel. As I am fueling up, I decide to walk around the back end of my truck and all I can see is gas cascading out from under my truck!!!! WTF!!! I look under my truck and there is a perfect hole in my gas tank!!! Some MF is gunna die!! I run inside the fueling station and asked for a spill kit! Run outside and place it under my truck. I grab all of the "kitty litter" absorbent and start spreading it on the spill, at this moment the spill was three times the size of my truck and starting to run off site.....here is pic of the hole........Unreal!!!!

 

[bonedogg]

The boy, the legend. Carter. I love you son!!

 

[bonedogg]

Here are some pics after I got him home. 16" bases and 36" long, around 170" ram. Confirmed 6.5 with the biologist at registration. My biggest ram to date.

Sheep ribs for supper the next night.

 

[bonedogg]

 

[bonedogg]

 

[bonedogg]

 

[El Jason]

Great story! How far off do you think you were on your initial range estimate?

 

[bonedogg]

plugged and registered

 

[WNC2500]

Did your friend get a ram? Thanks for taking us along. That was a heck of a hunt. Highs and lows for sure, all in a very quick span of time.

 

[bonedogg]

Great story! How far off do you think you were on your initial range estimate?

Who knows. There was a subtle roll in the terrain with a bigger gap than I estimated perhaps. 250 was probably closer to 350, I still need to shoot the gun to confirm all was well there. I need to relax more, I still get so excited at go time! I’m not happy with the way that part played out 100%, but I was also glad to see it over.

 

[El Jason]

Love those chocolate, scarred horns.

 

[bonedogg]

Did your friend get a ram? Thanks for taking us along. That was a heck of a hunt. Highs and lows for sure, all in a very quick span of time.

No, he did not.

A month ago, we had planned to take the last week of the season off. Hunt hard for sheep. He no longer wants to….. I get it. Not everyone likes the challenge and physical demand of sheep hunting. It’s not for 80-90 % of hunters, I am guessing it is a high number. It’s borderline insanity when you think of the beating your body goes through and the skills to do it all in serious Grizz country. Ticks, scrambling on a ledges, with sheer drop offs on both sides, cramps, blisters, and learning how walk again for days afterwards is always fun to navigate .

 

[rmyoung1]

Cool stuff. Congratulations on a nice ram and memorable experience with your boy! None of us are jealous. Really.

 

[mevertsen]

Who knows. There was a subtle roll in the terrain with a bigger gap than I estimated perhaps. 250 was probably closer to 350, I still need to shoot the gun to confirm all was well there. I need to relax more, I still get so excited at go time! I’m not happy with the way that part played out 100%, but I was also glad to see it over.

I can practice all day no problems. Put an animal in front of me and I fall apart. Lol.

P.s. isn't there a thread on here about how many shells to carry on a hunt? This is a good example of why more isn't a bad idea.

Nice ram. Glad you were able to get it done.

 

[bonedogg]

My buddy is the best at making us laugh. After the ram was down, he goes,”How the heck are we gunna get a truck up here ?!?!”