Search the Community

Greetings and my apologies for not posting this write up earlier because i truly thought i had. I was lucky enough to draw the early 45c sheep, in 2022, with 23/24 points. I spend 2 or 3 weekends on month, starting in July, and running through October in scouting mode. Needless to say, it was brutally hot and I had to get creative by installing a portable AC unit into the bed of my truck/camper because average summer night time temperatures averaged around 95+ degrees. Daytime temperatures were very consistent at 110. I lived 3.5 hours from my unit plus another 30-60 minutes to my glassing spots. The first few months was really learning roads/access and locating the persistent water holes. I tried to limit my hikes to early mornings to avoid high daytime temperatures, but more times than i would like to admit, i found myself hiking in/out in high temperatures - brutal. Minus the search for water holes, most of my glassing was limited to road glassing or a high point near the road. During all my early scouting trips, monsoons were pretty consistent and by October the north facing slopes in the large basins were loaded with food - literally a green up. By November, I had seen many sheep and just as many rams but all seen from afar. Even with using my big eyes (two 20-60x65mm swarovski spotting scopes with a bracket), I hadn't seen anything that wow'ed me and really used my scouting trips to try and exclude areas during the hunt. I started to question my decision of DIY and should I hire a guide - I was beginning to doubt my approach. So my hunt was starting on 11/18 and I set up sheep camp on 11/10. Most of my support was going to show up a few days before the start of the hunt. With nothing but time and tread on my boots to waste, I started hiking into areas based on my months of scouting. i was averaging 10+ miles a day and it wasn't until day 5 before finding what i considered a book ram. I sat on this ram for multiple days. This ram was named and if it was opening day, i would have shot "Dirty Brown". He was an old class 4 ram with most of rump hair missing so he looked like a dirty @ss ram - aka dirty brown. While in the same basin, I also found another shooter ram. He was smaller than dirty brown so we didnt name him. On the third day of sitting on Dirty Brown, he went MIA. I spend the whole day trying to relocate but I would never see him again. Luckily the day i lost dirty brown, my buddy showed up in sheep camp. I sent him into the next basin to the south - we thought divide and conquer. I was truly dejected thinking i lost the best ram i had seen in the unit. I finished the day watching ram #2 - we still hadn't named him. We both returned to camp and i was licking my wounds. I figured ram #2 was a shooter (likely a book ram) and I will go back and sit on this ram. I am telling my buddy that i lost the target ram but had a backup ram. The whole time updating my buddy on my trials from the day, he had a shitty grin on his face. Once i was done crying about losing dirty brown, he showed me pics of what he found - we ended calling him Rick Flare (horns flared). We wake up the day before opening day. My buddy goes back in to sit on Rick Flare and i went to sit on ram #2. At the end of day, on Thursday, we were left with only one ram - Rick Flare. Ram #2 went MIA on the third day exactly like Dirty Brown. We were ecstatic that Rick Flare was still in the same basin, so plans were drawn for opening day. Back in camp most of my team arrived and few were arriving in the morning. We had one plan for opening day - find Rick Flare and shoot him. However, after losing dirty brown and ram #2 on the third day, i was really worried he would not show because opening day would be "Day 3" for Rick Flare. I didn't sleep well that night. While sitting on all these rams, we did not see any other sheep hunters, but paranoia set in and departure time was bumped up. We were over an hour+ to the ram from camp and the caravan pulled out at 400 AM. Multiple rigs in-tow, we make our way to Rick Flare. We stopped short of the basin to split up the teams since we were not fully sure where the ram would be. Half the team stayed far back to see more of the basin and a small group headed up to where we last saw Rick Flare. To our surprise and utter disappointment, no sheep in the entire basin. Despair, frustration was setting in that the sheep moved out of this basin. We didn't have any back up plans since we already lost two shooter rams days before. My buddy said, "i am going up into the cut where i originally found the ram.". 15 minutes later he comes running back and he found the sheep in a tight crevice. my team moved to continue our search for Rick Flare and it was not long before Rick Flare was spotted. A handful of my team stayed back to watch and my buddy and I attempted to make a move. Rick was well over 1000+ yards so we moved for a closer shot. It appeared with every step the ram was watching us especially since he moved away from the other sheep in the cut. Luckily, in hindsight, he was moving closer to us while we moved closer to him. Unfortunately, it felt like every step we moved was being watched by the ram. In our eagerness to get in shooting range, we pulled out of the wash to set up for a shot. We were lined out at 571 yards - prone. Keep in mind, i do all my load development and DOPE on a 300 RUM. I was consistently shooting out to 900 yards (popping one gallon water jugs), so at 571 I felt extremely confident. I was shooting 210 Berger VLD pushing 3100+FPS. I was on reload number three for the brass and normally start to discard brass after 5-6 reloads. The video below was the first shot. It was hit, he partially flopped, but he got back up. I am cycling my next round and only part of the case came out. I realized quickly that i just experienced a head case separation and the ram is still on his feet. Adrenaline was running high and half the case was still stuck in my chamber. In the heat of the moment, the only thought was to slam the gun on the butt of the gun. Luckily the sheep gods were on my side and the case slid out. After removing the case which seemed like an eternity, the ram had moved and i was blocked by a palo verde and forced to move. I will give credit to my buddy for remaining calm and staying on the ram. I was able to reposition and locate the ram. I take my second shot, with no adjustments, and my spotter could not tell if it was a hit/miss. I thought it was a hit because i heard the thud on impact. Now, the ram is behind a tree and all we can see is his head and horns. We were told after the fact, he was a dead ram standing after the second shot. He was doing the death wobble but all my buddy and I could see was his head/horns moving in and out of the tree. On the next wobble outside of the tree, i sent bullet number three and ended my pursuit of the rugged desert bighorn. I was tagged out by 8:30 AM on opening day. 7C3F14A3-3DBF-4070-B892-8CFF1D10A56F.mov