Another dall ram hits the dirt. The toughest shot of my life.

[308Nut]

To all,

 

A few months ago a friend (Jess) asked me to take him dall sheep hunting. He had always wanted a ram but was afraid to go and pull the trigger on a ram due to all the restrictions of taking a “legal” ram. A “legal” ram is one who’s horn (at least one) has grown to 360 degrees of a circle or has both horns broken AKA broomed or is at least 8 years old as determined by horn annuli. Many rams reach a mature age such as 8, 9, 10 and some even 11 years of age without ever becoming 360 degrees of a circle. Anyway, I had not planned a sheep hunt this year as they closed my honey hole to drawing only (which I was lucky enough to draw a permit there last year which was the first year of the draw) and I had harvested my 6th ram last year so I was going to focus on something else but Jess twisted my arm and what can I say, I was weak. I researched areas and found an area that historically produced good numbers of rams even though the trophy quality was down. He didn’t care he just wanted a legal sheep. So to make a long story short, we went opening day and found 2 rams. I sized them up and determined that they were not 360 degrees (full curl) but I thought that one had age potential. After getting closer and sizing the rams up, I concluded that one was indeed 8 years of age. The funny thing is that the better of the 2 could not be identified as a full curl and I couldn’t tell how many horn annuli he has. He was clearly the leader of the 2 rams but I could not prove he was age legal. After expressing to my buddy that he was 8 years old and legal, he elected to pass. He had a hard time shooting a less than full curl and I understood. I elected to pass just because I am spoiled when it comes to rams. I invited another buddy of mine Charlie hunting so he could harvest this age legal ram. Without hesitation, he accepted. We hiked in after work on Friday and spent the night out of the area of the sheep. Saturday morning we found them but they were feeding very close to a herd of ewes which mad a stalk impossible. After they all went over the ridge, we set up camp. Later that evening the rams appeared and then disappeared over a ridge. We followed and sized them up again. Once again, I determined he was 8 years old. We passed due to the terrain he would have rolled down into. We watched them bed down on a high ridge. We retreated to camp for the night. The next morning we found them again. They bedded down 350 yards below us. I mean STRAIGHT below us. I figured the angle and told Charlie to hold dead on the cross hairs. I zero at 300 yards and the angle was calculated at 33 degrees which equaled a 300 yard shot. We elected to go with the high shoulder shot because they were so close to the cliffs that we couldn’t risk him making it the 30 yards into the cliffs if he double lung shot him. He set up, fired and took the ram off his feet. He immediately rolled another 350 yard into the fog. A few minutes later the fog cleared and we could see him and found that he was incapacitated but not dead. We had a long hike ahead of us that would take a couple of hours to get to him. I did not want him to suffer so I asked for his blessing to put another hole in him. He agreed and I set up for the shot. I ranged him several times and got between 698 and 702. I figured the angle and the ACI was telling me about 32 degrees. I did a quick calculation and compensated accordingly. What would have been 12.25 MOA but was 9.25 MOA due to the angle. The only way to line him up in the scope was to get the stock so far off the ground I could not get a rest under the stock. I began to feel pretty sick. I was faced with a shot I didn’t think I could make and desperately needed to. I scratched my head for a minute and had an epiphany. I took the center post out of my tri-pod and after 10 minutes of fiddling with it got it right. I leveled the rifle, lined him up and touched the 12oz. Jewel. The shot missed clean. I centered his lungs up again (this time while Charlie was behind the spotting scope) and touched another one off. He said “It went right over his back”) I racked another into the chamber and aimed at the very bottom of the ram in line with his ribs and touched the third one off. Charlie screamed “It’s a hit! He’s down.” Later I would learn that I hit him in the center of the neck bone where it met the scapula and that the shot was really 40 degrees. this is why I was so high. He rolled another 100 yards and stopped. This time he was not moving at all. I realized that despite harvesting sheep at farther ranges in the past, I had just made the toughest shot of my life. We packed up and made “the walk of shame.” We call it the walk of shame because no matter how sure you are of a sheep’s legal status, sometimes mistakes are made. After we reached the ram and verified that he was indeed 8 years old the celebration was on! We took a bunch of photos, cleaned him up and packed him out. Today ADF&G aged him at 8 years old and “sealed” him. True to my promise to Charlie, he was “age legal”. The 168 AMAX at both 350 yards and 700 was absolutely devastating. The 700 yard neck shot removed nearly 4 inches of spine and blew a 3" hole on the off side. The "high shoulder shot" missed the spine a wee bit and missed the lungs. The damage done to the shoulder area was impressive. This is why he was completely incapacitated. The 308 winne has done the job again!

 

Since many of you live and hunt in AZ where the game officials are very picky about who actually dispatches the game animal versus who wounds it in regards to who "tags" the animal, I thought (thanks to another member's looking out for me) I would express that in AK they are not picky in that regard. You draw blood, you own it.

 

 

On a sadder note, 25 minutes before Charlie shot his ram when we topped the ridge where we got cell phone service there was a text from my wife waiting for me that stated a very good friend of mine's 18 year old daughter was killed 2 days earlier in a hunting accident near Homer. They were moose hunting and she was shot. This is a great time as always to remind yourselves to be very carefull out there this hunting season. Happy and safe hunting to all.

 

 

Here I am verifing the ram's legal status the night before. You can see the rams in the circles:

 

 

Charlie, proud of his trophy:

 

 

Team work gets it done!

 

 

The circle is where we shot from. The arrow was the rams position, and the curve is next to the line in the shale the ram created when he rolled:

 

 

Setting up the tri-pod for a rear stabilizer:

 

 

The moment of truth at 700 yards:

 

[bowhunter4life]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! speechless

[Ernesto C]

Nice!! CONGRATULATIOS!!

[Chef]

Very cool.

[125coues]

Congrats to your friend Charlie on a great looking ram,loved seeing the pics and reading the story

[Guest 300ultramag.]

you sheep hunters are tough dudes.. Well done and great sheep to boot.

[CouesWhitetail]

Awesome, thanks for posting the pics and story!

 

Amanda

[Tines]

That was cool! Love the shot angle and set-up

 

[couesridge]

congrats on a nice ram

[coues7]

AWESOME!!! Thanks for sharin'. The one question I have is what made your Angle Cosine Indicator (ACI) give your an 8 degree reading error? Were you using the exbal program?

[Coues Sniper]

You are the man

 

and +1 on Coues7's questions

[tjhunt2]

Congratulaions and thanks for sharing your hunt with us. How I wish someday I could pull that hunt of a lifetime off but reallize the older I get the odds are stacking against me. Keep the stories coming because that might be as close to an Alaska hunt I'll ever be on.

 

TJ

[308Nut]

AWESOME!!! Thanks for sharin'. The one question I have is what made your Angle Cosine Indicator (ACI) give your an 8 degree reading error? Were you using the exbal program?

 

I have been having trouble with the orange needle in my ACI sticking or hanging up a bit. The orange needle often times finds some resistance and doest always settle in where it should. The best I could do was aim the rifle at the ram and look at the needle. I came up with about 33 degrees for the first shot at 350 yards. After analizing that later, it was closer to 43+ degrees. In the heat of the moment I didnt stop to think about the problem I have had recently with it and didnt tap on it or try and double check it. I just aimed, looked and went from there. At 350 yards, there was still a difference due to the error but not enough to miss the mark more than a few inches. I initially thought it was due to the numbers being spaced out on the unit in large increments and since I was in a hurry, I thought I had just overlooked what the number should have really been. Later I remebered that I had been having trouble with it sticking.

 

Charlie isnt a long range shooter but he likes to use my rifle on his sheep hunts due to the longer ranges we often face. I do the math and set up the scope and he pulls the trigger. I will only let him shoot out to 500 yards, hence the reason I took the final shots. The second shot (700) was figured at 32 degrees. I was not using exbal. I was using a calculator I wrote. It wasnt the program's fault. When correct numbers are entered, it gives me correct numbers as accurate as any other program including Exbal, RSI and JBM online ballistics. I just need to send my ACI back to Sniper Tools for repair or replacement. I had not done that earlier becuase as much as I shoot and know about exterior ballistics I really just failed to think that 5-8 degrees made more than a couple inches of difference. After analyzing the numbers on the computer I have been set straight. 8 degrees in the angle ranges I was faced with amounts to 9-10" at 700 yards with my loads. The funny thing is that the difference between 0 degrees and 8 degrees at 700 yards is very minimal. The difference between 32 degrees and 40 degrees at 700 yards is significant enough to shoot right over the top of a critter. I learn something every time. The harshest angle I have ever shot was 17 degrees. I never really thought I would ever take such a steep shot. Even though I hunt sheep often, when I am looking straight down at sheep, they have always been very close. I never thought I would ever be faced with a shot that steep and long combined. This was my first really steep shot. Hopefully you guys will learn from my mistake. That is to use tools in good working order so you dont have to "wing it".

[GameHauler]

Thanks Nut for the pics, story and tech stuff.

Dall Sheep is my dream hunt and hope some day I can do it.

[CouesWhitetail]

308Nut....Thanks for all the great info on ballistics and such that you provide in the forum, I really appreciate it and I am sure many others do as well.

 

Amnada