bowsniper Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Thanks to great loyal friends, I was able to fill my 40B Copper/Mohawk desert bighorn sheep tag on Wednesday. I had a bunch of pictures from around the area of some big monsters, but I wasn’t hunting for one ram in particular. I had a family vacation planned over Christmas (more important than the sheep tag), so I did not plan to be real picky and hold out for a monster. Also, my then 15 year old son had the same tag 3 years ago, and we had a hard time just to find two sheep in several days with a bunch of people helping us. I started the hunt with just 3 of my closest hunting buddies. (Thank you to all who planned to come out this next weekend and help.) We are bow hunters, so we were a little out of our element on a rifle sheep tag. We saw one of the other tag holders, and he had a dozen people glassing with binoculars that needed a wheelbarrow, and this did get me kind of worried. But my friends Lonnie, Mike (hoghntr on CWT.com) , and Steve are incredible glassers, and I was comfortable shooting out to 500 yards, so I thought we had a reasonable chance. Also, several people offered to be around later in the hunt, and that REALLY eased the pressure on me. Opening morning we found a ram that Steve had glassed up the day before at about 2000 yards. He was in the 150’s and very pretty. I tried to close on in him to 500 yards and take him, but he bolted up the mountain when we were at 550 yards. We checked on him several hours later and he was still at the top of the mountain. The second day we tried a new area and Steve saw a ram disappear around a wall at several thousand yards. We went out to find him but never saw him again. On the third day we tried yet another new area. Steve unfortunately need to leave for home. About 9am, Mike picked up three rams about 1500 yards out. They were small, medium, and LARGE. They disappeared around a ridge. Lonnie and I started hiking down a wash to close the gap, while Mike held tight trying to find them again. Lonnie and I had been out two hours without finding them when it started to rain. It had been warm and sunny, we were completely unprepared for the rain, so we crawled under rocks to wait it out. Shortly after the rain ended Lonnie found the small ram way up on the mountain. I climbed up a smaller mountain in between the sheep and us for a better look and hopefully a shot. I took a long time to slowly crest the last ten feet and look over. The ram on opening day bolted at 500 yards, and now I was within 300 yards of these guys, so I was being extra “STEALTH”. I glassed up the small ram looking right at me at 325 yards. He had probably been watching the “STEALTH” hunter for the last 10 minutes. I finally glassed up the last two at 225 yards, again looking straight at me. So much for STEALTH. I set up, ranged them, and dialed in the turrents on my scope. The big guy was facing me and would not turn. I knew that I could nail him with a frontal shot, but the medium ram was right behind him. Eventually the big guy started walking and stopped broadside. I was completely locked in with a good surprise break, the shot felt really good. At the same time, Mike was far below with his scope on a big ram. He heard the shot, and the ram just stood there chewing, not caring about the shot. Mike was looking at a different ram, but for a while thought that I had missed the shot. Anyway, after the shot, the large ram started running up the hill with medium ram. I was a little concerned that they were running together at the same speed, but when only one came out from behind a rock wall, I figured he was down. I reached him just before dark. He was several hundred feet up steep cliffs, plus a half a mile down canyon from the truck. We finally got him back to the truck about mid-night. There is no way I could have taken this ram on my own. First an foremost, I thank the Lord for blessing me with this hunt and all the people who helped me! Thanks Lonnie, Mike, and Steve! We had a blast! Thanks to Matthew and Robby for all the info and moral support. Thanks to a bunch of guys on this forum who provided me with tactics and other info. And last but not least, thanks to my wonderful wife, who sent us out with a truck load of great food and encouragement! Picture of ram from last summer. Photo credit: Matthew 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ruthunter Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Awesome ram! Congrats! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
5guyshunting Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Thats a great ram and sounds like an experience of a lifetime. Congrats. The help is always priceless. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZ RANGER Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Awesome! Congrats. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KidBowHunter Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Awesome ram Dad! Wish I could have been there....college life 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
208muley Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Congrats on the red horn!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hoghntr Report post Posted December 6, 2014 It was so fun! so glad you got a biggin! Mark and lonnie hauled this dude down mtn.. gnarly pack out I would say at roughly 7.5 hrs from shot till they made it down to truck at 11:30pm tired, sweaty, sore and HUNGRY while I sat by fire and made sandwich and drank a beer while watching headlamps descend good friends dont let cripples help haul meat in difficult terrain.. thx for saving me guys. CONGRATS ON A BEAUTIFUL RAM! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4Falls Report post Posted December 6, 2014 awesome ram. congrats. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flatlander Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Congrats on a once in a lifetime adventure! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ready2hunt Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Amazing ram congrats!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
6ANut Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Awesome ram and glad u had some help Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MULEPACKHUNTER Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Great job guys big congrats to all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swivelhead Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Beautiful ram. Thanks for sharing your hunt with us. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DUG Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Nice! Not bad for a bow guy using a rifle...... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heat Report post Posted December 6, 2014 Way to go man! That is a gorgeous ram! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
