Re: Solo Archery Stones hunt - my daily lessons...
Oh man I was really hoping to continue reading about our hunting trip! The way you are telling us about your hunt, makes feel like I am right there with you! Cant wait to read the rest!
Re: Solo Archery Stones hunt - my daily lessons...
Opening morning!!!!!
I get up at the crack of dawn with high hopes that the smoke wouldn’t be too bad and that the rams would still be in the same area. I was in luck, they were all down from the peak and feeding in the green below. I watched them for a little while and they made their way back up in short order. I made note of the route they took; the same one they took the other day…
Once they arrived at the summit of ‘ram castle,’ I snuck down the valley to the closest rock formation I could find in hopes that I would be able to get glass on the big guy. I wanted to get him aged before I made any plans to go after him. I got very lucky, I ended up about 700 yards away from them and with the sun cresting the mountains in front of him, the light on his rings was perfect. I was able to get 7 no problem but the 8th was a little more challenging to find. I had what I thought was 8 but wanted to make sure so I waited until he turned towards my direction and I was clearly able to see the 8th groove that runs around the front of the horns.
It was game on!!!! I snuck back out of the draw and back out of sight of the rams, my plan was to sneak up the draw and then up the slope and finally traverse across towards the base of ‘ram castle’. I would have a few exposed areas so that involved some belly crawling and slow movements but I was able to make it across without detection.
Re: Solo Archery Stones hunt - my daily lessons...
I knew the only thing that was going to screw me was the wind. Since they were going to come down in the late afternoon, I had no idea if the thermals would shift to be going ‘down-slope’ by then. When I got to my spot in the middle of the green area, the wind was coming up which I knew it would be. I positioned myself in some rocks in the middle of the draw and started the waiting game.
It was now the waiting game; I sat in the same spot for over 4 hours until I heard the first rock start falling from above me. The rams were on the move!!! At that point the wind was very mild and my ‘windicator’ powder was giving me a new direction every 30 sections, shit. I thought to myself this might work or might blow them out.
As the rams started funnelling down to feed, they ended up right on the greenery to my left and right. It was intense to say the least. Some of the younger 5 year old rams fed right up to me; to the point I was concerned I was going to get stepped on and no farther than 20 yrds!!! After about 15 minutes of zero movement and I mean zero (even blinking was slowed down), I finally saw a glimpse of my big guy. He was the last one to come down and he was on the move. All of the other rams were now below me and out of sight so I just had the big guy to concentrate on. Just as he stepped down off the cliff he started walking towards the top of the draw then he stopped. He hung up at 42yrds with the only shot being a frontal. He was motionless, just staring down the draw. He must have caught a mild, mild scent as he was not coming down. All the other rams had zero concern with the swirling wind but this guy was a lot smarter. He stood there for about a minute and then slowly turned and walked back up to the top of ram castle. He was not spooked at all, he just figured something wasn’t quite right so the feeding could wait. During this time I could feel my heart pumping in my fingers, It was a rather intense moment as you can imagine.
The funny thing about this situation was that it turned out, two other groups watched this whole thing unfold from a ridge away. They didn’t know I was in the spot and had no idea why the ram turned and walked back up.
With the arrow back in my quiver, I made my way back to camp to ensure I didn’t spook anything in hopes they would be doing the same thing the next day. I relocated the rams from back at camp and settled in for evening behind the glass.
What a great day!!!!!
Lesson learned – If the wind isn’t 100%, older rams will not be fooled. Younger 7 yr. olds might walk by but those older guys will hang up.
Re: Solo Archery Stones hunt - my daily lessons...
The next morning I was really hoping to wake up and glass the sheep on top of castle once again. It was not the case, I pulled myself from the tent a little after 5:30 and gave the castle a quick glass to find it vacant. I then quickly scanned the area around me as I normally do and BAM!!! I see the tops of horns bedded about 200 yards away from my tent. Oh my goodness, can this actually be happening? I grabbed my spotter and crept over to a rock pile about 100yrds away from him to confirm he was the legal ram. Sure enough he was!!
I got back to the tent and quickly gathered my bow and release and went after him. He was bedded in the perfect spot, strong wind in his face, knoll right behind him and all grass that was super quiet. I was easily able to get to 40 yrds and that is where I stayed. I could have probably pushed the issue and got to 33-34 around the other side but I didn’t want to risk it. At this point, please keep in mind that I am still a rather green bow hunter with this being one of my first dedicated bow hunts ever. He was bedded and I didn’t know what to do, do I wait for him to stand or make the 40 yrd shot in his bed??? I tossed my binos on him one last second and that was all it took, he noticed the movement and up to his feet he went. He wasn’t startled but wondering what moved out of the corner of his eye. At that time I went to full draw, settled my pin on him and just as I was pulled through the shot, he bolts. He takes off just as the shot breaks and I couldn’t believe it, arrow smashed into rocks right behind him. The shot felt perfect but there was no animal where the arrow was heading… what a down I felt after that. The ram tucked down into the draw and that was the last I saw him that day.
I went back to camp and had breakfast and got my gear ready for a hike. My plan was to head south and check out the country that I hadn’t put eyes on. I spent a lot of time glassing the draw that the ram tucked into but I did not turn him up. I was afraid he was off to the next drainage.
I put in a good days walk and managed to find a few 7 year olds around, but nothing that was legal. I had a great time exploring the country and checking all the little areas that I would normally find rams. On the way back towards camp, I ran into the couple guys from day one. I went up and had a chat about my few days and I heard stories about theirs. It was nice to catch up, share some laughs and talk about the plans for the next few days. It was an early night with me glassing castle into the evening hoping that the band would suddenly appear. The only guy that showed himself was a little 5/6 year old bedded close to where I hid on opening day.
The next day was going to be a big day as I wanted to check out the entire complex…
Lesson learned – if you can hit grapefruits at 60 yrds, shoot a ram in his bed at 40 yrds.
trying to re member
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