Solo Archery Stones hunt - my daily lessons...

[nazarow]

Great stuff. Looking forward to the rest.

[Andrewh]

I woke up the sun shining and the wonderful sound of buzzing mosquitoes outside my tent. After I cleaned out my eyes I crawled out of the tent to get some water going for coffee and my birdseed breakfast mix. I then walked over to my glassing knoll overlooking ‘ram castle’ and immediately spotted a band of rams right at the summit. It was too tough to age them from my location a kilometer away but I could tell that there was at least one that needed a closer look. They were in the perfect position, right on top of a mountain with no chance to approach.





I watched them for a bit and then went back to the tent to get it all packed up as it was now ‘moving day.’ I took a very long way around as I wanted to check out the entire area but no other potential shooter rams were spotted. I ran into and glassed up a few other groups once again but that didn’t bother me as I had a clear plan in place. I needed to get over to the rams and get close enough to count rings which was about 6-700 yrds with good light through the swaro. The plan was to walk all the way around the complex and end up in the draw that ends below the rams. It took some time and as I approached the area, I was able to get a better view of the rams. Things were definitely looking promising for the opener tomorrow!!! I was able to count 7 on a few of them with one looking like he had a lot of space for and 8^th ring. He was going to be my focus first thing tomorrow morning.



As I dropped into the area and found a spot for my tent, the clouds and thunder started up. The storm was coming right towards me so I quickly pitched the tent, glassed the sheep and made sure I had my rain gear handy. The rams had moved down the draws off the summit to feed and then fed up to another bedding area. I made a STRONG mental note of the route they took and the time they moved as that might be useful for the coming days. I wasn’t able to age them that night as the light was fading so that would need to wait for the morning.

Just as I was getting settled in the spot, the storm was perfectly in line with my location. Just my luck; I see smoke! (As a little side note – I was evacuated from the East Koots last Sept 2 due to forest fires…)



My only concern that evening –> where were the rams going to end up tomorrow?

Lesson learned – If you see rams, go after them! Don’t sit back and watch them… A few others in the area made that mistake.

[Rattler]

Awesome so far, keep it up. Thanks for taking us along!!

[HarryToolips]

Awesome story and pics so far...

[Liveforthehunt]

Great read thus far looking forward to the coming days !

[ydouask]

I am blessed to be able to say, " I've been there".... it was many years ago now but your writing and pictures have made it seem like yesterday. You only think you're solo, we're all right with you Andrew, thanks for the trip.

[tomahawk]

Wonderful pictures and story, going to follow this one through. I was fortunate enough to hunt this area a few times myself many moons ago and your pictures and story bring me right back to the area!! The Castle and the other regular spots where the rams feel comfortable hanging out bring back a lot of great memories. Thanks for the great pictures and the detailed hunt, feels like im there with you!!

[greybark]

Your detail and wonderful photos bring back memories of four solo hunts so many years ago and are appreciated . After finding a fossil field on a high slope and a perfect petrified fang about 4 in long , curved and a sharp point was brought back to my tiny tent where I placed it on a small rock shelf as to not forget it . It worked I never forgot it as it is still there ,LOL !
Thank you for your post . Cheers

[tomahawk]

Your detail and wonderful photos bring back memories of four solo hunts so many years ago and are appreciated . After finding a fossil field on a high slope and a perfect petrified fang about 4 in long , curved and a sharp point was brought back to my tiny tent where I placed it on a small rock shelf as to not forget it . It worked I never forgot it as it is still there ,LOL !
Thank you for your post . Cheers

I spent several hours on the fossil field as well, never found a treasure as good as a fang but found a lot of interesting fossils, many too big to carry the extra weight back home!!

[northof49]

Fantastic start.....looking forward to this. Back early so must have a happy ending