My First Stone Sheep Hunt!

[Brian011]

There hasn't been very many hunting/picture threads lately so I thought I would post my stone sheep hunt.

I have yet to go on a sheep hunt or a fly-in hunt so I decided last year I wanted to book a trip. I had no idea where to go and didn't know a thing about sheep hunting either. I think I read just about every sheep story/thread on here, trying to decide where to go and how to age and and determine a legal ram. I still wasn't 100% as it seems like everyone has their own differing opinions on aging Rams so I wanted to make sure the ram was over the nose completely. I was definitely a bit unsure about what to expect, especially since so many guys have stated that in most cases i may take a few trips to get a ram, let alone see a legal one.

Even with all the info I found about locations, I could narrow a spot down so I decided to try going to a spot that my dad had hinted about 25 yrs ago where he had shot a nice ram. He had forgot a lot about the area and where exactly they had gone so me and my partner basically just winged it.

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsq2eev6ac.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsq2eev6ac.jpg.html)

We drove up on July 29th , stayed over night at the Toad River Lodge and then continued to Muncho early the next morning and flew out on the 30th.


http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpslzcm3jxo.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpslzcm3jxo.jpg.html)


Saw a group of Rams off the highway, these were the first Stone Rams I had ever seen!


http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpslmsx1vwu.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpslmsx1vwu.jpg.html)


Here's the plane we flew in, I'm sure a bunch of guys are familiar with the lodge at muncho.


http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsuahscom6.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsuahscom6.jpg.html)


We landed and bushwhacked most of the way up, set up camp for the night and headed out on the morning or the 30th to hike the ready of the way up and scout the area to see what we could find, in hopes of finding some rams.

Ended up stumbling upon this broken arrow in the middle of some flats, looked like it had been there a few years. I would have liked to know the story behind it!

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps6jjbaekt.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps6jjbaekt.jpg.html)

[monasheemountainman]

Good start to this thread!

[325]

Keep typing!!

[Rackmastr]

Exciting stuff!

[Brian011]

So we hiked around and did lots of glassing the day before the opener. Saw a few ewes and lambs and ran into lots of goats.

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/image_zpsrlsssvjv.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/image_zpsrlsssvjv.jpg.html)

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/image_zpsbktg8zcy.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/image_zpsbktg8zcy.jpg.html)


We got up to a good spot in the afternoon where we could see quite a ways and spotted a group of Rams bedded down probably close to 2 km away. It was exactly what we had been hoping and looking for! There were five Rams and two looked big! We determined that one for sure and maybe two of them were legal so we started to make a plan for the next day.

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/image_zps2qzqkm4s.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/image_zps2qzqkm4s.jpg.html)

[Brian011]

We were up about 2:30am on opening day, made the long hike over to where we had glassed the Rams right about daylight. Saw more ewes and lambs around and after a while of glassing we started our way over towards where we wanted to go. We took the longest way possible to stay out of sight incase the Rams were in view but we had not seen them yet.
on the way we spooked a group of close to 30 ewes and lambs and I swear they were the fastest animals I've ever seen! They moved across a valley and up over a couple ridges in a matter of seconds it seemed like.

Anyway, we finally got over to where we could see close to where the Rams were the day before. It was early afternoon and there were a few goats and some ewes and lambs moving around. Finally after a quick nap a ram appeared in the willows and eventually the rest of them appeared on and off through the trees/willows. they were hard to see and a couple steps and they kept disappearing. They all got out of sight so we tried to move in closer but it wasn't easy because we were in plain view of a couple ewes and small rams and we didn't want to spook them.
We were almost in range but still a ways away. The rams all appeared all of a sudden quite a bit closer than before and they were almost in range. We kept our eyes on them and slowly tried to crawl closer as we were still in plain view. We got set up basically as close as we could but were still weren't as close as we would have liked.
We were 100% sure the one Ram was legal as he was way over his nose but the other ram that I wanted to shoot wasn't quite over his nose. He very well could have been 8 yrs old but it was too close to make a decision on him. As much as we wanted a double headed on the first day we just couldn't get the other Rams horn to grow that extra inch.

We realized that the legal ram was in range (still a long shot) and we had earlier decided that I would get the first shot. The ram had been out in the open and broad side a few different times as I was in a mad scramble to range him, dial my turret, make sure that the other ram still wasn't legal, get my gun tested properly on my pack... I was actually going to get a shot at a legal ram on the first day of my first stone sheep hunt!

It all happened pretty fast, I shot, missed, my partner shot, missed, uh oh
I got lined up again but being a long shot, the ram wasn't quite broadside anymore and I wasn't quite comfortable in shooting again till he was broadside. I had my cross hairs on him and ready and then another shot from my partner hit him good and dropped him in his tracks!

Holy crap we got a ram! And on the first day!
We waited a bit as a couple Rams stayed close by. We were still looking them over good to see if maybe they had grown any. They very well could have been legal by age as they were both bigger than other Rams I have seen guys have shot and posted pictures of but I didn't want to take the chance.

[Brian011]

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/Mobile%20Uploads/a199bb9a-4626-4065-bd33-f4e1124f49e6_zpsucjx6wc5.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/Mobile%20Uploads/a199bb9a-4626-4065-bd33-f4e1124f49e6_zpsucjx6wc5.jpg.html)


We got him caped and got all the meat deboned and started our couple km hike to a snow pile we had found earlier. Along the way we spotted a ram skylined coming up over the top of a ridge towards us, at first glance something about him looked weird.
He had the weirdest looking horns I had ever seen on a ram. It's hard to explain without a picture but his horns basically came out and curled almost in the complete opposite direction than normal. Both sides came straight out to side instead of coming out and curling back. The one side had a weird curl that went backwards and the other came back in and was a real tight curl right close to his face. The one side made a complete circle but did not come out to his nose, it curled up to around his ear. I think he may have been legal too but way too weird of a ram to make a decision to shoot, so we kept moving.

We we got the head, cape and meat buried in the snow pile and made it back to the tent just before dark. It was a long day, and we were both exhausted.

We we slept in the next morning and had a bit of a dilemma. We had left all the salt for the hide down at the bottom of the mountain to reduce the weight coming up. We decided that my partner would make the long journey back to the bottom to get salt for his cape and I would venture out and hunt by myself for the day. We had radios but ended up not being able to communicate anyway due to the long distance between us.

[REMINGTON JIM]

What a BEAUTY RAM that is ! I Like him a LOT ! :D RJ

[bckoothunter]

That's a beauty ram!! Keep the story coming, thanks for writing!

[mikeboehm]

Beauty congrats

[Brian011]

I started my hike back over to the area we were in the day before, I checked out a few different spots that I could see and glass into that we didn't take the time to the day before.
I ended up spotting a lot of ewes and lambs and one little ram, but no bigger ones. A storm blew over and I had to curl up in the rocks for about an hour as it poured rain.
it seemed to clear up a bit so I decided to head back towards where we had originally spotted the group of rams the day before the season.
It took a while but I finally make it over by early afternoon. I'm not the most patient sheep hunted as I decided to just hike up and over the hill in the wide open to get into a good spot to glass from. I went about halfway down the other side and started glassing. Spotted a couple big moose sheds in the distance but that was it. I could see over to where we got the ram the day before and I could see pretty good all around the whole area. Not an animal in sight. I only glasses for about 20 mins, I left my pack and rifle (which I shouldn't have) to drop down about 20yrds to get a bit better vantage point to see a bit better below me.

As soon as I got to a good spot, without putting my binos up yet, all off a sudden a ram appeared within 200yrds walking broadside directly in front of me. Holy $hit a ram! I put my binos up and it took less than half a second to see that he was legal and way over his nose.
Uh oh, no rifle.
i ran back up, got my rifle, ran back down, all in plain view but was in such a rushed panick I didn't care how noticeable I was. I got back to where I had spotted him from and he had disappeared. Oh no, there was my chance, and now he's gone...
Luckily it didn't take long for him to take a couple steps and was right out in the open again, I got an off hand shot at him and he dropped, but tried getting back up so I shot again. Another smaller ram jumped up out of nowhere and took off. I watched for a minute and my ram hasn't budged. Wow, I got my ram! And from what I saw he looked like a good ram too!

I hiked down and went to find him but he was nowhere to be found, what the heck. I swear he had to have been right there. Luckily I just happened to look up and spotted his horns going out of sight through the willows, I sprinted as fast as I could towards him as I knew he was in rough shape. I got another shot at him at about 30yrds in the back of the neck. He dropped on the spot. Man, what a rush. I wasn't very happy with myself for my first shot, it should have been over right away but at least I had got him.

And now the work began!

[CodyJ]

More Please...

[charlie_horse]

Unreal story unreal ram. Congratulation!

[ducktoller]

More pics! !!!!
Unreal success on that hunt

[Brian011]

Here's my ram!


http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/image_zpsakc5q4zm.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/image_zpsakc5q4zm.jpg.html)

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/image_zpsbtxopkue.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/image_zpsbtxopkue.jpg.html)

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/IMG_1153_zpsjsmm4gxe.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/IMG_1153_zpsjsmm4gxe.jpg.html)

Basically as soon as I got to my ram it started to rain. I quickly tried to take a couple pictures, not the easiest by yourself. it was just pouring rain now and I was just starting to cut up the ram. there was a couple big holes in the cape where I hit him in the neck at close range and I was getting soaked and being by myself I was trying to save time so I didn't keep the cape. I'm wasn't too worried about it anyway. Got him completely deboned and all loaded in my back. Probably the heaviest pack I've ever had on my back, I think all together including my rifle it was almost 100lbs. That's not including the extra 10+ lbs of water weight that has absorbed into all gear, clothes and boots.
It was a long miserable coiple km trek back to the snow pile through the wet marshy quicksand like terrain. I didn't stop more than a couple mins and just pushed on to get back as quick as I could.

Walked by a big moose shed on the way.

[IMG]http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/image_zpsikoqhtro.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/image_zpsikoqhtro.jpg.html)

I finally made it to the snow pile to bury the meat. I still had a long hike back to the tent. I still hadn't stopped pouring rain. At least my pack was lighter.
All together I think it was probably the worst hike back that I've ever had, yet the most satisfying once I got back to the tent. I finally made it back. I felt like I had just jumped in a lake with all my gear on. I was soaked to the bone. My partner had made it back up the mountain and had been hunkered down in the tent through the rainstorm. He couldn't believe it when I came back with a ram! It was day 2 and we were ready to go home!

IMG]http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/image_zpskadqn9c4.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/image_zpskadqn9c4.jpg.html)

[avadad]

Dude…you're leaving us hanging!….

[Tron]

Congrats you guys

[avadad]

Wow! Congrats. What a hunt!

[375shooter]

That's awesome! Good job guys!

[Greg]

Wow... two rams in two days. I think I was sheep hunting wrong all those years.

[Rackmastr]

Wow...congrats on two awesome rams!

[Rattler]

Well congrats on a couple of nice Rams. Thanks for sharing...been slim pickings on sheep threads this year.

[325]

Those are a couple of beauty rams!! Congratulations!!

[.264winmag]

Doubleheader boys!!! Great work and congrats. Thanks for the story. Shame to leave your cape behind on that beauty ram, taxidermists can work wonders with holes. But I know how you felt at the time, get er done. Make a great euro mount anyway!

[BiG Boar]

Great story. That will be a tough one to beat. 2 rams in 2 days is awesome. With great Rams to boot. Very jealous.

[islander7mm]

Very nice! Memories for a life time.
Thanks for posting.

[375shooter]

Brian, what happened next? I mean, you had to go back to the snow pile for the meat, right? When did you call for the plane for pickup? Did you have a chance for roasted sheep ribs? There's got to be more to the story.

[swampthing]

you men had a great adventure!! Good shootin

[Brian011]

We hiked down the mountain with all our gear the next morning after the rain spotted for a bit, then set up camp at the bottom and waited to get picked up.



IMG]http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/image_zps4iwtx9hv.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/image_zps4iwtx9hv.jpg.html)



It poured rain for the next two days and we weren't able to get picked up till the 5th. We were stuck in the tent for a couple days while it poured rain. We had been wondering how all the other sheep hunters were doing. Was every other sheep Hunter stuck in their tent too? Had anyone else got Rams or were they stuck in their tent with no Rams? As crappy as it was to be stuck in our tent we were thankful that we had both been lucky enough to get our Rams before the rain started.

When it finally stopped raining and were told there was a possibility of getting picked up the next day we decided that we would home back up the mountain first thing in the morning with empty packs to get all our meat and my partners ram.


IMG]http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsn2gbxe5a.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsn2gbxe5a.jpg.html)

[[/IMG]


It ended up being a grueling 7 hour round trip up the mountain and back down with all the meat. When we got back we were told that we would be able to get picked up that evening!
We did it! We were finally going home!
At the time if you would have asked me if I wanted to go on another sheep hunt, I would have said never again. I was sore, tired, exhausted, miserable from being stuck in the tent and still wet from all the rain.
Looking back now, I would do it again in a heartbeat! Maybe in a couple years I'll do it all over again.

It was a great trip and I definitely learned a lot about sheep hunting and what it takes.

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/image_zpsxcvmtaty.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/image_zpsxcvmtaty.jpg.html)



http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/image_zpsgzmrj5vn.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/image_zpsgzmrj5vn.jpg.html)







My ram was aged at 9 years old. And yes that's a bullet hole in the horn from when I shot him in the neck, that's where the bullet came out.

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af2/Brian_j_01/image_zps6vg8djcn.jpg (http://s988.photobucket.com/user/Brian_j_01/media/image_zps6vg8djcn.jpg.html)

[Krico]

Finally something worth reading around here. Thanks for taking the time to write.
Congratulations on a great hunt and 2 awesome rams.

[RackStar]

Very cool/inspiring story.
Way to make it happen.
Congrats.

[No Tag Soup Please]

What did your partners ram age at. I thought 9 on his and 10 on yours, I am an extreme rookie but nice to try and count and then see the real results.

Unreal story, thanks a lot!

[goatdancer]

A couple of beauties. Congratulations.

[decker9]

Heck of a hunt you guys had! Congrats on getting it done, in two days!

[Brian011]

What did your partners ram age at. I thought 9 on his and 10 on yours, I am an extreme rookie but nice to try and count and then see the real results.

Unreal story, thanks a lot!

His ram actually got aged at 8 but I'm certain that his ram was also 9. They looked like they were the same age as they had the same amount of rings

[spear]

Awesome, sounds like a slog back to camp. Couple beauty rams there, congrats!

[.264winmag]

His ram actually got aged at 8 but I'm certain that his ram was also 9. They looked like they were the same age as they had the same amount of rings
I get 9 as well? Irrelevant as it's a beaut also!

[blackbart]

Thanks for sharing. Two beauty rams boys.

[ydouask]

Thanks for sharing your story and pictures. Those are a fine pair of rams for sure. :grin:

[eagle eye]

Congrats,two great rams,and great story

[Husky7mm]

Awesome rams and a great story too, excellent adventure, thanks for sharing, i felt like I was there!

[Wrayzer]

A couple of great sheep. Nice job guys. Really enjoyed the story.

[srthomas75]

well written, thanks for sharing

[Fred1]

Well done guys! I was on your flight ;) We heard your shots from across. Ya that storm pounded us for about 26 hours. Stooopid crazy winds on our side - you guys must have got it pretty good too. We got a decent ram on the afternoon the day the storm left. 5th I think. I passed one that day and two more on the next day. Great double header!! All booked for next year yet? ;)

[NorBC]

How about them apples!! Congrats

[Skull Hunter]

Awesome stuff, Thanks!

[HarryToolips]

Awesome story and pics congrats!

[REMINGTON JIM]

Congrats on 2 Beauty Rams :D You Guys should be really be Pround - Right on ! :wink: I envy you ! :biggrin:Cheers RJ

[untilthelastbeat]

Wicked story thanks for sharing and two cranker rams!

[Brno22F]

good show lads! Well written story. Congrats.

[hunter1947]

Them are two dandy rams the two of you got ,,thanks for taking time to tell us your stories and showing us the pictures of your hunt ,,congrats to the two of you ,,pretty darn good for your first stone sheep hunt I must say ..http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.png..

[tayleoscar]

Awesome job guys!!!!

[paw325]

Well done boys!!!! A couple of Dandies.....

Cant wait to see how your deer season rolls..... Take care

Pete

[kodiak18]

Awesome rams!! Great story. Thanks for sharing

[SR80]

Congrats again guys! Awesome story too

[jamesvtr]

cool story thanks for sharing

[Buck]

Great story congrats.Currently recovering from Kidney surgery so no sheep hunt this year. This helps ease the pain.

[pg83]

That's an awesome job you fellas did. Congrats on a couple sweet Rams. I bet your dad was pumped to hear of your success!

[Brian011]

That's an awesome job you fellas did. Congrats on a couple sweet Rams. I bet your dad was pumped to hear of your success!


Yah my my dad was pretty excited! What was really cool was looking at the pictures of his trip from 25 yrs ago and right where he shot his ram was exactly where we were glassing from when we saw the Rams the first time. His partner also shot a ram close tow here we shot our Rams too. It's was cool to recognize all the spots from his pictures.

[Timbow]

Awesome. Good for you guys, and thanks for taking us along your journey.

[whitetailsheds]

Thanks for posting Brian....great story with a couple great rams!!!
Early season hunters experienced alot of rain/ poor visiblity this year, but here's proof you can get 'em down despite poor conditions!!
What kinda horn lengths were on your rams?

[Brian011]

Thanks for posting Brian....great story with a couple great rams!!!
Early season hunters experienced alot of rain/ poor visiblity this year, but here's proof you can get 'em down despite poor conditions!!
What kinda horn lengths were on your rams?

My ram had 36" horn lengths and the other ram was 34" I think

[Bighorn hunter]

Great rams!! Not easy to pull off a double header, awesome job and a great write up:)

[Pangaea]

Beauty rams and a great story! Thanks for sharing!

[nicktrehearne]

Great post! Congrats on the rams :)

[HuntNmemories]

Well done Brian011, thank you for sharing your hunting tale and posting the pics.

[RiverRunner]

Outstanding adventure! Thanks for sharing and congrats!

[A killer]

Awesome!!!! great rams!!!! good job.

[cpearen]

Great read, thanks for posting
Always wanted to hunt them. Maybe one day

[wideopenthrottle]

great job ....congrats

[ElliotMoose]

Great job on a couple beauty rams. Thanks for sharing!

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Excellent story and pics, Brian!!! Huge congrats to you both!!

SSS

[d6dan]

Fantastic Hunt and story Brian.. Congrats on 2 very nice Stones.. :-)

[Brez]

Great story and photos! Congrats and thanks a lot for posting. Hope it gets others to do the same and make this site great again.

[brno375]

Well done!

[Chopper]

This is a really good thread ...

[260]

Nice Rams, Congrats!

[moose2]

Congratulations guys great story and pictures. Your story got me excited about tying up my boots again.
Thanks for a great read
again nice work.
Mike

[kennyj]

Congratulations on a couple of great rams. Awesome story!! I love the 2 different horn styles. Very cool.
Thanks for sharing your adventure.
kenny

[shanevg]

Congratulations to both of you! What a dream come true! Thanks for sharing!

[archerylife]

going on my second sheep hunt this year, haven't got one yet! i can only hope to be so lucky!

[PressurePoint]

Excellent work!!!! Super jealous and you should be damn proud of yourself... !!!!

[walks with deer]

Great job...
one question what diameter was that arrow I think I know the old owner...

[Lukeez88]

question on full curl stones...looking at the picture of the ram in the jig.....why is the jig set up like that when the regs state that the horns must break the bridge of the nose?? Thats not the first time ive seen a jig like that, but from what ive read in the regs that jig looks like it is made for full curl bighorns? someone please enlighten me!

[Stone Sheep Steve]

question on full curl stones...looking at the picture of the ram in the jig.....why is the jig set up like that when the regs state that the horns must break the bridge of the nose?? Thats not the first time ive seen a jig like that, but from what ive read in the regs that jig looks like it is made for full curl bighorns? someone please enlighten me!

When a ram is obviously waaaaay beyond legal like the one here, they may not have adjusted the jig as they would have if a ram was close. They drop it in the jig and snap a pic for their records.

[ryanb]

Clearly the jig wasn't required in this case for either ram.

[Lukeez88]

ok thanks for the answers, that makes sense seeing as that ram was way past full curl.