6 K
08-22-2008, 11:33 PM
Well, on opening day, six years after I started sheep hunting, I finally saw something I was starting to believe was only as real as lepercons. A legal ram. In a band of eight, we believed one to be legal and two others, one light caped thin horned and the other dark caped heavy horned to have potential.
I am going to keep this part fairly brief. It was my partner's day to shoot first and I don't want to detract from his story.
Once we were in the position to shoot about 280yds. and high above them, two sheep were absent. The dark contender and a undersize. The remaining contender was bedded faceing directly away from us and although I could planely see his right horn was above the TIP of his nose I couldn't be positive where or if it crossed the bridge of the nose. So when the obvious legal sheep stood I told Zoominjr to take the bird in hand my chance would have to come later. He made good on his opertunity.
The next morning found me crossing the valley to the next ridge and my partner skinning. I picked out two rams in the morning both under and two other hunters in the early afternoon. Just after lunch silence was broken by a single shot. From yet the next valley over. Carefull glassing found four more rams climbing some pretty nasty stuff. One might have just made legal but at that distance who can tell. Didn't matter he was out reach for the time remaining and not spending more than thirty seconds in any one spot. My guess was he just lost a band member or had a angery bee pass too close for his comfort. On my way back to camp I busted four rams having a nap. 70 yds out but no full curls. One however was quite unique, His horns curled in not out should be real interesting in about 3-4 yrs. They actually were so unconcerned with me that they laid back down. Sorry I didn't think to take a picture of them. Man, why can't those be legal,oh well back to camp. Third day found me on top of yet another mountian looking around an amazing view. Then for the third time in as many days rifle fire broke the silence. But again, from a valley over in fact this one could have been from top of the ridge after that. Unfortuneatly, I found something else after the enormus effort to get on top. Three more tents six more hunters:x. We are making up for the privilage of having it all to ourselves last year. I told myself, even if I don't see another sheep we have done well. Parties to come home with one should be happy, I was trying for exceptional. I should accept the odds for what they are and enjoy the experiance I trained months for. Still something lingered in the back of my mind. We never really got a good look the thick dark contender. So long as he didn't pass over into the next valley he should still be chewing. A long afternoon moving as far both directions on my chosen ridge as I could go without spotting another ram :-(. I figured I would have boogy to get the 7 or so km back to camp before the camp guy started to get concerned. So I only spent fifteen min glassing the bowl I needed to decend. Two ewes with lambs was all I found so I started the ski down. I continued to scan and check the typical suspicious objects. As I neared the creek at the bottom I could see a face I couldn't before and sure enough, five rams. POOPSTICK! How could I have been so careless? I was lucky in that they were on the snow making for easy i.d. Undersize two, three, four, and oh, so close but under. Too bad I would not have had too hard of a time getting back to cover and within shooing range. I like to watch animals so for a few min I just glassed the band. Suddenly My heart skipped/stopped/squeeked. The fifth had one horn longer than the other. Signifigintly longer. I hadn't noticed before but now that he was looking directly at me it was obvious. Out with the spotting scope. A more co-operatve ram I have never encountered. Not only did he hold still but tilted his head to the just the right angle. The horn in question was on the far side. All I could see was nose. I thought to myself maybe it is the dark back ground, if he was back on the snow I might see...... he took a number of steps to a large light coloured stone and held the magical position again. Stll nothing but nose. Unbelievble, It was as if he knew he was under and wanted to be sure I knew it. Oh, well see you next year.
On the way back to camp something else occured to me. In the last two days I hadn't seen a ram in the places I expected to. Infact I every ram I had come across had been down low even though it had gotten hot and bugy. A plan formed in my mind :idea:hunters up, rams low. Includeing us I had counted nine groups and the guide( we saw him on the way back to camp the first day) Maybe the rams have been driven off the tops. Perhaps I should be concentrating lower.
I was late and worn getting back, so on the fourth I returned to the spot we got the first one in and checked all the way to the back of that drainage. There are couple of bowls tucked at in funny angles that can only be seen from certin places. Alas they only held ewes and lambs this visit. My hypothesis was holding true. Although I didn't hear a shot that day the tops were still being scoured. I retured in the early evening and laid out my thoughts to my partner. My plan was to go around to the last corner in the very back of the general area and hunt from the bottom checking what I could. Far less chance of getting close from below but the case with the five rams the previous day gave me hope.That and the fact I still hadn't found the dark ram.
Aug. fifth, I left camp before 5 am and pushed hard to get over the first ridge, 3 km from camp, before the sun hit the ground. I was confident I was going to find rams low in those far bowls and wanted to get there. Once on top of the first ridge, I glassed my path to the next. I'd seen sheep in here before even as anixious as I was to get to the back I didn't want to blow a opertunity. In some respects I shouldn't have been surprised to find two sheep feeding three quarters of the way up that steep, loose cobble slope. It was out of my way and hard to get to. Making a stalk up that would throw a serious wrench in to the day's plan. I was certin they were rams before I got out the scope, but what I realized next hit like a frieght train. Two rams one light, undersize and one heavy horned dark contender.
TO BE CONTINUED.
something about too many charcters
SEE FIRST CURLS PART 2
I am going to keep this part fairly brief. It was my partner's day to shoot first and I don't want to detract from his story.
Once we were in the position to shoot about 280yds. and high above them, two sheep were absent. The dark contender and a undersize. The remaining contender was bedded faceing directly away from us and although I could planely see his right horn was above the TIP of his nose I couldn't be positive where or if it crossed the bridge of the nose. So when the obvious legal sheep stood I told Zoominjr to take the bird in hand my chance would have to come later. He made good on his opertunity.
The next morning found me crossing the valley to the next ridge and my partner skinning. I picked out two rams in the morning both under and two other hunters in the early afternoon. Just after lunch silence was broken by a single shot. From yet the next valley over. Carefull glassing found four more rams climbing some pretty nasty stuff. One might have just made legal but at that distance who can tell. Didn't matter he was out reach for the time remaining and not spending more than thirty seconds in any one spot. My guess was he just lost a band member or had a angery bee pass too close for his comfort. On my way back to camp I busted four rams having a nap. 70 yds out but no full curls. One however was quite unique, His horns curled in not out should be real interesting in about 3-4 yrs. They actually were so unconcerned with me that they laid back down. Sorry I didn't think to take a picture of them. Man, why can't those be legal,oh well back to camp. Third day found me on top of yet another mountian looking around an amazing view. Then for the third time in as many days rifle fire broke the silence. But again, from a valley over in fact this one could have been from top of the ridge after that. Unfortuneatly, I found something else after the enormus effort to get on top. Three more tents six more hunters:x. We are making up for the privilage of having it all to ourselves last year. I told myself, even if I don't see another sheep we have done well. Parties to come home with one should be happy, I was trying for exceptional. I should accept the odds for what they are and enjoy the experiance I trained months for. Still something lingered in the back of my mind. We never really got a good look the thick dark contender. So long as he didn't pass over into the next valley he should still be chewing. A long afternoon moving as far both directions on my chosen ridge as I could go without spotting another ram :-(. I figured I would have boogy to get the 7 or so km back to camp before the camp guy started to get concerned. So I only spent fifteen min glassing the bowl I needed to decend. Two ewes with lambs was all I found so I started the ski down. I continued to scan and check the typical suspicious objects. As I neared the creek at the bottom I could see a face I couldn't before and sure enough, five rams. POOPSTICK! How could I have been so careless? I was lucky in that they were on the snow making for easy i.d. Undersize two, three, four, and oh, so close but under. Too bad I would not have had too hard of a time getting back to cover and within shooing range. I like to watch animals so for a few min I just glassed the band. Suddenly My heart skipped/stopped/squeeked. The fifth had one horn longer than the other. Signifigintly longer. I hadn't noticed before but now that he was looking directly at me it was obvious. Out with the spotting scope. A more co-operatve ram I have never encountered. Not only did he hold still but tilted his head to the just the right angle. The horn in question was on the far side. All I could see was nose. I thought to myself maybe it is the dark back ground, if he was back on the snow I might see...... he took a number of steps to a large light coloured stone and held the magical position again. Stll nothing but nose. Unbelievble, It was as if he knew he was under and wanted to be sure I knew it. Oh, well see you next year.
On the way back to camp something else occured to me. In the last two days I hadn't seen a ram in the places I expected to. Infact I every ram I had come across had been down low even though it had gotten hot and bugy. A plan formed in my mind :idea:hunters up, rams low. Includeing us I had counted nine groups and the guide( we saw him on the way back to camp the first day) Maybe the rams have been driven off the tops. Perhaps I should be concentrating lower.
I was late and worn getting back, so on the fourth I returned to the spot we got the first one in and checked all the way to the back of that drainage. There are couple of bowls tucked at in funny angles that can only be seen from certin places. Alas they only held ewes and lambs this visit. My hypothesis was holding true. Although I didn't hear a shot that day the tops were still being scoured. I retured in the early evening and laid out my thoughts to my partner. My plan was to go around to the last corner in the very back of the general area and hunt from the bottom checking what I could. Far less chance of getting close from below but the case with the five rams the previous day gave me hope.That and the fact I still hadn't found the dark ram.
Aug. fifth, I left camp before 5 am and pushed hard to get over the first ridge, 3 km from camp, before the sun hit the ground. I was confident I was going to find rams low in those far bowls and wanted to get there. Once on top of the first ridge, I glassed my path to the next. I'd seen sheep in here before even as anixious as I was to get to the back I didn't want to blow a opertunity. In some respects I shouldn't have been surprised to find two sheep feeding three quarters of the way up that steep, loose cobble slope. It was out of my way and hard to get to. Making a stalk up that would throw a serious wrench in to the day's plan. I was certin they were rams before I got out the scope, but what I realized next hit like a frieght train. Two rams one light, undersize and one heavy horned dark contender.
TO BE CONTINUED.
something about too many charcters
SEE FIRST CURLS PART 2