Birthday Ram '2 Rams- 5 Days- What a trip!

[trapman]

Like most sheep hunts, this one started over a year ago. Being in our mid forties, Hammerhead and myself thought it might be a good idea to go on a sheep hunt while we could still climb the hills. This would be Hammerheads first sheep hunt and our goal was to get him a ram on his birthday (Aug. 18).
The trip started at 3:30 pm on Aug. 11 with a long 22 hour drive up to Urs and Maryanns lodge at Muncho Lake. By 7:45 pm the next day, we arrived at their beautiful lodge. Maryann placed us in a lakefront cabin for our last night of comfort. Even though the beds were great, it was very hard to sleep and the morning came early.
By 8:00 am we were flying over the Northern Rockies towards what we hoped would be a great hunt. We were hunting a drainage that I have hunted 6 times in the past and now has produced 11 rams. No- don't ask I won't tell! By 2:00 basecamp was up and we were on our way to sheep camp. Having to cross the river 7 times slowed us down, but after setting up camp we still had an hour to glass sheep. In the basin directly behind camp we saw 3 rams. The light was fading and could not get a good look at them. By dark, they had gone over the rim of the basin and had dissappeared. Plans were made for the next day to hike into the basin and take a look around. We woke to rain and low clouds so an extra hour in the sleeping bags was nice! By 9:30 things were looking good so we put on our packs and were off. We picked our route the night before and it looked like it would be an easy climb. If you have ever hunted sheep, those easy routes from below never turn out that way. After 5 1/2 hours of climbing, we neared the basin. In the basin stood 7 mountain goats but no sheep. At 300 yards 2 goats walked behind a small rise. All of a sudden, 2 rams appeared on the far side of the rise. One was a nice full curl, the other was missing one entire horn and the other broomed back to half curl with a tip the size of a baseball bat. It did not take Hammerhead long to steady for a shot (327 yards). With one shot, the ram was down. It did not move an inch which is how it should be (no tracking). The ram was a beautiful 36 1/2", great flare and perfectly even. Not bad for your first day of hunting sheep! After 3 hours of pictures, deboning, caping and having a small snack, we were on our way down. I decided we should take a new route (much easier) and by 9:00 were were getting hungry and stopped for a bite. After a quick dinner we were off again making our way down off the mountain. By midnight we were surrounded by cliffs and with only headlamps to guide us, we thought it would be best to stop for the night. We both picked a large tree, put on our raingear and settled in for a long 5 hours in the rain. We were back at the tent by 9:00 and spent the rest of the day tending to the meat, cape and had an easy day around camp. Maybe I was wrong on the easier route coming down (sorry Hammerhead).
I believe Hammerhead is going to take it from here with the rest of the story and pictures. Hope everyone is having a great season and good luck!

[yugo111]

Im actually laughing here thinking about the easy routs we took that turned out 10 harder thanks for reminding me with your story I think that happens to all off us def those memories stay

where are your pics?

[srupp]

sweet...well done....and no I am not going to ask for photos..lol..

cheers

Steven

[moose2]

OK hammerhead we are waiting. Looking forward to the rest.
Mike

[ydouask]

Good work on the Ram. It is interesting how different the topography can look from different vantage points... and it almost seems to be a universal truth that the "easier way" turns into something else entirely. Safe, sound, goal achieved..congratulations.

[BiG Boar]

Are the pictures at the developer still or what?

[Ruger4]

Congrats on the ram Trapman and Hammerhead.......

at least your consistant with interesting mountain decent stories Trapman ! Remember the snakebite trip ???

......and yes you are getting old Trapman !! hahaha !! Almost as old as SSS !!!

[Mik]

1st day in and a sheep down.......congrats, now lets see the pics :)

[porcupine]

Congratulations! Can't wait to read the rest of the story and see the pictures!

[Hammerhead]

Well I guess its time for me to chime in and try to finish this one off, sorry for the delay, back 1 day and work is creeping back into the picture already. What a great trip for a first sheep hunt and I have to start it off by saying thanks again to the Trapman for the knowledge and experience thats he's willing to give and i'm willing to recieve. So to pick up after my sheep is fleshed and dealt with and our so called down day at camp we decieded to go for a walk in the evening and do some glassing to make a plan for the next day. Not to long into our walk we spot some sheep on a slope and stop to get the spotter for a closer look see. As Trapper is looking thur the spotter I continue with the binos and spot 3 others further up the valley that turn out to be rams as the 1st ones are ewes. We move up the valley bottom for a better look and 1 is 1/2 curl, 1 is 3/4 curl and the other is a question mark??? We took turns looking at Whiteface for what seemed like hours and it really looked that he was an 1" to 1 1/2" short but the front on view he looked real pretty, broomed and wide. Back to camp to catch some shut eye. Next morning walking back up the valley we spot the threesome again and have another look at whiteface at a different angle, doesn't seem to have grown any more bigger over night damn it! We decide to go up another drainage on the opposite side of the valley that Trapper had seen sheep in on previous trips, but the first thing we see on the hillside is Grizzly digging for dinner in the same place we wanted to go. Hatch a plan to skirt the hillside around him to get us into our drainage. Get there and now he's there too out ahead of us. We'll never know if there were sheep in there that he may have drove out or what, but it turned out to be just another climb with some amazing views and scenery. Walking back down the valley we stop for another look at whiteface. Most of the times we saw him we were getting his right side view and he was looking short but he is now giving us the left side view and the ??? starts all over again. Sure is a pretty sheep. We decide that we are going to have to climb up in the morning for a better look see as he is starting to look real close again with that left side view, and beside he's only 4 miles?? and 3 thousand vertical feet away. Some what of a sleepless night for me, as all I was thinking about was we have to get a sheep for Trapman. He let me shoot the first sheep without question and did the same with a grizzly in the spring. I'm staring to look like a game hog. Good thing he has a short memory as I told him it was my birthday on the griz also. Two birthday in 1 year he says. Ya says I its leap year. Quick breakfast in the morning and off we go. We had lots of different looks at this upcoming climb and had a good route planned and it turned out to bee the best climb. A ridge hid us from the sheep till we got to a knoll that we were aiming for 3/4 or so of the way up. Out comes the spotter and we can now see that the lamb tip on his right has been cracked off but you can now see for sure that the tip on the left is well above the nose. Whiteface is Legal. Now we have to climb to the top of a saddle to see whats between us and him and where best to get a shot from. We peek over the top of the saddle trying not to skyline ourselves and there are the 3 sheep and i think 5 goats or 16 eyes looking for any movement. Whiteface was feeding level across a small drainage from us with no possible way to get any closer without being detected. It was wide open. We say what are we going to do as we think the distance across is between 6 and 700 yards but we have no option other than shoot from our current position. Trapper lines up some extra ammo, has 2 clips loaded and gets a good rest on top of his pack and I'm looking thur the glass to give him the play by play of a low or high shot and any adjustments to make. I'm thinking about 4 feet over his back would be my aim with the 270 with a 130 grain so Trapper makes his adjustments with the 300 and says are you ready? White face now paws the ground, turns once and beds with his left side facing us. The 300 erupts and Whiteface rolls over, stumbles and does a face plant. The look of excitement on both our faces would have been pricless i'm sure as we were excited for our second sheep and the awesome shot that was just made. We gather our gear and make it across the small drainage to the bottom of the face that Whiteface is on. He is still 200 yards vertical above us. We decide that the youngest of us and better aged would climb up and roll Whiteface down to the older and not so well aged. So i dropped my pack, grabbed my poles and hiked up. Getting the first look close up was awesome, how did we see him as being not legal on the first 4 looks, awesome sheep that turned out to be 38 1/2". Well done Trapman you deserve it!! Everyone knows how the rest goes, pictures, process, pack. What an Awesome, Awesome trip with some great memories and a great friend. We have always said going that extra mile is always worth it in the end.

Always an Adventure hey Trapman

Going to be a 2nd and maybe 3rd for pictures

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011084.jpg

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011085.jpg

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011092.jpg

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011096.jpg

[Hammerhead]

Pictures of Trapmans

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011126.jpg

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011133.jpg

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011137.jpg

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011135.jpg

[Hammerhead]

Last 4 Pictures. Enjoy and I hope everyone has as much good luck as we did. My year has been stellar so far with a Grizzly this past spring and now my sheep. How to top it, I don't know

Hammerhead

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011142.jpg

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011145.jpg

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011149.jpg

http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h439/Hammerhead8/2011%20Sheep%20Hunt/SheepHunt2011148.jpg

Until our next Advanture

[Wild Images]

Well done fellas, that looks like one steep piece of ground
Those boys will look good on the wall !

[cavebear]

congrats great story and even better pics how was dinner?

[d6dan]

Great adventure,pics Trapman and Hammerhead. Can't ask for a better Sheep hunt!. Well done Boys.

[shadow1982]

Congratulations amazing story and great pics…

Just one question, Why are you guys holding hands in the last pic? Lol

[325]

Awesome sheep!

[moose2]

Looks like you guys had a great trip congratulations to both of you on getting nice rams. It was a good story and the pictures look great.
thanks for posting
Mike

[Ghillie]

Im new to guessing sheeps age but Im going to say 7 yrs for the one in the first pic and 9 years for trapmans ram?
Just trying to count the annuli :)

[leadpillproductions]

Awsome story and pics congrads.

[nature girl]

What beautiful rams you two shot. Thanks for the story and for the pictures.
I bet you two are already planning a trip for next year?

[kennyj]

Great rams guys. Really enjoyed the story and photos.
kenny

[ianwuzhere]

Wicked pix and story- thanx for postin- now i wanna head out rite now ;) grrr...

[Skeena]

Nice, very nice. Congrats on a successful trip and hunt.

Cheers

[gbear]

Very nice! Congrats guys

[guest]

Great pic's and nice rams fellas, congrats to you both !

Those straps on the grill are THE BEST like that are they not ?

Congrats to you both your hard work paid off.

CT

[jaeger]

Congrats on 2 nice rams and what a great story!
Jaeger