Thanks all
First off I hope I didn't make it sound like I was alone this year, I found the spot on a solo hunt last year and returned with a partner this year. Bit of a blessing that he could make it, good sheep hunting partners are hard to find. I've seen the mountains completely break guys who haven't done it before and my hunting partner this year had no problem at all, add to that he had just had a minor surgery the week prior! I had actually phoned him up in August to see if he was still interested in going and by sheer chance he had already booked the same time off I had planned to go get the surgery done, and felt he'd be ready to go in time for the hunt. We made a last minute confirmation the Friday before we were going to leave and Monday loaded up and headed out.
The hike started in the afternoon and the weather was a little iffy with spurts of snow blowing in sideways. By early evening we arrived at the first rest point. I didn't want to be in any kind of a hurry so with the snow starting to come in a little harder we opted to stay there in the low land and camp for the night hoping it would be a bit clearer in the morning before we started climbing and glassing. After a chilly night we got up and glassed some of the mountains around camp and didn't see a thing. Time to pack up and head out.
A couple hours later we were looking at three ewes feeding across from us on the side of a mountain. After resting and watching the surroundings for a bit we made our way to another vantage point to look into a drainage where a band of rams including a dandy had busted me the year before. We immediately found a group of ewes and counted over twenty, not five minutes later I heard my partner say "There's some more sheep."
With the binocs you could see there were seven rams and the spotting scope confirmed there were a couple worth taking a closer look at. They looked as they were heading into the drainage as well so when they bedded we made a plan to cut them off as they moved in where we would have a better look and perhaps a shot oppurtunity.
We had to make a pit stop for water, and the rams hadn't spent that much time bedding. As we were making our way to where we thought we could cut them off we caught a glimpse of them already heading lower, and the two biggest ones seemed to have us pegged. We stayed in the shadows of some trees and I managed to get the spotting scope out. I had them both pegged as legal and the smaller one was actually a little farther past. They were over 400 yards away though and neither of us felt comfortable with the shot plus I wanted more time to make darn sure I wasn't just "making" them legal.
They eventually made there way up a bit higher and bedded again. We tried to sneak in a bit closer but ran out of cover once again held up at to far. They gave us a long oppurtunity to look at them but not at any real good angles and we actually started to wonder if they were to close to legal to go after. There was still a few days to explore some more territory. In the end we decided it would be silly to leave. They had given us a pretty good profile in the morning and we knew they would be worth going after again.
After camping in the drainage the next morning we woke to a band of ewes feeding just across from us. They watched us pretty close for a while but never spooked. We continued on moving very slowly and glassing often. We climbed to a little vantage point and as we peered over ledge our eyes were met with that of a ram. He ran and took a couple sheep with him. I was having flashbacks from the year previous.
The two sheep that ran with him were ewes so not all hope was lost. We waited for 10 minutes not moving a muscle and to our relief the rest of the rams started making there way into sight ahead of us feeding. As glad as we were to see rams they were in a bad spot once again and something had to go our way. What happened next I'm sure was compliments of the man up stairs.
The rams turned around started feeding their way towards us, and then all of a sudden one of the smaller rams darted our way and the others started following. They were going to run right past us. In a bit of a panick we got ready. When the rams were 200 yards away they stopped and decided they were going to do some head butting. The smaller but "more legal" ram was gone (must have been the one that spooked) but the bigger one was still there.
I was having a hard time posturing up with the spotting scope on the tripod and not skylining to bad so I pulled it off, used the ground as a rest and peered over. They were quite preoccupied with them selves and couple good cracks of horn echoed through the drainage. I wasn't going to shoot at this point because his left side was just to close for comfort, but once he gave a good look at his right we were confident in shooting. A quick couple shots from the old 25.06 and it was all over.
I remember my partner doing a bit of yelling and cheering but all I could do was put the gun down and take a few deep breaths. It was just overwhelming.
