The story of this sheep actually actually started back in the early 80’s when I first applied for Colorado bighorns, the CO DOW had reopened the now famous Georgetown unit in about 80 or 81, and there were some absolute gigantic rams in that area, I was fortunate enough to draw my first tag in 1984, I was green as a gourd when it came to sheep hunting, but I loved the high country and this was about as good as it gets.
I was to be hunting alone as I knew no one else that had a one of the 5 tags issued, I really didn’t care who else held a permit I had one and that’s all that mattered, I was scouting one summers day driving down a rough two track off the mountain when I rounded a corner and there was a person backpacking walking down the road?
Up to this time I had not seen anyone, and this was out of the way for your usual backpacker types as I pulled along side, “she” stopped and said hello, I about fell out of the truck a young gorgeous woman with a full pack and dressed in camo?
I said what are you doing up here, your aways off the beaten path,-- she looked at me like the dumb redneck I was -and politely said “I am scouting sheep I drew an archery tag for this area and this is one of the places I intend to hunt”
I offered a ride down the rest of the way and we talked about the upcoming hunt, I could tell she was a very serious hunter, so there was no BSing her.
Well I am proud to say 25 years later that young beautiful woman is still my wife, hunting partner, and best friend, something’s were just meant to be.
“we” continued to hunt Georgetown over the next10 years as sheep tags were easy to come by back then and game was plentiful, we both took good mule deer, elk, and in 1989 Janet took her ram, a huge 7/8 curl, that scored very well in P&Y, I had the pleasure to watch her do a barefoot stalk onto a cliffs edge and shoot this big ram with her recurve in his bed.
I had passed on several rams over that span of years always trying for one of the whoppers, they were there, but not easy, then in 1995 I decided to try sheep hunting in my backyard as the DOW had expanded the Big Thompson unit another well know big ram area, these sheep were very different then the Georgetown sheep they were not as spooky although they lived in the timber, once you found them, they were approachable or so I thought, I drew that year with 3 points and had figured out sheep tags were getting much more difficult to draw and if I was going to kill one I had better get with the program.
So needless to say Jan and I spent the entire summer scouting we knew these sheep as they were only a few miles from our house and we could watch them year around, by sept 1st when the season rolled around I felt confident about killing a ram, but oh what a lesson I was in for, the first week of sept is always a transition period for all animals , deer, elk even sheep they change there habits and there locations from there summer haunts.
And “my” sheep I had watched all summer had disappeared, I didn’t panic because these rams can be extremely hard to locate because of the rough terrain, and you can find them if you just keep after it, but the season was only about 30 days although that sounds like a generous amount of time its not when you are searching a haystack for a needle.
I hunted hard everyday looking and glassing the best known areas, the sheep were gone, and I was running out of time, with just three days left, Jan suggested we go look at a spot we had only heard that there were sheep in, I thought it was a waste of valuable time but I didn’t have a better place to look
So we hiked into this drainage one afternoon and started glassing suddenly Jan said “ram” he was all alone half a mile away in a place we simply couldn’t get to, so while we were looking for a better place to glass him from we started to notice all the sheep beds on this rock outcrop, I asked her do you think that ram lives here as well? There was fresh sheep sign everywhere, so with a little snooping we found a faint trail leading towards where the ram was bedded, sure enough sheep tracks and they were fresh, so it was an aspen covered hillside with rocky out crops and a few scattered pines we were not on really a good place for a spot and stalk as our vision was limited, way to open for a ground blind set up, sheep really notice things that are out of place when there in the timber, what about a tree stand in one of those aspens?
So the next afternoon I snuck in and hung a tree stand and snuck back out with intentions of hunting it the next day, well we had a storm front brewing and the next day the winds were gusting 50-60 mph I tried to sit the stand but the aspen was swaying 3-4 feet, not good.
So about 4 in the afternoon I finally climbed out and just as I hit the ground I looked up the trail and here comes the ram, he is about 75 yards and closing at a steady walk, and I am in the wide open, I hit the dirt and crawled into some tiny dog hair aspens just a few feet away I rose high enough to see, the ram was still coming straight down the trail , my outline was broken up from the “twigs” I was hiding in but I could not draw my bow with out making a racket, so I just got on my knees with arrow pointed at the trail and hoped.
Well the old ram got about 15 yards when he put his head down and started to feed directly at me, the strong wind was good, there was green grass in those little aspens and that was what he was after, I glanced at my watch on my left hand that held my bow ,it was 4:35 plenty of day light left, but I had no shot and wasn’t sure I could raise and shoot even if it presented itself, so I just sat tight not looking at the ram, as I have always felt animals can tell when you are looking at them,
As I watched the minutes tick by, and the ram just mere feet from me, I kept hoping he would just turn and walk away, as bad as I wanted a shot I knew if I spooked him he would not come back and tomorrow was the last day of the season, I was actually praying for him to just leave, 11 years 4 tags and 89 days of sheep hunting had come down to this , a big old ram, 10 feet away had no idea I was there, and I couldn’t shoot, he was to close.
I remember tears starting to come to my eyes, because these situations never work out, I thought it was over when he suddenly snapped his head up and looked directly at me, not sure if he had caught my scent or just being that close he sensed a fear, but he started backing up, looking directly at me, I didn’t even breath, he backed up about 15 feet, then spun and trotted about 20 feet still looking at me, I sat there not moving, he continued on up the side hill all the time staring at me until he was about 35 yards, he then just simply walked away, not spooked -just not sure.
I looked at my watch it was 5:15 about half hour till dark, I waited there till dark then snuck off the mountain, I was sure he wasn’t spooked and if I snuck in there the next afternoon I might have a chance to locate him.
Well as bad as I wanted to go back at daylight I knew the thermal current would not be good I had to hunt this place the last hour of the day when the wind would be steady downhill, so at 4:30 the last day of the season, I was back and silently slipping up towards the meadow I had last seen him in, sure enough I wasn’t there 15 minutes and I had found him bedded just about 100 yards from the night before, he was in an open clearing about 35 yards across I was on the edge in some small thick firs, I figured that he would soon get up and feed, I had the wind, I just needed him to stand before it got dark, I don’t remember exactly took place I just remember his rump starting to rise and that big yellow fletch was on its way, it looked good but he was in some shadows, he bolted hard to my left, I heard him break timber for a short distance then it was quiet, and starting to snow, I felt good about the shot, but there always that doubt, so I simply left.
Jan and I were back there at daylight with 4 inches of fresh snow, I went to the spot where he was standing and started to trace his steps, with Jan behind me suddenly she whispered “look at this“, pointing to my footprints , there was blood, coming up through the snow where I had been standing, we both just got a big grin on our face, and yes the trail was short he had fallen over a big log just out of sight the night before, I had my ram.
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