Pryor Sheep Hunt Update... 11/17/07

[Doug Campbell]

Thanks alot everybody for the comments, he is indeed a beautiful animal and it was an incredible experience. I'm going to do my best to get Karen back over there fore long and hopefully see some real head banging. I expect the rut is really going to be heating up this coming week.

In case you couldn't tell from the pics I was carrying my Black Widow Longbow, 62#@27", used a hexpine shaft and knapped head that Marty Horn sent me a few years ago and said to kill something with. Unfortunately the head is still laying out there on the desert somewhere. With all that was going on and the warm temps there just wasn't time to look for it, maybe next trip.

The worst part is now I have to wait 7 years before I can even apply for a sheep permit in MT then there will be a few thousand folks with more prefference points than me....    

OK gotta start sending for those NR apps...  If you don't want to get hooked by this sickness stay away from sheep hunting  

Thanks again for all the kind comments, Doug

[Doc Nock]

Neat, Doug! I agree going along was great...and what's so amazing, is that after all that climbing and hard work, I feel pretty good!    

Congratulations, bro... what a wonderful experience to have lived...real time for you and vicariously for us!

[beachbowhunter]

W     :eek:     W

Congrats on a fantastic hunt.

[Hoodoo Arrow]

Congratulations Doug.  It was sure my pleasure to get to know you a little better by way of this hunt.  It seems like it takes a couple months to come down from the high/low/stess/all consuming thing that goes with sheep hunting.  I'm betting that in a couple days, your mental clock errantly reminds you it is time to get packed to head to the Pryors again.

This hunt had so much more than stories or pictures will ever be able to describe.  Silas, the young feller mentioned in several posts is a young ranch kid.  He intends to be a professional hunting guide and wants to go to guide school next fall.  This hunt was a wonderful experience for him.  It was the first time he ever really hunted with someone, in a situation where he didn't have the tag and weapon.  It was also his introduction to traditional archery.  This was a great opportunity for him and I think he did a great job.  I think he is going to be a heck of an asset for some lucky outfitter some day.  As a whole, many of us learned a bunch more about this particular sheep herd and their habits.

Dougs pictures do not do justice to the kill area.  The cliff that the ram ended on is much steeper and more dangerous than it appears in the picture.  Bad enough that I was making plans to get a search and rescue trained repel guy in there.  It is literally 400 ft. straight down to a rocky escarpment and water.  His actions kept a difficult situation from turning very, very bad, and I am sure that was a very hard call to make.  I'm real glad he made it turn out the way he did.

Thanks bud.  This has been fun.

Leo

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Congrats Doug,        

This has been alot of fun following along and the pictures have been great.Thank you for taking the time and posting such a great hunt that most of us can only dream about.

Tracy  

[adirondack46r]

Makes me proud to share the same last name with this dude. Nice job!

[Talondale]

Way to go!  A hard earned trophy.  Congrats.  Thanks for sharing.

[LEOPARD]

Congrats Doug! Thanks very much for sharing with us all! Your pics were awesome! Thanks again!

Nigel

[Steve O]

Doug,

That was very well done.  

Anybody that would criticize you for that rifle shot has not spent much time sheep hunting, just a lot of time behind the keyboard    

I'm thinking there haven't been many other Bighorn sheep killed by a non-Indian with a stone point.  What memories you have!

If you need any info on the other states, you know how to get a hold of me.

Hope to someday be in your shoes  

[Widowbender]

Thanks for taking us along on the journey!! That is a beautiful animal!! Congratulations!!
               

David

[Bowspirit]

Amazing...congradulations on such a fine ram, Doug...

 

[Arrowslinger]

Way to go Doug.  That is a very nice ram.

     

[Swanny in MD]

Wow, very cool adventure, Doug.  Any ideas why that ram got so far with the shot you made?

[hunt it]

Congrats Doug on one beautiful ram. The hunt of a lifetime for most folks and in your back yard.

Better sign up for the Boston Marathon in your spare time. Your probably as fit as you'll ever be after that two month exercise.

Congrats again and well done. A place of honour on the wall and many many fine years of looking up at the big guy and a lifetime of memories and then some. Thanks for taking us along on your hunt.

[Charlie Lamb]

That's way cool Doug! Great hunt and a fresh supply of knife handle material.  

[tippit]

I agree with Robin on a Doug Campbell wantabee...now how do you turn the clock back    Incredible perseverance, You are one bulldog!  Congrats...Doc

Vance, If you go get those ribs, I'll hop on a plane for dinner  :D

[hormoan]

Knife handles      :D  Super hunt, thanks for taking us along Doug    

                Brent

[Jack Shanks]

Great story Doug! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!

 Very few people have the determination and stamina that you hold. My hat is off to you and anyone that can endure what you went through to take your ram. Probably less would have done the right thing, as you did and ended the animals life as quickly as possible and insured it's recovery.

 Thank you for sharing.

[hunt it]

Yikes Charlie!!! Knife handles - NOT!!!

After all that hard work I bet Doug would shiver in his boots at the thought of turning that trophy into knife handles. Maybe a hunk of stabalized bone from the beast but not the horns.

[Doug Campbell]

Knife handles... gonna have to nix that idea    

Ken, believe me I asked myself that same question several times but I've heard/seen of many times a critter keeps going after what seemed a perfect lethal hit. Now not claiming a prefect hit here, this'n could have certainly been a bit further forward. Didn't have time for a full nicropsy but the paunch, liver and back of one lung were perferrated. Just for future refference... it's apparent thier vitals lie further forward than most of us are used to.

I learned a whole new respect for these sheep after watching them manuever over places you can't even imagine. I peeked over a ledge one time a busted a young, (probably two yr old) ram out of his bed from like 5'. He bolted out of there down a nearly vertical boulder strewn slide for probably two hundred yards so quickly I just stood dumbfounded. I expected him to limp away on broken bones but it never fazed him in the least. Very wiry, tough critters, with obviously a very stong will to survive.  

Thanks again everybody, it was indeed an incredible experience!!