Sorry guys for the delay. Here is a start.
My dad started putting my name in the hat for bighorn sheep when I was 12. I drew my first sheep tag at the age of 13. I ended up with a nice ram with a rifle and a great experience and introduction to sheep hunting. Ever since then, I have wanted to hunt sheep again and hunt them especially with a bow and arrow. This year, 26 years later I was fortunate enough to draw another sheep tag in my home state of Montana. So fortunate that a couple of my buddies hung up on me after hearing the news.
I scouted 6 days total in July and August. I was immediately optimistic seeing 24 rams my first day of scouting. I first saw this ram in August and got some rough video through my spotting scope. He was with another smaller ram at that time and he looked awesome. He had a big frame and his horns appeared massive compared to other rams I had seen. He had a rich darker brown color to him that I also liked. He was a gorgeous ram. I may have seen this ram one other time earlier in the summer but didn’t get enough time to look him over before he went into the trees out of sight. That was all I saw of him before the season opened on September 5th.
The area I hunted is about 2 hrs from where I live so most of the time I would make two or three-day trips to hunt, then return home for a few days before going back. I would sleep in the truck, tent, or in a small cabin owned by a guy that gave me permission to access the sheep country.
Most of the spotting in this unit is done from the road below, scoping up to the mountainsides to spot rams. I also had permission to access a private road from above if needed. It was about 2,000 feet from the bottom to the tops of the peaks but most of the sheep activity was fairly close to the middle, about half way up. The idea was to spot the sheep from above or below, then try to get in close enough to locate them again and plan a stalk. Their movement varied, some staying in the same area the entire day while others would travel over a mile. They seem to roam and feed but no real patterns.
The terrain is rocky and cliffy with grassy benches and sparse timber. It is fairly noisy so it made stalking very challenging when close. Wet weather made it quieter but with so many rock slides it was still very difficult. The weather was still mild in September, I only had a couple rainy days that were maybe in the forties.
This is another nice ram my brother photographed through his spotting scope.
Another younger ram from scouting
Will post more shortly.
Topic: Dave Windauer"s Beautiful Bighorn!! (Read 2507 times)
