Lurking Lenny has a story to tell

[Walt Francis]

I heard from my hunting buddy Lenny Brown and he said he has a hunting story to tell.......I think your going to like this one.

[Cookus]

   

[Mark Baker]

Come on, Lenny!

[ron w]

We can't hear you..........  

[Shinken]

 

Shoot straight, Shinken

 

[ti-guy]

[Joeabowhunter]

[joe ashton]

well???

[Ted Fry]

Lenny , are you out there?

[23feetupandhappy]

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy  

[Cyclic-Rivers]

TTT.  TTT. TTT
Lenny where are you????

[Lenny Brown]

First, this thread will have a lot of pictures, for the most part I will let them tell the story.

This story started in late June when I checked the drawing results SUCCESSFUL SHEEP LICENSE!  I could not believe it I've been applying for 18 years and never thought I'd get a change to hunt bighorn sheep. The next couple of weeks I had a grin from ear to ear and was gigging like a little school girl.
My Golden retriever and I made a couple trips into the peaks in July and August not finding any sheep. My hunting unit had a dozen trailheads I could use to get into different drainages in the peaks; all were 6 to 8 mile hikes in. Here are a few pictures of my scouting trips:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lenny Brown]

When the season came in September 15 I was in the peaks, I would hike into a drainage look for sheep 2 or 3 days come out and rest a few days then try another drainage.  I would find nothing but goats and bears on these trips. I would check with our wildlife biologist every week to see if any sheep had been harvested (there are 5 tags given in that unit) and she would assure me that I was in all the right places that the sheep normally summer in, but still no sheep.  Come the middle of October the high country started getting snow and I would start seeing ewes along the river as I was heading home late in the afternoon. My friend Walt went into the peaks with me on my last trip in. I talked him into caring a real tent, as I froze my butt off the week before with a Kifaru tarp and lightweight sleeping bag trying to keep my weight down.

 

 

 

[Lenny Brown]

Our trip only lasted one night due to another storm, we couldn't see a thing.
 

 

 

At this point I spent 16 days in the high country and only saw one band of ewes and lambs.

 

 

[Lenny Brown]

We now had good snow cover even down at the river and I started seeing more and more sheep. I didn't see my first legal ram until Oct. 25th.

 

 

 

[Lenny Brown]

With a whitetail hunt in Kansas booked for the first week in November I was hoping for more snow and the rut to be kicking in when I got back. After my return I would only have 15 days left in my sheep season.
The day before I got home we got 2 feet of snow in the mountains. When I got to the river sheep seemed to be everywhere. I saw 3 different bands of sheep and all of them had rams checking ewes. Spent the day among 2 bands of sheep having 3 legal rams at less  than 20 yards. Rutting rams what a blast!

 

 

 


 

[Lenny Brown]

Next morning I was at the river where they were rutting the day before, I saw the first band a 1/2 mile away heading right towards me.  A dozen sheep with two 1/2 curl rams. I was glassing as they passed 100 yards in front of me, crossed the river, and started feeding.  A half hour later another 14 sheep appeared where I first spotted the first band this band had 2 bigger rams in it, game on.  Quickly grabbing my gear and bow I crossed the river and got in among the first band of sheep.  A little over 30 minutes later the 2nd band showed up on the opposite river bank about 50 yards away.  They held up on the other side for a while before swimming across, then there was a lot of rutting around as all 4 rams had to check out the new girls. After about 15 minutes of this they all settled down and started feeding.  When I first saw him up close I thought he was one of the rams I had passed up the day before but he was little bigger and the longer I looked at him the better he looked I figured him to be a 5 1/2 years old.  A hour later after having him quartering away at 15 yards 3 different times I decided he's the ram I'm supposed to have and I'm going for it next chance I get.  As soon as I made that decision I started shaking things were getting intense, I was still trying to get my excitement under control when the ram changed feeding direction from almost going away to broadside at 15 yards.  As I slowly drew to anchor and released I saw my pretty red fletching appear in the center of the sheep, a little farther back then intended.  I've never seen a sheep run so hard for so long. After watching him run hard for 200 yards he slowed to a walk for another 50 yards before I lost sight of him. I got a good look at my shot placement as he tore out of there and was pretty sure the arrow was fatal but it warranted waiting for several hours before tracking.   Checking my watch it was 12:02 if I took up the trail at 4:00 it would give me an hour and a 1/2 to find him before dark.  Checking the first 100 yards of his trail and found him to be bleeding pretty good and steady.
I returned to my car went to town and called my friend Justin to help with recovery. We ate lunch and watched a couple bands of sheep along the river, seeing several good rams.
We took up the blood trail at 4:00.  He paralleled the river for another 200 yards then swam across and headed uphill about 60 yards before laying down about a 1/2 mile from where he was shot.  We were following the trail just below where he was laying when we heard a crash. He only had enough left in him to stand, he then fell off the ledge and slid downhill 30 yards before his horns hooked on some trees and stopped him. BIGHORN DOWN!

 

 

 

 

I used a Tolke Whip, Wilderness Arrows by David Lawson tipped an Eclipse broadhead.

[ca]

Awesome

[Plumber]

wow good storie

[Cwilder]

Wow congrats. Very nice photos to go along with the story