2011 OIL TAGS

[Biggerhammer]

Nope but still a dang nice ram.

Just drawing that tag would be satisfaction enough, the Ram is just icing on the cake!

[Ridgerunner]

I disagree just drawing the tag isn't satisfaction enough only notching it is.

[Biggerhammer]

I disagree just drawing the tag isn't satisfaction enough only notching it is.

If your interested in just notching it, you can do that from the highway. 10 steps off the pavement any day of the year.

[popeshawnpaul]

Swakane

Shooting sheep in the Swakane is like shooting fish in a barrel, finding the couple true big boys is a whole different story. Hope it came together for him, would be nice to see a 185 or bigger.

Rams aren't the hardest, fastest, toughest, or wiliest animals out there and that's not what makes them special.  Finding the biggest rams in Swakane isn't particularly "hard" either including the record ram.  You are hoping for the 2nd biggest ram ever to be killed...  Nobody has seen a ram in there that legitimately tops 180" since the record ram.  The record ram was once in a lifetime and there isn't one that gets that big every year, decade, or century.  It was a once in a lifetime deal and expecting anything close is not exactly rational.  The ram taken this year was an amazing ram as this unit CAN grow some large rams.  They have to live that long and have a good 3 first years of growth.  When they die on the road before the fence was put in it cripples this small population.  Aaron's ram, Harris' ram, and some people have created unrealistic expectations on these sheep.  They might look similar to rocky sheep, but they are not.  We are producing the biggest cali rams in the world but are we starting to take our huge cali rams for granted?

The ram taken was awesome!  Great length and mass and truly one of the prettiest rams with a wide curl.  The hunter spent a memorable 3 weeks scouting and hunting all the rams in the unit and taking a great ram.

[Wea300mag]

Sounds like the hunter did all he could do and took a great ram, hopefully he signs up (if not already a member), tells the story, and shows some pics.

[huntnphool]

Sounds like the hunter did all he could do and took a great ram, hopefully he signs up (if not already a member), tells the story, and shows some pics.

David is a member, goes by "whuppinstick". I doubt the story gets up here anytime soon, he has a couple more nice tags to fill and is hoping to get the story/pics in a magazine first.

 Oh and..................this is the 2011 OIL tag thread, not the 2012.

[Biggerhammer]

Sounds like the hunter did all he could do and took a great ram, hopefully he signs up (if not already a member), tells the story, and shows some pics.

David is a member, goes by "whuppinstick". I doubt the story gets up here anytime soon, he has a couple more nice tags to fill and is hoping to get the story/pics in a magazine first.

 Oh and..................this is the 2011 OIL tag thread, not the 2012.

Oil tags a Oil tag..  Allot of great sheep in the Swakane unit. It's going to be a long time before Aaron's sheep takes a place in the #2 spot.

[whuppinstick]

Sounds like the hunter did all he could do and took a great ram, hopefully he signs up (if not already a member), tells the story, and shows some pics.

As Rob said, I'm short on time as I'm heading to Idaho soon for goat and elk.
I am hoping to get the story/photos published so it'll be a few months before I post them up here, but I will post them.
I scouted for 18 days and shot the biggest ram I could find on the 19th day.  I was debating holding off a little longer, but after checking with many sources we didn't have any confirmation on a larger ram and with all the forest fires in the area, there was a threat the Swakane unit would be closed to entry by the Forest Service.  I made the call to take the largest ram I'd found and share the experience with the team who was able to come over for the weekend.  It was a good choice and I got a beautiful ram.  It was a great 19 days and a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Thanks to Rob, Shawn, and Shane for making the trip to the unit just to join in on a sheep hunt - two of those guys had never even met me before!  Their help in poring over sheep photos, adding numbers, accompanying me on the hunt, and photographing the heck out of the sheep was all much appreciated.

[Wea300mag]

As Rob said, I'm short on time as I'm heading to Idaho soon for goat and elk.

Very cool, you have a dilemma we all would like to have.

Check in when you get back.

[Bearhunter]

Congrats Dave!!!  I heard about it the day you scored great Ram and Smart Decsision...  Give me a ring when you get back into town and well hookup and share stories.  Good luck on the Goat hunt and the next few weeks with all them other tags you pulled as well   Talk to ya soon.  James