Umtanum Ram Down

[blacktailer]

Finally getting around to do a brief story on my Uncle's (uncle to Shane and Alec VG as well)sheep hunt.  It was fast and furious, and he was able to get it done on opening day.     Alec VG, Bear and Alec's dad were along as well.  We located some good rams just below the dam on the eve of the opener.  There were two rams in particular we figured would go in the low to mid 160 range that were number one on the hit list.  We located them in the morning and planned the attack.  They were bedded on an open hillside with ewes above.  Long story short, we closed the distance to around 150 yards, but due to the contour of the hill we couldn't see the rams.  Bear and Rick were signaling us in.  The wind was swirly and they caught our wind and were off. They never slowed down for a couple of miles or more.   It was a bit of a "wake up" call for us.  My uncle Mel  is turning 69 this year, and it was in the mid-90's that day.  We had passed a band of rams earlier on our climb and thought they warrented a closer look.  Bear found them from the opposite side of the canyon and walked us in.  Another long story short, Mel shot this guy out of a group of 4 rams.  I believe all four rams would have scored within 5 points or so of each other but were all unique.  This is the one he chose.  It is an older ram.  Biologist aged him at 6 1/2- 7 1/2.   I scored him right out at 150 and change.    Though it would have been nice to have had a crack at one of the two big rams in the first herd we saw, he was very happy to have this ram on the ground.   His goal for the hunt was to harvest a mature ram and not kill himself trying.  It was a privilege to join him along with Alec, Bear and Rick.  Thanks to Rick in Tieton who was a wealth of information...

[D-Rock425]

Awesome work.

[grundy53]

Nice work!

sent from my typewriter

[boneaddict]

Nice.   I photo'd the group last night.  You'll have to check and see if the two were part of the group.  There were 8 total.    Congrats on your guys Ram.

[NRA4LIFE]

Awesome.  Congrats to the old fella.

[PlateauNDN]

 

[PAW66]

Congratulations to the hunter. Nice ram

[dingle]

Very nice Ram, Good for you guys.

[X-Force]

hope to be able to go on a ram hunt someday. looks like a blast. congrats to your uncle.

[gunboats]

Great Job!

[Pathfinder101]

Nice 

[starbailey]

Good job.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Nicely done, and way to set reasonable goals and attain them!

[alecvg]

It was an awesome hunt.  One I will remember forever.

[lewy]

Awesome