It Happens

[quadrafire]

ERNIE,

Hey I won a $1,000000 in the WA lotto and wanted to share some with you, but you gotta finish this story first 

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Real nice pics and part of a good story........

[Miles]

And I thought I was taking forever to finish my moose story...

[hirshey]

Please, sir... may I have some more? 

[2MANY]

It has been hunting season.

This Ernie cat is a hunter.

When things slow down....Ernie will post.

Until then I hope he is stalking into the wind.

[jae]

Congratulations, What a Beautiful Trophy!
John

[Hornseeker]

I apologize for dropping the ball here guys... I got busy... and busier... and burnt out... and... well... anyhow. Im back, I hope you guys can forgive me!!

Where was I? oh yeah... I was bowhunting for sheep in the Missouri Breaks. And holy smokes... it was hot and dry and I was hiking all over the dang place... in an area where I just knew I'd see 200 inch ram after 200 inch ram... and I didn't see JACK! I did see Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum a few times... a couple 2 year olds that fed on the slopes near camp quite often... but no big guys. Ugh! I also was stuck as far as the boat went, as I couldn't use the motor until the 15th!

I stumbled upon a little bone... while searching for horns....

[Hornseeker]

I don't recall what all I said earlier... but I'll quickly say this... I was camped on and hunting along the river for four days ... and saw two canoes with a total of three people in them go by. It was amazing... the solitude.



September 14 found me stumbling back to camp in the late afternoon, after having seen NO rams on a nice little walk with my bow... All I could think was how great it would be in the morning when I could actually get in the boat and head up or down river and try and find some sheep! Right before dark I spotted 12 sheep moving up a ridge about 2 1/2 miles upstream. The low light and a cheap spotting scope led me to believe it was one of the famed groups of rams known in this area! I was pumped... couldn't wait till morning! THen, at last light as they skylined on a ridge I was sure I was looking at a bare head against the sky behind... there certainly wasn't a big set of horns. I deflated a little, but was still pumped to get up and run the boat around and glass some new country.

[Hornseeker]

In the morning I was on the boat and waiting for enough light to see by... bow was stowed safely in its case and the 06' was outfitted with a full mag of 168 grain TSXs.... many of you know, I spend a lot of time bowhunting, but usually end up using a gun to bring home the bacon...

I took off at the first glimmer of light and ran up the river 2 miles to see if those sheep were still on the ridge. As I got near the ridge in question, I saw a boat tied off and 4 orange vests heading up the ridge! Blasted!! I blazed by there to the next corner and there was a boat camp and orange vests heading up the ridge! YOu have got to be kidding me! So... rethought my plan... I only had so much gas and no matter what, had to make the 29 mile trip upstream to my truck. I couldn't jet around too much. So I decided to motor down and glass as I went. I motored and tied off and glassed for 20 minutes... then slowly motored and tied off a half mile further... this went on for about 5 1/2 miles, until I was about 3 miles below camp. At this point, I had seen Tweedle D and Tweedle Dum and maybe 15-20 ewes... I was deflated, but you know what? I WAS SHEEP HUNTING IN THE MISSOURI BREAKS!! AND... I STILL HAD 2 1/2 MONTHS of SEASON LEFT! I might have been a bit deflated... but all things are relative, I was still flying HIGH!

I motored back to camp, tied off and marched up and started disassembling camp. I had to pull out, motor upriver and find a new spot to hunt for a couple days. I only planned to hunt the 15th and 16th, and was anxious to get after a different area. But dang... I had heard so much good about this spot!!

I rolled my bag, pads up. Packed my gear. Took my tent down and gathered all my junk... I packed them all the 100 yards back down to the boat and packed it up. I couldn't get out of this spot fast enough. I had to go find some rams...

After getting the boat packed I decided to walk up to the camp spot and my glassing point and make sure I hadn't dropped or forgot something. Nope, nothing there. I am obsessed with glassing, and am always optimistic.... maybe guardedly... but still optimistic... so I raised my binoculars to scan the deep gash of a canyon that led southeast of camp... and the very first thing I saw was four white asses with massive amounts of horns bobbing here and there... I could NOT believe my eyes. WIth my binos at 850 yards, there was no doubt in my mind that every ram in the group was worth a closer look...

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Nice!

[Widgeondeke]

Sounds great so far......

[TheHunt]

I am going to come back at page 6 I have patience.   

[jasnt]

Congrats  great ram

[Hornseeker]

I slipped down to the boat and got my scope, snuck back up the bank and set it up... I was pretty happy with what I saw. 4 mature rams. All looked good but one seemed to stand out. It was all I needed, so I hustled back to the boat, grabbed my rifle and my pack... There was a steep cut wash that came down the canyon they were in. I dropped into it and was totally invisible to the sheep. I could walk full speed up this cut... but I knew it wouldn't take me all the way up. After about 200 yards I reached the headcut that started the chasm. If I went any further I'd be exposed to the rams...  so I back tracked about 50 yards and snuck up out of the cut and skirted a low ridge that kept me hidden from the rams.

I ended up climbing a steep slope and getting behind a little ridge from them. The hill was super steep and it started raining. The Missouri breaks are made of a clay called Gumbo. This stuff, if you haven't experienced, is maddening. Its sticky and slippery when it gets wet. Even with a light rain, the clay started sticking to my boots... within 5 minutes I had an inch of mud where my soles should have been. I didn't have far to go. IF I could get up to the little ridge ahead, it would put me about 350 yards from where I saw them. I figured at that point I'd be able to get a good look at them and hopefully judge whether one was worthy of having this tag hanging off him. I was still nervous about making a good judgement, but at the same time, I had decided if I saw a ram that "looked good" and I killed him... I WOULD BE HAPPY with him... and myself.

Back to the stalk. I slowly crept up to the ridge and peered over. No rams in sight. THe breeze had hit me in the back of the neck several times during my stalk, so if they had flushed out of there I just wouldn't be surprised. By this time, the rain was falling steady. Not "hard"...but hard enough for me to think "man... if I kill a ram and it keeps raining... ugh... just dressing him would be horrendous in this mud... then packing him out would be a killer"... oh well, what the heck right? HOw many chances do you get to stalk big azz sheep?!?! 

I eased over the ridge and saw that there was fold after fold in the terrain ahead of me. There was also a patch of timber near where they were feeding last time I saw them... would they take cover in there? Nah... I don't think so, not these breaks sheep... I didn't completely discount the idea, but I did chose to inspect the draws ahead of me instead of the patch of timber off to my left.

I eased over the next little ridge.... nothing. The next...nothing. It was deep cut and the head end of it topped out over the ridge. They could be over and gone...

I eased over the next ridge... Nothing...

I kept going... and the rain turned into a gentle sprinkle... my boots were worthless... I was moving toward a saddle that they probably went over and from there... who knows... I scanned across the canyon and made sure I wasn't missing them heading up the other slope or emerging out of a steep cut draw. I stepped forward and glanced ahead... and he was staring at. Laying head on. I could see a white butt to his right, but no other sheep or horns. He looked awesome. I pulled my rifle up and got him in the scope and flicked the safety off. As my finger settled to the trigger I cussed myself "for chriminy sakes... chill... you don't have any real idea if this is "the one"... and you've got 2 1/2 months of season left..." I flicked the safety back on and lowered my gun... I didn't want to lift my binoculars or move at all... so I just looked at him. He stared at me. I wondered how big he was.

Was he big enough? Would I be happy with him? If the hunt ended right now, would I be satisfied? Was he even the biggest of the 4?

This was one of the 4.

[Hornseeker]

This was one of the 4 too...