Great Story, thanks for sharing!
I was able to fill my tag on the 1st. It was a tough but really fun hunt. I had spent time with my rifle (7mm rem mag) at the range pre-season at 100, 200 and 300 yards and I was shooting at or below MOA and on target. I was shooting at targets with this rifle at 500-700 yards in the spring, but I was not as satisfied with my accuracy at those ranges so I set a 300 yard max distance for myself. I felt good for this one!
The day started by leaving Monroe at 2:30 am (30 min later than planned due to a missing coffee mug and other minor delays). I wanted to get to the head of the canyon a couple hours before first light so I could be in position. I arrived at the parking area around 5:30 am, popped on my boots, put on my pack and was walking by 5:35. I walked slow and steady up the trail until I felt I was close to where I had been glassing sheep earlier and left the valley to get into a position to glass. I sat down on a ridge about 6:55am - about 15 or so min before first light. I could hear rocks being knocked down by sheep in the canyons so I figured I was in a decent area.
As the light came up, I found about 15 sheep behind me (350-400 yards), a couple infront of me (600-900 yards), and a group of 8 in the valley below crossing the trail I had just been on 45 min earlier (500 yards)! (Doh!)
I watched them all for a while and then made a plan. I would stay in behind the ridge I was on and top out, swing around behind the sheep and try to close the gap to under 200 yards. Took me about an hour or so to quietly walk up the ridge and circle around. I crept up on them - the Big Ram was laying down as were several others. I spent a long time glassing them looking for confirmed Ewes. I was able to ID a couple that I was 99% sure were ewes, but I did not have rear shot to see between the back legs and verify no testicles so I waited. After about 20 min I finally got the view I was looking for and was able to take the shot. Broadside at 210 yards and I was in a sitting position, pretty stable, and buck fever was under control. The trigger squeeze felt good. When I recovered from the recoil I could not see if a sheep was down, but they all stood up and were milling around trying to figure out what happened. Then the rams started sniffing the ewes and the settled down. No one looked like they had been shot, and I could not see anything on the ground.
I waited about 15 min to see if one would fall over or if one had blood on its side but nothing. I decided to walk in and see if one of the suspicious rocks I had been glassing had fur. The sheep walked away relatively calmly as I approached and when I got to where they were, I saw them about 40 yards away. I could have taken one offhand but I really wanted to make sure there was nothing down first. They trotted over a rise as I checked the area for blood or a downed animal. Nothing. Very frustrated. how could I possibly have missed clean at that range. I can do 200 yards all day long with this rifle.
I walked over towards where they had gone and saw them at 140 slowly walking away. I got into a prone position and took aim at a ewe. Distance: 180 yards. I shot again and nothing. No Whump, no fallen animal, no sick animal... VERY FRUSTERATED!! I could have shot again but I wanted to make 100% positive there was no blood or wounded animal so I walked over to check. This time the sheep headed out of Dodge.
Now I did not know what to do. I was 2 miles in and 2,000 feet above my truck. It was 10 am and I had a rifle I did not trust. I thought about heading home and swapping out my rifle and coming back to hunt Saturday but that would have been a bummer.
I had a piece of paper with me (Sheep Ewe ID paper!). it was about 6x7 in size so I put it on a bush, walked 200 yards away, found a somewhat stable prone shooting position and took a shot. I walked back to the paper and it had a hole in it. It was about an inch high and right, but given my rest, it felt like it was OK.
I decided to keep hunting. I reduced my max acceptable distance from 300 yards to 200.
I walked the ridge line and saw many sheep. I probably saw well over 100 sheep before noon. Most were on the opposite canyon. I thought I saw two dead ones at the bottom of a cliff. I put my spotting scope on them and it was two ewe who were laying on their sides with their legs straight out! They had their heads up and were looking around so they were alive. Never seen a game animal lay down like that.
at about noon I came up on two juvenile rams about 300 yards infront and below me. I figured where there are young rams, there are likely more sheep so I moved closer and waited. I believe they had just come out of a spring below me and had been watering. Sure enough, out come a Ewe, a lamb, and one I could not tell if it was a young ram or ewe. 220 yards. A bit more than I wanted but I thought I would go for it. As I watched, I could see the lamb was close to the ewe and so I decided to pass. I was looking for a solo/barren Ewe.
I looked up and very close to the top of the canyon I saw what looked like a sea of white on the yellow grass. I glassed it and there were about 10 groups of sheep all converging on the bottom of a high valley into what must have been a water source. Well over 100 sheep. Problem was they were 900 yards and 600 feet above me. I decided to check out the other side of the ridge I was on as I really did not want to go another half mile from the truck. I could see some sheep scattered around on the hillside once I crested. They were 400 to 600 yards away. So it was decision time. time was about 1pm. Should I go for the closer, but fewer in # sheep, or go after the further away, more target rich environment above me. I decided to go for broke and go up to the target rich area.
As I got close, I was busted by a solo ram on a ridgeline. He was skylined about 150 yards from me. At this point I was not too worried though as these sheep really are not to spooked by people. I continued on and as I crested a ridge, the hillside infront of me exploded in sheep. Sheep everywhere. I had easily 100 animals within a 280 degree circle around me. They were between 70 and 600 yards away. I had 3 groups of sheep between 70 and 230 yards. The one at 70 yards was a ram so he was out. The other close ones at about 140 were skylined so they were out of the question. I focused my efforts on a set with rams and ewes that were between 180 and 230. I watched one for what seemed like hours but was probably only 10 min. Finally I was able to get the rear view I wanted and I could see she was a ewe. But now she was huddled with 4 rams and I needed her to step away from them to get the shot. FINALLY she was in the clear for a broadside shot. I started to squeeze the trigger. I squeezed and squeezed and realized I still had the safety on... Grrr.. popped that off and took aim again. I squeezed and fired. I heard a solid WHUMP of the bullet hitting. She was still standing and facing the other way so I took another shot. It was rushed and went a bit high. She walked away clearly hit so I took a third shot (I am a firm believer in shooting till they are down) As I shot, I noted that the horns looked smaller than I remembered and then she went down. OH CRAP! Did I shoot the wrong animal? Was it a young male? Did I really see no testicles? crap crap crap....
I picked up my pack and walked over quickly - sweating every step. Please be a female. please be a female.
I had been so careful to wait for clear views. I had done a lot or research on telling the difference between males and females before the hunt.
It had to be a female. but what if it was a male? CRAP!
As I walked over I found a 5 point elk shed. Well that is a good omen I thought!
I approached the sheep and flipped it over... Female. I said many prayers of thanks! What had thrown me off was that one horn was about 2/3 the size of the other horn. so when I took the first shot, I saw the long horn. The second shot was after she had turned and all I saw was the short horn. I am guessing this was a rather old Ewe. She was bigger than I thought (and bigger than the photos show). Torso like a decent mule deer, but on short legs. Perhaps a bit fatter than a deer too.
Whew!
Now the hard part. It was 2pm. I notched my tag, took photos and dressed/deboned her. I decided to try and get her out in one trip. I loaded it up and the pack was HEAVY. I decided to just take it slow. I checked later and the trip out was 2.75 miles and 2,850 feet of elevation drop. I stared walking at 4pm, and was back to the truck at 7:30. Very rough pack out, but glad I got it all over with in one trip. I weighed the pack and it was 81 lbs. The trails were not bad, but going down the hillsides on loose dirt/rocks and scree was brutal!
Still not sure what is going on with that gun. I need to take it in to a smith and have them look it over.
As always, thanks so much for all the help form the folks on this forum. Two folks in particular: Naches Sportsman for taking the time to meet up with me and show me some areas to focus on and ideas on how to approach the hunt. Also DOUBLELUNG for posting the Nevada Tutorial link to help ID Ewe from Juvenile Ram/Lamb. Not only a great resource, but when printed a good way to verify zero on a rifle! For those who need it:
http://www.ndow.org/uploadedFiles/ndoworg/Content/Hunt/Seasons_and_Regulations/Big_Game/Nevada%20ewe%20yearling%20ram%20ID%202017%20version.pdfA very memorable hunt with highs, lows and extreme pain!
