My Umtanum Ram Hunt

[Torrent50]

My Umtanum ram hunt has come to a successful close.  What an experience.  I will do my best to tell the story.

I made three scouting trips over to the area over the summer.  On the first trip, in July, I found a band of 4 rams that I was watching for a while.  While I was doing that, another ram and a juvenile walked across the rocky slope and joined them.  When I saw that ram, I thought to myself “that is a nice ram.  I wouldn’t mind taking him.”  One thing that I noticed was that all of the original 4 I was watching had colored collars on them, but the new arrival didn’t. 

My next trip over I didn’t see a single ram and was getting a little worried.  After some encouraging info from a couple of members of this site, I felt a little better.  I made one more last minute trip over the Thursday before the season started.  I met one of the other tag holders while I was over there and when he found out that I would probably be going solo on my hunt, he offered that he had a couple of friends coming with him and that we could team up and they would help out if I needed it.  I was more than happy to accept the offer and it turned out to be a blast.  While I was there, a guy who was helping spot for a family with a daughter who had a ewe tag pointed out where the rams were located.  When I got them in my spotting scope I was happy to see that it was the same group that I had seen in July, minus the juvenile and plus another mature ram.  At that time we had white collar, green collar, pink collar, red collar, broken horn, and no collar.  Definitely made it easy to keep track of them.

I then found out that the collars were put on sheep that were captured in February and tested negative for pneumonia.  Anything without a collar hadn’t been tested.  We also were told that no-collar and broken-horn were both seen coughing the day before we were there and asked to take the lungs along with blood and nasal swabs if we took one of those two…………

To be continued….. 

[X-Force]

Awesome so far!

Congrats on the successful hunt

[WildBear]

Congrats! Looking forward to the rest. 😁

[Torrent50]

I headed over for the hunt and met my fellow tag holders and his two friends on Sunday with the season set to open the next morning.  We found the rams again, and spent the afternoon watching and evaluating.  The more I watched, the more it confirmed that No-Collar was the one I wanted to take.  He had everything I wanted.  My friends had asked if I had a certain size ram I was looking for or what I was after and I kept saying that I didn’t have anything specific, but that there would be one that I would see and say “that’s him.”  That is exactly what happened with No-Collar. 

We spent opening day watching the rams to see if they would move somewhere or come down to water and trying to figure out if they had any sort of pattern.  What I realized is these rams didn’t move much.  They barely ventured more than a couple hundred yards all day.  We also had the good fortune to meet some of the hunters who had the Selah Butte tags.  What a great bunch of folks. 

Tuesday morning came around and the rams were still in the same spot.  At that point, my lack of patience kicked in and I looked at the fellas and said “I’m going for a hike.”  One of them, Andy, said he would come along.  We drove around to the back of the area and hiked up to the rim of the canyon.  While sneaking along we realized we had been spotted by the resident herd of ewes and juveniles.  After laying on the rim of the canyon for about 15 minutes, the ewes all decided to head out over a saddle into the next drainage.  I found the rams and made a roundabout approach to try to get above them and keep the wind in our favor.  I started working my way from rock outcropping to outcropping descending towards the bedded rams (and three ewes).  When I reached the last available chunk of rock, I looked over the edge and had a clear view of No-Collar and White-Collar bedded below.  I was so excited and shaking so bad I had a hard time getting a range.  I finally got it to read 425 yards.  I dialed it on my scope and tried to settle in.  It was definitely not a comfortable shooting position but I got set up and waited for No-Collar to stand up.  Once he did he slowly turned broadside and I settled the crosshairs and pressed the trigger.  After the recoil, I saw No-Collar standing there looking around trying to figure out what happened.  I reloaded and settled again.  Bang.  No-Collar moved a bit and they all milled around wondering what was going on……..and then they started grazing.  I knew I had to be shooting high so I dialed down to 400 and settled in again.  Bang.  And they all scattered.  I lost sight of the rams, but knew I had missed again.  I reloaded my magazine and tried to figure out where the rams went.  I saw the three ewes heading off to my left and then caught movement to my right.  There went the line of rams, including an un-scathed No-Collar.  They were heading away and around the end of the ridge one drainage away. 

t-b-c

[Torrent50]

At that point it was time to hustle.  We headed down that ridge and worked past three different rock formations.  While standing on the last one, I still couldn’t see the rams.  I looked down and could see that our two buddies were parked in a pull-off on the highway below us.  I looked thru the binos and could see one of them motioning me to my left.  When I worked around the rocks in that direction I saw a couple ewes and then two rams.  White-Collar and No-Collar were standing broadside below me.  I ranged them at 183 returned my scope to it’s 200 yard zero and set up.  I put the crosshairs on the lower ⅓ of No-Collar’s chest and pressed the trigger.  I heard the bullet hit and saw him stumble and go down.  I somehow managed to actually get No-Collar after all of that. 

After some celebrating, tag notching, and picture taking it was time to break him down.  Once we got that done came the task of getting him off the mountain…..and here’s where it got interesting.

Andy didn’t realize when I said I was going for a hike, that I really meant I was going to try to shoot a ram.  He brought a day-pack that really wasn’t capable of carrying much weight.  He took the loose meat and I loaded the four quarters and head/horn and cape on my back.  We had decided that we would take him down to the river and cross to our buddies and drive back around for my truck.  The gentleman who was spotting for the ewe tag holder told us that the river is only knee deep and you can wade across……….ummmmm not so much. 
After taking one tumble on the way down with an extremely heavy pack I made it to the river slightly bruised, and with one bent trekking pole.  At that point Andy and I started into the river to test it out.  He made it about ⅔ of the way and realized it was waist deep and pushing him pretty hard.  He told me to go back and he would go across and get his 350 foot rope and bring it back to use to help across.  After slipping down and going chest deep, he made it to the other side.  He came back with a life jacket and a rope and headed back into the river.  Unfortunately it wasn’t his long rope and he was not able to get all the way across.  So plan C was hatched.  I forgot to mention that I had a brand new 5 person raft that I bought for this hunt.  But I made a bonehead move and left it in my truck…….on the other side of the mountain.  I gave Andy one of my key fobs and he waded across for the 3rd time to go get my truck and the raft. 

About an hour and a half later, here came Andy, Dan, and Mont down the hill with the raft on a pack-board.  Andy had put on chest waders by this point as well.  They inflated the raft and Andy rowed across like a pro, picked me up and rowed back.  We then divided everything up and started up towards the road.  Andy and Dan were bringing the raft and Mont and I had the ram.  On the last leg we heard a voice from above ask “You guys need some help?”  We all said yes and two young men and two young women from one of the Selah Butte tag groups came down with cold beers and took the raft and we were finally out. 

What a goat rodeo!!!!!  For the rest of the story you need to realize that Andy, who hiked over the mountain with me and carried my rifle and some of the sheep down the mountain, then crossed the Yakima River 3 times, went and got my truck and drove it back, and then rowed over and back to get me is 65 years old and had met me two days earlier.  Mont and Dan who were sweating helping me get my ram and everything up the hill are also both retired and had just met me.  I am so completely overwhelmed by their willingness to help a total stranger.  Every person that I met that was over there hunting rams was amazing.  It is definitely one experience that I will not forget and can only hope to repay.

[Torrent50]

I forgot to mention that after the initial gun battle with the rams, when my nerves had calmed a bit and I thought they were gone for good, I was able to re-check the range and found that I must have hit the hill where it rose beyond where the rams were bedded to get 425.  I found a rock next to their beds and got an accurate range of 350.  I guess that difference and the extreme down angle of the shot must have been why I was air-mailing the rounds. 

Also, I can't seem to get pictures to load....but they are coming.

[257wbymagkiller]

Awesome hunt and congratulations. Your an awesome writer. I enjoyed it. Can’t wait to see the pics!

[lewy]

congrats! Tagging...

[Torrent50]

The fellas.

[Wanttohuntmore]

Awesome!  Thanks for the write up!

[Torrent50]

Line-up.

[Jingles]

Congrats on a successful hunt, great write up  and meeting someone (especially elderly) willing to go nipple deep in cold water to help out a fellow hunter. I can say from experience that alone is "refreshing to say the least at 60+)

[Torrent50]

End result.  I'm getting kicked out of the club.

[Wanttohuntmore]

Way cool.   Congrats!  Always wondered how I would do that hunt.

[MADMAX]

dandy ram congrats

[mburrows]

Nice write up and great ram!

[WildBear]

What a great memorable hunt!!

[Tree Killer]

Congratulations on your ram!  A week from now I'll be on the Deschutes River in Oregon getting ready for my son's sheep hunt that starts on the 16th. We've been seeing lots of mature rams, but your story just added to the excitement.   

[Pathfinder101]

Great write up and great pictures.    Congrats on a really cool ram.  Thanks for taking us along for the ride. 

[highbuckklr]

Excellent all the way around (write up, awesome strangers, true hunting story, and the RAM).

[Rob]

Great hunt and congratulations!  wonderful Ram

[Wunderlich33]

Congrats on a great Ram!

[bearhunter99]

Congrats on a great ram, sometimes things just end up falling into place!  Also great to hear about the other hunters. There are still some decent folks out there!

[sjhgraysage]

Congrats! Nice ram and pics! 

[starbailey]

Congratulations on a good looking Umtanum ram and thanks for sharing your adventure.

[Rainier10]

Great write up and ram.  Congratulations.

[Torrent50]

Elk79, I tried PM-ing you but your inbox is full.

[Mjensen]

congratulations on a beautiful Ram, what a experience. Thank you for sharing.

[KNOPHISH]

This is pretty cool! Thanks for sharing it. 

[Dan-o]

Fantastic!

[Falcon]

Nice way to get booted out of the <1 club!     Sweet looking ram

Love the story.    Huge congrats

[Wea300mag]

Very nice ram, congrats! Sounds like it was quite an adventure.

[Torrent50]

Very nice ram, congrats! Sounds like it was quite an adventure.

 Yes it was.   

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

He’s a beaut of a ram. Nice work man! Good write up

[rainshadow1]

Great hunt, and great experience with fellow outdoorsmen and women. Really great story!

[elkoholic1]

 

[pianoman9701]

Great looking ram. Congratulations. 

[takethetime]

Well done on the right up and the ram. Fellow hunters can be awesome!

[Torrent50]

My ram came home today.  Thanks to Joel at Blackriver Taxidermy for doing an amazing job on the mount.  I am super happy with how it turned out.

[Falcon]

Beautiful ram and some amazing taxidermy work

[greenhead_killer]

that came back awesome!

[Flaming Antler Outdoors]

great ram for that unit

[fowl smacker]

My ram came home today.  Thanks to Joel at Blackriver Taxidermy for doing an amazing job on the mount.  I am super happy with how it turned out.

Cool looking mount!  Doesn't look like the same cape to me as the one in your kill pics.  Looks way lighter.  Maybe it's the lighting.

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

My ram came home today.  Thanks to Joel at Blackriver Taxidermy for doing an amazing job on the mount.  I am super happy with how it turned out.

Cool looking mount!  Doesn't look like the same cape to me as the one in your kill pics.  Looks way lighter.  Maybe it's the lighting.

It’s the same cape, guaranteed. Those rams are pretty filthy most of the time so even a washing the hide removes an insane amount of dirt. Could be some of the lighting as well. Everything gets a tag in here that is not removed until it leaves so it’s pretty dang tough to get misplace a hide/cape.

[fowl smacker]

My ram came home today.  Thanks to Joel at Blackriver Taxidermy for doing an amazing job on the mount.  I am super happy with how it turned out.

Cool looking mount!  Doesn't look like the same cape to me as the one in your kill pics.  Looks way lighter.  Maybe it's the lighting.

It’s the same cape, guaranteed. Those rams are pretty filthy most of the time so even a washing the hide removes an insane amount of dirt. Could be some of the lighting as well. Everything gets a tag in here that is not removed until it leaves so it’s pretty dang tough to get misplace a hide/cape.

10-4 The mount looks great!

[Csob]

Hey Torrent, just adding a little to your thread to bring closure with some of the characters from your hunt. This was the ram (green collar) I ended up taking including a picture with the legend Andy (Jeremiah Johnson) Hawkings.

[Torrent50]

You clearly went waaaay to easy on Andy.  He isn't soaking wet or rafting the Yakima or anything.  We definitely had some fun times over there on the hunt.  Wish I would have been there to see the shot that took down Green Collar.  He's a great ram and I'm glad you were able to get him after setting him as the goal from day 1. 

Thanks for sharing.