Tieton sheep down!

[pat2bear]

Been kind of busy lately. Been wanting to get a story on here for you all so here it is. Went up Tuesday, opening morning with my uncle Victor. We started the day off on a ridge with a good vantage point and spent most of the morning glassing, We spotted about 40 sheep but all were ewes, lambs and a handful of small rams. Exhausting that spot we decided to relocate. That's when I got a call from Ric (Elkstuffer). He said he had a friend further down the road that had some rams spotted and thought that at least one of them might be a shooter. We met up with him and I threw the spotting scope on them. There were 7 rams bedded, 5 were small, one had a good curl but was not broomed. The other one caught my eye. He looked a little shorter than the other ram but carried his mass well and was broomed off. We stalked up to a ridge we spotted from the bottom and settled in. The wind was in our face, I had my bipod set, and we were 201 yards away. The ram was bedded with his butt to us so we waited for him to stand. The sun was beating down on us but the breeze helped. Both my legs were totally asleep but we didn't want to move. After about 45 minutes the small ram stood up and harassed the bigger one out of his bed and playfully started to spar. They were standing so close together and the wind was gusting and swirling. I waited for them to separate more. Then the bigger one turned and started to walk strait away with the 2 smaller rams right on his heels. No shot. I watched and waited for a shot but after 300 yards I knew it wouldn't happen. I started to kick myself for my restraint. Ok, time to wrap this up. We headed up the ridge to cut them off in the draw they were headed up. We dropped down into the draw ahead of them. We spotted 2 small rams across the draw and 2 in the bottom that we couldn't see well in the brush. We figured the bigger one was in there. Then Victor said “ram right there!” He was at 50 yards on the same slope as us. All I could see was part of his horn but from where Victor was sitting he could see his whole head. He said "that's your ram!” He started to browse to our right and stepped out into the open at about 60 yards. I let the air out of him and he went rolling about 30 yards before getting hung up on some brush. I could fully appreciate the awesome beauty of these animals when I was sitting next to this ram. Elkstuffer said he scored 161 4/8 gross and the WDFW bio said he was 8 1/2 yrs old. He may not be the biggest ram on the mountain but I am ecstatic. Thanks to my uncle, cousin and all my friends for their help. And thanks to Elkstuffer and his friend Mike for their hot tip on the ram. And a big thanks to the good lord for giving me the chance to hunt these majestic creatures. This truly was the hunt of a lifetime. And surprisingly mutton steak are quite delicious. Pat.

[Sneaky]

nice lookin ram good job

[sisu]

VERY NICE. 

[bowhunterforever]

Awsome ram,Congrats!

[addicted]

sweeeet

[SHANE(WA)]

congrats  good story

[Skyvalhunter]

Congrats on a fine ram and thanks for the story!!

[tazz]

nice ram great story thanks for the story and pics

[rosscrazyelk]

Nice Ram. I do not know alot about sheep so I have to ask what does Broomed Mean?

[boneaddict]

Looks like a great one.  I need to check but might have some live pictures of him for your collection.  Good job, thats one of the better ones of the area!

[whacker1]

very cool - congratulations!

[jackelope]

Nice Ram. I do not know alot about sheep so I have to ask what does Broomed Mean?

it means the tips of his horns are broken or worn or frayed from butting and stuff in general, they are not sharp and unworn(lamb tips)

great ram...congrats.

[buckhorn2]

Congradulations on a nice ram. And the same to your friends it;s what makes hunting so special.

[Ridgerunner]

YEAH!  About time we saw a sheep on the ground.  Great job on an awesome looking ram. 

[pat2bear]

That'd be cool Bone. He's pretty easy to recognize with that splintered up left horn.