did anybody draw clemans sheep tags?

[rosscrazyelk]

Several years ago...
Fantastic hunt!!

Is that yours Dan?

[Cook1985]

Congrats to you as well Wacat! You hunting the early or the late tag?

General question for the Cleman experts out there. The unit is bigger this year than it was in the past (they extended west) anybody know anything about the western past of the unit? Looks more like goat country to me but I figure they must have extended it for a reason....

[coachcw]

I saw some sheep last winter in rock creek , but I'd focus on the east end 

[Elkstuffer]

150" or so.  Keep looking...

+1

That's a young ram with great potential but like Pope said "keep looking"!

[shootem]

You have the chance for a truly incredible hunt. There is lots of good info here. coachcw helped me on a great hunt 2 years ago for the ram elkstuffer mounted and posted a picture of. He did an exceptional job on the mount and I recommend him highly. Coachcw has hunted sheep here a couple of times so can tell you the lay of the land. They both know the area and can give you plenty of info on how to approach your hunt. Be ready to bust your ass for a hunt of a life time. Make sure you see as many heads as you can prior to the hunt so you have an idea what big is. Do not be overly anxious about shooting the first decent ram you see.

[jimmyv]

Wow finally got drawn for Clemens and now am some what dis abaled.
Tag is for B Nov.2-30 and do not know the area although have been to the feeding station many times.
Any help will welcome.

[coachcw]

Id be over there two to three days early and watch the sheep and set your sights on one or two.

[Cook1985]

Sorry guys, its been a busy month for me so im just getting around to posting.  I was able to fill my tag with a ram that I am absolutely thrilled with.  First and foremost I want to thank coachcw and elkstuffer (Ric @ All Thats Wild Taxidermy) for the great info on the area and the areas to really check out. Great guys with great advice! I was able to scout the area pretty well with the information they gave me although I was only able to make it over twice during July and August due to my wedding on Sept 7th. 

On the second scouting trip, I was glassing some rams off in the distance and my fiance spotted a group of 4 rams about 450 yrs out.  I got the spotting scope on them and noticed that the biggest in the group had a #400 ear tag. I looked at my fiance and told her if I could shoot right now, i would. I took the pic I got down to Ric and he essentially gave me the green light on shooting him if I saw him during the season. After that scout i couldnt have been more excited. That was the ram I wanted.

On Sept 10th I headed for Hawaii on my honeymoon and didnt get back until the 16th so obviously i had to miss the opener and decided to hunt on the first weekend instead. By the time my dad and I got over there on the 19th, all but 1 other tag had been filled....

We hunted the 20th through the 22nd, the first day we sat on a pretty nice ram and tried to move in but got stuck in the open and spooked them from about 450yrds. The second day was HELL.  My dad and I dropped down into waterworks about 1/2 way to the road and decided to push it back up.  We got a few pretty nice rams but I couldnt get a good angle to figure out just how nice. We hoofed it back to the top and on the last hill climb, looked up and saw #400 and his 3 buddies hanging out on a ridgetop. We were only about 350yrds or so but there was about 15 min until dark and after that days hike....I wasnt about to chase a ram over the next mountain.  As we walked out I kept looking back to see what the rams were doing. Right before it got too dark to see, they bedded.
That night we were defeated. I was hurting so I knew my Dad was too at age 57, but he kept up the whole time, even with a cold!

The next morning we drove out to a spot I wanted to sit in the morning. The wind wasnt in our favor so my dad suggested we move down the ridge.  On the way there I stopped to glass where the rams had bedded. They were there. We were going to come over the top of them.

We couldnt have planned it any better. As we crept over the top, I looked down and didnt see the rams, I turn to tell my dad we needed to move down the ridge and he was looking past me and whispered "theres one looking right at us...." I turned back around and had a set of eyes at 150 yrds but it wasnt #400. They couldnt smell us and the sentry ram started to move to my left and I crouched and waited.  About 10 seconds later, another ram walked into view, then he turned and showed off that #400 earring and I pulled the trigger.

The pack out was rough...since, of course, he had to slide damn near to the bottom of waterworks... but my dad and I did the whole thing by ourselves, and I'm damn proud of that. My dad started putting me in for these OIL tags when I was 13yrs old, I drew the tag with 14pts.  This truly was a OIL tag and I couldnt be happier with the ram I took or the fact that I was able to hunt it with my dad.

He scored out to about 158 and was 7.5 or 8.5 years old. I'm going to place a call to the game dept in yakima soon enough to get any more info they may have on #400.

Thanks again for all the info you guys gave me. If anyone hunting the late hunt has any questions, I'll be happy to tell you what I saw out there.

-Cody

[carpsniperg2]

Congrats to you on your ram and a great hunt with your dad.

[SuperDave]

Congratulations!  Great story and nice ram!

[bowhunterforever]

Nice ram Congrats

[rtspring]

Great Ram!!! Coach and Elkstuffer are great people...

[danderson]

Cody, great photos and story

[PlateauNDN]

Another beautiful clemans ram.

[coachcw]

   sheep hunting is a blast !