Sheep Hunt
11-02-2007, 09:21 PM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Utah
Posts: 53
Sheep Hunt
I drew a Utah Desert Bighorn sheep tag this year. I decided to for go a guide and do this hunt as DIY hunt. When I drew the tag, I started to try and search the internet for info on hunting Bighorn sheep. There is not a lot out there.
I started to try and find hunters who had hunted sheep in the past. Friends of a Friend of a Friend. Learned a little from each person I talked to. Last spring before the desert got hot, I joined a horse ride put on by a local group that leads a trail ride through part of the unit that I was to hunt. Hoping to learn some of the trails that I could use to access this very remote area of Utah.
When Labor day arrived I decided it was time to start my scouting and learn the area. I started spending every weekend in the unit. At first riding my horses or atv to learn where roads and trails lead to, where water holes were located, and hoping that I might see a few sheep in my travels. I had been warned not to expect to see many sheep in September or October, But that they would magically appear in November as the weather cooled and the rut started. As I scouted I saw some monster mule deer, wild mustangs, wild donkeys, lots of coyotes and other wildlife.
The hunt opened September 22 and I started carrying my rifle with me, just in case I didn't have to wait for November. It was still very warm, I went through a lot of water while hiking in the desert. Most of my friends where hunting elk and deer so I spent a lot weekends alone scouting for sheep. By mid October some of my friends had finished their other hunts and started to join me on my sheep hunts. Their company was welcome. It's much more enjoyable to share the outdoors with good friends and the extra eyes are always a help.
By the 3rd week of October I had only see 6 ewes. I was getting pretty discouraged. Thinking maybe I had made a mistake by not hiring a guide. Ihad heard lots of stories of others who had drawn the tag and not been successful in their hunts. I picked up my efforts to find somebody who had successfully harvested a ram in the same unit as I was hunting. Calls to the fish & game biologist resulted in some generalized information as to where I should be looking. I finally found a fellow who had hunted the area and knew it well. I offered to buy him lunch if he would sit down with me and help mark some areas on my topo maps.
As I presented him my maps and showed him the areas I had explored he told me, You are close, but just not quite in the right area. The San Rafael South unit is almost 1000 square miles in size. The sheep herd on this unit is 300 animals. That's a lot of country to search to find a few animals. He marked my maps as to where I should look. What areas were early season areas and what area to hunt during the rut. I went out for the Utah Deer hunt and successfully shot a 4 point mule deer. This and the marked up maps boosted my confidence that I could be successful.
Back to sheep hunting I started to find sheep. At first it was ewes and and smaller rams. In fact the first ram I saw was at 400 yards and would be an easy retrieval. I debated hard over whether to shoot him or not. I had heard so many stories about hunters getting discouraged by not seeing any sheep and then shooting the first ram they saw, and taking a small or young ram. I resisted the temptation even though my hunting buddy was telling me to shoot. To anybody who has not looked at a lot of sheep, a 5-6 year old ram looks pretty respectable. Until you place him next to a 8,9,10 year old ram.
I was spending mostly weekends hunting. In the next 4 days that I was afield, I spotted over 60 sheep. We were seeing mostly ewes and small rams that are the first to show up in the rutting grounds. My kitchen pass from my wife was fast expiring. And I had been instructed that this was her weekend to be gone. Her instructions where to "Kill the Beast, Stop looking at them". So on Thursday November 1st a couple of friends and I drove down to hunt for the day. Planing on being home that night. In the first hour of glassing we spotted 3 rams. All were single rams, no ewes with them. We could hear rams crashing into each other, banging their horns together in the canyons, but couldn't find them in our spotting scopes. Sheep hunting is different from other types of hunting in that you find a good vantage point and you glass areas that may be 2-3 or 4 miles away. Once you find the sheep, you go after them.
After glassing for 4 hours we decided we weren't going to find the ram I wanted and needed to move. We loaded up and drove to another vantage point where we immediately found two rams and 5 ewes. I could see immediately that these two rams were both shooters. This group didn't want anything to do with and us and was headed out of town at a brisk trot. I quickly sized up both rams and decided which looked to have the most mass from my vantang point behind them. They were headed straight away and my only shot was a back of the head or Butt shot. Not wanting to destroy the head or ruin the meat I held off a second or two hoping they would stop and offer me a broadside shot. My hunting buddies whistled hoping the sheep would turn to see what the noise was. Nothing stopped them. Just as they started to go over and drop into a ravine, the ram I wanted changed his direction and gave me a slight broadside view. I decided I better take it and slipped a Barnes 140g TSX from my 270WSM in behind his back rib.
We knew we had a hit, but all the sheep disappeared over the top and into the ravine. I knew once they were in the ravine, they could go up or down and I may not see them emerge at all. One ram and the ewes all emerged from the far side and kept running. So I knew my ram was in the ravine. The question was - was he dead or taking a differet path?
We hustled over looked into the ravine and spotted him in the bottom. He was a 10 year old ram. A true warrior who had seriously broomed his horn tips and broken and chipped of off a lot of his horns. His face was scared and had scabs from missed blows that had missed contact on his horns and hit him on the nose and face.
I spent 17-18 days in the desert scouting or hunting sheep. I did not see another hunter other than my friends I brought with me.
Most days I didn't see another person. It was truely the hardest hunt I had ever done. I put in way more time and effort to harvest this one sheep than I had on any deer or elk hunt. But it will be one of the most memorible.
Look how broomed off his horn tips are and chipped up the top of his horn is. Look at the scabs onhis face between his eyes.
A true warrior.
I started to try and find hunters who had hunted sheep in the past. Friends of a Friend of a Friend. Learned a little from each person I talked to. Last spring before the desert got hot, I joined a horse ride put on by a local group that leads a trail ride through part of the unit that I was to hunt. Hoping to learn some of the trails that I could use to access this very remote area of Utah.
When Labor day arrived I decided it was time to start my scouting and learn the area. I started spending every weekend in the unit. At first riding my horses or atv to learn where roads and trails lead to, where water holes were located, and hoping that I might see a few sheep in my travels. I had been warned not to expect to see many sheep in September or October, But that they would magically appear in November as the weather cooled and the rut started. As I scouted I saw some monster mule deer, wild mustangs, wild donkeys, lots of coyotes and other wildlife.
The hunt opened September 22 and I started carrying my rifle with me, just in case I didn't have to wait for November. It was still very warm, I went through a lot of water while hiking in the desert. Most of my friends where hunting elk and deer so I spent a lot weekends alone scouting for sheep. By mid October some of my friends had finished their other hunts and started to join me on my sheep hunts. Their company was welcome. It's much more enjoyable to share the outdoors with good friends and the extra eyes are always a help.
By the 3rd week of October I had only see 6 ewes. I was getting pretty discouraged. Thinking maybe I had made a mistake by not hiring a guide. Ihad heard lots of stories of others who had drawn the tag and not been successful in their hunts. I picked up my efforts to find somebody who had successfully harvested a ram in the same unit as I was hunting. Calls to the fish & game biologist resulted in some generalized information as to where I should be looking. I finally found a fellow who had hunted the area and knew it well. I offered to buy him lunch if he would sit down with me and help mark some areas on my topo maps.
As I presented him my maps and showed him the areas I had explored he told me, You are close, but just not quite in the right area. The San Rafael South unit is almost 1000 square miles in size. The sheep herd on this unit is 300 animals. That's a lot of country to search to find a few animals. He marked my maps as to where I should look. What areas were early season areas and what area to hunt during the rut. I went out for the Utah Deer hunt and successfully shot a 4 point mule deer. This and the marked up maps boosted my confidence that I could be successful.
Back to sheep hunting I started to find sheep. At first it was ewes and and smaller rams. In fact the first ram I saw was at 400 yards and would be an easy retrieval. I debated hard over whether to shoot him or not. I had heard so many stories about hunters getting discouraged by not seeing any sheep and then shooting the first ram they saw, and taking a small or young ram. I resisted the temptation even though my hunting buddy was telling me to shoot. To anybody who has not looked at a lot of sheep, a 5-6 year old ram looks pretty respectable. Until you place him next to a 8,9,10 year old ram.
I was spending mostly weekends hunting. In the next 4 days that I was afield, I spotted over 60 sheep. We were seeing mostly ewes and small rams that are the first to show up in the rutting grounds. My kitchen pass from my wife was fast expiring. And I had been instructed that this was her weekend to be gone. Her instructions where to "Kill the Beast, Stop looking at them". So on Thursday November 1st a couple of friends and I drove down to hunt for the day. Planing on being home that night. In the first hour of glassing we spotted 3 rams. All were single rams, no ewes with them. We could hear rams crashing into each other, banging their horns together in the canyons, but couldn't find them in our spotting scopes. Sheep hunting is different from other types of hunting in that you find a good vantage point and you glass areas that may be 2-3 or 4 miles away. Once you find the sheep, you go after them.
After glassing for 4 hours we decided we weren't going to find the ram I wanted and needed to move. We loaded up and drove to another vantage point where we immediately found two rams and 5 ewes. I could see immediately that these two rams were both shooters. This group didn't want anything to do with and us and was headed out of town at a brisk trot. I quickly sized up both rams and decided which looked to have the most mass from my vantang point behind them. They were headed straight away and my only shot was a back of the head or Butt shot. Not wanting to destroy the head or ruin the meat I held off a second or two hoping they would stop and offer me a broadside shot. My hunting buddies whistled hoping the sheep would turn to see what the noise was. Nothing stopped them. Just as they started to go over and drop into a ravine, the ram I wanted changed his direction and gave me a slight broadside view. I decided I better take it and slipped a Barnes 140g TSX from my 270WSM in behind his back rib.
We knew we had a hit, but all the sheep disappeared over the top and into the ravine. I knew once they were in the ravine, they could go up or down and I may not see them emerge at all. One ram and the ewes all emerged from the far side and kept running. So I knew my ram was in the ravine. The question was - was he dead or taking a differet path?
We hustled over looked into the ravine and spotted him in the bottom. He was a 10 year old ram. A true warrior who had seriously broomed his horn tips and broken and chipped of off a lot of his horns. His face was scared and had scabs from missed blows that had missed contact on his horns and hit him on the nose and face.
I spent 17-18 days in the desert scouting or hunting sheep. I did not see another hunter other than my friends I brought with me.
Most days I didn't see another person. It was truely the hardest hunt I had ever done. I put in way more time and effort to harvest this one sheep than I had on any deer or elk hunt. But it will be one of the most memorible.
Look how broomed off his horn tips are and chipped up the top of his horn is. Look at the scabs onhis face between his eyes.
A true warrior.
11-05-2007, 02:16 PM
#7
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Utah
Posts: 53
RE: Sheep Hunt
Even if I had not shot an animal. ( which would have been a shame on a Once in a Lifetime tag) I would have enjoyed myself. The country I explored was just stunning. Seeing Wild Mustangs, Wild Donkeys, Trophy Mule deer, coyotes, rabbits, chuckers etc. The landscape itself was enough justification for all the days I spent.
