At 12:30 today, I fielded the phone call that I’d been waiting over a month for ...
“RAM - DOWN ... RAM DOWN !”
The weather broke yesterday afternoon and this morning in the Laramie Bighorn Sheep unit of Wyoming, it was clear. So Chris set out much further North, planning to spend all day, sneak-hunting a long ridgeline that he had still hunted through weeks earlier ... and felt back then, it was “Ram-Heaven”.
Just before noon, while watching a small band of sheep (with a sub-par Ram) feed below him, he turned around and spotted a Ram uphill of him. It had him spotted too, so he turned on his cloaking-device and in slow motion, brought up his rifle and moved into a shooting position. The shot distance was 145 yards ... At the shot, the Ram took a few stiff legged steps, then went down amid the rocks ... struggled to get up (he could see blood on the chest) ... then it bedded, with just his head showing. He waited literally “minutes” ... for it to either stand up again or expire. It got up ... he hit it again ... The Ram then headed off, walking toward a cliff edge ... (think walking dead) ... before he had a good shot window, that piled it up.
- - -
He estimates that it’s around 7 years old ... described it as 3/4 curl, with good mass and tips that have started to flare to the outside. While he was out there hunting solo at the time (and his truck was several miles away) he said there appeared to be a driveable road, about a mile downhill of his location. He hung up, planning to go photo it, then cape it out and process the Ram.
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Some will say success is simply ... “Time in the woods (er: mountains)” ...
But I truly beleive it’s the result of meticulous preparation .... combined with Consistent-Persistence.
In any case ....
Score one for DIY Ram hunters ... !
Yeeee - Haaaaawww ! ! !
. . . Silver Bullet
Friends may help you move ...
Real-Friends ... will help you pack out a Bighorn Sheep !
