Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 2016 Bighorn in WY

Shot this ram in August, but all the credit goes to the two guys pictured: Dustin Stetter, the outfitter, on the left, and Stephan Hoadley, guide, on the right. The ram went 173 1/8 SCI for those who measure, 8 1/2 years old and well fed according to the biologist.

http://outfitterswyoming.com/

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This guy was bedded with a 3/4 curl and another ram just a few inches smaller than he. He stood and at the shot the 3/4 curl did an incredible leap over the rock on the left and down a 12-15' wall. This guy's compadre hung in there for a few seconds checking out his near dead bud who stood wavering on his feet. First shot was quartering on and as he turned broadside another thru the lungs, once his nervous partner got his head out of the way. 260 yards lasered, Rifles Inc. TI, 280 AI w/140g Nosler BTs. Not a 700 fan, but deeply thankful for every pound that rifle doesn't have...

Dustin had a couple spots he had scouted and this was the first one. This was on the third hunting day. We saw some other good rams. Gents, I have done 98% DYI hunts over the last 40 years, but the skill I witnessed in spotting, judging and stalking was humbling. Both men have been guiding sheep hunters from their teenage years. I used to rent mule deer drop camps from Larry Stetter, Dustin's late dad, so I have known Dustin for some time.

Eight hour pony ride into base camp and then up to spike camp.

The base camp used to be Clayton Voss' hunting camp, who just happens to be Dustin's wife, Laura's, father. Clayton has some history with sheep hunting...:)
Here is a pic of Clayton looking over the horns in base camp. Dustin on the left, three year-old son, Griffen, then Bel, Clayton's granddaughter (hidden), Stephan, Laura, and Becca who did the wrangling.

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Post hunting, we got socked in with rainstorms for a couple days and everybody could cook and did. I am not a chowhound and usually drop 5-10# on a mountain hunt, but actually gained a few pounds this time--slightly embarrassing...:)

Great people & a great hunt!

Very Nice!

Outstanding ram.

How many years to draw?

Damnit man-great sheep, congrats and thanks for sharing.

Congratulations on a great ram!

Very cool.

Congrats.

Thank-you Gents.

aalf, had 18 points. IIRC, (sketchy) may have drew 1-2 years earlier than expected, for lack of other non-res applying to the unit.

good thing...not getting younger

As I understand it, (also sketchy), unit 009 had a big die-off some time back and things sheep-wise were pretty lean for a long time.

Well done! That is a great ram and a true wilderness experience!

Best,

Chet

Congrats on the great ram.

Congratulations

That is very cool,great looking ram.I can only imagine a hunt like that ,congrats...

great hunt, congrats

Congrats! Trophy and experience of a lifetime! You should be proud!

Nice!! Congrats...

Tomk: Great trophy good for you!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Beautiful ram! Trophy of a lifetime for sure!

Congrats on the ram, and the hunt. Great photos, please post some more!

Awesome!

Great job!

Outstanding! Congrats on a magnificent animal!

Way cool!

This is just too Cool for School!

Congrats on the Ram of a lifetime!

That Ram is a stud of a specimen, Outstanding.

A hunt of that type in that locale is what dreams are made of.

I have no issue saying I'm quite jealous.

Congrats, a real nice sheep! As earlier stated,a once in a lifetime! Unless, your quite wealthy! memtb

Awesome job and beautiful ram.

Gents, thanks for the replies. I hope it encourages other guys to go.

I read Silver Bullet’s post about his cousin’s DIY with interest. To me, a DIY hunt is all hunting from the ground up. This hunt magnified that point--am thinking guys who pull off a DIY sheep, have enjoyed (or suffered) the best kind of sheep hunt. You got to get there with all your gear, granted, but the two larger hurdles are finding shootable rams and then successfully getting up on them after finding them. Doing it well is a product of cumulative experience. To my way of thinking that is the hunting part and shooting them is the ending capstone to enjoying all the work and adrenalin. Laughing at the stories they told, you become aware that guide is under pressure the whole time--can his hunter handle the daily climbs and then shoot well enough under pressure to kill the critter? It’s not just an unfilled tag to him or all the folks making base camp work, it’s livelihood.

Like most guys, I have more deer hours in the woods than anything else. And a lot of those are in prep and scouting. Sometimes a good buck just falls in your lap and that’s hunting. Always happy for that…never throw one back… Am seldom to never forthcoming on how many years it took me to really understand deer movement in a new spot in the big woods or on a big farm for that matter. It takes a lot of time and effort, for me at least.

Scouting before the hunt to know there are sheep in the country requires time and effort. Then, being in good ram country, being able to glass and find them. Dustin asked me what I expected roughly size-wise and I replied that 160-165” was good with me. He said that the 165” figure was what they had in mind as well. We glassed some sheep we couldn’t get to and we glassed some sheep I really didn’t want to get to…:) Seeing sheep is one thing… Jack O’Connor wrote something about that regarding sheep – an outsider has to have a lot of time and money to go it alone. Time and money is an issue here... Having gear, getting gear into the back country and staying there long enough to score is a big deal—more than I could bite off.

The best thing to do if you are going be a sheep hunter is to live there, imho. That was the plan at 21, but events altered my scheme. So you build preference points. Twenty years or so, and everyone tells you that you will have more money then, too…:) What I didn’t factor in were injuries—self-inflicted risk taking types—mostly stupid, two auto wrecks, job mishaps—they all added up. By the time a guy is 60, hobbling around is pretty average.

So then, gentlemen, my hat is off to DIY sheep hunters and sheep guides. For me, guided was the way to go. If you are thinking Wyoming keep Dustin Stetter in mind.


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+1. "Remind me to never pick a fight with a sheep guide."

There is nothing like walking up to a Bighorn Sheep and getting your hands around those horns.