Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Let's talk about sheep...

Heres a couple desert sheep my hunters have killed. Both killed in Sonora out on the coast. Both of these sheep are free range sheep, I've never done a penned sheep hunt, its just not my cup of tea.

First ram pictured nets 168"


This ram is a gagger, nets over 180" and was the first ram we ever killed on that particular ranch



Drummond

huntsonora,
Care to enlighten us as to what these type of desert sheep hunts typically run? Just a ballpark figure will do.
Thanks.

Sheep hunting.........my dream hunt, especially the desert variety, but would jump at the chance to hunt any of them. Thanks a lot Drum, scenar, and others for the fantastic pics!

JG, Thanks!! I'll put some more up....

This was from our base camp on Glacier Lake, NWT.

Check out this bad boy.....195+ B&C..Montana.

Beautiful 10 year old ram we got in the NWT in 1991..

That would be Bighorn sheep tenderloins.....

We spent 3 days trying to get this ram. There were 21 rams in one bunch. They finally worked their way to the far end of the basin where we could approach behind the ridge. We had been out about 8 days and were pretty hungry for meat. After the kill we camped for 3 days in one spot and ate almost half of the ram between us.



The first meal off the ram above..

INCREDIBLE edible pics! I love sheep tenderloin!

The desert sheep taste fantastic, i dont know if it was the taste of the meat, the taste of a successful hunt or just the taste of the relief of that $60,000 gorilla jumping off of my back.

Regardless, one of my favorite memories was sitting around the campfire after killing and packing out a desert sheep on the 8th day of a 10 day hunt and relaxing with an Arturo Fuente Opus X cigar and a Crown Royal on the rocks talking about past experiences and hunts. One of my fondest memories

Drum

I know this is a sheep thread but showing the fringe benefit of a Dall Sheep hunt in the NWT...390" Mountain Caribou.

I had put it down in my original post with the pics but took it out just before I posted it. The cost of these hunts are rediculous, they start around $45k and go up from there. The sheep I posted pictures of were $60k hunts and they were 10 days long. Its one of the reasons I havent guided a desert sheep hunt in 8 years. The pressure is rediculous, the hunters know that its hunting and that certain things are out of my control but for $60k I feel a huge need to make it the trip of a lifetime for whoever books the hunt. Regardless, most of the time you are with somebody that has 3 of the 4 sheep and has saved a lifetime to fufill a dream because they were unable to draw a desert tag in YEARS of applying. It is a humbling experience to be with these guys when they complete their "Slam". Definately a memory I will always cherish

Drum

What we looked like after being in the bush for 60 days without a bath.....I remember when we got back to Watson Lake and got a hotel room we flipped for first shower....laffin! We got cleaned up and went down to the bar and ordered Molson's, two at a time.....each!!

Catching Greyling out of a spring creek that had never been fished. That was some good eating!

a friend that owns another paper in the state assured me if i put in for tags in the area he is familiar with he can get me to the sheep bad knees, bad back and all......so starting next year ill be putting in for sheep......may run into the problem that my buddy dies of old age before i pull a tag though.....dammit.....

For us in Oregon, it's once in a lifetime draw. Odds run the the 400+ to 1 range. That being the case, I'd start saving and head north to Canada or Alaska.

Scenarshooter,

That caribou picture....wow, thats just an incredible bull. I really like sheep hunting, but a mountain caribou like that sure cant be a bad extra animal on a sheep hunt.

I cant believe its been almost 15 years since I hunted dall sheep in the Chugach, but it has been. Any sheep hunt is a very special deal...and I wont ever forget my hunt.

flying in:



We landed the cub here and there were 3 rams on the top of this mountain...2 of them really large rams. After a long night, we hiked up the green ridge just in front of the long thin strip of snow up to the ridgeline. The rams were actually behind the highest point on the ridgeline. We found them bedded in a place that was not possible to get closer than about 700 yards. We waited for about 6 hours for them to get up and feed. They fed down into a saddle and we quickly covered about 400 yards and set up for a 300 yard shot.



I took the ram I liked the best, but it was a tough choice between the two rams as they were both old...and big.



Another look:



We didnt have time to get back to camp so spent the night at the lake in the background. Pretty miserable night, half rain and half snow most of it. We improvised a "tent" out of what we had, which wasnt much:



Packing out the next day...you just have to be there to really appreciate it.



[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/buzzandpat/alaskapics/websize/dallpack2.JPG[/img]

Those pics are great guys. Thanks for sharing.

About 5 years ago a good friend of mine called and said he'd drawn a NR sheep tag in Montana. So, myself and another friend of mine from MT agreed to tag along and see what we could find. We found a group of 5 rams with 2 that really caught our attention. One was an ancient ram that was actually killed the next year and was, IIRC, 14 years old. My buddy that had the tag chose this ram, it scored 179 and change net...over 40 on both horns and 10 years old. What a great ram...and a great hunt, classic spot and stalk.



Another look with the 3 of us a great MT ram.



One last look...

Yeah, excellent pics all around, that is some rugged country!

Buzz, That Dall is a stud.....super heavy and long....nice!!

Maybe someday we'll hunt those white rams together...