Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Sheep hunt

(Chris wrote this email & I thought it was a good description of what happened)

We killed the biggest ram we saw. Insane stalk. Josh located him at 845 am near top of Ridge where we first spotted him three days prior. By the time Austin and I could hike back up the ridge we were on, he went to the bottom near the river. Josh and I started our stalk dropped 800 feet and the three hours later closed in on him off a step hillside. We were sliding down the hill while maintaining our rest. I finally had a shot and  missed 1st shot at 160 yards. I knew I'd pulled the shot.  I cycled another shell and the gun jammed. The first case flipped around and landed back on the feed ramp. I pushed the bolt forward and the empty case jammed rear first into the barrel throat. As the ram he ran right toward us he paused just long enough for me to clear the rifle and then he took off like a bullet. I held at the top of the knoll he was headed for and had last ditch shot at dead run at 50 yards before he dropped straight down to the river. Wow!!! Crazy!! Dead at 12:20 p.m. Pack out done and back at camp at 6:00 p.m.  Austin, Diane and Andy saw the whole thing play out from the top of the ridge on a viewpoint 1000 yards away through binoculars and spotting scope. They joined us on the edge of the cliffs for the pictures and arduous pack out. We all fought and over came our own personal battles through nerves, fears of heights fatigue and pain. Austin and Diane outshining us all in the efforts and courage! I was elated and proud of my family. Perfect experience!! God is good!! Couldn't ask for anything more. And the ram was the one each of us had known we wanted from the first time we had seen pictures or on the hoof through the scope. Ol' Limper. He was limping from the time we first saw him to the time I fired that first shot. Then he showed us how a ram could run!! He's about 8-9 years old and has a rough score of 166.

this was my point of view

the pack out

this was my point of view downhill when the guys were quartering the sheep

this was looking to my left

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