An Epic Month! (long read..sorry)

[Jonesry09]

Where do I begin? In order to do the story justice, I feel like I need to go back to the beginning.


In March I got a text from a good friend, mentor and long time Epic member that he was gifting me my first ever elk/mule deer hunt. The hunt was going to take place during the 3rd rifle season in unit 70 in Colorado. He told me to get ahold of the guys over at Epic to try and draw for mule deer, otherwise we would get a landowners tag. So I call over to the Epic Outdoors crew and get everything set up for the CO draw along with a few other details. A few weeks later I receive and email from one of the amazing ladies in the office asking me which hunt I wanted to put my free ticket (from the membership sign up) for the upcoming big giveaway. I hadn’t seen all of the hunts, so I quickly went online to check out everything that was being offered. I tried to overanalyze the odds and what the other members were going to be putting in for and quickly started to get a headache. That’s when I saw I was able to purchase more tickets. 10 tickets for $200 and a free knife. HHmmmm.. I thought to myself, a free knife huh? So I spread the tickets between the grizzly hunt (at the time it was my dream hunt) and the grand prize desert sheep. I then emailed back to throw my “bonus” ticket into the sheep hunt.

Fast forward a couple months and I was grinding away at work (I’m a general contractor by trade) having a conversation with a client when I get a call from a Utah number. I showed the client my phone and joked, “My extended vehicle insurance must be up”. Then I get another buzz, the number had left a message. I again joked, “Sorry, maybe my students loans are being forgiven”. Then the number called back. I told my client I better step aside so they didn’t hear the choice words I had for the telemarketer. That’s when I had the conversation that I will never forget. Many of you probably listened to the podcast wondering who the lucky SOB was that won the sheep hunt. Well, that guy was me. I don’t say that in a bragging manner either. I say that with the utmost gratitude and appreciation to the Epic crew and all who entered the draw for the opportunity that was given to me!!!

Now I had to get to work. What rifle was I going to shoot? Did I need new optics? Did I have the right clothing? Wait a second, why did Jason or Adam mention in the phone conversation that the ranch was “very safe”? Was there something I needed to worry about? Should I get kidnapping insurance? Why in the HE%$ did they say it was safe (a question I would ask myself 100’s of times)? I went through every emotion possible over the next few weeks. That was all curbed when I began talking with Roberto Noriega, the owner of the ranch. He was amazing at communication and eased a lot of the anxiety that I was feeling towards travelling to Sonora. The dates were set and I would be traveling on November 30th and the hunt would begin on the 1st of December. That was 10 days after I would be getting home from my Colorado mule deer/elk hunt. One thing that cannot go without mentioning is how amazing my wife was through all of this. Never once did she voice any displeasure. Rather, she shared my excitement and assured me that everything would be all good at home while I was gone.

 

[Jonesry09]

So I set forth in my planning. As predominantly a bow hunter for whitetail, my firearm arsenal was pretty thin. I figured I would get a new rifle that would work great for both species. I settled on a Browning Hells Canyon in .300 wsm. I will say that the load development/sighting in process over the next coupe months was some of the most fun I have had shooting. A group of friends who were getting ready for an antelope hunt and I would set out gongs as far out as 600 yards and fire away. Every time someone hit the gong, it was like 5 school girls running the halls all giddy with laughter. There’s something about the smell of gunpowder and the sound of that gong that brings out the kid in everyone. With my rifle all dialed in, I was ready for my hunts…. So I thought.

November 30th would come quicker than I ever could have imagined. I was packed, ready and set to fly out at 5:20am to Phoenix and then on to Hermosillo. Upon arriving to the airport I met my first obstacle. For reasons I will never understand, the airline refused to allow my to check my rifle despite having all the necessary paperwork. I had read many articles of guys going on sheep hunts that mentioned being flexible and adaptable. A quick call to Roberto at 3:00am (of course he answered) and he said, though he didn’t agree with the airline, that he had a couple good rifles in camp to use. Reluctantly I boarded the plane for Hermosillo without the rifle I spent so much time getting dialed in. When I arrived in Phoenix and got to my next gate I quickly realized that I wasn’t the only hunter there. Camo, hiking boots and backpacks littered the terminal. Being the social butterfly that I am, I quickly got into conversation with some fellow hunters about why we were all down there. Word spread that I was the winner of the Epic desert sheep hunt and guys quickly stopped by to wish me luck share some past success stories of their own. It was at this point that it really sunk in how lucky I was. The words from these fellow hunters helped ease the last bit of anxiety I had. For that and them I am thankful!


The flight from Phoenix to Hermosillo was only an hour but it felt like 10. From there customs was a breeze and as I walked through the sliding glass doors to the concourse I spotted Roberto amongst the crowd of guides/outfitters. From there we hoped in the truck to pick up his son, Gabriel, who would act as the translator for my time there, and then on to the ranch. The trip to the ranch was a mix of paved and dirt roads that ended at large gates with “Noche Buena” proudly displayed above them. I quickly met the crew of guides, cooks and ranch hands that would be my hunting companions for the durations of my stay. There really is no way for me to explain how welcoming they all were and just how special they made my stay at the ranch. Every guy there had a role and they were all experts at what they did.

I was getting settled into my room, with a corona in hand, when Roberto walked in with two different rifles. He had a western precision 6.5 .270 wsm and a Christensen arms .270 for me to chose from. I quickly went outside where the guys had set up at target at 100 yards and sent a few of each down range. The western precision was the gun I chose after putting a tight group together, which gave me as much confidence in a gun that I’ve shot 3 times as it could. That night at dinner Roberto and I would go over the plan for the next morning. It would consist of getting up at 5, breakfast at 5:15 and then hit the roads for the hour drive to the base of the mountains from the ranch.

 

[Jonesry09]

The morning of day 1 there was no need for my alarm. I had been waking up every 20 minutes since about 2 in the morning. The night before I had been warned about the rooster in camp that loved to come to the door of clients and make sure they were awake. He was not needed on this day either. As I sat at breakfast with Roberto and Gabriel I had a ton of questions about how I could help. Any advice for spotting the sheep? Anything I could do to make the guides lives easier? How do I know if I should take any particular sheep? Roberto, like the seasoned professional that he is, had a very simple answer. He told me to look for the white butts and to just enjoy it all. We then had some dialogue about what my goal was for the sheep I wanted to harvest. You see, as a hunter from the mid-west, I spent very little time ever thinking about sheep. After I won the hunt I spent quite a bit of time reading about desert sheep and looking online at what makes a good sheep. I came across the boone and crockett website and saw that the minimum for lifetime sheep was 168”. After seeing that, I kind of that number in my mind. When I told Roberto that, he was very assuring that if I was patient, a sheep over 170” is very attainable at his ranch. With all of that taken care of, it was time to head out.

The drive to the mountain on day 1 I was excited about the unknown. I could start see the silhouette of the mountains as the sun was just peaking out behind us. What have I gotten myself into I thought. The truck came to a stop and Roberto hopped out to sit and glass a particular mountain while myself, a young guide names Carlos, Gabriel and Juanito aka. “The Legend” carried on. About 15 minutes after dropping Roberto off we came to where we would park the truck. I found myself starring up at one of the most impressive mountain ranges I have ever seen. It only stood about 3,000’ high but it was covered in some of the craziest looking rock ledges, cliffs and draws I could imagine. Couple all of that with the fact that I could see the cactuses covering the bottom half of the mountain and I knew I was “in one”.

We started the hunt off with a short walk, maybe 10 minutes, to a place where we would sit and glass. I quickly spotted two little white spots in a shaded draw and grabbed my spotting scope to take a closer look. The guys saw what I was doing and gave me a strange look. As luck would have it (that’s all I’m attributing it too), I had spotted the first sheep of the trip. We gave those sheep a quick look through the spotter and it turns out that they were a couple ewes. While I was sitting there I heard some movement to my right and quickly caught sight of a covey of quail. What a cool experience it was to watch them run around us as we sat there. After about 20 minutes of glassing the first area it was relayed to me that we were making a move. We would be heading down the range a little bit to get a look around ridge that they had seen some sheep a couple days before.


The hike to the second spot was pretty easy and flat with only a few cactuses getting ahold of me. What amazed me is how quickly I learned what the prickly bushes looked like and how much effort I spent avoiding them. When we got to the second spot I set my spotting scope up on the tripod right away just incase it would be needed. Within a couple minutes I caught the slightest piece of white before it disappeared behind some low-lying brush. I had a quick mental battle with myself trying to figure out if it was my mind that saw something, or if it was really there. So I got behind the spotter and quickly located a ram moving around slowly in some thick stuff. I gave the guide a quick little “ppssshhh” and saw the same look as before. With my hands I motioned around my head imitating horns and did the infamous two finger point at my eyes. They both popped up quick and made their way over to me. Within minutes we had 3 spotting scopes and 4 sets of eyes all looking at a small band of rams moving across a mountain face. I took a break from looking through my scope to look over at the guides and I saw a look of excitement on Carlos’ face. At that point I knew that there was a good ram in there. He quickly motioned for me to come over and take a peak through his spotter where he had locked on to a ram. What I saw on the other end was a thing of beauty. The ram was looking down the mountain and all I could see what a heavy, dark set of horns that were bigger exactly what I had seen in all the photos. I looked back at The Legend and asked, “170”? His response was direct and confident, “better”. Hearing that, all I could say was, “lets go shoot it”. And off we went!!

 

[Jonesry09]

The legend and Carlos would come up with a game plan that would back track us about 400 yards ot get us out of sight of the rams and then swing around them to the left. The hope was that after a 1500’ climb we would be looking down at the sheep for a shoot of about 200-300 yards. The next 45 minutes were a test of body and mind. I was in unknown territory climbing, dodging plants with thorns and trying to stay cool in the 90 degree weather. We finally reached the ledge that the guides had in mind and one of them tossed me a water. Carlos whispered something to Gabriel and he scurried over to me to tell me to catch my breathe and start getting ready to shoot. I grabbed a bit of water, took a few deep breathes and motioned to them that I was ready. I figured the more I sat there and thought about it, the more I would amp myself up. So we slowly moved forward to an upright rock formation to take a peak over top. Nothing! I mean Nothing! After about 5 minutes of looking down I began to get a little discouraged. Did they catch our wind and bust off the mountain? Are the bedded down where we can’t see them? What the heck had happened? Carlos gave me the head nod to inch a little further up to another rock formation about 20 yards ahead. When we got them I put my pack down and kneeled down on it to get a better look below. Then all of the sudden, BOOM! BOOM! I ducked down below the rock formation to cover from the fire near by. BOOM! BOOM! I was looking around to try and figure out who and where the shooting was coming from. Did we push the sheep over the peak and someone on the other side was shooting at them? Was someone hunting illegally on Roberto’s land? When I looked over to Carlos to see if he had located where it was coming from he was just chuckling. What the heck was he laughing at? I quickly made to fists and hit them together. Then he did it again. It took me a second to realize what he was motioning, but I soon realized why he was laughing at me. The rams we smashing horns down below us and the noise/echo in the valley made it sounds like gun fire (to me at least). After I shrugged off the embarrassment I peaked over the edge with the guides to try and located where the noise was coming from. Shortly are the noise we spotted a ram about 90 yards away in an opening between a large cactus and a vertical rock wall. Then another, and then another. Soon there were 3 rams smashing heads and jumping around in this small opening. The guides started whispering to each other with my trying to figure out which one was the big one. Gabriel leaned over to me and whispered, the really dark one is the big one. Easy enough right? Just as I looked back through my scope, two rams jumped down from a rock formation above to join in the fight. Now there were 5 rams beating their heads together and jumping back and forth between the openings that I could see through. As luck would have it, one of the 2 rams that joined that party was also had a very dark cape. So there I was, trying to figure out which sheep was the one they wanted me to shoot at, all the while trying to get a clean shooting lane. All of the sudden one of the dark sheep popped into a big opening at about 100 yards. I had a very good look at him and in my mind I thought a new bigger sheep had come to play. Nope, that was just the big sheep and he was in perfect position. Almost simultaneously Carlos and the Legend whispered “shoot”! I got the crosshairs lined up right on the sheeps shoulder and squeezed them trigger, “boom”. When I pulled back from the scope I could see that none of the sheep knew what was going on or where the shot had come from. The sheep that I had shot at and another sheep were still standing in the opening. I chambered another round and looked at the guides for some sort of feedback. Then I looked back at the ram. Nothing. No movement, no wobble, no sign of any distress. I couldn’t believe it. Had I missed the ram at just 100 yards? All of those thoughts ran through my head in what felt like a minute but in reality was probably on 15 seconds. Then Carlos leaned over and said the words I will never forget, “Nice shot”! When I looked back the big rams began to slouch and then wobble. After a couple more seconds he dropped where he stood. I couldn’t believe what has just happened. A deer hunter from Minnesota just shot a desert big horn sheep. I was at an absolute loss for words.

After a couple quick hugs and high fives we made our way down to the sheep. With a million thoughts and emotions running through my mind the sheep finally came into sight. My throats began to get sore and I could feel all the build up of the trip coming to a climax. As I got to the sheep, all I could think about was how amazing of an animal it was. Here was an animal with battering rams on its head, living among snakes and spider in the craziest desert mountains on earth. How lucky was I to be there and to get to harvest such a creature. The other 2 guides made it down to where Carlos and I were with the sheep and we exchanged a few more hugs and high fives. This animal was as much, if not more theirs than it was mine and I felt blessed to be on the mountain sharing this moment with them. We took our time and made sure to take as many good photos as we could with the sheep and each other. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of great photos to look back on and to share with all my friends that were back home wondering and wishing me the best.

 

[Jonesry09]

With the photos out of the way the real work began. To no ones surprise Carlos and Jaunito began processing the sheep with amazing precession. There wasn’t an ounce of meat left on the sheep by the time we went to leave the mountain. With all of that done there was only one thing left to do, get back to the bottom. I quickly bent down and grabbed a quarter to put in my pack. Then I grabbed the cape and head. Carlos walked over and gave me the death stare. He pointed at the sheep and said “I take”. We were at a stand off. In my mind, there was no bloody chance that I was letting someone else carry my sheep off the mountain for me. Not because I felt like it was mine or anything but because I felt like I owed it to the sheep and these guides to do such. I didn’t care if it killed me, I was carrying that thing back to the truck. During that two hour hike back down there were several times that I thought about taking Carlos up on his offer. However, every time I thought that my pride would kick in and I march on forward. When we got back to the truck I couldn’t get the pack off my back quick enough. Roberto and a couple other guides had made their way over to the truck and we all exchanged more hugs and high fives. I was amazed at how happy these guys were for me. Guys I had just met the day before were hugging me and patting me on the back like we had known each other our entire lives. I was standing there drenched in sweat and backing in the sun when Roberto leaned over and said “here, a Mexican water”. I’ll just say this, I have never tasted a better corona in my entire life.

The rest of that night we sat around the fire all telling our versions of the story and having a few cervezas In those moments around the fire it didn’t matter the language barrier. It didn’t matter that we had only know each other for a short period of time. We had shared a bond that so few people get to share. I will never forget all of those guys and what they helped me do.

For the next 3 days we chased the elusive cous deer, only seeing one in 3 days. I was also fortunate over those 3 days to get to try a ton of different variations of sheep cuisine as I could have imagined. With a young family at home and work waiting for me, I decided to fly out on the 5th day. I would have loved to stay and chase deer with these guys for another week but “the real world” awaited my return. As I said my good byes on that last day I couldn’t help but wonder if I would ever get to return to this amazing country. If it never happens, I am glad that the men in camp with me that week were the ones I got to experience it with.

So that there is the story about how one lucky son-of-a-gun from Excelsior, MN was able to harvest a 175.5” desert sheep in Mexican mountains.

By the way, that mule deer hunt? Ya, I got lucky on that one too with a 180” muley. That’s a whole other story though!

Thank you Epic outdoors, Roberto Noriega and the Noche Buena crew and to my family for the hunt of my life !!

If there is anyone out there looking to head south of the border for a desert sheep hunt, I would highly recommend talking to Roberto. Feel free to reach out with any questions and I will gladly answer them the best I can. Good luck to everyone in the 2022/2023 sheep season.

Now I need to figure out how to get the next 3. I'm guessing they will be a bit more expensive haha

 

[adamkolesar]

Simply outstanding! A reminder that you truly have to be "in it to win it". Congrats on the awesome sheep and that muley! Your taxidermist will be thrilled.

 

[ReddingArcher]

What a hunt and story!! Congrats on a hell of hunt.

 

[Mt Al]

Congratulations! Outstanding write-up and thank you for sharing your story. Nice muley and what's not to like about getting started with the other three? You can make it happen.

So nice to read stories from drawing winners!

 

[Theringworm]

Stories like this are simply worth their weight in gold. I could do without any other posts on this forum and just read and read and re-read personal experiences like this. We are living through you brother. Great read, excellent write up and congrats for getting it done. You owe your wife and family big time

 

[coloyooper]

Outstanding write up. I’d rather be lucky than good, 10/10 times!

 

[NB7]

That was awesome, congrats

 

[horniac]

Great story and photos! Thanks for taking us along and congrats on a magnificent ram!

Horniac

 

[BravoNovember]

Awesome! Sounds like an amazing hunt

 

[schmalzy]

Awesome write up and congratulations! Love hearing these stories.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CHL]

Awesome story man!!! I head down to that ranch with ‘ole Roberto in December ‘23! Already counting it down.

 

[sdcowboy]

Congratulations beautiful ram. Great story.

 

[MrMarc]

Great story. I had a similar experience this past year, but in Arizona. So cool.

 

[rclouse79]

Great read. Congratulations on a successful hunt of a lifetime.

 

[eddielasvegas]

Terrific story and a HUGE congrats.


Eddie