At the beginning of this whole long thread, Dan and I mentioned how important being flexible is. Well, after I killed my moose halfway through my scheduled leave, I suddenly find myself with extra time. I thought I would deer hunt for a few days with my daughter then take my stuff down to New Mexico later in the week. As I was driving back from scouting a spot the night before the opening day of Idaho rifle deer season, it dawned on me that if I left earlier in the week I could spend a few days hunting Barbary sheep in New Mexico.
Since I promised my daughter I'd take her hunting in the morning I had to follow through on that promise. So I took her hunting and left for New Mexico midday after the morning hunt.
I drove about halfway and stopped to sleep in the Subaru for a few hours, and pressed on the rest of the way to Santa Fe the next morning. I ended up spending a little more time there than I originally anticipated, but it was a great time sharing the stories of the hunts with the taxidermist and sharing time with some great people.
One thing that's really hit me this year is how important spending time with people is, and how awesome it is to share experiences with people. Since starting this thread I've had the pleasure of conversing and getting to know a lot of new people, and also a surprising number of fellow military guys.
Prior to going down to New Mexico, I hit up Ryan (aka RyanG505 here in RS) to let him know I was coming down. I never actually met Ryan before this hunt, but we'd talked via social media for several months before the hunt. Ryan is a fellow Air Force guy, and he also grew up in the area I was planning on hunting. So I bounced my plan off of him and he gave me a few pointers on how to work the area smarter and not harder... Which I'm very guilty of working harder, so his advice was golden. Basically he told me to glass more and walk less, which is pretty much the exact opposite of my normal operations. He also confirmed that the area I was headed to was still a good area, so I pressed on down the road to go hunting.
I made it to the area I planned to hunt with a little more than an hour of glassing light. I didn't see a single animal, but I wasn't worried. I still needed to reacquire an eye for spotting barbs, and I knew they were there. I'd been to the area before, so I knew it was just a matter of time before I'd see a rock move. (Barbary sheep look like... rocks.)
After the sunset, I needed to go back into town to get some cold medicine. I was feeling like garbage. Prior to leaving home I contracted whatever sickness my kids had, and I knew the only way I was going to get any decent sleep was by getting some medicine. I ended up sleeping like I was dead, but was able to wake up plenty early to get to the spot I wanted to glass from before the sunrise.
The morning didn't start very eventful. I got a text from Ryan at 745 asking if I'd seen anything, but I hadn't. I told him I'd give it another 30 minutes before I moved to a different spot. I decided to put the spotting scope on the area I figured the sheep were most likely to be and leave it there for 30 minutes. After 15 minutes of staring at the same spot, I finally saw a rock move. I immediately had my sheep eyes back and was able to see half a dozen sheep feeding in a very huntable spot. One of those sheep was a STUD!
I sent the pics to Ryan to let him know what I was looking at, and he confirmed that I was indeed looking at a very large ram. I was hoping he'd tell me it was just a decent 27-28" ram and that he was just ok so I wouldn't get all excited, but he didn't. I started to get almost overly excited. Ok... I'll admit, I was was shaking with excitement. I knew I was looking at a TOAD, and I had to get after him.
I went over some options with Ryan and spent the next 2 hours watching the small group of sheep feed and then disappear into the steep canyon. Since it was midday I figured they were bedded somewhere in the shade and wouldn't move for a little while. I spent the next 20-30 minutes evaluating the terrain and figuring out how I was going to get up to them without putting myself in too much danger. There were a few sections that required a bit if rock climbing skills, but it was a very manageable climb.
The sickness I had slowed me down a little bit and caused me to be completely drenched in sweat by the time I got up to where the sheep were. I...felt...like...garbage. But there was no way anything was going to keep me from getting eyes on that ram again. I knew there was no guarantee I would get close enough for a shot, but I at least wanted to see him again.
So I dropped my pack (horrible idea pretty much anywhere) and slowly crept over the ridge toward the spot I last saw the sheep. Ever few feet I moved I would sit and glass the newly visible terrain. I figured I was within 400yds of the sheep at this point, but I couldn't find them.
I didn't see any sheep until I was past where I assumed they would be, and the sheep I saw were not the ones I was looking for. I glassed a group of a dozen or so sheep about 700ft of vertical gain above where I assumed the big ram would be, and none of them looked big.
I ended up getting pinned down by these 2 ewes and a lamb at about 320 yards.
I sat and baked in the sun for a few hours and texted Ryan about the situation. Earlier, while I was climbing up, Ryan texted the pic of the ram to one of his buddies who lived nearby. His buddy finished his school work and headed straight to the cliffs to help me find the ram.
***I have to emphasize that I have never met Ryan at this point nor do I have any idea who this guy is who dropped what he was doing to come help me on this ram. This was definitely a unique situation.***
The ewes finally hid themselves back into the shade of the cliff they were standing under and I was able to make it back to my pack. That's when I saw the truck and the random guy glassing for me. He wasn't in the best spot to see where I thought the ram was, so I asked Ryan to tell him to move a little bit and to pass him my number.
While the random stranger was relocating, I moved back up the cliffs to get a better vantage point of everything below me. Once we were both sort of situated, I noticed I had a text from the guy. He spotted the group of sheep directly above me. So I called him to let him know where I thought the big guy was.
"Yeah, I know those sheep are up there, but I don't think the big one is with them. I'm pretty sure he's going to be below me. I just have a feeling," I said.
"Ok." A brief pause maybe 5 seconds long, "I see a ewe. Skylined. Below you.... Oh... I think... Yeah, I see him... He's big, and he's walking your way. I can't see him anymore. I'd stay where you're at. You're in a good spot." the voice on the other end of the line said.
"I know he's big. Where's he at from me? Can you send me a pic?"
So we hung up and he sent me a picture of where the ram was in relation to me. It took about 10 minutes for the picture to come through...He was less than 300yds from me. I just needed to find him!
I texted him back. "Holy crap dude... I was sitting less than 200 from him for over an hour"
No more than 30 seconds after I sent that text, I heard a lamb bleat and some rocks falling. They were CLOSE! I frantically started glassing the slope below me with my binos. I was doing everything in my power to hold back the adrenaline rush. After a few seconds I saw 2 lambs and 2 ewes come up over a the edge of a bluff, but the big guy wasn't with them. I put my binos back in my harness and scanned down with my eyes....
OH MY! He's laying down RIGHT THERE!!! Right in the open! Clear as day! I racked a round into the trusty weatherby and ranged him at only 160yds! I didn't even think to take my pack off, or the camera off of my left shoulder strap. I dropped down prone (as prone as you can get on the cliffs) and quickly found him in my scope. He was up and walking now.... directly to me!
It felt like an eternity before he turned broadside to give me a good shot. As soon as he did, I hammered him. He ran 10yds before I put a second round through his chest, and other 10yds before I hit him with the 3rd and final shot. He was dead!
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