CO Rocky Bighorn Archery 25'

[CMF]

Lucked up and drew an archery tag for CO Rocky Mountain Bighorn, Aug 1-31.
Figured I'd post a non-unit-specific thread for the hunt(IYKYK) and give some details as requested in the other thread.
I had no thoughts of ever drawing this tag anytime soon, and I even put us in for harder to draw hunts in other states to keep our hunts to a minimum this year. We'll be starting to build a new house this year and wrapping up 3.5+ years of full-time RV travel, dialing back on the road work, and ramping up my local construction business. So it's going to get interesting and be busy. My daughter also drew an AZ late rifle elk and NM off-range Oryx tag(Nov). She'll also draw a CO muzzy elk tag, that I mentioned I would return, but the wife said she wants elk, so we'll see.
I drew, non-resident with 3+0. goes to show you just have to get your name in enough hats.
I'm going to plan at least one scouting trip, and probably try and tie it in with the RMBS sheep & goat meet and greet.
I plan to arrive at least a week before the hunt and hunt the entire month if needed. I might have a buddy along, and maybe my wife, daughter and possibly even my boys, but nothing is certain yet in that regard.
Fitness is decent. I'd like to lose 15- 20 lbs before the hunt, but I did do a 10 mile run yesterday(10:20/mile) and plan do a 20-mile trail race in a few weeks if I can get off work(my first race of any kind). Plan to ramp up trucking with weight in the coming weeks.
Bow is pretty dialed even after having shot very little the last several months. I plan on doing the Cold bow challenge at 70yds and entering my first ever 3D shoot in june.
We've hunted out west every year since 2019, including Elk, muley, bear, oryx, & barbary. We were able to spend a lot of days in the field the past 4 seasons since we could pull the camper to wherever our hunts were.
Hopefully, my recent fortune cookie holds true(attached pic).
Good luck to the other hunters in the unit and if you want to swap contact info, feel free to reach out.

 

[TXCO]

Good luck! Give em hell


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[resident vs nonresident]

Congrats on your tag.
Best of luck

 

[Blockcaver]

Good luck, and look out for the lightening storms.

 

[TX_Diver]

I’m just another guy on the Internet, but for what it’s worth I Met @CMF in person and he was a cool guy who was happy to loan me some stuff for a (statistically) once In a life time hunt I drew.

Good luck man!

 

[Mrshort]

@CMF Thanks for starting this unit “anonymous” post. Congrats on the draw with such low points! Just proof that it’s possible! I know the only non-resident bighorn rifle tag holder in our unit and he drew with the same 3+0!!! Just one of those years, I suppose.

In accordance with the previous conversation about checking in. I’ll be hunting this unit as well. I consider myself an average blue collar hunter, 37 yrs old in fit condition, with little kids in elementary and a wife who works. So time away from home is hard but possible with sacrifices and compromise. I’m a 5th gen CO native, born and raised exploring the mountains and local Bowhunting club President. I have a bucket list dream of harvesting all big game species in CO w/ a longbow… so this hunt will be focussed on checking sheep off that list. I’m grateful to know a handful of older men who have already achieved this challenge. I love hearing their epic stories!

I’ll have two scouting trips and then 17 days to hunt. Praying that will be enough… but have heard stories that would prove that’s not… as I well know from hunting high alpine mulies and elk w/ trad gear!

I’m happy to connect with the other tag holders in this unit. Feel free to DM me and I’ll provide my cell.

 

[wildwilderness]

Good luck, sounds like you are getting prepared.

The mental aspect can be challenging with a OIL tag! Hopefully your scouting will help you make realistic goals and beat the odds of average 25% archery success on CO sheep! Shoot straight

Even If you are in good physical shape I still see the high altitude as a limiting factor- get acclimatized before you push too hard and sleep high

 

[CMF]

Well, I got it done.
Just now catching up on the forum as I'm back on an outage working the night shift.
I'll post up a quick summary for those that like a short story and then elaborate.

Short version:
Scouted a few days before season and found a 5/6 year old ram in a drainage. Hunted different drainages the rest of the month in search of an 8+ yo ram. Got within 150yds of 2 good rams and within 100yds of a ram I think would be at least 8-10yo. Ended up hunting 24 days, taking off 5 days here and there between trips. On the 29th, with only a few days left, me and the wife hiked back into the drainage where the 5/6 yo ram was and had him on the ground by lunch. 5 miles and 2500ft el. pack out to the truck was done before dark, but with 80lbs+, my knees are still hurting a month later. I saw tons of beautiful country, met some cool people, watched a bobcat chase sheep around, had a bear at 30yds, saw elk, deer, coyotes, grouse and ptarmigan. Had rodents get into my food and catch fish for dinner. Had the string jump off my cam and managed to fix it in the backcountry. Made memories for a lifetime. Ready to go back for a bigger one!


Long version:
Things didn't quite go as planned back in May as things go in life. Got to CO with only a few days to scout. Ended up taking the camper and the whole family, wife, boys, 12 & 15, daughter 17. My buddy never made it out. My daughter had her appendix out in July so she was on lite duty.
Pre season - made a trip into a drainage with a lake with the whole family, dog included. We got in day 1 and glassed and fished with no luck. Woke up day 2 and found sheep early, two rams, one 5/6, the other maybe 2/3. Me and my daughter hiked deeper in and glassed some more, the boys fished and we didn't turn up any additional sheep. Day 3 glassed some and hiked out.
Season opener- My daughter is the only one that normally keeps up with me in the mountains, but having her appendix out just 4 weeks earlier, the wife wanted her to rest up another week before hunting with me. The wife was planning on hitting different drainages to look for rams, but the terrain was tough for my boys and she decided against taking them by herself. So, off I went solo. I spent the day before opener packing gear and food and ultimately took longer than anticipated so I opted to hike in opening morning.
to be continued...

 

[CMF]

Opening day to day six - Hiked into a new, difficult to access drainage with an unmaintained trail. I was excited to not see any fresh boot tracks and thought I'd have it to myself. After several hours of hiking I got to country that looked sheepy. Got out the binos and looked up to a nice area I'd expect to see sheep and see a hunter. I thought he probably saw me. I was already this deep and there was some drainage beyond where he was, so I hiked deeper in. I got further up the drainage and started glassing.
Later that afternoon, I see a couple guys hiking up towards me. They hadn't seen me earlier. Their camp was further up the basin pass me. We chatted, they were brothers. I told them they were there first and I'd hike over the ridge to another drainage in the morning, but I was whipped from the hike in and planned to camp that night. They made a play on some sheep earlier in the day that I never saw. They wanted to give them a day and also wanted to check out the ridge I was planning to go to. We made a plan to meet back at my camp to hike up and I'd have first go at whatever we saw up the new ridge over.
I woke up to mule deer at my camp feeding just 20yds away. When the guys got to my campspot they looked up to where the sheep were the day before and spotted them again. We aborted the plan to hike over the opposite ridge and he planned to go after the sheep they were on the day before. Me having only seen two sheep prior to this, I thought it worthwhile to watch this band of rams and to see how the hunt played out. I joined the brother to glass and the hunter made a play around the mountain and down onto the sheep. Long story short, he got an arrow into a nice ram, but didn't find it that evening. I went up with them to look the next morning, day three of the season. He found it, got it processed, I helped them get it down to the trail. Then I hiked up the opposite ridge to glass into a new basin, nothing, back down to camp and a long exhausting day.

Day four I wake up and a few of the rams are back in a stalkable position. I end up getting within 140yds and run out of cover. While waiting on an opportunity the warming temps cause the thermals to switch and they blow out, side hilling around the mountain and I can't see where they go.
Day five I wake up, hike further into the basin glassing the back, nothing. Get back to original spot and the rams are back. Make a plan to go after them and just as I'm fixing to head up, probably 11am, they start around the mountain and go out of sight. I take it easy and rest up around camp that eve.
Day six I wake up and two rams are up there again. I watch for a while and contemplate going after them, but decide to hike out, regroup and come back with my daughter. I figure if she can keep an eye on them while I make a stalk, at least I'll know where they keep slipping off to. This was a mistake.

TBC..