Outwest
WKR
A good friend of mine, Lukas, drew 1 of 2 tags for the White Sands Missile Range this past year. Believe it or not, this was only his third year even applying for tags at all. Talk about a lucky SOB.
Anyway, we got a few days to scout back in July and got to see some of the country we would be hunting and get a look at a few really nice rams. Since this was a hunt on department of defense land, access to scout was limited, so we only had those two days. The range escorts would do the rest of the scouting for us before the hunt.
The hunt was in late December and thats when S. NM starts to get cold. Fortunately, we had pretty mild days during the hunt and it allowed for all day glassing sessions to locate a suitable ram.
We spent the entire first day behind the glass. By the middle of the afternoon, we had spotted over 15 different rams, but the terrain kept us from attempting a stalk. With an hour of daylight left, we spotted a group of 15 sheep, with at least 4 good size rams. They were feeding below a steep chute through a series of cliffs. We knew that they would have to stay low if we were to attempt a stalk.
The next morning, we turned them up as soon as we had enough light to glass. They had stayed low enough on the mountain and out of the cliffs to make a stalk. After a cussing and discussing session, Lukas decided he would be happy to put his tag on either of the biggest rams. Both with good mass but one just a few inches longer than the other. We loaded up our packs and made our way up the mountain. After a 2 hour stalk, we had made it to the base of the face where the sheep were feeding. There was a small boulder rim about 300 yards below the sheep. We knew if we could make it there, we would be in business. Before all three of us stuck our heads up above the boulders to take a look, I crawled up ahead and ranged the sheep. They were 277 yards up hill. I crawled back down and told Lukas to follow me back up through the boulders. We had plenty of time to set up my pack for a prone shot as the wind was perfect and we had yet to be seen. I scanned the herd for the largest ram and kept feeding ranges as Lukas focused in on group. Finally, the largest ram fed broadside and I told Lukas to drop him. The ram tumbled back down the face towards us and landed in the bottom of a shallow drainage on the mountain side. It was an awesome experience and I hope I get the opportunity to go for myself one day.
Unofficial gross and green score was 179 6/8"
(Unfortunately, I only have trophy pictures now because of the screening process the rest of the pictures have to go through)
Heres the man. He is now the youngest person to kill a bighorn on WSMR.
As you can see, Lukas was scoped (repeatedly), but I don't think he felt it until we told him about it.
Anyway, we got a few days to scout back in July and got to see some of the country we would be hunting and get a look at a few really nice rams. Since this was a hunt on department of defense land, access to scout was limited, so we only had those two days. The range escorts would do the rest of the scouting for us before the hunt.
The hunt was in late December and thats when S. NM starts to get cold. Fortunately, we had pretty mild days during the hunt and it allowed for all day glassing sessions to locate a suitable ram.
We spent the entire first day behind the glass. By the middle of the afternoon, we had spotted over 15 different rams, but the terrain kept us from attempting a stalk. With an hour of daylight left, we spotted a group of 15 sheep, with at least 4 good size rams. They were feeding below a steep chute through a series of cliffs. We knew that they would have to stay low if we were to attempt a stalk.
The next morning, we turned them up as soon as we had enough light to glass. They had stayed low enough on the mountain and out of the cliffs to make a stalk. After a cussing and discussing session, Lukas decided he would be happy to put his tag on either of the biggest rams. Both with good mass but one just a few inches longer than the other. We loaded up our packs and made our way up the mountain. After a 2 hour stalk, we had made it to the base of the face where the sheep were feeding. There was a small boulder rim about 300 yards below the sheep. We knew if we could make it there, we would be in business. Before all three of us stuck our heads up above the boulders to take a look, I crawled up ahead and ranged the sheep. They were 277 yards up hill. I crawled back down and told Lukas to follow me back up through the boulders. We had plenty of time to set up my pack for a prone shot as the wind was perfect and we had yet to be seen. I scanned the herd for the largest ram and kept feeding ranges as Lukas focused in on group. Finally, the largest ram fed broadside and I told Lukas to drop him. The ram tumbled back down the face towards us and landed in the bottom of a shallow drainage on the mountain side. It was an awesome experience and I hope I get the opportunity to go for myself one day.
Unofficial gross and green score was 179 6/8"
(Unfortunately, I only have trophy pictures now because of the screening process the rest of the pictures have to go through)
Heres the man. He is now the youngest person to kill a bighorn on WSMR.
As you can see, Lukas was scoped (repeatedly), but I don't think he felt it until we told him about it.
