NM Bighorn sheep hunt 2019

[LongWayAround]

Congratulations! Surely it is a small group of modern hunters who have taken a ram with traditional archery equipment.

 

[RCL]

Congratulations on a great ram and getting it done with a recurve.

 

[Felix40]

A brief rundown....we glassed up three rams bedded on an open shale hillside. Two of the rams were what I would call shooters but one was a good bit bigger than the others. They were sort of close to the top of the ridge so I decided to try to stalk them. I climbed about 700 feet to get to the other side of the ridge and come down above them. When I peaked over they were looking away and still bedded. The closest I could get was 70 yards. Long story short...I blew them out.

they ran to the other side of the basin but we could see them clearly in a narrow avalanche shoot. I decided to make another play so I hiked back down then back up again on the other side. This time the cliffs were close enough that I could climb along them and get into range. My friends gave me hand signals to tell me how much further and how high to climb. When I looked through my binos and saw a “five” then “zero” I knew things were going to happen. I peaked over the edge and the biggest ram was the highest up. I ranged the rock he was next to at 27 yards. He saw movement and turned to face me. I remember thinking his chest was as wide as a bag target and there was no way I could miss. I took a step closer to the edge, rose up, drew my bow , and shot an arrow into his chest. It was slightly downhill and it exited about where his sternum would be. I saw a lot of blood immediately but I felt the hit was low. The ram ran out to 42 yards and paused before going off a small ledge so I hit him again in the center of the back. He tumbled down a ledge but regained his footing. As he ran I was naturally super nervous but I could see blood coming out of his chest like a garden hose. He made it maybe another 100 yards and that was it. I kept the front shoulders whole and deboned the back quarters. I also took a full rack of ribs out since I will probably not get another chance to try them. We did a full body cape as well. While butchering him a thunderstorm rolled in which made it even cooler.

We decided to camp on a snow drift as it was the only flat spot on the mountain. We camped out a couple extra days and enjoyed country.

Equipment notes in case anyone wonders: homemade recurve 58#@28”, gold tip hunter arrows, 150 grain stinger buzzcuts, and wild turkey feathers.

The ram scores 180 1/8”. I couldnt be happier with him. Im at home now smoking a rack of ribs and trying to decide what to do with the cape.

 

[realunlucky]

So awesome huge congratulations! Thanks for sharing it was a great write up

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[Ariettabob]

So freaking awesome.

 

[bwhntMT]

Wow! Amazing ram, and to do it with your recurve. Hats off to you sir. Soak it in!

 

[Broomd]

Wow, what a fantastic achievement and ram. Congrats, you earned it!

 

[Andrew11]

WOW. Congrats on a well earned trophy and an awesome write up to go with it.

 

[Silvereagle50]

I’m just speechless.

 

[Felix40]

It was such a fun hunt. Beautiful country, beautiful animals. Hail, rain, sunshine, hard ass hiking, relaxing behind glass....and bloodshed. It was everything I wanted

 

[aggieland]

110% Awesomeness!!!

 

[jvonbank]

Congrats on the awesome ram and pics!

Jared

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[TXCO]

Congrats!!


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[kyleeisenhardt]

Sounds awesome! Can’t wait to hear more!

 

[Felix40]

Theres really not a lot more to tell. Heres what a rack of bhs ribs looks like off the smoker though.

 

[Reburn]

Looks like a great hunt congrats!!!!!!!!!

 

[Big338]

Absolutely amazing man ! Congrats and thanks for all the pics and story.
Hope to draw a big horn tag soon.

 

[adamkolesar]

Holy Smokes! Fred Bear would be proud. Congrats.

 

[JPD350]

Congrats on your ram! what an awesome hunt.

 

[butcherboy]

Congrats! Heck of a Ram and stalk! I just got back a week ago from my Dads BHS hunt in the Gorge. He is 73 and got out of the hospital a week before the hunt because of a blood clot in his left lung and one in his heart. He shot a good ram all while carrying a bottle of O2 with him! LOL