Once in a lifetime decision

[Rogue Bay]

Thanks for taking us along on the journey and congrats to both of you on a great ram!

 

[SloppyJ]

Congrats!!

 

[ShootOkHuntWorse]

Very jealous! Have you checked the scope? What was the reason for the high impact?

 

[OneTimer]

Very jealous! Have you checked the scope? What was the reason for the high impact?

I have not fond out why. I did run the fat wrench on it again and there isn’t anything loose. I had her shoot it 6 days prior and we confirmed the zero at 200yds. This would be the first scope, all 8 Leupold, I have ever had have an issue with a zero. I will try to get it and shoot the rifle tomorrow and see what I find out.

 

[7mm-08]

Congratulations to you both on on the hard work and success. Thanks for taking us along.

 

[Bowfinatic]

Well done on a beautiful ram!
The misses will just make it more memorable

 

[OneTimer]

Well done on a beautiful ram!
The misses will just make it more memorable

It was high stress at the time but looking back at it now it sure did make it memorable!! She definitely handled herself well and kept her composure to get the job done.

 

[OneTimer]

For those want to see a little of the action, here is the kill shot. It’s short, but I wasn’t about to lose site of him after the first two shots. He made it a whopping 8 seconds before he tipped over. I’ll get a few more videos of some rams as well. If anyone draws the tag I would be more than happy to help provide any and all details !!

 

[OneTimer]

A few more pictures from the hunt. Beautiful country!

 

[Jake Larsen]

This thread is going to end up being Rokslide scope drop test porn if that leupold was to blame haha. It should get moved to the drop test forum and permanently pinned to the top of the page.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Snowb1rd]

Congrats man! Loved the pics and the story, happy ending

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Great story from start to finish! Thanks for documenting it so well and sharing it.

I too am interested in the scope test. Had you dialed elevation at that range with that scope before? Did you enter the 200 yard zero in the Kestrel instead of a 100 yard zero? Not trying to insult your intelligence, just thinking of things I may have missed if I were in the same boat.

 

[PVHunter]

This has been an exciting thread to follow. Congratulations to you and your wife on a successful hunt.

 

[bpitcher]

Amazing animal. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bambistew]

Great story, congrats on the ram.

Glad you let us know what it scored!

 

[CHL]

Pretty awesome hunt and ram. Congrats to y’all!

 

[Arctic Dreams]

Well after looking over many rams in all parts of the unit she found the one that checked off her list!!



We found a band of rams leaving the canyon we intended to glass that morning and they were on the move out of the country…and in a hurry! We spotted this band of rams at a little after 7 in the morning, watched them feed their way to bed for the mid morning. The hike was as tough as it gets, crossing one canyon after the next in order to get on the same ridge line as them. We left our glassing post before 11am and at just after 1pm we were stalking into our shooting post. I stayed behind the spotter looking over each and every ram to make sure we weren’t looking over one, but it was very clear we had found the big guy! My wife stayed prone behind the rifle for 3 hours before he finally presented a clean broadside shot. 426 yards completely broadside and that’s when it gets interesting!



I’ll take a minute to explain that if you have not traveled in sheep country much, it’s very unforgiving! It will take the best ride and make sure it compresses your spine! There are no short cuts, everything is rough and dusty, and it’s all hard as a rock! No matter how hard you try to prevent something from happening….there is always a chance of it happening still. And wouldn’t you know it that happened to us….



Three hours behind the rifle without any breaks is a long wait to begin with and then when the moment finally arrives the adrenaline is inevitably going to be a factor. But in this case, 426yds when the rifle goes off the impact was about 3’ high! Rams scatter and instantly we both think we did something wrong. She thinks she pulled the shot, I think I mis ranged it, it’s chaos!



I re range, same 426 yard reading. Check the kestrel, same elevation hold. That’s not it. I ask her are you sure you pulled the shot? She instantly tells me she was shaking like a leaf. Ok you must have really pulled it I tell her. We wait a good 15-20min and all rams calm down and go to feeding. The rams move into 311yds and then it’s just a matter of waiting for that broadside shot again. I think to myself, no need to really dial the scope but let’s do it anyway since it’s a once in a lifetime shot! She dials it in, we confirm range multiple times and make sure it’s dialed correctly. Then he gives us that second chance we have waited for….boom! Right over his back! This time they really know something is up and ball up in a group to look as the dust cloud disappears. She’s fast as whistle on the reload, I tell her to zero the scope and to get ready for another opportunity.



By now I think I had a higher stress load than her. Did I not load the right powder charge, was my chronograph off, is my range finder battery bad, is the range finder even working?! So many thoughts, but one thing was clear, it’s shooting dead center high every time!! I do some rough estimating on how tall the rams body is, take into account the extra elevation we dialed at both ranges and try to put together a good hold.



By this time it’s almost been another 20min or more and the rams are still on edge but wanting to go back to feeding. We determine which ram is the correct one and wait for a shot. Finally he gives her a hard quartering away at 326yds. I have her check that the scope is zeroed and tell her to hold level with his sternum then to line up where she wants it to hit. I’m guessing we are shooting 8 to 9” high at this point. She calms down, holds level with his sternum and hold windage where she is desiring the impact to be….BOOM! The ram was hard quartering away and I was able to watch the bullet impact as perfectly as possible in line with the off shoulder and through his vitals. With a quick 8 second time frame he made it up hill 20 yards and tipped over backwards! I watched intently where he went down and only caught a glimpse of legs up in the air followed by a big cloud of dust. A few minutes later we decide to keep her behind the rifle and I loop around the top to confirm he is down. No surprise to myself when I first looked over the rim I see a white belly and a massive curl on the ground!



After that the reality sets in, the roller coaster of emotions, the throbbing headache from the 3 spikes of adrenaline, and the short decent to put hands on that once in a lifetime decision!



What a hunt this has been! After all the miles and time it finally paid off with great reward! Her ram went 170 5/8” gross and was aged at 10 years. The Boss of the Sheepshead unit! Thank you all for the help!!

Thanks for the write up. Congratulations! Beautiful Ram!