Silver State Nelson Bighorn Tag

[CHL]

Heck of a ram man!! Sign me up all freakin’ day to shoot another Desert just like him. Congrats!

 

[TheTone]

Wow. Kills a desert sheep, and is upset and disappointed about it cause it doesn't have some made up number attached to it? Complains to not care about score anymore because it's ruining the experience, then complains it doesn't score enough after killing it. This last update and closure is really disappointing to what should have been an incredible thread with a punched tag or not.

Congrats OP on your ram. No matter what you think or what anyone tells you, he's a sheep of a lifetime. Nobody that sees that ram will be able to tell you if it's a 160 or 170" ram.

I’m sure I’ll get flamed but add onto that just waiting at home while the outfitter and guides are looking for a ram to call him to fly out to kill. Odd hunt and ending to be upset about

I’ll probably never hunt sheep as a poor person with bad draw luck. If/when I ever draw a tag I’ll be happy to just have the experience

 

[Timjohnson11]

He's asked me not to mention him. It's highly competitive between the three outfitters trying to turn up the biggest ram in the state.

Curious if you can disclose the guide now that the hunt is over? Congrats by the way. I'd be pumped on a really solid ram and undoubtly a fun few months!

 

[Maddog58]

Nothing to be ashamed of with a 164” ram. Pretty tough to find 180” rams on a consistent basis

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Well guys it's done. I got A ram. Right now im feeling frustrated and like I want throw up. This isn't how the best tag in the state was supposed to end up but here we are. For reasons I'll never understand my guide suggested we pass on a couple of 170ish rams in July. I didn't know enough at the time to say hell no and it's something i have to live with. Always remember it's your tag and you make the call. Let the guide make his recommendations. I just trusted the guide. Stupid on my part.

I'll let it all settle in and share how the hunt went down but wanted to share that i killed and it's over.

If you draw a sheep tag in NV and want to go guide give me a call I'll share my full experience.

View attachment 808896

I’ve been following along with this just lurking, I’m very happy you got a ram, good for you man!!!

I understand your frustration but you got a ram, I’ve been involved with a few different hobbies/obsessions over the years and when I look back on things I don’t/can’t do anymore, I wish had more fun and just relaxed while doing them. I wish I’d appreciated things for what they were rather than what I wanted them to be. I remember finishing an Ironman triathlon in 11hr3min and being so upset I didn’t break 11 hours, it ate me up, I was pissed, I soured my (then) girlfriends experience of doing her first Ironman. Now with an injury that makes it so I can’t run anymore I wish I’d enjoyed myself more when I could rather than watching the clock and being frustrated by times.

Now days with hunting I always try to remind myself to have fun, not that I won’t hunt hard and I don’t call u successful hunts successful just because I had fun but I need to slow myself down sometimes and just be glad I’m there.

You light never get to shoot a sheep again (you might get to though), you never know. Don’t put yourself in a spot where the only sheep hunt you did was a bad experience.

 

[Steve O]

I’ve read about people winning the lottery being miserable. Cannot understand it.

Sometimes priorities should be reevaluated. Hopefully putting this story out there will help you and many others.

 

[Marine4life]

Well guys it's done. I got A ram. Right now im feeling frustrated and like I want throw up. This isn't how the best tag in the state was supposed to end up but here we are. For reasons I'll never understand my guide suggested we pass on a couple of 170ish rams in July. I didn't know enough at the time to say hell no and it's something i have to live with. Always remember it's your tag and you make the call. Let the guide make his recommendations. I just trusted the guide. Stupid on my part.

I'll let it all settle in and share how the hunt went down but wanted to share that i killed and it's over.

If you draw a sheep tag in NV and want to go guide give me a call I'll share my full experience.

View attachment 808896

Well guys it's done. I got A ram. Right now im feeling frustrated and like I want throw up. This isn't how the best tag in the state was supposed to end up but here we are. For reasons I'll never understand my guide suggested we pass on a couple of 170ish rams in July. I didn't know enough at the time to say hell no and it's something i have to live with. Always remember it's your tag and you make the call. Let the guide make his recommendations. I just trusted the guide. Stupid on my part.

I'll let it all settle in and share how the hunt went down but wanted to share that i killed and it's over.

If you draw a sheep tag in NV and want to go guide give me a call I'll share my full experience.

View attachment 808896

I appreciate your honesty and putting it all out there for the rest of us to enjoy and some to criticize. Most will never understand the pressure a tag like this has on someone who is a passionate hunter. Two years ago I drew a California bighorn tag in NV and although I was comfortable not killing a huge ram I also knew it was my only opportunity in my life to kill a huge ram. Like you I ended up killing an average ram but felt I did the hunt justice. It’s great your guide had the confidence but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. A year or so from now you will get your ram back and only have great memories of the hunt, the experience and how blessed you were to get such a tag. The only thing different in your ram and a 180inch is no more than 10%.

You contributed the conservation of desert sheep and I am sure in the near future will be very proud of your accomplishment. Congratulations on a great Ram.


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[idig4au]

Beautiful sheep and congratulations. I hope you take the time and reflect about the memory and the hunt itself. The whole experience is the real gift that you should be thankful for. Don’t lose sight of that and don’t dishonor the animal you decided to take at the 11th hr because it doesn’t reach some arbitrary size number. If that is the case then you’re missing the entire point of why we hunt and this tag was wasted on you.

Your ram is a trophy and you should be damn proud of him.

 

[waspocrew]

Congrats on the ram! I don't know anything about scoring rams, but that one looks fantastic.

 

[TenRing]

Congrats on your ram! I could only imagine what the pressure feels like having this tag in your pocket. The sheep game is a tough, especially with this type of tag. Just to put some numbers out there for you, if you look at the stats the average for Desert rams in NV always hovers around 150". I bet if you averaged the Auction tags it would probably be around 173"-174"s. This Silver State tag seems to have a bit of bad juju on it and if you look at the average it would be around 165". I hear every year that people with draw tags are going to hold out for a 180" or a high 170"s ram and it makes me laugh. The reality is anything over 160" is a solid ram in Nevada, and anyone who thinks otherwise might just need to look over the published statistics to educate themselves. Congrats again!

 

[cuerro viejo]

Nothing to be ashamed of with a 164” ram. Pretty tough to find 180” rams on a consistent basis

A lot of states that might have 1… if that. State of sheep is not good unless you head south

 

[robie]

Thank you fellas. There is a lot to unpack from an emotional stand point. I know I'll never get a tag like this nor will I have $150k+ to buy a tag like this. I'll do a write up start to finish and tell you all the mistakes I made to hopefully help out the next guy.

It's all said and done and I'm extremely grateful to have had the chance to take a dessert bighorn. I hunted 8 days and learned a little about sheep.

My main frustration with the decisions I made is not learning enough about sheep scores and how little they mean. If a sheep is missing a chunk out of a horn and looses a few inches on mass some people will tell you to pass where I see that as character. For the guides 171" is a pass but 175" is a shooter all day. 4" across 10 measurements or about 3/8" is the difference between a trophy and a lets keep looking is laughable. Most of us will never get to look at enough sheep to really understand that until a hunt is over. Now I know that I'm a look over score guy. I would take the lamb tips ram over the Jason Carter ram on my wall all day. There is 10" of more bone on Carter's but it is not a look I like.

On to the positive. The stalk and the shot and pack out were everything I wanted. 2500 yards away for the spot, got to about 1500 to confirm he was decent and then finally to 550 for the shot. Had to hike 1400' in elevation over the last 1500 yards. Freaking awesome. First shot smoked him and we have it on video.

 

[Bowfinatic]

Congrats on a great ram! I understand not learning enough about score. I had an amazing montana tag last year. The difference in 10" to a layman like me was undiscernable

I remember when I was above him at full draw and looking at him i said he looks ok but not monster. Ended up a boone ram

So much bigger in person than that visual
Really hard to tell for someone with limited experience

We passed a 170 ram that the guide hardly wanted to spend time on but looked really big to me
Don't beat yourself up too bad. Thanks for sharing

 

[schmalzy]

Thank you fellas. There is a lot to unpack from an emotional stand point. I know I'll never get a tag like this nor will I have $150k+ to buy a tag like this. I'll do a write up start to finish and tell you all the mistakes I made to hopefully help out the next guy.

It's all said and done and I'm extremely grateful to have had the chance to take a dessert bighorn. I hunted 8 days and learned a little about sheep.

My main frustration with the decisions I made is not learning enough about sheep scores and how little they mean. If a sheep is missing a chunk out of a horn and looses a few inches on mass some people will tell you to pass where I see that as character. For the guides 171" is a pass but 175" is a shooter all day. 4" across 10 measurements or about 3/8" is the difference between a trophy and a lets keep looking is laughable. Most of us will never get to look at enough sheep to really understand that until a hunt is over. Now I know that I'm a look over score guy. I would take the lamb tips ram over the Jason Carter ram on my wall all day. There is 10" of more bone on Carter's but it is not a look I like.

On to the positive. The stalk and the shot and pack out were everything I wanted. 2500 yards away for the spot, got to about 1500 to confirm he was decent and then finally to 550 for the shot. Had to hike 1400' in elevation over the last 1500 yards. Freaking awesome. First shot smoked him and we have it on video.

Badass Ram! I applaud your honesty in your previous posts. To echo others though, your ram is nothing to look down on. I hope the frustration subsides and the joy and thrill of the stalk and the highs and lows replaces it.

Thanks for sharing the story in real time (and real feelings) with us.

Congrats again, I am envious!


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