Eli

Someone needs this, great deal

My 16 year old Zane drew a sheep tag this year. it was nowhere on our radar but the hunting gods smiled and the $300 charge was a sight to behold. Tag 1! i immediately reached out to my hunting buddy @buglethemin who had the same tag a few years ago and happens to be a sheep guide with Arizona Desert outfitters, which made the situation a whole lot more doable. On a side note If anyone needs help on a sheep hunt, they are a top notch outfit. We Scouting started in July, and we located some good looking target rams. One of the problems when a 16 year old draws a sheep tag is school. When the hunt finally rolled around, he missed a Friday and a Monday, and we hunted four hard days. But there were final projects, finals, etc. We located a couple possible shooters but not anything that was an immediate go in the first couple days. When we came back the next weekend, we found all the sheep had moved and that many days away between hunts was going to be a problem. We were not able to find the previous rams. After a couple more 12-15 mile days, we were still looking for that mature shooter ram. The late rains and green up and changing weather had them doing strange things. Zane finished finals and we headed back out on Friday the 19th. At this point, he had been in school or hunting sheep for 19 days straight. We had split up to cover different areas.That afternoon, @buglethemin called and said he found a mature ram in a bowl they were glassing. We hurried over (hurry means mile or two hike then 30+ minute drive then more hiking) but got to the other side of the bowl before sunset. The ram and 3 smaller rams came over the top to our side. It was too late to make a play, but we bedded the ram and had a plan for the morning. The next day, we were there before sun up and immediately located the rams. The shooter ram and a smaller ram then immediately went back over into the bowl. We hiked a three mile loop around and picked them back up. We were looking into the sun and the rams never stopped moving, and no shot presented. The rams eventually fed onto the bench on top of the range and moved west where we lost site of them. We climbed the mountain , and started working the edges looking for them. By early afternoon, we had one cut left to cover. About that time, another buddy called and said he had found them in that cut. We worked our way to about 300 yards from the edge they were over. The wind was in our face, and the plan was to wait for them to feed up and cross over and present a shot. It was a great plan, until the wind shifted, blowing directly at them. They spooked down the cliff face. We hurried to the edge, and hurriedly got a range and the rifle set up. The first shot was a miss low, and they ran another hundred yards up the opposing mountain face, bearing the top before they stopped broadside. We got a new range, and Zane sent it. The sheep ran a bit, wobbled, then was down. After 8 hard days of hunting, he had his sheep. Old ram with a ton of character, and a scarred up old nose. Game and fish aged at 9 laying down the 10 ring. i cannot thank the sheep hunting collective of friends and family that showed up to help enough. It was a grind of a hunt but ann amazing one.

Nice ram first off. What measurements were they off on?

Merry Christmas my friends!

Yes, 9 years old laying down a 10 ring

Took ours to Mesa. Age spot on and within an inch from what we got

Got to share youth deer camp with some good friends, with three youth tags in camp. My son had killed a spike last year and was looking for forked or bigger this year. One of the hunters was looking for his first deer and was first up to bat. Opening morning a buddy located a couple small bucks, including a shooter 2x2 with a small forky. They bedded them, and we watched them a few hours, waiting for them to get up and offer a shot. They finally did, and a first deer was harvested! The forky stuck around and even though he was bigger then a spike, my son decided he was too young and let him walk. Day two, another buddy showed us a new area. We worked a ridgeline glassing fingers on the ridges to the east and west. After a mile or so and the 3rd glassing spot, this guy was spotting working up a draw and feeding. We knew he was a shooter in an instant. He wasn’t in a hurry, but sure wasn’t gonna bed for us. He was moving towards a small saddle. He was at 650 yards, and we could maybe shave 200 yards getting to the next ridge but wouldn’t be able to get there before he was over the ridge and gone. It was a now or never type of thing, and the deer was broadside, slightly quartering to. I trust the gun and dope, and my son can shoot. We made sure he had a solid rest, dialed for distance and had him hold for a slight breeze. Kid was cool as a cucumber. At the sound of the shot, the deer hunched and I knew we had a hit, but he ran over the saddle so we couldn’t confirm. It was a long 30 minutes to hike down the one ridge and up the other but we found him about 20 yards from where he was the shot, piled against a tree just over the crest. Entrance was middle on onside shoulder, exit just behind off shoulder. His smile says it all and I couldn’t be prouder! The third hunter is still looking for something special, so send some big buck vibes his way this week!

Pm sent

Love it, congratulations!

Congrats Chris! Looks like a great camp!

Stud deer, that kids turning into a menace on big deer 100%

Congrats!!! Hunts like that always make the best stories. My son’s favorite elk story was our worst pack out by far and gets brought up every year. Way to stay after it

GLWS

Good looking shooter

Congrats amazing!!!!

Awesome hunt and weekend! Congratulations!

At deer camp last week there were two Kodiak’s and two Tetons. No effective difference that I saw between the two. That being said, we have a Kodiak 10x14 and love it

Man I was just thinking that! Memorable for sure! Good luck to all

So awesome! Congratulations to you both!

Love the character

Great bull, congrats!

Great buck and write up, congrats to you guys! Awesome write up too

Luke at Arrowhead Rifles just built a muzzleloader for me and it’s been absolutely impressive, I’d recommend them for anything

Hooked already, congratulations!

I Have both an sat-capable IPhone and and inreach mini. The sat messaging has been flawless so far over the past year but I need a bit more time with it before I give up the mini. The PLB aspect of the mini is a nice safety net but the timeliness of messages getting through was always rough, we missed a kid getting on elk trying to message through the inreach once.