Unit 15B bruiser

[Capt. Don Martin]

Thought I would give you all the story about a ram AND the best sheep hunter I have EVER had the pleasure (or was it torture?) to hunt with.

 

Dana Hurt lives in Lincoln Nebraska and this year hit the Arizona sheep lottery when he drew tag 1 in Unit 15B West, a unit he had never set foot in before. And he had drawn the tag with JUST 8 bonus points!

 

Dana had called a number of other guides and outfitters before we spoke, but it didn't take long to get him on board after we talked about our past history in this unti.

 

Hunting for a big sheep is without a doubt one of the toughest challenges that a sheep hunter in Unit 15B West can have.

 

It is an area where the ram numbers and quality of rams have been low for many years.

 

One of the factors that makes this hunt so tough is that it seems most if not all of the older age class of rams really like to broom off their horns.

 

Finding a ram with longer horns is really tough here.

 

For the past few years the boys and I at Arizona Wildlife Outfitters have spent a lot of time in this unit. The unit is in our backyard, less than 60 miles from my house!

 

We always try and find every ram we can, and then have our hunter take the best and oldest one out there!

 

Matter of fact, including this year, we have taken the largest ram out of this unit in two out of the last three years, and the ram we took this year, is the THIRD largest ram taken in this unit since 2004!

 

Not bragging, just fact!

 

Here are some intersting stats for those who might be thinking of applying for this tag in the future.

 

2008: Tag 1, 155 2/8, tag 2, 117 4/8, tag 3, 142 4/8

2009: Tag 1, 148 7/8, tag 2, 151, tag 3, 149 2/8

2010: Tag 1, 145 2/8, tag 2, 126 6/8, tag 3, 164 6/8 (largest ram taken since 2003)

2011: Tag 1, 144 2/8 (broken horn) tag 2, 151 7/8

2012: Tag 1, 153 1/8, tag 2, 135 2/8

2013: Tag 1, 157 1/8. Tags 2,3,4 scored (not in order) 146, 154 and 145.

 

So you get the point. This is NOT the unit to apply for IF you want to take a Boone & Crockett ram!

 

Best off looking at the other Black Mountain units, 15D, 15C South and 15C North for those kinds of rams!

 

This year, when the Arizona Game & Fish Department flew aerial surveys in this unit, they did not see even one Class IV ram!

 

But when a hunter has a sheep tag in hand, you just go out and do the best you can.

 

This year when Dana came out he brought a good friend Justin Davison with him.

 

These two were a hoot to hunt with!

 

Though they had never hunted sheep before (like most sportsmen) they caught on quickly. Fortunately they had good glass which as we all know makes or breaks sheep hunts. They were also in the best condition of any sheep hunters I have the pleasure to hunt with.

 

 

The hunt started and we heard that one of the other hunters had taken a ram that scored 146 on Day 1.

 

 

This is the first ram band that we spotted though we had spotted other rams during the first few days of the hunt.

 

This group had 8 rams in it, and one in particular was very nice. He was long and had great overlay.

 

Even though Dana said he would be happy with him, I told him we needed to pass as we had a lot of time to look for maybe a better ram. And we did.

 

Just an hour or so later one of the other hunters in the unit took this georgeous ram.

 

 

As I put my hands around at Jerry's ram, I started thinking "Had I made a mistake in passing this one?"

 

Later we were told the ram scored 154. An awesome ram in this unit for sure and ended up the second largest ram taken on this year's hunt!

 

Now there were just two of us left and we met up with Greg Guyett, the other hunter. We developed an immediate friendship with him.

 

Heck of a nice guy, and he was hunting alone. That makes it as tough as it gets.

 

We offered to assist him anyway we could, and him being camped just down the road from us made it easy to see him every day.

 

As the days wore on, Justin got into the rythem of finding sheep and he found another ram band that had 10 rams in it from over two miles away!

 

Good friend Jay Chan and I closed the distance and when we got a better look at them we passed on all of these rams. There were two rams in the group that were old, but they were both brommed off to about 26-27 inches.

 

The hunt would coninue.

 

Then we had a trajedy in our camp when we learned that Justin's mother had passed away, and so we lost a good friend when he caught a midnight flight out of Las Vegas back to Nebraska.

 

 

On Day 10 Dana and I went to take a closer look at a couple of rams that Dana and fellow sheep guide Tad Levandowski had found early that morning..

 

While we were working our way to those rams, Greg had found a couple of rams and had decided to take one of them. We had previously looked at the ram and while he was good looking, we had decided to pass him. However for Greg, this 7 year old ram was the one he wanted and he made it happen!

 

Number 38 had a lot of mass and is a great looking old ram.

 

 

The next day, it was down to only Dana and I.

 

We got lucky when I spotted a ram band on a far away hillside just as they were starting to bed down.

 

Through the Swarovski spotting scope I saw a couple of rams in that band that I knew we needed to get a closer look at.

 

Here is the mountain the rams were on. They were behind that brown rock outcropping.

 

Dana and I moved up the mountain and got to within 770 yards of the bedded rams.

 

I determined that there was not one, but two shooters in the group.

 

One of the rams however, had great mass and a lot of age, and I told Dana he had the green light to take him.

 

I stayed back on the scope while Dana started the stalk.

 

Turned out the rams got up and moved and went behind a rock knob and out of my sight.

 

Dana found them but they bedded down and weren't where he could shoot. He ended up waiting over an hour and a half beofre he got the opportunity to shoot.

 

Finally, just before sundown, the rams moved back up the mountain and Dana put down the big ram with one shot at 88 yards!

 

It was getting dark and where Dana was at was very treacherous, so I told Dana to head off the moiuntain.

 

The next morning, we had AWO guides Dan Reed and Tad Levandowski with us as we headed back up the mountain to recover the ram.

 

It was just over 20 degrees that morning, and the ram was fine when we got to him. There was still snow in the shady pockets of the canyons we had to cross to get to him.

 

He was everything we thought he was.

 

 

Game & Fish aged Dana's ram at 9.5 years old, and he scored exactly 159 (gross). With deduction he scored 157 1/8, making this the third largest ram taken since 2004 in this unit!

 

 

 

[Mike S]

Awesome rams and write up Don! Congrats to the hunters, you and your team. Wish I could have been there :-(.

Have a great Christmas!

[azcouesfanatic]

Great write up and what an awesome ram!!!!!

[jim]

Great ram Don. Congrats to your hunter.

[pwrguy]

Awsome, great write up. I would love to "settle" for a ram like that one

[trphyhntr]

congrats dude, nice ram. ya mine was out of 15b west. not a trophy unit, but i still like mine. its scored 162 or 163, aged at 12.5 and i killed it in 2000

[Heat]

Beauty Don! Congratulations to your crew and the hunter!

[AZJR]

That is a really terrific older ram. You guys shared a great experience and were rewarded for your patience and doggedness, congratulations!

 

Jim Rich

MV, AZ

[randyolson]

Enjoyed the story and pics!! Thanks for sharing! Congrats on the great RAM!!