sheep rifle MT unit 100
Contributors to this thread:Wild Sheep
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
As many know I drew my MT sheep tag which was a surprise. A rocky bighorn has been my dream for over 35 years. It is the only 1 thing I really wanted to get. Last year I drew unit 22 WY, which let me hunt unit 5 in October. That was a TOUGH hunt. I found sheep, plenty. I packed in at first then hunted a remote forest service road. I hunted the first and last 10 days of October.
Until that hunt my 2 bowhunts for NM ibex were the hardest hunts I have ever done. This was a lot harder. I gave it 100% and saw lots of sheep, lots of rams and several full curl rams. Many sheep I could not get to. Others something always went wrong. One evening 30 minutes before dark 7 rams appeared and bedded. It was a 3 hour plus hike away so I put them to bed. The next morning they were gone. I passed immature rams and finally got a shot. I got a bad case of buck fever and rushed it, I did not have a good enough rest. Had I calmed down and moved around until I did I would have had my sheep.
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
I saw lots of grizzly bears. The last 10 days there was pretty much no one around. One night a hard shake woke me up and I looked out of the SUV I was sleeping and saw a griz staring down at me I yelled and her and her cub ran off. She only left a print on the SUV and did not damage.
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
More pics this was where I found rams a lot, most times impossible to get to.
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
More pics this was where I found rams a lot, most times impossible to get to.
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
7 rams
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
I was really hurt by my miss but happy I got to hunt. My daughter had some health issues and I was not sure if I was going to be able to go. My finance (now my wife) and both of my girls gave me full support and insisted I go to WY. Missing hurt. Bad. I thought about it every single day for 6 months. Several times a day. Every day. Until I drew MT sheep.
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
MT sheep were at 3,000 - 4,000 feet elevation. The river below was at 2,000. I never knew MT had anywhere that low. Weird. The unit I drew was the easiest to draw nad had the smallest sheep. The best you can hole for is 7.5 years old and 165 - give or take a year and 5 points. After a week I finally found a good ram, the best left in the unit. I put him to bed with 2 ewes. I could see the 3 dots with my naked eye and watched them constantly. They were a 2-3 hour hike away so I was going to wait for morning.
15 minutes before dark the 3 white spots suddenly got brighter and turned into 1 spot. One spot with orange highlights???????????
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
I just calculated my odds, with my points, at drawing 0.65%
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
This was the ram I found I thought him to be in the high 150s
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
I would like to keep this post for future hunters but I am done dealing with some of the crazies out there. I will ask for this post to be pulled down if it goes south.
When I used by bino's to look at the new bright white dot with orange highlights I could not believe my eyes. There was a mountain lion sitting looking downhill in the last place I saw them! I was unable to locate them again before dark.
From: drycreek
08-Nov-23
Looks like pretty damn tough hunting to me.
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
The first two pictures are the biggest Ram I found who got chased off by the mountain lion. I figured it could have been worse I could have seen him dragging my Ram dead up the mountain and stashing it in a tree or I couldn't have seen him at all and then wondered what the heck happened to the Sheep the next day. I knew there was a decent chance we'd be able to find them again quickly but I still lost a lot of sleep that night.
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
Luckily the next day I found him again. It took most of the morning but is able to sneak within range then I spent 3 and 1/2 hours 200 yards from him waiting for the perfect shot which I did finally get.
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
He rolled down the mountain at my shot and I knew it was true. It took me 10 minutes before I could regain my composure enough to go downhill. I sat and cried for a while I dreamed about this for decades and had so many highs and lows in that time. It didn't matter I finally had my Ram on a good difficult hunt and a nice Ram at that. When I finally got to him he was a lot bigger than I expected in every way and I couldn't have been happier
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
He rolled down the mountain at my shot and I knew it was true. It took me 10 minutes before I could regain my composure enough to go downhill. I sat and cried for a while I dreamed about this for decades and had so many highs and lows in that time. It didn't matter I finally had my Ram on a good difficult hunt and a nice Ram at that. When I finally got to him he was a lot bigger than I expected in every way and I couldn't have been happier
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
No idea why I'm getting some double posts sorry. The rap is below this Footbridge are where the movie the Revenant was filmed when he got washed through the Kootenaia river.
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
The second day I saw two mountain lines together in the morning nearby I'm sure it was one of the same two they were probably Cubs that just left their mother pretty amazing to see three mountain lions in less than 24 hours
From: JohnMC
08-Nov-23
Nice Ram congrats
From: DonVathome
08-Nov-23
Sheep country never looks that bad through a spotting scope. I know it is but it always a reminder when the sheep bump rocks that roll for 100 yards or more downhill. This hunt was not easy but much much much easier, in every way, compared to unit 5 WY. I saw whitetails near sheep and higher on the mountain which was weird.
From: buckeye
08-Nov-23
Hell of a ram Don, what an experience. Congratulations. How was he on a plate?
From: molsonarcher
08-Nov-23
Congrats on your ram!
From: MA-PAdeerslayer
08-Nov-23
Congrats. Nice ram. Post the mount when it’s done
From: Zbone
08-Nov-23
Nice Ram Don, CONGRATS!
From: huntnmuleys
08-Nov-23
Hell yeah! Dandy ram.
From: Quinn @work
08-Nov-23
Congrats Don. Very nice ram!
From: RK
08-Nov-23
Great hunt and Ram !!
Really great job !!
From: Bow Bullet
08-Nov-23
Great job Don, congratulations!
From: Glunt@work
08-Nov-23
Congrats!
From: tkjwonta
08-Nov-23
Congrats Don, thanks for sharing your recap and pictures!
From: Kingntuff
08-Nov-23
Epic good write up put tears in my eyes! The passion the persistance to meet a life goal or childhood dream. And a awesome supporting wife and kids. Very happy to see this. I congradulate you and your family we all know it is not easy!
From: RonP
08-Nov-23
well deserved, congratulations.
From: Tilzbow
08-Nov-23
Really great looking ram, congrats! Pictures never do sheep or goat country justice. Quick question, did you decide not to try a bow at all from the start or decide to make the switch to the rifle during the hunt?
From: Bowboy
08-Nov-23
Congrats on a great ram.
From: BUCKeye
08-Nov-23
Congrats. Beautiful ram. A dream many including myself likely will not accomplish. Thanks for sharing the story with us.
From: Bowfinatic
08-Nov-23
Well done Congrats are a great ram
From: sticksender
08-Nov-23
Congrats, beautiful ram.
From: HUNT MAN
08-Nov-23
Congrats
From: HUNT MAN
08-Nov-23
Congrats
From: bowhunt
08-Nov-23
Congratulations
Looks like a heck of a ram!
From: Oryx35
08-Nov-23
Congrats! Dream come true for sure.
From: WI Shedhead
09-Nov-23
Congrats on the nice ram!!!
From: Bake
09-Nov-23
Congrats! Great ram
I have a question. I'm not trying to be a jerk. With all due respect, what's the purpose behind putting the unit number out on the open internet? I mean it's not really crucial to the great story. I'm just wondering. I always wonder when people do that. . . .
Thanks
From: Hancock West
09-Nov-23
Congrats Don. Nice Ram
From: SBH
09-Nov-23
Strong work. Looks like a brutal hunt. Damn Bears!! Congrats
From: Patdel
09-Nov-23
Thats a beautiful ram! Congrats!
From: DonVathome
09-Nov-23
Thanks again. I can honestly say there was never a more grateful or happy hunter on planet earth as I was that day.
I got to see rams but heads for the first time. I still did not hear it for sure, a few times maybe but definitely not sure. Ones I saw were not serious and to far away to hear.
I never tried banging horns to see if a ram would show himself like I planned. Most times I had a good glassing spot and they were not to hard to find. Sometimes they were in timber and that was tough. There was so much country to glass it would be difficult to look for a ram that reacted to banging horns. It seemed a better idea to move to a new glassing spot. A very very experienced local with an incredible amount of sheep knowledge had suggested this. I still think it can work in the right scenario.
I also had no idea bighorns rub trees and branches with their horns. I saw that dozens of times.
From: bohuntr
09-Nov-23
Congratulations on the tag and a beautiful ram Don! Thanks for sharing your hunt here. I was lucky enough to draw a sheep tag in the Black Hills of SD and I was able to locate my ram based upon the sound of the rams cracking heads. It was very cool to see and hear. When I first heard it, I thought it was the sound of a rifle shot.
From: BuglemIn
09-Nov-23
Congratulations Don!!! What a beauty
From: hobbes
10-Nov-23
Congratulations on a great looking ram.
From: MQQSE
10-Nov-23
Congrats Don!
From: W
11-Nov-23
Congrats. Nothing like putting your hands on the horns of your own bighorn.
From: MathewsMan
12-Nov-23
Congratulations Don, I know this meant a lot to you and your goal is accomplished! Not much can beat the feeling of harvesting a nice ram.
From: Jim McNamara
12-Nov-23
Great picture of the ram with the mountain in the background. Well thought out. Good solid ram too! Congratulations.
From: Arrowhead
12-Nov-23
Awesome pictures! Congrats on a beautiful ram.
From: Treeline
13-Nov-23
Congratulations! Great ram! It definitely is an amazing feeling to accomplish a long time goal like that!
From: Treeline
13-Nov-23
Congratulations! Great ram! It definitely is an amazing feeling to accomplish a long time goal like that!
From: elkmtngear
13-Nov-23
Nice work, Don!
Top Shelf Trophy photo, well done!
From: njbuck
13-Nov-23
Congrats on a great ram.
From: BULELK1
17-Nov-23
I just got home from 10 days hunting my D-Ram here in my home state.
Glad to see ya got a dang nice Ram.
From: Jeff Holchin
17-Nov-23
Wow, congrats! Nice redemption ram for you!
From: drycreek
17-Nov-23
Very nice ram Don, congrats !
From: Stekewood
19-Nov-23
Congratulations! Beautiful ram and well earned.
From: t-roy
19-Nov-23
Congrats!
From: butcherboy
22-Nov-23
Nice ram! I would definitely take a rifle as well on a sheep hunt. I’ve been able to hunt Ibex twice with my dad and once for myself on an archery hunt. I vowed I would never hunt them again with a bow. lol I was able to see and hear them butting heads on my bow hunt. Pretty cool to hear that crack!
