Wildwillalaska
AH elite
Well, I always talk about how much I enjoy last minute, unplanned hunts...but sheep hunts are not typically one of those type of hunts you roll into without adequate notice and time to make sure your legs and lungs are ready...especially when chasing thin horns in steep Alaskan mountains. Well, as I was rolling towards our dall sheep season, I got a call the last Friday of July from a random Idaho number and cannot recall even why I answered. I thought it was a some kind of spam or scam, but nope, it was the Idaho WSF president informing me I had won their governor's raffle tag for the year, which this year included Unit 11 Hells Canyon. I was further shocked to learn it was for this year, with a short season that overlayed the timeframe I had planned a moose hunt for my 14yo daughter, and was right after a dall hunt and before heading back to Zimbabwe...a topic of crunched schedules that my lovely misses had already curtly pointed out to me that same morning.
Some quick planning over the next 24 hours had me lined up to hunt with Sheep Mountain Outfitters and room to bring along a close buddy and my daughter, who quickly asked to ditch her moose hunt and come along...if I could have her back in time for her homecoming game...something we didn't realize would conflict with the moose hunt when we arranged it. Luckily, my buddy and I would come out of our Alaskan sheep hunt and a couple weeks later start this one...with sheep knees prepared. Another close sheep hunting buddy whose daughter is friends with mine, the pair volunteer each year at the WSF banquet together, got tossed into the mix as well....I mean it isn't every day you essentially win a chance to hunt a ram I figured I'd be well into my 80's before it actually happened...and I am always, always preaching to put kids on the mountain. Conservation is key, but so is hunting preservation which comes from getting kids out and enjoying those hunts with us.
Our hunt went off like a perfectly executed strategy...the SMO guys have it down to a near science. They did admit that no true 190+" giants were seen this season, that they believed the biggest rams in the unit were in the mid-to-upper 180's, and the couple older class rams that they had hoped to target had disappeared, believed to have walked out of the unit up the Salmon River which they apparently sometimes do. Nevertheless we persevered and ultimately found an absolute drop-dead (pun not really intended) ram. While they have taken some older and some bigger, I am not sure they have taken any or at least many, more beautiful...granted, I am possibly biased. Green gross B&C was 185 5/8", and while visiting my brother in Denver had an official SCI measurer score him (no drying period required), 185" even.
Best of all, my daughter, her friend, and my best friend were along for the ride and got to share in the joy of it all. I'll share a few photos and need to upload a few video clips to youtube to attach as well.
AND...of course keep putting in for state draws, but don't forget the state raffles, great fundraising for sheep conservation and also never know when luck might actually bless you....coming from someone who had historically claimed to have the worst luck when it came to random draws...which I guess I can no longer claim.
Cheers,
Will
Some quick planning over the next 24 hours had me lined up to hunt with Sheep Mountain Outfitters and room to bring along a close buddy and my daughter, who quickly asked to ditch her moose hunt and come along...if I could have her back in time for her homecoming game...something we didn't realize would conflict with the moose hunt when we arranged it. Luckily, my buddy and I would come out of our Alaskan sheep hunt and a couple weeks later start this one...with sheep knees prepared. Another close sheep hunting buddy whose daughter is friends with mine, the pair volunteer each year at the WSF banquet together, got tossed into the mix as well....I mean it isn't every day you essentially win a chance to hunt a ram I figured I'd be well into my 80's before it actually happened...and I am always, always preaching to put kids on the mountain. Conservation is key, but so is hunting preservation which comes from getting kids out and enjoying those hunts with us.
Our hunt went off like a perfectly executed strategy...the SMO guys have it down to a near science. They did admit that no true 190+" giants were seen this season, that they believed the biggest rams in the unit were in the mid-to-upper 180's, and the couple older class rams that they had hoped to target had disappeared, believed to have walked out of the unit up the Salmon River which they apparently sometimes do. Nevertheless we persevered and ultimately found an absolute drop-dead (pun not really intended) ram. While they have taken some older and some bigger, I am not sure they have taken any or at least many, more beautiful...granted, I am possibly biased. Green gross B&C was 185 5/8", and while visiting my brother in Denver had an official SCI measurer score him (no drying period required), 185" even.
Best of all, my daughter, her friend, and my best friend were along for the ride and got to share in the joy of it all. I'll share a few photos and need to upload a few video clips to youtube to attach as well.
AND...of course keep putting in for state draws, but don't forget the state raffles, great fundraising for sheep conservation and also never know when luck might actually bless you....coming from someone who had historically claimed to have the worst luck when it came to random draws...which I guess I can no longer claim.
Cheers,
Will
