Utah desert sportsmans tag

Cheesecanyon

Cheesecanyon

Member
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70
Hello everyone,
I want to say thank you for the information and help that I have been fortunate enough to receive from some incredible people on this site. I have been scouting my tail off trying to find the “one” since I found out I drew this tag. This has been an absolute riot so far and I look forward to sharing the experience with you all when the dust settles and my hunt is complete. The best part of this so far is getting out and exploring this great state of ours with some of my closest friends and family. We’ve been fortunate enough to turn up a couple dead head rams and after going through the process with the DWR, 2 of my friends now have a desert sheep skulls to add to their trophy rooms.
These animals are incredible to watch and I am so grateful that I have been blessed with a opportunity of a lifetime. I can’t sleep at night anymore because of the days to come. I can’t wait to share my experience with all of you as this unfolds.
 
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Here’s the first one we found, my buddy glassed up the bones and so we went and investigated. The curls were up the hill about 20 yards from the skeleton. He was screaming like a school girl when he found the curls!!! Pretty dam exiting. After talking to the fish cop he informed us to leave everything as we found it and so we walked off the hill. It was excruciating waiting for the call from fish n game that everything checked out and he could keep them.
 
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Here’s the 2nd one, 2 weeks later in a different unit. We believe this one fell off a 200’ cliff. Similar to the first one, the curls were separated from the skull by about 30 yards. This is what these tags are about for me. Getting out and exploring country that you may never have set foot in without a reason to go. I’m going to soak this in and make the best of it and try document the memories along the way.
 
The rams in most of those southern units should be rutting it up big time now, which is about as amazing as it gets...but you already know that!
IMO, your tag is the ultimate permit in the Beehive State and it sounds like you are making the best of it.

My son glassed up a deadhead on his desert hunt from miles away. A month later we hiked in with the DWR officer to document it. It was worth the effort and it eventually became a bonus prize from his desert tag.

Big Congratulations Cheezie, and best of luck in finding a Dandy!
 
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Before the hunt started I had a goal set to have a ram that I wanted found before opening morning. I have spent 35 days scouting southern Utah and never did find the “one” and I still wasn’t sure where I would start opening day. After discussing this with a few friends we decided where the first week of the hunt would be and then we would adjust if needed. The hunt opened on a Wednesday and I knew I would be worthless at work Monday so I decided to go down Saturday morning and scout an area I hadn’t been to yet. The first day we were seeing sheep! I was so exited to see the rams rutting the ewes and showing their dominance between each other. I have never witnessed this before and it was a blast to watch.
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The next few days were filled with a bunch of fuel burned up in the side by sides looking for the ram I wanted. We covered a ton of ground and seen plenty of sheep. We had a big storm roll through opening day that filled the canyons with flash floods and all I can say is im glad that we were not in these canyons when the rains came. The main road into the area was completely washed out so we were the only people in the area that we were aware of. My brother had to head home Friday afternoon and was met with a washed out road and would had to stay an additional night until the road could be repaired do he could safely cross the river.
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Pretty ram
Shows why you always need to be prepared and have extra supplies Incase you get stuck.
 
I know right where that road is, we'd take sleeping bags when we went back in there just in case that happened. It looks like that was a good idea ?

I'm looking forward to seeing your ram, thanks for the story so far
 
This country is so big and unforgiving. We hunted hard for several more days and stayed in the area until Labor Day before everyone had to head back home for work and family. I had planned to stay down for 2 full weeks so I decided to pack up and move to a different location to be in a little better spot to be able to hunt alone and get within cell service so I could check in with my wife and let my hunting buddy know where I planned to hunt each day in case I needed help.

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Awesome adventures!!! We are all living vicariously through you right now! Good luck, keep it up, you will get the big one!
 
After moving camp to a little more friendly location I spent the next day driving in an air conditioned truck looking at areas previously scouted during the summer months. There were rumors of a couple giant rams that I was looking for but I never personally laid eyes on them. Like I said this was going to be a few days of relaxation and scouting more than anything. I decided to jump back in my side by side and check an area that we seen a band of sheep a few weeks before.
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This band had a small ram that was starting to take interest in the ewes so I was curious if any other rams may have showed up.
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As I drove through the area it was exactly as I expected! Hot! Dry! Dust! Hot! And no sheep. I continued down the road stopping and glassing every place I thought would hold sheep. I went a few miles until I started getting out of sheep country so I turned around and started working my way back to camp for the night. Stopping at the usual places I thought I would possibly glass up a bedded ram or two but nothing.
I had about an hour of light left and was sitting in the shade of my ride with my 15’s on the tri pod scanning the hill side. As I sat there I heard a little commotion to my left and when I turned to look I just about lost it! Sheep!!!! As I pulled my binos from my chest I quickly realized there were a few rams in the group. As I looked closer there was one that really stuck out and just looked good.
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I sat there for about 15 minutes looking him over and trying to decide what to do.
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As I sat there thinking what in the hell is going on? The sheep kept doing sheep things and I couldn’t believe the ram that I thought about all summer and pictured in my mind was standing right in front of me. I watched these guys for about 15 minutes before I decided this ram had the look I wanted and I couldn’t take it any more. I decided to take this ram and end the hunt right here. What a flood of emotions after it all played out. I just wish everyone that worked so hard with me the last week and all summer was here to enjoy this moment. This didn’t take away from the pure enjoyment of what just happened and the accomplishment I set out to do and achieve. What a wild ride this hunt was.
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As it turns out this ram was a wonderer, I spoke with the biologist of the area and he mentioned they have been worried about this ram for a while now. He spent most of the last 2 years off the unit and in an area that has domestic sheep and goats. As far as they know he never made contact with them. He would jump back into the unit during the rut and then head back across the highway for winter. They came out and checked him over and took a couple nasal swabs so the can test for any possible disease. Hopefully he wasn’t carrying anything.
Thanks for all of you who helped and gave me advice throughout the year. I really appreciate that and hopefully you were able to at least enjoy some of the hunt through this thread. I love reading these type of posts and I’m sure you all do as well. Good luck to all the sheep hunters this fall! I’m so grateful I was able to experience this in my life and who knows maybe I will again.

Thank you all!
 
I really enjoyed following along with this thread and your hunt. Great pics, dead head finds and to finish it off with an awesome ram.

Thanks for taking the time to share.
 
What did they age him at and score ? Congratulations thanks for sharing it with us and he is a great ram congratulations.
 

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