Desert Bighorn Hunt

If you could pick one sheep of the North American Grand Slam species to hunt free of charge?

  • Total voters
    113
Dr_Hunter

Dr_Hunter

Very Active Member
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Well, here is another video that I finished recently. Hopefully, I am not annoying you guys. This was a challenging but super fun hunt. I wish we would have had more time down there and would have planned to return later after the temps dropped. The hardest part for me was the heat. I do not like high-temps and prefer the colder temperatures.
This was a "slam-ram" and my uncle didn't really care to shoot the biggest ram on the mountain. Moreover, he really wanted all of us to be together when it came down to shooting. He has bad knees and was somewhat limited on his ability to hike into the nastier parts of the unit. Needless to say, he is still probably the strongest 65 year old guy I know.
Thank you littlebighorn, Zeke and Yates for your help. I really felt much more prepared after speaking with you guys. I would love to share everything I learned to help someone else that draws the tag. It truly was a remarkable experience to hunt these beautiful creatures.

 
Keep the vids coming - love them and especially loved the line "We are definitely not sheep nuts, in both regards" :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

Congrats to your uncle on his slam ram! I chose stone sheep in your poll because it is likely the least attainable for me, given the high cost. I already have a Rocky (Cali) bighorn from this year and will start putting in for Desert Bighorn in 2023. Hopefully I can draw that tag before I am too old to hunt!!

Was this the Kaiparowits West unit?
 
elkhunterUT said:
Keep the vids coming - love them and especially loved the line "We are definitely not sheep nuts, in both regards" :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

Congrats to your uncle on his slam ram! I chose stone sheep in your poll because it is likely the least attainable for me, given the high cost. I already have a Rocky (Cali) bighorn from this year and will start putting in for Desert Bighorn in 2023. Hopefully I can draw that tag before I am too old to hunt!!

Was this the Kaiparowits West unit?
Click to expand...
Yes it was the West unit
 
PS: I'm headed into a meeting right now so I'll need to cut it short so I can get back and watch another of your cool vids!!!!!!
 
Thanks for the great video. That is a special place! I was down there on the East at the same time. I saw those planes and that weather balloon too. Congrats on the sheep!
 
Awesome. I got a stone and a desert, and I'm currently at the
Dallas Safari Club Convention trying to decide between an Alaska dall or Alberta rocky hunt for 2023. Alberta rocky is way more expensive so it gets my vote.
 
I love deserts, I actually guided a couple last week and have a few more coming up, but I’d give my left one for a big stone sheep.
 
elkhunterUT said:
Keep the vids coming - love them and especially loved the line "We are definitely not sheep nuts, in both regards" :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

Congrats to your uncle on his slam ram! I chose stone sheep in your poll because it is likely the least attainable for me, given the high cost. I already have a Rocky (Cali) bighorn from this year and will start putting in for Desert Bighorn in 2023. Hopefully I can draw that tag before I am too old to hunt!!

Was this the Kaiparowits West unit?
Click to expand...
elkhunterUT, I really enjoyed your HAC thread. You did a great job with the write up and letting us follow along. Congrats on your Rocky.
 
t_boneking said:
Thanks for the great video. That is a special place! I was down there on the East at the same time. I saw those planes and that weather balloon too. Congrats on the sheep!
Click to expand...
Those planes were something else. I had never seen one in person before but had read about how they can hover like a helicopter.

The East put out some giant sheep. Were you helping or did you have a tag?
 
Dr_Hunter said:
Those planes were something else. I had never seen one in person before but had read about how they can hover like a helicopter.

The East put out some giant sheep. Were you helping or did you have a tag?
Click to expand...
I had a tag! I didn’t want to hijack your post so I sent you a pm. I got a really good ram.
 
Great little film! Thanks for sharing. Congratulations to the group and the hunter.

I chose a stone because I have my dall, feel confident I will draw a desert one day and am hopeful to get into the UL after some Rocky’s
 
PRCnut said:
Would love to see pics! Congrats
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Here are a few pictures, I did a little write up about it the hunt too. I think it’s in the Utah forum.

20199FEC-56FC-444D-9C12-27B3F30679C6.jpeg


4B92A710-74BF-45F0-9749-FD71E67036C6.jpeg
 
I love the video John. Nice work.
DIY desert sheep hunting is not for the faint of heart and obviously requires lots of patience. Just finding sheep in that country is way more difficult than it would seem. I wish my schedule would have worked out to help.
Congratulations to your Uncle on his SLAM. One has to be very rich or incredibly blessed to accomplish one.
Well done my friend.

ditto to t_boneking and pops.
 
littlebighorn said:
I love the video John. Nice work.
DIY desert sheep hunting is not for the faint of heart and obviously requires lots of patience. Just finding sheep in that country is way more difficult than it would seem. I wish my schedule would have worked out to help.
Congratulations to your Uncle on his SLAM. One has to be very rich or incredibly blessed to accomplish one.
Well done my friend.

ditto to t_boneking and pops.
Click to expand...
Thanks Rick, I kept telling my friend Spencer (Gledeasy) that the effort to reward ratio is way lower than any other species we've hunted together. I feel like we would've seen over 100 deer per day had we been deer/elk hunting :LOL: Sun up to sun down glassing in the heat wears you out. I just prefer cold weather.
My uncle was fortunate enough to draw his Rocky in WY last year and his Dall and Stone he bought the tags 30 years ago for a fraction of what they are selling for now.
 
My vote was stone sheep, the hardest to get a trophy, since Mexico has started selling high fence desert BH for slam dunk slam, I will keep applying for a lower 48 permit
a giant stone is my white whale Cost wise
 
Horniac said:
Another great video. Thanks for sharing and congrats to your uncle on his SLAM!

I voted for a Stone. Like Gadjet I need a slam to complete my SLAM after killing the other 3 species in a 2 year span in CA, WY, and the NWT...

Horniac
Click to expand...
You killed a desert in California? What unit out of curiosity?
 
Horniac said:
Yes the Marble/Clippers. Drew it in 2017. Been on two other hunts in that unit with my cousin and another buddy that drew it after me…

Horniac
Click to expand...
Nice that’s awesome! Congratulations. How big was your ram and any pictures? Kill him in the clippers or the marbles? You go diy ?
 
Once on a road trip to Alaska, I saw a beautiful canyon near Muncho Lake BC, so I pulled over and my wife and I grabbed our backpacks and went for a hike. We rounded a corner and I spotted some stone sheep. I told her to quickly take a picture because it may be the only chance she gets. Well they allowed us to get closer and closer and we sat down and admired them for a long time. Ever since that day I have been enamored with stone sheep. For that reason only, not cost or availability, my vote goes for a stone sheep. Attached is a picture of a picture (not great quality, but still fun).

Stone Sheep.jpg
 
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mtncowboy said:
Once on a road trip to Alaska, I saw a beautiful canyon near Muncho Lake BC, so I pulled over and my wife and I grabbed our backpacks and went for a hike. We rounded a corner and I spotted some stone sheep. I told her to quickly take a picture because it may be the only chance she gets. Well they allowed us to get closer and closer and we sat down and admired them for a long time. Ever since that day I have been enamored with stone sheep. For that reason only, not cost or availability, my vote goes for a stone sheep. Attached is a picture of a picture (not great quality, but still fun).

View attachment 99882
Click to expand...
I agree, the cape on a dark stone is as stunning as sheep get and the country they inhabit is unmatched. I've been blessed to hunt all four and every sheep adventure was epic...even the hunt I came home empty. My desert was the most amazing hunt experience, but if I could choose to hunt any of the 4 again, it would be a Stone.
 
I went to sheep show and priced out stones and fannin sheep hunts as well as dall sheep in Alaska to see how much they have gone up and to say the least wow it’s crazy.
 
BradA said:
I didnt find any that expensive beside one that was way above market and wanted much more then 85k, but that was only one of probably close to twenty outfitters I spoke with.
Click to expand...
I ended up going with a 2023 dall from the Dallas Safari Club show, which was still about $8K more than I was anticipating. So in Reno I just concentrated on the half dozen or so 2024 Canada rockies. Found a few in the $50K-$60K range, but after that it was a huge jump to $75K+. And it's only going to go up from there. Ouch.
 
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I
mozey said:
I ended up going with a 2023 dall from the Dallas Safari Club show, which was still about $8K more than I was anticipating. So in Reno I just concentrated on the half dozen or so 2024 Canada rockies. Found a few in the $50K-$60K range, but after that it was a huge jump to $75K+. And it's only going to go up from there. Ouch.
Click to expand...
I was talking about stone sheep.
 
mozey said:
I ended up going with a 2023 dall from the Dallas Safari Club show, which was still about $8K more than I was anticipating. So in Reno I just concentrated on the half dozen or so 2024 Canada rockies. Found a few in the $50K-$60K range, but after that it was a huge jump to $75K+. And it's only going to go up from there. Ouch.
Click to expand...
Congratulations on booking your dall, what outfitter? And is that your first sheep hunt ?
 
You must not watch many hunting videos. A good percentage of them have drone shots of the general hunt area, which is legal. I know this guy and I'm sure he didn't use the drone for hunting. Pretty sure the UDWR doesn't have officers out searching for him!:)
 
That's news to me that this is common practice within hunting videos these days and surprising to me given the recent laws here. I don't even know how you would really use a drone to effectively assist you on a hunt, I just wouldn't want to be the one trying to prove that to a fish cop and have to answer those questions given the state's current focus on drones and thermal optics and the new laws around them. Sorry for my comment though, I too don't think he did anything wrong here in the grand scheme of things, would just would hate to see a guy go through questioning for something so trivial.
 
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I chose Rocky. I have a Dall and a Stone. A week from tomorrow I will be heading down to try and get a Desert. So Rocky got picked as I have no idea when or how I will find a way to go for my last(IF luck in a week) I think Stone rams are awesome and may choose that if I had all 4
 

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