Stone ram—an epic hunt

[mozey]

For a hunt of a lifetime, I could not have scripted this any better. For as long as I can remember, I’ve fantasized about doing a backpack hunt like this, and I almost waited too long to the point that I would have been either too old and/or too out-of-shape to do it.

I was incredibly lucky to draw a New Mexico desert bighorn in 2017, and that started me down the path of wanting to go for the Grand Slam.

 

[mozey]

So last January, I attended the Sheep Show in Reno with the sole intent of finding either a dall or stone hunt for 2022. As I walked around the show, I was initially disheartened as I learned that covid had caused the postponement of most 2020 and 2021 hunts, resulting in almost all of the outfitters being backed up until 2024. I was starting to give up hope when I talked with a couple of guys from British Columbia that were mostly advertising their rocky mountain goat hunts. Right off the bat I liked both of them as they both seemed very genuine and down-to-earth. One of them was the actual outfitter and the other was one of his guides. They were a fairly new outfitter that still had a stone sheep hunt available for 2022, and the hook was that the hunt was only 2/3 the price of any other stone hunt there at the show, with a 1/3 harvest fee that brought the total price up equal to the other stone sheep hunts without a harvest fee. To my way of thinking, even though they were a fairly new outfitter, they would be extra motivated to try and earn that harvest fee.

In truth, I’m sure they were worried about whether someone that looked like I looked back then would be able to handle such a hunt. I had put on nearly 40 pounds of fat during the last two years of the covid shutdown, and I’m sure in their eyes I was a self-deluded old fool trying to bite off more than I could handle. But I gave them my number, and when the owner called me a few weeks later, his timing was perfect because I’d already made up my mind to call them back and go for it.

 

[mozey]

My other big adventure this year (which I’ve been documenting in the New Mexico forum), has been an attempt to hike the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) from Mexico to Canada: https://continentaldividetrail.org/cdnst-interactive-map/. I turned 60 in February, retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory on April 1, and started hiking the CDT almost immediately. By the end of July, I had hiked a little over 2,000 of the 3,000-mile trail before catching a flight from West Yellowstone back to my home in New Mexico, so that I could prepare for this hunt. I had been hiking 25 – 30 miles per day and was now 48 pounds lighter than when I started the trail. I made the decision to drive to BC because as a now retired guy I have a lot more time on my hands, and being from the desert I really enjoy the BC scenery. Besides, I thought it would simplify the process of getting a ram or a billy back to my home.

 

[mozey]

I actually arrived at the outfitter’s home a day earlier than planned and he and his wife were gracious enough to take me out to dinner. Upon seeing me, his first comment was that I had lost a lot of weight since Reno. I think at that moment he starting reassessing where they had planned to take me, which initially involved a floatplane charter. During dinner, he asked if I would consider a 100 percent backpack hunt where during the previous two weeks the guide assigned to me had actually seen more sheep than what the outfitter had seen in the area that they had planned for me. He said it was 100 percent my decision. My response was that I wanted to go wherever there were more sheep (I had no idea how much more physically challenging it was going to actually be).

I spent the next day driving to the outfitter’s camp where I waited by myself another day for my guide to show. I was by myself, but otherwise it was a great place to hang out.

 

[mozey]

My hunt was going to be a 12-day backpack hunt for a stone sheep. In the event that we weren’t able to get a legal ram, the hunt price included a rocky mountain goat. I of course planned to get one of each… ?

When my guide showed up the next evening, the first thing he had me do was break down my pack so that he could inspect it for any critical items that were missing or for anything I wouldn’t need. That actually went quite smooth until he brought out the box that held my 12 days of food and told me to start loading it in my pack. By the time I was finished, I had filled every nook and cranny left of my Eberlestock Dragonfly. I didn’t weigh it, but I was sure that pack exceeded 80 pounds. I’m pretty sure my CDT pack has never weighed more than 35 pounds, so I was definitely feeling the additional weight on my shoulders and back. Next one of these I do, I will prepare myself a little better by working out with an 80-pound pack. My guide also prepared me for what lay ahead, telling me that the first two full days would just be hiking and no actual hunting.

 

[mozey]

The next morning we had our last home cooked breakfast before jumping on an ATV and taking it as far up the canyon as we dared to take it. There were several times I had to hop off in order for him to get it across a sidehill without rolling it, and several other times that I thought I was going to be taken out by a log sticking out or a low hanging branch. There were several times during this that I thought it would be easier just to walk, but fortunately for me, my guide knew better, because after we did start walking, I was grateful for the relatively small amount we were able to use the ATV. We started up the mountain and then started side hilling it for several miles, which included crossing several small streams and slogging through some swamps. We would stop and rest every couple hours.

 

[mozey]

The first night we camped on a peninsula next to a river that we would continue to follow up stream for several miles the next day.

 

[mozey]

That first night, my guide pulled out his spotting scope and immediately glassed up a grizzly feeding just a couple hillsides in front of us. Up to that point, I had been hiking without putting the clip in my rifle. After seeing that grizzly, I had a different attitude and slept that night with it next to me (and loaded)… ? Thus ended the first day.

 

[mozey]

The next morning we continued hiking up the river bottom for several more miles.

We finally reached a spot that was marked with a small and hardly noticeable cairn. My guide told me this was where it got real tough as we started straight up the mountain. He was not exaggerating. There was no trail, only willows and low growing evergreens that you had to grab onto to help pull yourself up with each step. For the next several hours, my feet were on top of willows and bushes more often than touching the actual ground. Complicate that with an 80-pound pack, mosquitoes and black flies constantly trying to fly in my mouth, eyes, nose, and ears, and blisters forming on the back of my heels. Whoever initially does this stuff without knowing what’s on the other end, more power to them, but the only thing that kept me going up that mountain was the possibility that I might see a stone ram on the other side.

 

[mozey]

We finally made it to our second campsite, and my guide seemed in really good spirits because we were at least a couple hours ahead of schedule. We threw down our packs, grabbed his spotting scope, and headed to the ridge just 30 yards away. Within 15 seconds he spotted a ewe bedded up near the top of canyon. We continued to watch her for several minutes until another yew and a small ram also stepped into view. Now my adrenaline was really pumping, and I was quickly forgetting all the pain of hiking to that spot. Unfortunately, I did miss seeing a wolverine that ran through here when I took a few minutes to go back to my tent to drain and tape up my blistered heels. I would have loved to have seen that. Thus ended the second day.

 

[mozey]

On the third day I was up before the sun and my guide and glassing that same spot. To my delight, I watched a group of nine goats (4 pairs of nannies and kids, and a small billy) come over the top and start feeding into the canyon. My guide showed up few minutes later and we eventually spotted another five goats across the canyon from us. After a couple of hours, my guide asked if I wanted to stay in that spot for the day or keep going up the mountain. Still feeling the sting of my blistered heels, I opted to stay there for one more day and give the blisters a chance to harden up. The nine goats stayed in that canyon the whole day providing us with a lot of entertainment, but we never did spot anymore sheep. Thus ended the third day.

 

[mozey]

The fourth morning my heels felt good enough to go, so we packed up camp and got ready to go. We glassed into the canyon one more time to see that the goats were still bedding on some steep cliffs directly across from us. We also glassed across the canyon on the other side and saw eight more goats and another grizzly. I was glad the grizzlies seemed to be staying on that side of the river. We started up the mountain, which wasn’t any less steep, but it was still easier because we were now above tree line and no longer had to fight through the vegetation. We kept going for four or five hours until we were now walking from peak to peak. We came to a really neat spot that was protected between two twin peaks and near a glacier fed stream, and my guide said that was where we would be camping for the night. I absolutely loved this spot.

 

[mozey]

My guide said there was a really good glassing spot another half mile up the ridge, so we headed on up to there, very happy to be pack free.

 

[mozey]

Within 30 seconds he spotted an unusually white (for a stone) ram across the canyon. At first we thought it was by itself, which my guide said was pretty unusual. Eventually, he spotted a second very black ram that blended in really well with the surrounding lava rock. My guide stated that was the blackest ram that he had ever seen in there with the whitest stone ram that he’d ever seen. We nicknamed them Ebony and Ivory. From that distance, it looked like Ebony was an inch short, but Ivory was legal. It was too late to go after them that evening, so we put them to bed and made plans for how we might stalk within rifle range the next morning. On the way back to camp I spotted what we both thought looked to be a very respectable billy come across a flat top mountain and bed on a point across the canyon in the other direction. I went to bed that night dreaming about first shooting Ivory, and then shooting the large billy on our way out. It was a sweet dream. Thus ended the fourth day.

 

[mozey]

The fifth morning at first light we quickly packed camp and headed back to the glassing spot. I also looked across the canyon for the large billy and was unable to locate him. Dang.

We got to the glassing spot and were quickly able to locate Ebony and Ivory—they had moved one more drainage up the mountain, but otherwise were peacefully feeding. Our plan was to go another mile up the ridge and then cross over. We were almost there when we decided to take a quick look back at Ebony and Ivory. They were still there, but their posture was different now. They were on alert looking at something down below them. Whatever that something was, we never could see it, but within a few more minutes Ebony and Ivory moved up and over the ridge and out of our sight. Believe it or not, that actually turned out to be a blessing, because after we descended down the mountain in the spot we had previously chosen, we both agreed that there is no way that we would have made down there without them spotting us and spooking them and everything else out of the territory.

Once we did get to the bottom, we decided to eat lunch and clean off about four days of grime. I’ve learned on the CDT that sometimes just washing your feet in a cool stream can give you a nice boost of energy, and that’s what this one did for us.

 

[mozey]

After lunch we started up the other side and worked our way through a large boulder field.

 

[mozey]

We found a flat spot to drop our packs and set up camp, and then picked a line uphill from the route that Ebony and Ivory went and hiked over the ridge in hopes of sneaking up on them.

 

[mozey]

Once we got over the ridge, a whole flat top mountain plateau lay open before us. We started glassing. We never did see either Ebony or Ivory again, but now we were spotting other groups of sheep. First a group of ten ewes; then a couple of immature rams; then another couple of immature rams, not to mention two more goats. Finally, as the sun was setting a couple of legal rams came up from a canyon and started feeding on a hillside about two miles out. We marked out a route behind some terrain that we could use for cover and made a plan to come back at first light the next morning. Thus ended the fifth day.

 

[mozey]

The sixth morning found us a half mile further onto the plateau holed up in some cliffs about a half hour before the sun was up.

 

[mozey]

We started intently glassing for the two legal rams. To our pleasant surprise, the two rams and turned into a group of nine rams, and it looked like there were at least three legal rams in the group. We were talking and making plans when we heard a small rock roll right next to us. My guide goes “there’s a goat!” I was not interested in goats at that moment, so I wondered at the excited tone. “There’s a goat right there!” I looked to his left and there was a one-horned goat about eight feet away now staring bug-eyed at the two aliens that he’d just stumbled on. I think we all jumped backwards in unison. We had a pretty good laugh about it, but now it was time to get down to business and go after those rams. We started making good time, but then got held up by a second goat walking up through the small valley in front of us. The white spec in the middle is a nanny goat:

 

[mozey]

We did not want to spook her into the rams, so we held still to allow her to pass. She took her time. I think we waited her out about 20 or 30 minutes before she finally dropped over a ridge and out of our sight. Next we started hoofing it over the next mountain, we came across the area where the ten ewes that we had seen the day had apparently bedded. The urine in and around their beds was still wet. This forced us to proceed with even more caution, not knowing whether those ewes were between us and the rams.

 

[mozey]

When we finally cleared the last peak where we should have been able to see the rams, they were nowhere to be seen. We crossed through the saddle and up on to the other side where they had been, and then slowly worked around to the other side. Nada. The terrain was pretty rocky, so there were no tracks for us to follow. They just disappeared like ghosts. So we picked a spot that pretty close to where they were when we last saw them and sat down and started glassing. Where did they go?

Finally after about an hour, my guide said “there’s a sheep.” “Where?” “Way down below us in the bottom of the drainage, feeding up the other side. And there’s another.” Then another, and another. They were at least a mile away. Got the spotting scope on them, and sure enough, they were the same nine rams. From our vantage point, we could see a very well worn trail that led into the cliffs across the way. All nine single filed up that trail and into those cliffs. Their trail led under some overhanging cliffs, and all nine stopped at a waterfall to drink and lick the minerals. They were so well shaded and camouflaged in those cliffs, that if we hadn’t actually seen them walk in there, we would have never been able to spot them. They eventually passed through the waterfall and all bedded on a point that was right in the middle of the cliffs.

 

[mozey]

Along their way it was obvious to me which ram was no. 1 in their hierarchy. His horns flared way out and he much more mass compared to any of the others. Whenever a smaller ram got too close behind him, he’d immediately whirl around and butt heads push them down on their back sides as they would try to get out of his way. Recognizing that it was still fairly early in the day, I suggested to my guide that we could probably hike around that canyon and setup a couple hundred yards above that trail that led into those cliffs, and ambush them when they came back out. “Well that would be a great plan if those cliffs were in our area, but they’re not. We’re just going to have to sit and watch, and hope they come back up here.” Holy frustration.

 

[mozey]

So that’s what we did. Those rams stayed bedded on that point for the next several hours. There was no shade anywhere to be found for us, so we just sat there in what was now getting to be a hot sun. I was trying to keep my face covered up, but I could tell I was getting sunburned. The rams were obviously much smarter than us—they were enjoying themselves in the shade of those overhanging cliffs. Occasionally one would get up and go over to the waterfall, but then he’d return back to the group. A couple of times I suggested to my guide that he needed to get me within range of the no. 1 boss over there, and each time his answer was any legal stone ram was a trophy of a lifetime. I was a little dense, but I finally understood. Along with no. 1, there were two other legal rams in that group, and if I was lucky enough to get an opportunity at either one of them, I’d better take it and not mess around hoping for the boss ram.

 

[mozey]

After sitting there the entire day and with only a couple hours of daylight left, the rams finally got up and single filed back under the overhanging cliffs the same way they went in, and slowly started feeding their way back down and into the bottom of the drainage that was between us. After a while they completely disappeared from our vantage. That was incredibly nerve wracking. We had no idea if they were continuing back up towards us or whether they decided to go a different direction once they were out of our sight. We sat tight for another hour before my guide suggested that we head over to a draw that had a small snowmelt stream in it and cook our dinners. He also suggested that it wouldn’t be a good thing for us to get ourselves caught out in the dark in that area. I was reluctant to leave but all that also made sense to me. I continued to keep glassing down into that canyon while he made our dinners, and then walked over to the ridge after dinner and glassed every inch of what I could see below. No rams. The sun had partially disappeared behind the horizon now and my guide said we needed to call it for the night, and discuss whether we want to go to a new area the next day. Man I hated leaving those rams, but it appeared that they had gone a different direction once they got in the bottom of that drainage. So we packed everything up and headed back to our camp.

 

[mozey]

We made it back to the spot where we were sitting when we had first glassed them that morning, and there was still just a little bit of light left, so I turned around for one more look. Holy crap—there they were. All nine of them. Almost exactly on the spot where we had been sitting the entire day. Half of them were even bedded. That seemed really odd to the both of us, because we had both had to pee more than a few times while we had been sitting there. How was it that our lingering scent was not spooking them off? No matter—they were there now. We quickly determined that there was not enough daylight left for us to make a play on them, so my guide suggested that we continue back to our camp, get up at 3:00 a.m., and get back over there and on them at first light the next morning. Thus ended the sixth day.

 

[mozey]

Pretty sure I didn’t sleep that entire night. I don’t think my guide did either, because I didn’t hear him snoring at all. At 3:00 a.m. we both rolled out of our tents. It was pitch black and we both agreed that it was still too early, and crawled back in our respective tents. I don’t think either of us slept then either. So at 4:00 we thought we may as well start heading back over there with our headlamps on. We covered the first mile fairly quickly, and were starting up the second mountain when I remembered that that was the area where we had passed through all those fresh ewe beds the morning before. I reminded my guide about that, and he agreed that we had probably better wait until it was light enough to see whether the ewes were bedded there again. So we decided to sit down and boil some water so that he could drink his coffee and I could drink my hot chocolate, and watch what turned into a beautiful sunrise.

 

[mozey]

An hour later it was light enough for us to be able to see that the ewes weren’t bedded on that mountain, so up and over it we went. It’s at the apex of this peak where we should be able to see if the rams are still there. Crap!! They’re not. Well, let’s go see if they’re on the other side of that first ridge. We cross through the valley between and up the other side. My guide is focused forward while I’m glassing the drainage to our left where I thought they might try to escape. Suddenly my guide forcefully whispers “Get down!!” We both simultaneously dropped to our knees and elbows (didn’t have to tell me twice). “They’re just on the other side of that ridge.” “How many?” “At least five.” “Did they see us?” “I don’t think so—they’re not acting spooked.”

 

[mozey]

We dropped all of our gear except for the spotting scope for him and my rifle and binoculars for me. Time to belly crawl. We crawled about30 yards before the first three come into my view. All three were bedded quartering away. We crawled another 10 yards and now we can both see the other six, which are all feeding in the slight depression that’s between us and the three rams that were bedded. My guide carefully gets the spotting scope up on its tripod. “The middle ram in those bedded rams looks really good.” I put my Leica’s on him and immediately recognize him as the boss ram that I’d been so hoping for. “That’s him!!” “Can you see him through your scope?” I look down through my scope and all I can see is rocks. There is still a small mound about 20 yards in front of us that is blocking the view from my prone position. “I can see that you need to be a least a foot higher. Go back and bring my pack back here so you rest your rife across it.”

 

[mozey]

So that’s what I did. But I also took my rifle with me in case those rams suddenly busted out of there so that I at least could stand up and take a shot. After few minutes of belly crawling, I made it back to his pack. It was a heavy bugger, but I needed it to be full so it could give me some elevation. I started back towards my guide continuing to belly crawl while leap frogging his pack and my rifle. I was about two thirds the way there when my guide gives me a stern “Freeze!” I was in the middle of moving my rifle when he said that, but I still managed to freeze, though my rifle barrel was pointed up at about a 30 degree angle. Without moving my head I shifted my eyes over towards the rams and saw one of the closer smaller ones had his head up and was staring directly at us. He continued to stare for a couple minutes, and my arm was getting really sore and shaky as I continued to not move while still holding up my rifle barrel. Finally he put his head down and started feeding away from us. Whew—not sure I had more than a few seconds left in my arm before I would have had to lower that barrel.

 

[mozey]

I crawled the rest of the way back to my guide and got set up across his pack. I could see the three bedded rams through my scope now, but my guide still wasn’t convinced. “Looks to me like your barrel is still not quite clear of that mound. We’re going have to crawl to that mound to make sure we’re clear of it.” Holy crap I did not want to risk moving another 20 yards. We were both fully exposed with nothing to hide behind. But I conceded that’s what we still needed to do. So we slowly, slowly, inched our way forward that last 20 yards. The whole time I kept my eyes up on the middle bedded ram in case I needed to jump up and take the shot, but somehow we eventually made it. Now we were actually on the mound, so this time when I set up across his pack, there was no doubt. I ranged my target ram through my Leica binos and it came back 257 yards. My rifle and load (270 WSM) had been zeroed for 260 yards to give it the maximum point-blank range for that particular load. Wow—now I just need to hold dead on. While we had been doing all of our belly crawling, one of the smaller rams had bedded directly behind my target ram, obstructing the view of my ram’s back half. But after dialing my Swarovski Z5 up to 18, I had a really good view of my ram’s vitals. I smiled and whispered to my guide, “I think I can take him now.” “Don’t you dare—if you miss even slightly to the left you’ll kill that small ram and that would be a disaster.” “Ok Ok—I was just joking anyway.” We had been joking with each other quite a bit up to that point, but I could sense that he was all business now. “Wait until he stands up and is completely clear of the others.” So there we lay for the next several minutes.

 

[mozey]

Finally, after another 30 minutes, my ram got up to stretch. I lined up the vertical on his opposite shoulder and settled the horizontal right in his middle. “Now?” “Yeah, anytime you’re…” BOOM!! The ram dropped right in his tracks. “Well you killed him!! Congratulations!!”

 

[mozey]

But not so fast—after being down for a few seconds the darn thing struggled back up on his feet. “Shoot him again!” He was standing directly broadside now, so I lined up directly on his front shoulder and halfway up. BOOM!! Again, he dropped right in his tracks. “That put him down—I saw the blood coming out of his shoulder.” I jacked in another round and continued to watch him for several more seconds. This time he didn’t move at all. I too was convinced he was dead. Stood up and started whooping it up with my guide, hugging and high-fiving each other. We had just killed the BIG BOSS STONE RAM! Did we? Quickly glassed over all the other rams that were all still mulling around, looking confused because we’d just taken out their leader. Definitely two more legal rams there but yup, yup, yup, we killed the biggest one. It seemed bizarre to me that the other rams had not bolted out of there like their butts were on fire, but finally they all kind of slowly moved off. My ram hadn’t moved at all after he went down.

 

[mozey]

We decided to go back and retrieve all of our gear that we had left behind when we first started crawling. We were picking up the last of it when I turned back to look at my ram and to my shock, he was up again. Dropped my gear and tried to get my rifle back off my shoulder, but it was too late. To our horror, we watched him run right off the nearest cliff. Oh no oh no oh no! We booked it the 350 yards to where he went over and looked over, afraid of what we were going to see. There were the other eight rams still on the shelf about 100 yards below, and now they’re fighting each other (I guess they were trying to establish a new leader). And there’s my ram, laying on his back about 40 yards straight down below. He’s obviously dead now, but to our greater relief, even though he was a little scuffed, he was not all busted up. So so blessed.

 

[mozey]

It may have only been 40 yards, but it was a completely vertical 40 yards. So we had to walk about a mile down, around, and then back up to get to him. Turns out both of my shots hit right in that no-mans land just barely above the lungs and barely below the spine. An inch or two either up or down would have been a different result. But that was ok. At that point nothing could dampen my mood--not even the pack out, which took two days and was every bit as long and rough as the pack in, just with heavier packs.

I’ll have to come back for that goat another time. And make sure I continue to stay in shape so that I can actually do it.

 

[mozey]

More pics of the hike out

 

[mozey]

Almost forgot: aged him at nine and a half years; both sides were 37" long with 14" bases.