Hope you got a big ole gobbler this morning!
GREAT STORY and well executed! Love your sense of humor, very entertaining.WAIT! WHAT? Did that just happen? Now what? Now how the heck do we get this trophy out of the breaks?
We had cell service about a 1/4 mile south. I text our Lewistown friends and ask if they can bring the boat. The logical way to get this ram out is via the river. We could pack it back out of the coulee but it would take lot of work. Getting it to the river will be work but not near as much. Our friends text back that they will meet us at the river. I learn later that they were getting lunch at a diner and told the waitress “we need this to go”! We hike back out and meet them at the river (there might have been a celebratory beverage). We motor up river a few miles and hike in the 1/2 mile with packs, cameras, etc. It has been 3 hours since the shots. I finally get to touch my ram. No ground shrinkage. First, shot was through the lungs and would have been fatal, second shot has back just bit in the liver and the 4th shot hit the spine right above the vitals.
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After a couple hundred photos (literally) we cape and butcher the ram. We are back at the boat ramp by dark. I am so thankful for friends (old and new), glassing, gear, strong backs, amazing photos, not what I thought about when I drew the tag. Thanks also to my wife who puts up with all my hunting and fishing trips. So grateful for the opportunity. I am the luckiest son of a bitch on earth!
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Didn’t sleep well that night. I drive away from camp a bit sad that it is over, but the smile on my face says otherwise. Up at 4 am, packed up and left at 5:30. Elk on the road in the dark while headed to Lewistown. Got the ram checked in with Joe the game warden. Stopped by my taxidermist on the way home, he scored it at 188, without the recent break on the left side probably 190. Numbers and scores, would I rather shoot a 200” ram on day one or a 180” on day 20, or a 160 on day 30 with these friends? The only thing that would have made this hunt better was if Dean had been there when it happened, but maybe we were only meant to "hunt" sheep together and not kill them when together. So thrilled and thankful I got this opportunity! If you are counting that was 16 days of hunting.
If you draw this tag in the future, I would be glad to talk about lessons learned, etc, etc. If you read this far, thanks for following my adventure. Now that I am hooked on sheep hunting and I have hooked you with my storytelling, anyone interested in my GoFundMe@BrowningCitori's Dall Sheep hunt? Don't worry if too many donations come in, it will fund @BrowningCitori's Stone sheep adventure! Just kidding, not kidding (how do these kids monetize their "likes")? Hopefully my humor isn't lost in translation!
If you read this far, thank you! If you want to read another adventure story written by me, you might check out the following link where I go chase a bucket list fish (one over 100 pounds),
Montana goes hunting for a cow - Part 1
Some names and dates have been changed, well because I can't remember like I used to. Year - 2000 We are mostly broke. but the wife and I take a vacation in early March. She wants to go to Las Vegas and see a Nascar race and I want to go...www.bdoutdoors.com
Spoiler
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