09-30-2018, 04:36 AM
2018 Desert Bighorn sheep hunt
After 24 yrs I finally drew out on a Desert Bighorn sheep permit in the Zion Utah. Got out the first week to scout, the week of that big rain event that we had both up North and down South, where my sheep hunt was. Did some hiking up Water canyon a little North of Hillsdale that first morning. Saw something in the trees at the bottom but could not make out what it was, later that day I went into Maxwell canyon where I found some fresh tracks but overall I wasn't impressed with the area. Next I headed East toward Kanab but before I could get there a flash flood hit and put a stop to our travels until the worst of it past. The rain continued the rest of the day and night, so that pretty much limited us to staying on the main road but we got a feel for the area I wanted to hunt, Northwest of Kanab. The next day it was still raining but not as bad, so we ventured off road a little and got to look the area over a little more but it was way too wet to do anymore hiking or scouting until it cleared up, so we headed for home.
Two weeks later we made the trip down again, this time with my ATV. It was dry this time and I was able to cover the area I planned on hunting. Did a lot of off road driving, covering all the roads in the area between Coral Pink Sand Dunes to the South, up to Zion NP to the North. Never saw a sheep but found a lot of fresh tracks and was able to zero in on the area I planned on hunting on Opening day.
Opening day, Sept 15, 2018, we were where I wanted to be, the bottom of Bay Bill canyon but just as I came around the last corner on my ATV, there was a guy standing in the middle of the Wash with his spotting scope, recording a hunt for his friends that were already hiking up the mountain. We got off the ATV and talked to him for a while and found out they had been there for an hour before it even started getting light. He showed us the sheep his friends were stalking and after watching for a few minutes I decided to go over one canyon to the East and see what I could find there.
Once at the new location I started walking up a sandy side slope, then onto a rocky slope, I stepped on a rock, that I thought was solid and before I knew it I was sliding down the slope toward a 30ft drop off cliff. I slid 20 of 30 yd, stopping about 20ft from the drop off. That got the heart pumping fast, I stood up bloody and bruised, trying to decide what to do next, decided to call my wife on the 2 way radio. She of course said I should come down but I decided to continue my hike up, because of course it was opening day and I couldn't let something like nearly dying stop me[crazy]. Hiked up to the top, seeing a ton of tracks but no sheep. After three hours and a lot of vertical feet hiked, I decided that was enough, so I headed down. Spent the rest of the day riding the ATV. The next morning I was pretty sore, so I got a late start and went into the Mesa above Bay Bill canyon, to take a look from above into the canyon I hunted the day before. Ran into another sheep hunter that was coming down from the same area I was going in to. We talked for a while and I found out they had spotted several sheep down in the canyon, one was a nice ram but it was a 900 yd shot and they were not willing to take such a long shot on the second day of the hunt, so they passed. I could not find the sheep they were talking about but it was just too far anyway, considering we would have had to make a 3 mile hike up the canyon from the bottom just to get to the spot. Next day, we hiked up the canyon where I wanted to hunt on opening day and I got to the spot where the guys from the first day had hiked up to but again, no sheep. I found out later that those guys had hiked up there and were ready to shoot the ram but it slipped away and they never got a shot. On the way out, I ran into the guy that I had talked to the second day, he had spent the morning in an area called Poverty flats, it's an 11 mile ATV ride to the bottom of this canyon along the Virgin river, that was where I planned on hunting the next day. Got down into that area the following day and found fresh sheep tracks over that guys ATV tracks from the day before but I saw no sheep. Still sore from my first day hunting, I figured I'd had enough and needed to go home and regroup.
Second week of my sheep hunting, after getting back down to Southern Utah, we got up early the next morning and drove down this ATV road, that runs beside the Virgin river, we made it almost to the end, when I looked up at this 100 ft high cliff, overlooking the river and there stood my ram. I got out put a few rounds in my rifle, walked back a few feet and the ram was still standing there looking straight down at us. I was shaking, with no rest for the gun, shooting up at a 45 to 50 degree angle and missed the first shot at 100 yds, the ram ran away but stopped at 150 yds giving me a broadside shot and I connected. The ram fell over and I thought he was down but he got up and ran back toward me. I got another round in the chamber but he disappeared into the trees and brush. I got my back pack on, with all the gear I needed to cut it up and cape it out and went to where I last saw it but found nothing but blood. That was very disappointing, as I knew at that point it wasn't dead but I started trailing it, finding a place where it tried to go up this rock face but fell and I knew if it was going uphill, it could not be a good hit. Right after I found the spot where it fell, I only found one more blood spot and that was it, I was sick to my stomach. I kept at it, going back farther and farther from the road. Finally, when all hope seemed lost and I was over a mile from where I first shot it, I looked down from the top of this cliff I was on and there lay the ram, still alive at the bottom. Not wanting it to suffer any more and with a good solid down hill rest, I shot it where it lay. Look close at this pic and you can see the ram below.
[inline 100_2870.JPG]
It tried to get up but fell over dead. My hunt was finally over but the work had just started. I hiked down to the ram and after a few pics, I started a job I had never done, caping the full body of this sheep. Having never done this before it took me 3 hours to cape it, butcher it into quarters, put the meat into game bags and hang it in a tree. Finally, I put the head and cape on my back pack and started the walk back. I made it to the edge of the cliff where I shot it, then I had to climb down, it took an hour but I was finally back to my truck. We went into town to get some ice, to cool the head and cape down, then it was back to get the meat. Lucky for me I found a shorter way up to where I hung the meat and I was able to hike up to it and back down in an hour but by this time it was 86 degrees. We went back into town again to get more ice for the meat before we started the 5 hour drive home. It was a long day to say the least, I was glad the outcome turned out OK, just wish it had been a one shot kill. For anyone that has hunted a lot over the years, this has likely happened to them as well, if not you are very lucky. When I got up the following morning(Fri), I called the DWR to take the head in to have it plugged and to drop off the liver and nose swab samples, later that morning I took the head and cape to the taxidermist. I don't have time to post pics tonight but I'll get some up tomorrow.
EDIT: I wish the rest of the pics had turned out, especially the full body pics and video I took but it did not happen.[frown]
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After 24 yrs I finally drew out on a Desert Bighorn sheep permit in the Zion Utah. Got out the first week to scout, the week of that big rain event that we had both up North and down South, where my sheep hunt was. Did some hiking up Water canyon a little North of Hillsdale that first morning. Saw something in the trees at the bottom but could not make out what it was, later that day I went into Maxwell canyon where I found some fresh tracks but overall I wasn't impressed with the area. Next I headed East toward Kanab but before I could get there a flash flood hit and put a stop to our travels until the worst of it past. The rain continued the rest of the day and night, so that pretty much limited us to staying on the main road but we got a feel for the area I wanted to hunt, Northwest of Kanab. The next day it was still raining but not as bad, so we ventured off road a little and got to look the area over a little more but it was way too wet to do anymore hiking or scouting until it cleared up, so we headed for home.
Two weeks later we made the trip down again, this time with my ATV. It was dry this time and I was able to cover the area I planned on hunting. Did a lot of off road driving, covering all the roads in the area between Coral Pink Sand Dunes to the South, up to Zion NP to the North. Never saw a sheep but found a lot of fresh tracks and was able to zero in on the area I planned on hunting on Opening day.
Opening day, Sept 15, 2018, we were where I wanted to be, the bottom of Bay Bill canyon but just as I came around the last corner on my ATV, there was a guy standing in the middle of the Wash with his spotting scope, recording a hunt for his friends that were already hiking up the mountain. We got off the ATV and talked to him for a while and found out they had been there for an hour before it even started getting light. He showed us the sheep his friends were stalking and after watching for a few minutes I decided to go over one canyon to the East and see what I could find there.
Once at the new location I started walking up a sandy side slope, then onto a rocky slope, I stepped on a rock, that I thought was solid and before I knew it I was sliding down the slope toward a 30ft drop off cliff. I slid 20 of 30 yd, stopping about 20ft from the drop off. That got the heart pumping fast, I stood up bloody and bruised, trying to decide what to do next, decided to call my wife on the 2 way radio. She of course said I should come down but I decided to continue my hike up, because of course it was opening day and I couldn't let something like nearly dying stop me[crazy]. Hiked up to the top, seeing a ton of tracks but no sheep. After three hours and a lot of vertical feet hiked, I decided that was enough, so I headed down. Spent the rest of the day riding the ATV. The next morning I was pretty sore, so I got a late start and went into the Mesa above Bay Bill canyon, to take a look from above into the canyon I hunted the day before. Ran into another sheep hunter that was coming down from the same area I was going in to. We talked for a while and I found out they had spotted several sheep down in the canyon, one was a nice ram but it was a 900 yd shot and they were not willing to take such a long shot on the second day of the hunt, so they passed. I could not find the sheep they were talking about but it was just too far anyway, considering we would have had to make a 3 mile hike up the canyon from the bottom just to get to the spot. Next day, we hiked up the canyon where I wanted to hunt on opening day and I got to the spot where the guys from the first day had hiked up to but again, no sheep. I found out later that those guys had hiked up there and were ready to shoot the ram but it slipped away and they never got a shot. On the way out, I ran into the guy that I had talked to the second day, he had spent the morning in an area called Poverty flats, it's an 11 mile ATV ride to the bottom of this canyon along the Virgin river, that was where I planned on hunting the next day. Got down into that area the following day and found fresh sheep tracks over that guys ATV tracks from the day before but I saw no sheep. Still sore from my first day hunting, I figured I'd had enough and needed to go home and regroup.
Second week of my sheep hunting, after getting back down to Southern Utah, we got up early the next morning and drove down this ATV road, that runs beside the Virgin river, we made it almost to the end, when I looked up at this 100 ft high cliff, overlooking the river and there stood my ram. I got out put a few rounds in my rifle, walked back a few feet and the ram was still standing there looking straight down at us. I was shaking, with no rest for the gun, shooting up at a 45 to 50 degree angle and missed the first shot at 100 yds, the ram ran away but stopped at 150 yds giving me a broadside shot and I connected. The ram fell over and I thought he was down but he got up and ran back toward me. I got another round in the chamber but he disappeared into the trees and brush. I got my back pack on, with all the gear I needed to cut it up and cape it out and went to where I last saw it but found nothing but blood. That was very disappointing, as I knew at that point it wasn't dead but I started trailing it, finding a place where it tried to go up this rock face but fell and I knew if it was going uphill, it could not be a good hit. Right after I found the spot where it fell, I only found one more blood spot and that was it, I was sick to my stomach. I kept at it, going back farther and farther from the road. Finally, when all hope seemed lost and I was over a mile from where I first shot it, I looked down from the top of this cliff I was on and there lay the ram, still alive at the bottom. Not wanting it to suffer any more and with a good solid down hill rest, I shot it where it lay. Look close at this pic and you can see the ram below.
[inline 100_2870.JPG]
It tried to get up but fell over dead. My hunt was finally over but the work had just started. I hiked down to the ram and after a few pics, I started a job I had never done, caping the full body of this sheep. Having never done this before it took me 3 hours to cape it, butcher it into quarters, put the meat into game bags and hang it in a tree. Finally, I put the head and cape on my back pack and started the walk back. I made it to the edge of the cliff where I shot it, then I had to climb down, it took an hour but I was finally back to my truck. We went into town to get some ice, to cool the head and cape down, then it was back to get the meat. Lucky for me I found a shorter way up to where I hung the meat and I was able to hike up to it and back down in an hour but by this time it was 86 degrees. We went back into town again to get more ice for the meat before we started the 5 hour drive home. It was a long day to say the least, I was glad the outcome turned out OK, just wish it had been a one shot kill. For anyone that has hunted a lot over the years, this has likely happened to them as well, if not you are very lucky. When I got up the following morning(Fri), I called the DWR to take the head in to have it plugged and to drop off the liver and nose swab samples, later that morning I took the head and cape to the taxidermist. I don't have time to post pics tonight but I'll get some up tomorrow.
EDIT: I wish the rest of the pics had turned out, especially the full body pics and video I took but it did not happen.[frown]
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