Imagine my surprise when I received an email from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife that stated in bold letters, “SUCCESSFUL.” My first thought was that this was some sort of mistake. I immediately dialed the number on the confirmation letter and was shocked to realize that it was indeed true. The tag was for Desert bighorn sheep in the Newberry, Rodman, and Ord Mountains. I was at work at the time, and I was so excited that I had to leave my office. When I got to the parking lot, I couldn’t help but whoop and holler.
“Now what?” I thought to myself. I knew nothing about hunting in California. I decided to contact the Hunt Advisors at Huntin’ Fool. Soon, I was connected with Matt White, and we talked about my thoughts and expectations. He told me he had the perfect guy and would be glad to make the initial contact. After a few more conversations, I was hooked up with Cliff and Matt St. Martin of Dry Creek Outfitters. After several conversations, it became clear that Cliff, Matt, and their whole team would take great care of me and do everything possible to make this once-in-a-lifetime tag an incredible experience.
Matt and I kept in touch over the summer months and talked a few times about their scouting trips to the unit and what they had been seeing. I live in Alaska, and our short summer season is always chock-full of outdoor pursuits such as commercial fishing, river rafting, trips to our remote cabins, and scouting for the upcoming hunting season. I knew I would not have time to fly down to California to scout for rams. Luckily, I wouldn’t have to. I was excited to hear back from my guides that they had been seeing a lot of mature rams in the area. I could hardly wait!
Finally, I received a call from Matt with Dry Creek Outfitters. It was opening day of the season in California. He notified me that the first hunter in camp had gotten his ram on the first day. They had also seen two other rams of interest as well. “I highly recommend that you change your plane ticket and get down here ASAP.”
My heart was pounding in my chest as I hung up and began making the necessary changes to my travel plans. It wasn’t long before my bags were packed and I was ready to leave. I flew into Las Vegas, rented a car, and a few hours later, I pulled up to Matt on the side of the road. I followed him the final few miles into camp down a dusty dirt road. After situating my things in the tent, I made my way to the dinner tent to formally meet the crew. After some dinner and
a few stories, it was off to bed as it had been a long day of traveling and Matt said that it would be a 4:30 a.m. start time.
The next morning while having some breakfast, we discussed the plan and made arrangements for the members of the crew to split up in the area where the rams of interest had last been seen. Matt showed me the rams they had spotted on his trail cams. The pictures included several nice ones. He pointed out one in particular that was very unique. He said that it probably would not score as well as one of the others, but it was a full curl and carried its mass all the way out. He explained that it didn’t have as large of bases, but with its length, it should score well.
As a lifelong Alaskan hunter, I have been fortunate enough to harvest a number of Dall sheep, and I have always been a fan of length over mass. After studying the photos at length, it was decided that the longer horned ram was going to be our target. After sticking around camp for a little while waiting for it to get light, I was able to take a quick shot to confirm that my .300 Ultra Mag was zeroed in. It was go time!
After a few hours of hiking, we made it to the top of a peak that was situated smack in the middle of the unit. We were in a great spot to glass for sheep. The first day flew by as we were able to spot upwards of 25 rams. It was cool watching so many nice, mature rams. We even had a couple nice rams walk within a hundred yards of our position. After all of the day’s activity, I was extremely excited to see what day two had in store.
It was windy in camp the next morning despite being somewhat protected by a large outcropping of boulders. We didn’t realize the full extent of the wind until we started walking out in the open. Luckily, the wind was at our backs on the way in and it scooted us right along. Soon, we had completed the five-mile walk into the last known area of the rams.
We spent the whole day glued to the binos with no sightings of our target ram. It was about 3:00 p.m. and Matt was studying a ram far off that had potential when something caught my eye on the mountain behind us. A ram had walked out onto a shale slide near the top of the mountain. The spotting scope confirmed our suspicion. It was our target ram! We talked about making a play for him right then and there, but after discussing, it was decided that with the steepness of the ridge and the distance involved, we would not be able to get within range before dark. We decided to play it safe and slowly backed off the ridge and out the wash back towards camp.
When we arrived at camp, we found out the rest of the crew had also spotted the ram and had watched him retreat over the ridge right at dark. Based on the strength of the wind, we all felt like there was a really good chance the ram would not travel far and was most likely bedded down for the evening. I barely slept that night in anticipation of what might happen the next day.
We awoke early the next morning and started the long walk into the area a second time with high hopes of spotting the ram again. When we were almost there, Matt suggested we change course and head straight for the ridge where we had last seen him. After working our way through numerous boulder fields, we started the ascent of the ridge. It was a few hours of slow, steep walking when we finally reached the top of the ridge where we hoped we would be in a good position.
We slowly made our way along the ridge and finally got to a rock outcropping overlooking the saddle where we believed rams would likely pass through. We got set up in the rocks with a good rest and decided to wait. Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, two rams appeared. They were standing about 150 yards away. “That looks like the one!” I said.
After a quick confirmation from Matt, I got myself poised and ready. All I needed was for him to take a step one way or the other so I could have a broadside shot. He took a few steps to the right and was slightly quartering away when I pulled the trigger. The ram dropped in his tracks and rolled over once and came to a stop.
“Holy smokes!” I thought. It happened so fast that I didn’t even have a chance to think about it or get nervous. After the shot, I was so excited that it took me quite some time to calm down and actually realize what had just happened. I had done it. I had actually harvested a Desert bighorn ram! This was something I never believed I would be able to do in my lifetime.
As they always, say “Apply, Apply, Apply!” because if you don’t, you will never have the chance and you might just be like me and get the chance of a lifetime. I can’t thank Huntin’ Fool enough for the info and knowledge I have gained from their publication and for setting me up with Dry Creek Outfitters. I would also like to send a big thanks to Cliff, Matt, Johnston, Casey, and Blue of Dry Creek Outfitters for all the effort. Without their countless hours pre-scouting and time spent behind the glass, I would not have been able to harvest such a great ram. They made things so easy and enjoyable that it barely felt like I had to work hard to fulfill the dream of a lifetime.
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