I got lucky and drew a Bighron Sheep tag after 23 years of applying in 2018. My wife, Kim, Got lucky this year after applying for 25 years!

I decided to Share the highlights of the hunt. What I will not share if the hours and hours behind binoculars and a spotting scope and the miles and miles on rough rocky roads. Looking back at the photos it looks like the whole thing was just a Sunday drive LOL. We hoped for a mature uncollared ram but all of the biggest rams we saw had radio collars and were all legal to harvest.

The hunt started the fifteenth of September. We hunted all that day and into the afternoon of the next day without seeing a sheep.
We were about to head home when we came around a bend in the highway and a little herd was feeding right beside the highway.



It was exciting to see a ram.This collared ram with the white ear tag #14 was one of four collared rams we saw during the hunt with white ear tags.

We only saw a few sheep at a distance until Oct 10. We Found another group of six ewes and lambs and a small uncollared ram right by the highway.



We hunted up Sheep Creek Canyon enjoying the beauty.

When we got back where we had seen the sheep earlier the little ram was gone and the ewes and lambs were nearby starting up into the rocks.
The next few days we only located 4 sheep from about 3 miles away. There was no way for us to get close to them without an extreme hike we are not capable of (bad hip and bad back). I could tell they were all rams through the spotting scope but couldn't tell if any had collars. But we enjoyed some beautiful scenery and some spawning Kokanie Salmon.

(I killed my ram in 2018 under the left side of the rainbow at the bottom of the burn across the lake.)


On Oct 14 We spotted a group of sheep near the top of a ridge a couple miles away. I could see there was a ram with them. This time there was a road that got us close enough to hike to them. They were in a little swale we couldn't see into. So we got the wind right and eased forward slowly. We got within sixty yards in the open sage brush when I spotted a couple young rams looking at us. Kim got her Model 70 Winchester .308 on the sicks and got ready waiting for the bigger ram to appear. But a ewe came into view working toward us and spooked when she saw us. They all ran off into a big canyon. The bigger ram with them, that had been out of sight, had a collar and looked like number 14 to me.

The next few days we enjoyed the beauty of the area without finding sheep




This is Big Spring where we get our drinking water. Three or four times a year we fill twenty five-gallon jugs we use in our water cooler at home. I run a 100 foot poly pipe up into the spring to get the water within about ten feet of the truck to fill the jugs. It is the best water I've tasted.

On Oct 17 my son Nate and our oldest grand daughter June came to hunt a couple days.

This is a collared ram (#13) we hadn't seen before. He was the best so far but we passed on him. He was still in the same place that evening.
We saw a few ewes and lambs in Sheep Creek Canyon without any rams.

Miss June liked the Yaks at Sheep Creek Ranch and camping in the motorhome.
The next day we located about 20 sheep near the top of a big ridge above Sheep Creek Ranch. After a long rough ride we got to the top of the ridge and were able to get within 300 yards.

The biggest ram with them was another collared ram - number 10.


On October 22 we saw a small group of sheep down the ridge from where we met number 10 a few days before. We drove the rough road and hiked down where we could see them. They were pretty nervous. I told Kim to bend over and act like you are grazing. She thought I was nuts LOL. But we did a few minutes, and they settled down. We slowly worked on a diagonal to about 200 yards and Kim practiced getting the gun on the sticks and getting rock solid. It was just number 10 again.

October 24 found us about half mile away where we had seen sheep from way down below again.

You guessed it . Number 10 and his girls again. They were getting pretty comfortable with us. They started a couple hundred yards from us. Then an old collared ewe came up the hill and layed down about 30 yards in front of the truck. Number 10 followed and they put on a show for us!

Yikes! Great post...that is how you hunt sheep. Good Luck. OTG

Crazy steep and dry country. Looks like a good time outdoors with family. Did I mis-read that the biggest rams that you saw were all collared and legal for harvest? I feel like I am missing something.

Great post, Dan. Hopefully more to come.

On October 25 we saw six ewes and lambs by the highway.

We also saw 26 sheep at a distance along the lakeshore in Sheep Creek Bay.
On October 28 we found 31 sheep in Manns Campground. We decided the 26 we had seen along the lake on the 25th had moved up to the highway and joined the smaller group.



Among them was Number 4.
On Oct 29 we saw our first ram along the Red Canyon road (a three mile spur road that ends at the Red Canyon Visitors Center).

He was with five ewes and lambs. We took some photos and went on to the Visitors Center then turned around and came back. The little group was still along the road when we came back. We took a few more photos and were getting ready to leave when I saw movement out in the trees. More sheep!

And a heavy mature ram!

He was far bigger and heavier than any of the other rams we had found and was beautiful. Kim decided that with three other permit holders in the area we could not afford to pass this one up. This was her ram! We went up the road and turned around. She got her rifle out of the case in the back and got ready. We drove back and pulled off the road. The ram had laid down with the ewes. Kim got out and got ready. We did not have to wait long. A ewe next to him stood up and urinated. He had to get up and check her out. When he turned broadside she shot him in the back of the shoulder. He dropped like a rock and kicked a few times.


I videoed the the ram from before the ewe got up until he dropped. When I turned to video Kim all her emotions kicked in. She was elated to have taken a beautiful ram, and sad to watch it die and sad the hunt was over. It took a few minutes for her to come to grips with it all. But I had to admit I felt and thought all the same things.





(Being beside the road, it wasn't the textbook Bighorn Sheep kill by any means. But it was a blessing for this old man. I have degenerative disk disease with it being severe at L5-S1, with a lot of pain in my back and hip. Gutting the ram and cutting it in half to get it back to the truck was all I wanted. In the process I tore my rotator cuff on my right shoulder even more than it had been.)


When we got it back to town Kim had to get tailgate photos to compare with my tailgate photo with my ram in 2018.

Her ram is older and bigger than mine. And I couldn't be more thrilled. I hope you enjoyed the ride along.

Spectacular post! Thank you for sharing this!

Yes, all the biggest sheep in the unit were collared and It is legal to harvest collared rams. I called the biologist. He said her ram was collared in 2021 and the collar was dead. He said it was an old style collar that they didn't need returned.

We would much preferred to harvest a ram without a collar but it became evident it was not going to happen in that unit. The biologist said they use the GPS collars to monitor wandering rams that might make contact with domestic sheep. They are concerned with disease from domestics being transmitted to the herd and wiping it out.

Just terrific! Wonderful story telling and a excellent result! Congratulations to you both!

Thank you for such a great ride along. What a journey with your family and successful hunt. Your pictures are spectacular

wow what a good read thanks for posting,

Congratulations on a second successful sheep hunt ! Wonderful pictures and story to go with them !

Now it's time for the son and granddaughter to start putting it for a sheep permit to keep the family tradition alive and going !

Great recap

Congrats to Kim

Great story, Dan! Congrats to your wife on a spectacular animal.

What was the age of her ram?

Congrats to your wife. Great animal, great story.

Great story. Congrats!

Outstanding! Congrats and thank you so much for taking the time to share the story with us trappers!

Fantastic hunt!!! Yep those sheep and goat hunts are the best hunts. Of course the goats live up on top in the rocks and a challenge also. Great post and congratulations to your wife and the hunt.

Incredible adventure, congratulations

Very good job, awesome looking country