14 November 2013, 02:23
larryshoresRocky Mountain Big Horn with Wade Lemon- some pictures added-video just added
I am the the Delta lounge in Salt Lake City returning home. I decided to draft the report although I only have limited pictures at this time.
Date of hunt- 11/12/13
Area hunted- Anelope Island
Guide- Kalen Lemon
Guns- Rifles Inc 300 Win Mag with 2.5 x 15 Swarovski scope
Gunwerks 6.5 x 284 with Nightforce G-7 scope
I will explain why I had 2 guns later.
Cameraman- Kip Peck
In February of 2013, I purchased the Rocky Mountain Big Horn tag for Antelope Island (AI) in an auction in Utah even though I was in Argentina shooting birds at the time.
AI is a state park. It is an island in the great salt lake. It is approximate 28,000 acres. We saw sheep, antelope, bison and mule deer in great abundance. I feel there will probably be some heart attacks when I post pictures of the mule deer. They are shocking. I recon the biggest we saw was over 240!!!
We arrived in SLC on 11/11/13. After checking in and eating lunch, we headed to a local gun range to check the zero on my rifle. I was not happy at the gun range. It was LOUD. The guy to my left looked like he had just escaped from jail. He was shooting an AR that kept ejecting the brass in the middle of my back. This made it difficult to check the zero with the precision I want.
I fired 2 shots. They were close but too high. No surprise since I zeroed the gun at an elevation of 35 feet with high humidity. I was now at over 5,000 feet with low humidity. I adjusted downward. The 3rd shot grouped well with the first two. I adjusted again and hit the bulls eye square in the middle. I adjusted upward and got it to precisely my desired elevation. In retrospect, I think I made a poor shot from all of the noise and brass hitting me on my 3rd shot.
Kalen, who I have knows since he was 8 insisted I shoot him Gunwerks 6.5 x 284 a couple of times. I liked it. The Nightforce G-7 scope is bad ass. You can adjust it to compensate for the range.
We finished and headed out to AI for a look. Damn but this island is intimidating when driving across the causeway. The mountains are tough. We were pretty far off the road and we spotted some sheep. Nothing interesting. We moved. We saw another group of sheep, mostly rams with several shooters. Damn but this was exciting. Unfortunately, our joy was short lived. We spotted what HAD been the biggest sheep on the island noted in scouting trips. I say HAD because one of his horns was almost completely gone! Damnmit!!!!!
We left well before daylight to head to AI to start the hunt. Interestingly, we noted that AI is about 10 degrees cooler than the mainland. It was low 30's with a lot of frost on AI.
We split into 2 groups to glass. From our initial vantage points, we saw nothing of interest. We moved.
On our second attempt to glass, we walked about 1.75 miles over rough terrain to a vantage point. I noted something that I found odd. While down low (4,500 feet) looking up, the terrain appeared more flat and the distances not as far compared to being higher looking down. From the truck, I thought a rock mound was 200 yards and at more or less the same elevation as us. When I got to the rock mound and looked back, I was shocked at how much higher we were and how far we were from the truck. This plagued me all day.
From this second vantage point, we saw several rams. There was one possible shooter. It was, however, in a difficult location. We decided to move and look for more. We moved and started a pretty serious climb. We climbed just about as high as one could on AI over some extremely rough terrain. I handled it fine for a guy from the flatlands who is almost 58. We saw a good ram. I recon he was in the low 160's. He was clearly younger as he had little brooming. I passed although I can't give a good reason why I did. I recon this little jaunt was about 5 miles.
We moved and started to glass elsewhere. One of the other guys radioed that he had seen a bunch of sheep including some rams of unknown quality. We decided to take off and have a look. It was getting late. I made a MAJOR mistake. I brought neither my pack nor flashlights. I knew better. This was an idiot move on my part.
Off we went only slight slower than the speed of light, climbing the whole way over some extremely rough ground. After about a mile and a half, we got to a good vantage point. We spotted a good ram. Several actually. One, however, got my attention. He was OLD (like me). His horns were HEAVY. He was heavily broomed. I decided to go for it.
We closed several hundred yards. The sheep were now just shy of 800 yards away. The sun was going down fast. We moved quicky to another vantage point. I laid down to shoot. Although, I could see the ram clearly, the only time he stopped he was facing straight away. They kept moving. We took off again.
We got to another vantage point. The sheep were in the 500-600 yard range. Kalen wanted me to shoot his gun to take advantage of the ability the adjust the scope for the range one is going to shoot. I agreed and laid prone to shoot. The ram was 527 yards away. When he turned broadside, I shot. The ram collpased in his tracks. Sheep were running everywhere in a big hurry to get out of the area.
Then something interesting and unnerving happened. A rather large bison who had been just below us ran up the hill toward us. I was yelling at the thing. It was less than 15 feet away when it turned away! I honestly thought I was going to have to shoot it. That would have been interesting since the scope was on 22 power!
We proceeded to the ram. When we got to about 300 yards, I saw the rams head pop up. I laid down and popped it with my 300 WM. It was over.
We got to the ram. I was estatic. The mass on this ram was staggering. He was old. The biologist recon he was the oldest sheep on the island.
We took a bunch of pictures. It was getting dark. I was concered about walk the 2 + miles back to the truck with no light over the rough terrain. I gathered all I could carry and headed to the truck. I made it with no problem. The hunt was over in 1 day.
I can't say enough good about Wade Lemon Hunting. I have known him for a very long time. I have hunted the following with him:
Pronghorn
Elk
Mule deer
Mountain lion
Black bear
Desert big horn
Prarie dogs
They have always been professional, reliable, honest and hard working.
The cameraman has most of the pictures. I will post as soon as I get them. The have sone great photos and great videos. On the kill shot, the vapor trail of the bullet is clearly visible.
I had thought that this would compelete my grand slam on sheep. Unfortunately, I failed at Dall's sheep this year for the 3rd time! So much for them being the easiest.
AI is an incredible place. The hunting was difficult and most certainly fair chase for absolutly wild animals. I feel sorry for the guy whose hunt starts Friday.
14 November 2013, 03:21
mbogobutchLarry, big congratulations, what a STUD, thats what sheep dreams are made of!! Great picture,
well earned.
Butch
14 November 2013, 20:40
larryshoresI am told my raw footage and all photos are on the way to be. I will post more pics , probably next week. The kill shot clip is is rather amazing. The vapor trail is clearly visible . I will attempt to post that clip as well.
14 November 2013, 22:43
justanotherhunterbeautiful ram. In Utah we don't distinguish between rocky's and cali bighorns. However, if you are someone who does, the bighorns on Antelope Island are California Bighorns.
I grew up in central Utah, not far from Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake. Post more pics!
