Contrary to popular belief, I do have friends.

Last year at the SCI Hunters Convention in Reno, Nevada, my twin brother Ramsey brought a friend Kevin Irelan down to see the greatest hunter convention on the planet. When not attending the show, we spent lots of time discussing what we would like to harvest and on animal was mentioned several times Bighorn sheep.

All three of us talked about wanting to draw that once-in-a-lifetime tag in Oregon, and one of us actually ended up with one: Kevin.

After he found out he was the lucky winner of a tag in Wallowa County, he called me and asked if I would like to go along. Of course, I said I would, and the hunt began Sept. 11.

Kevin contacted Mark Moncrief of Tri-State Outfitters in Enterprise, who assured him he could find a Boone and Crockett Bighorn in the unit he had drawn. In order to make the record book, the sheep has to have a net score more than 180 inches. 

We also added Rick Young, a host for the Northwest Hunter and Wild Outdoor Adventures to our hunting party to professionally file the hunt and put it on a DVD, along with other sheep hunts he was going to film after Kevins.

Friday afternoon, the day before the season started, we met Mark in Enterprise. All of us got out of our pickups and I introduced myself as Kevin, my brother introduced himself as Kevin and Rick did the same. Finally, the real lucky tag-winner introduced himself. Mark said he had two groups of rams spotted, one group of seven and another group of five. 

The day before, he had seen the group of five within 200 yards of the road, and managed to take pictures of them 35 yards away. 

 

 

Mark showed Kevin the pictures, and Kevin liked the biggest of the five rams. Little did he know, Kevin would get a chance to harvest that ram in the bottom of the canyon the next day.

After we drove to camp and unpacked all our camping gear, we drove ten more minutes to a ridge where we could see the Bighorns live. After moving from our vantage point several times, we spotted the group of five at the bottom of the canyon, below where he saw them on Thursday. We kept an eye on them until dark, and hope wed see them in the same area the next day.

Only sheep hunters truly know how hard sheep hunting can be. The easy part is pulling the trigger, the hard part is getting in position to take the shot and the strenuous part is packing out the meat, cape, horns and head. My brother and I were there to help in any way possible to make this a successful hunt. The best description of our job would be to act as 64-year-old pack animals. Both of us were well aware of what we were getting into, but sometimes we forget how old we are and how age has taken a toll on our physical and mental well-being.

Saturday arrived and we drove up to the ridge where we had glasses and seen the sheep Friday. The five rams were in the very bottom of the canyon. Kevin had to make a decision whether he wanted to go after them, or take a chance on if Mark could find the other group. Kevin decided on the canyon, because his thought was a ram in the hand is better than two rams in the bush.

We gathered our pack boards, food and water, and off we went. The five of us slowly moved down the ridge, stopping frequently to look at the five rams. We were also told to watch out for rattlesnakes (they are the only creatures that I truly hate and are afraid of). After an hour or so, we came to the last rocky knob above where we saw the sheep last. Mark crept slowly over to the edge and saw the ras bedded down. He ranged them to be about 265 yards away. Mark made us stay back from the edge while he and Rick tried to score the rams. By looking at the front, back and side profiles of the sheep, a good guide can score the animals, which is done in inches. The biggest ram wouldnt give Mark a good side shot through his spotting scope, but he said it would go at least 175.

Kevin moved into the prone position to take the shot when the ram stood up. Rick was filming and my brother and I moved forward to see the action. Mark told Kevin he would tell him when to take the shot and that the ram must be presenting broadside. After about 30-40 minutes, the stood up broadside and moved to our left between two large out-croppings of rocks. The sheep then turned to scratch his hind quarters on a rock, still not presenting a clear shot. Then, the ram moved forward between the out-croppings, and Mark gave the command to shoot.

Kevin was shooting a .325 Winchester Short Mag, and made a direct hit. Kevin had accomplished something not too many Oregon hunters ever get the chance to and harvest a ram of this magnitude.

When we reached the ram, there was no ground shrinkage at all; it was magnificent. Mark roughly scored him over 190 inches of horn 42 inches on one side, and 40 on the other, with almost 17-inch bases and huge mass all the way down the length of the horns. This ram will certainly make the Boone and Crockett record book after the 60-day drying period required, and will be a state record for the largest ram ever taken out of the unit. It might even be the largest ram harvested in the 2010 Oregon season. It scored higher than the Governors tag winner this season.

The sheep was harvested, pictures were taken and the easy part was now over. Now it was time to cape, quarter and pack everything out. At 64, I would like to tell everyone it was a brutal 5.5-hour pack to the top. Kevin and I were the last to reach the top at dark. It was a great feeling to put our packs on the tailgate of the pickup, knowing that Kevin had accomplished the dream of every big game hunter in Oregon. Kevin will remember this hunt forever. It will probably be the hardest hunt of his life. Hard work always pays great dividends.

After taking the trophy to the game department in Enterprise, it was drilled with a metal plug to legally possess and was roughly scored at 190 2/8. After the drying period, it will be officially scored by a Boone and Crockett master measurer.

Thanks to Kevin for asking my twin brother and I to go along. I also would like to thank Mark Moncrief and Rick Young for letting my brother and I experience the hunt. 

Kevins dream is now over, and maybe out luck to draw this once-ever tag will happen before our journey in life is done.