Well, got another one for the wall thanks to Thompson Temple. It was an awesome hunt, not a single complaint can be made about this place. I had a TON of options on which animal I could shoot, he does not force you into shooting one or the other, he just gives you the prices and you make it happen. He will give you his best advice and send you out. I cannot complain, I really liked the ranch and the scenery and the lodging was honestly pretty nice. I will be going back very soon. I could not decide between a big merino ram or a Catalina goat, but I ended up making the right decison.
I slept in and waited for all the rifle hunters to start shooting so the animals would be a little bit spooked and would scatter around the property (they are sheep, if you have ever been sheep hunting you know how fearless they are and I wanted a real challenge). After a few shots rang out, I took a 15 year old that was after his first ram out to find his trophy. After several failed attempts he finally put a slug in his hind quarter. Wrong shoulder!!! haha. He pumped in another shell and shot him in the correct shoulder to get his trophy. Seconds after he shot, I saw my big guy walk around the corner and BAM I was completely heart broken I had left my bow at camp, my heart sank haha. I honestly was furious with myself, still cannot believe I did that. But it was worth it.
After we returned his animal back to camp where his Grandfather was waiting another couple that was down from Minnesota (also on their first ram hunt) asked me to take them up and show them where they could find the animals. Just so happened that they were also looking for a catalina goat. The sheep there tend to travel in herds of their own kind or similar kinds for the most part. We hiked to the top of the hill and glassed around a little bit, saw a lot of rams on the way up and while we were glassing but nothing that he really liked. We headed toward the ground blind that is setup on the hill hoping to stumble upon the catalina sheep and we did. The one he was after was 55 yards in front of us and standing broadside. Had no idea we were there. James steadied himself and took a breath...shot. Hit the tree in front of him, I honestly thought he was gonna cry, he was so upset with himself. I stood up and as I did, I seen the one I was after only about 35 yards up in front of us on the hill, so James told me to go ahead and do my thing. I crept up as close as I could get but he was standing on the edge of a ledge about to jump off so I had to be quick about it. I drew back and let the arrow fly...I had misranged him, Spined him. He jumped down off the 4 foot ledge and took two steps and just sat down. I had hit an artery, he was bleeding like you could not imagine. I reloaded, and shot a double lung shot and he died there.
Oh it gets better...As we are pulling him down the mountain we ran into the group of Catalina that James was wanting. He stalked up to them about 45 yards away and had to reposition himself so that he could get a clear shot at the ram. Trigger was pulled, animal fell. Another one down it was a good weekend out there. They killed several great rams, some with rifle, some with a bow, all of them made memories. Check out the pics guys and let me know what you think. I would suggest Thompson Temple to anyone, it really was a blast!!!!
Ok...Having issues uploading the pics
I slept in and waited for all the rifle hunters to start shooting so the animals would be a little bit spooked and would scatter around the property (they are sheep, if you have ever been sheep hunting you know how fearless they are and I wanted a real challenge). After a few shots rang out, I took a 15 year old that was after his first ram out to find his trophy. After several failed attempts he finally put a slug in his hind quarter. Wrong shoulder!!! haha. He pumped in another shell and shot him in the correct shoulder to get his trophy. Seconds after he shot, I saw my big guy walk around the corner and BAM I was completely heart broken I had left my bow at camp, my heart sank haha. I honestly was furious with myself, still cannot believe I did that. But it was worth it.
After we returned his animal back to camp where his Grandfather was waiting another couple that was down from Minnesota (also on their first ram hunt) asked me to take them up and show them where they could find the animals. Just so happened that they were also looking for a catalina goat. The sheep there tend to travel in herds of their own kind or similar kinds for the most part. We hiked to the top of the hill and glassed around a little bit, saw a lot of rams on the way up and while we were glassing but nothing that he really liked. We headed toward the ground blind that is setup on the hill hoping to stumble upon the catalina sheep and we did. The one he was after was 55 yards in front of us and standing broadside. Had no idea we were there. James steadied himself and took a breath...shot. Hit the tree in front of him, I honestly thought he was gonna cry, he was so upset with himself. I stood up and as I did, I seen the one I was after only about 35 yards up in front of us on the hill, so James told me to go ahead and do my thing. I crept up as close as I could get but he was standing on the edge of a ledge about to jump off so I had to be quick about it. I drew back and let the arrow fly...I had misranged him, Spined him. He jumped down off the 4 foot ledge and took two steps and just sat down. I had hit an artery, he was bleeding like you could not imagine. I reloaded, and shot a double lung shot and he died there.
Oh it gets better...As we are pulling him down the mountain we ran into the group of Catalina that James was wanting. He stalked up to them about 45 yards away and had to reposition himself so that he could get a clear shot at the ram. Trigger was pulled, animal fell. Another one down it was a good weekend out there. They killed several great rams, some with rifle, some with a bow, all of them made memories. Check out the pics guys and let me know what you think. I would suggest Thompson Temple to anyone, it really was a blast!!!!
Ok...Having issues uploading the pics
Comment