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2019-2020 TPWD Guided Desert Bighorn Draw Hunt

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    2019-2020 TPWD Guided Desert Bighorn Draw Hunt

    What an amazing experience. From the TPWD people, Elephant Mountain WMA and it's facilities, and obviously the rams, everything was top notch. I am so thankful for all of the work those guys do along with Texas Bighorn Society and others to put and keep sheep on the mountains of West Texas. It truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

    Shortly after I got the email about being drawn I was directed to this site by a co-worker and reached out to Shane for his experience with the trip. I asked about his hunt, for tips, and just what to expect in general. He was super helpful with his advice on everything right down to a great taxidermy recommendation. Finally, sometime around Thanksgiving I couldn't stand it anymore and tracked down the TPWD project manager to get some information for the hunt. At that time they still didn't know just where the hunt would be, but that it would likely be in March or April. a few weeks later I received another email from them, and we were scheduled for April 15 on Elephant Mountain.

    then the waiting...

    I spent hours looking at pictures of sheep. Looking at mounts. Reading about hunts. Daydreaming. And waiting.

    The next text I got from TPWD came shortly after the COVID pandemic started to shut down the country and my worries were confirmed, the hunt was being postponed, but would need to get done before the end of July. Around mid-May, I was contacted by TPWD and the good news came, the hunt was on! Through a lot of work from the project manager with folks from Austin they developed some protocols for social distancing and protections, and agreeing with that we were good to go.

    Due to the rescheduling my partner wasn't able to make the trip so I cut out of Diboll at 0330 on Sunday rolling solo out to West Texas. I arrived at the facility earlier than expected so I had time to look around and snap some pictures before going to check my rifle. Dewey Stockbridge already had guys on the mountain and one had a particularly good report. A ram that Dewey had game camera photos of near a guzzler had been spotted. Dewey knew he was a good, old ram and wanted to make that our first look on Monday. The scout sat on the moutain until dark and put the ram to bed.

    As you can imagine, sleep did not come easy that night. I was up at 0500 and watched the scout go up the mountain to get set up and find the ram from the night before. A little coffee and a little breakfast and we were ready to go, and by 0730 we (Dewey, another guide Cody, and I) had eyes on the potential target ram and that look from about 750 yards confirmed what Dewey expected, he was a big old man.

    One of the great things about Elephant Mountain is it's accessibility. There are roads all over and up the mountain. This helped facilitate our next move. While out the evening before, the scouts had picked up a couple other groups of rams, with some in the group that sparked interest to Dewey. He called in the other folks out for spotting and put 6 other sets of eyes on the ram, then asked if I wanted to go look at the other groups. Naturally I couldn't pass that up. We left the ram with the babysitters to go up the mountain and once on top they spotted a group of 7 way off and moving fast. I was unable to pick them up with my binos and they were too far away to even worry with pursuing. We left the top and drove around to another area where we could see in to a large bowl hidden from our original view and spotted the group of 20 or so rams at roughly 700 yards. After some time studying them, one was picked out that looked to be older and in poorer condition that the rest, but by then the distance and heat waves made it tough to get a firm idea of his age and size, so we decided to close the distance.

    We drove back up the mountain and came in from above them to about 350 yards and set up where we could get a better look. From this vantage point the potential target ram looked much healthier than originally suspected, and probably younger than originally thought. After a while of studying them, the decision was made to go back down the mountain and make a move on the original target ram from that morning.

    We drove back down the mountain to where we first spotted him and the babysitters put us back on him. He was bedded under a juniper with 2 others, a stud 7 year old and a 1-2 year old. Dewey put together a plan and the stalk was on. Because of the rolling nature of the north side of the mountain and how low the rams had come down, we used the cuts and drainages to close the distance and came up to a spot across from the rams at 260 yards, still bedded under the juniper. I took the time to get a comfortable rest, sat up on my pack and settled in to wait.

    and wait..

    It took 30 minutes or so for the first ram to move. The 7 year old was laying between us and the target ram, and he stood up to stretch. He stood for a few minutes then moved to our left about 10-15 feet to get back in the shade, clearing my shot at the target ram. After 15 or so more minutes, he started to stir and finally stood up. He stood up and stretched. I was given the green light. Unfortunately he was standing quartering to us. I didn't like the shot I would have had, and neither did Dewey. We waited. Finally the ram moved a little to his left, but as the broadside opportunity presented itself, he laid back down for another rest.

    The next 45 minutes felt like an eternity. My wrist and had got sore. My feet were asleep under me. I was out of water and it was 100 degrees out in the sun. I squirmed and watched and breathed. I checked through the scope to make sure I was dead steady and ready for the shot. Then he stirred and the moment I had been waiting 8 months for was at hand. Dewey again gave the green light. I picked a spot on the ram. I pulled the trigger.

    I think a better way to describe that moment is "I jerked the hell out of it". The shot went just over the ram's back. The moment I dreaded, the one thing I was so anxious about and worried about the entire time waiting for the hunt just happened. In front of God and everyone, I missed.

    You ever find yourself is a spot where you mess up and it somehow becomes a blessing?

    The rams left from under the juniper, but having no idea where we were, they ran down into the drainage between us. The first ram up and out of it was the 7-year old. Dewey called him out and and we watched as he came up the draw at about 200 yards. The second one out was the youngster. Finally, the old ram came up out of the drainage and presented a shot at 200 yards, and at 1400 on the first day of the hunt, it was over.

    The ram was judged to be 10 years old and would gross 170 1/8".

    I'll never be able to express enough gratitude to all the people that made that hunt possible. It really is an amazing opportunity. I enjoyed the time I got to spend with the TPWD staff learning about the WMA and the sheep, listening to stories from their experiences out there. In all, we put eyes on 24 of the 49 rams on the mountain. Seeing that many rams in West Texas is incredible.

    As an added bonus, I arrived at the taxidermist in Abilene yesterday to drop off the ram and got to meet Shane! We relived both of our ram hunts a little and I was able to thank him again.
    Attached Files

    #2
    Absolutely incredible write up! What a hunt of a lifetime!

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      #3
      Wow!!

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        #4
        Make that a double-wow.

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          #5
          Great memories were made there.

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            #6
            Great write up & beautiful Ram!

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              #7
              What a hunt of a lifetime and an awesome write up! Thanks for sharing.

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                #8
                CONGRATS!! What a dream hunt!

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                  #9
                  Wow. Congrats!


                  Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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                    #10
                    Great write up. Awesome ram, congratulations!!

                    Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

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                      #11
                      Excellent story. I enjoyed that a lot. I have hunted Mule Deer on Del Norte (archery) many years ago and that is some amazing country.

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                        #12
                        Congratulations on a nice ram!

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                          #13
                          Absolutely fantastic!

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                            #14
                            Awesome, congratulations!

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                              #15
                              Awesome ram! Congrats!

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