1997
Raffle Hunt for California Bighorn Sheep Hunt
By Bryan C. Bailey
I saw the Department of Wildlife raffle tickets for sale. I
figured what the heck. So, I bought two for the bighorn sheep and two for the elk hunt. I
saw the general season drawing come and go without any success and I really didn't have
much faith in my chances in the raffle. But, when I received the call from Olympia, I
thought I died and went to heaven. Now the work began. I started making calls to anybody
that might be able to help me out. My biggest decision was which unit to hunt. With the
raffle tag I was able to hunt four different units Cleman Mt., Se!ah Butte, Umtanum, and
Lincoln Cliffs. I was lucky enough to get in touch with Lee Stream of the Yakima
Department of Wildlife station. Lee was a wealth of information and I thank him very much.
With talking with Lee and by reviewing the herd plans for the four units, I decided to
concentrate my scouting efforts in the Cleman Mt. and Umtanum Units. Umtanum had the
largest herd and Cleman Mt. had only one ram previously harvested out of the unit. The
Cleman Mt. unit seemed to be lopsided on the ram side. This unit was only two hours from
my house. With the season starting in four weeks I needed to get out and find some rams.
I scouted each weekend
before the season started and was seeing lots of sheep. I saw a couple of real dandies in
the Umtanum Unit but the Cleman Mt. was holding some real nice sheep also. On an earlier
trip, I saw a group of rams, in the Cleman Unit that held one real nice ram. I looked for
him every trip after that but never could locate him again. I kept seeing this group of
rams that held one ram that was everything I wanted. He was wide and heavy with the mass
extending out to where he was broomed off. I never saw an older ram that wasn't broomed
.Two days before the season started my cousin Justin Harris and I found him with the other
rams. The rams seemed to be very nervous. They were running up and down draws kicking and
butting each other, not staying in one place at all. We left these to try to find the
other keeper I had seen earlier in the month. After two days of looking and opening
morning coming the next day we packed it in.
Opening morning came with a beautiful sunrise. We started out glassing the first canyon
with no luck so we went to the second canyon. As soon as we topped out on the ridge Justin
spotted one sheep up high on the opposite slope. While we were setting up the spotting
scope we spotted nine other rams feeding below the first one we spotted. With a look
through the spotting scope it confirmed that this was the group that held the ram we
wanted. We held tight waiting for the rams to make a move so we could determine which
ridge we would go down. After an hour and a half the rams disappeared around a fold in the
ridge. We moved quickly to try and intercept the rams on the other ridge. After an hour of
stalking, we still couldn't locate the rams on the backside of the ridge. As we crept down
the ridge we finally found them bedded down on a small flat tucked in a draw of the ridge.
Some of the rams seemed a little nervous and got up to leave. I quickly got down into
shooting position so if my ram decided to get up I'd be ready for the shot.
After waiting ten or fifteen minutes the rams that got up decided it was all OK and bedded
back down. This gives me time to look the rams over again and make sure this was really
the one I wanted. Justin actually got out the camera and started taking a few pictures of
the rams bedded only one hundred and fifty yards from us. After 45 minutes the rams seemed
to get nervous all of a sudden. I got behind my Remington 700- 338 Win. Mag getting set
for when the ram stood up. After all the others had stood my ram got to his feet. After
one shot he fell right back to where he was lying.
This was truly a hunt of a lifetime. My California Bighorn sheep was 7 ½ years old. His
horns were 14" at the base. The left horn was 32" long and the right one about
31" long. Alden's taxidermy in Tumwater, Washington will be doing a full body mount
for me so I can relive this wonderful hunt every time I walk into my living room.
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Chapter, FNAWS
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