Washington Chapter | Foundation for North American Wild Sheep ( FNAWS )

2001 Quilomene Sheep Hunt
by Mike Vincent

Year after year of opening those green cards from the Washington Dept of Fish and Wildlife, I finally received the one that says bighorn sheep, “selected.” The Quilomene Unit, in Eastern Washington, was my first choice and my assigned unit. From Seattle the Quilomene unit is only a 2-hour drive and a 15-minute boat ride across the Columbia River. Having spent some time elk hunting in the unit, I had seen the sheep yet knew I needed more information before I started scouting the herd.

Jerry Tyrell (WA FNAWS) had taken a nice ram in the same unit and was willing to share what he learned while he was there. The close proximity to Seattle allowed for relatively convenient scouting trips during the months prior to the season. Doug Eck, also WA FNAWS member, came with me on some of the more successful scouting trips and was with me when I took the ram. Doug has impressive spotting and stalking skills and his help was greatly appreciated.

By the season’s start, I had seen a lot of rams and knew what the area had to offer. On the second day of the season a group of rams showed themselves across the canyon at about 800 yards. There were two larger rams in the group that needed a closer look. After they settled down in an area that was out of site, Doug and I began our stalk. Working our way up the canyon walking low to the ground and crawling at times, we were able to get with in 200 yards. The two larger rams were standing side by side and had almost identical horns in both length and mass. Both of these rams were as big as anything else we had seen. Doug and I went back and forth a few times about which one might be slightly larger. Before our conversation ended I squeezed the trigger and took the one on the left. Doug’s first comment was “You got the one on the right, didn’t you?” When we walked up to the ram, for a closer inspection, Doug said, “I think you did take the larger one” (I may never know the truth but, I think he would have said the same thing either way.) By this time it was 90 degrees out and getting hotter, so we quickly took care of the ram, and made our way back to camp.

If you draw a Quilomene tag and want some help with your hunt, give me a call. I would love to go again.