Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Bighorn Sheep Hunting: Chris's Insightful Tactics and Preparations
Ever wondered what it truly takes to master the art of bighorn sheep hunting? Join us on this gripping episode of the Hunts on Outfitting podcast as we uncover the demanding yet rewarding world of bighorn sheep hunting with our guest, Chris. From the scenic landscapes of New Brunswick to the rugged terrains of Alberta, Chris shares the profound joy he finds in the hunt, focusing on the experience and connection with nature rather than just the harvest. Discover the immense physical and mental perseverance required to claim a legal ram, and why every successful hunt stands as a testament to sheer dedication and hard work.
Gear up for some invaluable insights as we breakdown essential preparations for a first-season sheep hunting trip near Banff National Park. Delve into the nitty-gritty details of gear selection, from spotting scopes and binoculars to the all-important debate between synthetic and down sleeping bags. Learn practical tips on weight management, such as the smart use of Crocs for river crossings and transferring medications into Ziploc bags for efficiency. We also discuss food strategies inspired by goat hunting adventures, offering a guide to keep you fueled and ready for the challenges ahead.
Chris then guides us through the complex process of identifying legal rams and shares expert hunting tactics. Explore the habitat preferences of bighorn sheep, the intricacies of hunting during the rut season, and special hunts like the Cadaman Mine Tag. Techniques such as glassing and the rare use of decoys come under the spotlight, with essential tips on ensuring a ram's legality through careful observation. As we wrap up, Chris shares his excitement for an upcoming 10-day remote hunt and hints at future discussions about his thrilling African hunting adventures. Don't miss this compelling conversation that will leave you inspired and ready for your next outdoor quest!
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this is hunts on opening podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, ken meyer. I love everything hunting the outdoors and all things associated with it, from stories to how to's. You'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast, all righty. Welcome to hunt. Sunday fitting podcast. The only podcast brought to you by arthur's avalanche air horns. How do we get that name accidentally? Don't use them while hiking arthur's. Thanks, arthur.
Speaker 1:I find, as hunters, a lot of us all too often get wrapped up in measuring the success of the hunt by the harvested animal we take. We sometimes may forget to stop and smell the roses, you might say. We can be so focused on getting something that we don't always remember to look around and take in the scenery and the smells and the outdoors that we are blessed to experience. We see on TV shows or social media of people's big bucks or giant bull moose or a five-man morning limit of geese, which is all great, by the way, but with how busy and crazy this modern world is, true hunting success is just being able to get out and hunt. The harvest is simply the cherry on top. This week we're going to learn about one of the toughest and most physically demanding hunts you can do, and that's bighorn sheep hunting. We will go over the entire process and what to expect and what to bring with our guest, chris. Chris does a great job explaining this challenging hunt. He's an average Joe and that's what this podcast is all about. Guys that are just, you know, like you, like me, like anybody, and shows that anyone can do this. And you know, sometimes we have success, sometimes we don't, but that's what it's all about. Hunts on Outfitting you can find us on Facebook at Hunts on Outfitting. Also, if you like the show, share us out and leave a review, if you could.
Speaker 1:Now let's get to it. So this week on the podcast we were talking sheep hunting. Chris, we have a mutual friend, brett. That message he messaged me. He said hey, love your podcast. Are you looking for anyone else to come on tell stories? I said absolutely. He's like the best man at my wedding. So we kind of met briefly when I was at brett's wedding. He's got all kinds of stories. He's telling about your african hunts and he said do you want me to put you in contact with them? I said for sure. So then you know, you and I got talking and you've been on more hunts in Africa and you said where do you want to start? I'm like what have you done? You started talking about sheep hunting.
Speaker 3:I'm originally from New Brunswick that's how I know Brett and things like that and sort of know you through through Brett. Um, and then approximately about four years ago I moved out here to Alberta and I have been living here ever since, kind of in the mountains, and always grew up hunting, um big part of my life hunting, angling outdoors, and once never thought in a million years that sheep would ever be something that I would go after. But then, once I moved out here and kind of got exposed to it, um, I've been bit by the sheep bug and I've been chasing sheep ever since I so I mean, what was that thing you told me?
Speaker 1:it's like a quote about sheep hunting. We were talking before that. The year you start sheep hunting is the year your ram is born that's yeah yeah, it's something like that.
Speaker 3:It's like the year, the year the ram that you end up getting is your first ram is born, the year you start sheep hunting. And I'm I'm really finding out. That's true. I mean, you hear stories of guys that their first time out they they somehow get on a legal ram and and get it done. Um, I'm not that lucky. It's, it's been an exercise and you know, staying determined and and staying hungry for it, but, um, I, I, I, I gotta say it's, it's pretty addicting, even even when you're you're getting skunked which so far I've been skunked every time. Um, I just keep coming back for more. It's a really great time.
Speaker 1:Nice. So I mean, from what I've heard, it's one of the hardest times out there. You're not sitting over apples in a deer stand or something like that, or you're not bugle. I know elk hunts are very difficult, but you can't bugle for them. I mean, there's a show on TV called Sheep Shape. These are really difficult, high-endurance hunts.
Speaker 3:They can be. They really can be. I will say a couple things. There's no such thing as an easy sheep hunt. Anytime that you see somebody with a ram that's been harvested lawfully, it's like it represents a lot of hard work, but you know what I mean. You the chance of somebody being a first time deer hunter driving through a woodlot, seeing a buck getting out like a monster buck getting out and shooting it. Not zero Like it. It happens fairly frequently. People happen upon big bucks thing about yeah, exactly, yep, exactly.
Speaker 3:The thing about rams is, I don't know of anyone that's ever gotten a ram that hasn't earned it. And I don't know, like and I, yeah, I don't know of anyone that's ever gotten a ram that hasn't earned it like that ram represents a lot of hard work there's no like with deer hunting.
Speaker 1:there are guys that put in a lot of time, a lot of hours they're scouting, they're putting up trail cameras, all that. But you know, I've always said before, deer hunting sometimes just really does come down to shit luck. But you're saying with the sheep hunting that there's no such thing, it's just hard earned.
Speaker 3:I think, I think, and I'm trying to remember so a buddy of mine who I go sheep hunting with. His name's Marcus Baranosa. He's an author here. He's a backcountry ski guy. He's an author. By the way, I'll give a quick little shout out Confessions of a Ski Bum. Check out his books, check out his blog. He's the guy that I go sheep hunting with. So he's got the mountain smarts and the experience. Never hunted really before I've got the hunting stuff, never been in the mountains before. So, um, I'm sorry, I'm just trying to stay on track here. Um, sorry, what was your question?
Speaker 1:on that just about. I mean, there's no such thing with the sheep as shit luck it's, it's, they're earned, it's not like. Oh, I happen to just see one like no, no, like you're really putting in the time and effort and hiking and going and yep, it doesn't just happen yeah, and so there's something that he said and I wish that I had written it down so that I would have it, uh for this.
Speaker 3:But there's something he said one time and I said like we're sheep hunting, we're talking about sheep hunting, and it was like you know, if only we could get lucky. And the thing about luck is that you can't get lucky if you're not in the mountains hunting sheep, and half of the battle is just getting out there, and the longer that you spend in the mountains in sheep country, the more likely you are to have that little tiny shred of good luck, if that makes any sense.
Speaker 1:It does yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it's all about getting out covering ground, covering ground with your glass and, hopefully, you know, getting eyes on a ramp.
Speaker 1:So your most important piece of equipment on the sheep hunt, I'm guessing then would be your boots.
Speaker 3:I would say your boots. Yes, the thing is, I don't think you can put it down on one piece of equipment, because it's like the boots are what get you there, but then also the glass that you have, your binoculars sort of they call it like the Holy Trinity. You know your binoculars, your spotting scope and your range finder.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:You know, those are extremely important, but then, depending on on the weather, having a good rain layer, having a good shelter I don't know if I could pick one piece of equipment, but I think that your, your glass is probably going to be the piece that, other than your gun and your bullets, your, the glass is going to be the piece that's most important, because that's when you're looking at a Ram and you're looking to see if he's legal. That's what you're going to. That's what's going to keep you from walking an extra thousand meters and finding out he's not a legal Ram, or like being able to study it, um, and making sure that he is legal. Um, cause if you shoot a ram and he doesn't meet that legal threshold, man, you're toast.
Speaker 1:So what? What is that legal threshold? Let me just kind of walk us through what, what you're looking for and what makes them legal. It's, it's with the curl right.
Speaker 3:That's correct. So here in Alberta we technically have two, but most, most of there's, there's full curl, which means that it breaks the bridge of the nose. So that's a line drawn from. It's like the the ear through through the eye and through the, the nasal cavity, or breaks the bridge of the nose. But then, um, we have what we call trophy sheep and that's the vast majority of the areas here in Alberta, that's, the areas or the areas that I hunt, are trophy sheep. It's they call it three.
Speaker 3:The slang term is three-quarter curl, but most people, I think if you actually ask somebody that knows something, they'll call it four-fifths curl. So what it is is it's a, a line drawn from the front of the base on the ram's head. So if a ram is standing sideways, you're looking at him at a side profile, the front of the base, where it comes out of his, out of his skull, you draw a line and it that line needs to like, if you draw a line from there to the tip of the horn, the very tip of the horn, it needs to pass in front of the eye, okay, and it's the eyeball. It's not like the eye, like the little tear duct or whatever. It's the eye, so it can be pretty onerous.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, trying to determine that. Um, like I said, uh, I'm, I'm. This will be my fourth year sheep hunting. Third year sheep hunting. I think it's third year sheep hunting. Yeah, either way, I haven't sat there and had the privilege of, during hunting season, scoping out legal rams and seeing if they're legal or not. I've seen sheep, but I haven't actually had that specific experience yet. So let me be very clear, okay.
Speaker 1:All right. So that brings me to the next thing. What I mean? You've hunted deer and other critters. What got you thinking like? You know what? I'm gonna go after these sheep so is there.
Speaker 3:It's kind of a hard one, but basically um moved here, hunted like the first fall that I was here, sheep never crossed my mind, even though live in the mountains, left went out to the prairies, hunted deer, had a good time, and at some point during that winter I remember I was, I was home and I was watching hunting videos. And there's this video that I watched of some guys hunting here in Alberta for sheep and I remember watching it and it was one of those shows. It was one of those YouTube videos where it's like self filmed, so it's a lot of the behind the scenes stuff, as opposed to like a production film where you just keep the guys hiking a little bit, they're in camp and then they're shooting sheep, right, and it was like these guys that just hiking with their gear, talking and like hiking up to this knob and like looking for sheep and camping here looking for sheep. And I remember looking at it and for the first time in my life I realized like this whole sheep thing isn't this big mystery that is out of my grasp. This is something that if I it's doable it's doable if I get the correct gear, which is going to be a significant financial investment, get the right gear, get the right knowledge.
Speaker 3:Um, this is something that I could do and that coincided kind of with me, you know, becoming friends with my buddy, marcus, who has all of that, that knowledge of of being in the backcountry and in the mountains and stuff like that, and it just it just took off. It was like, man, you got the, you got the back country knowledge, I have the hunting knowledge. Let's put our brains together and try to figure this sheep thing out. And he wanted to get into hunting and he wanted to get into sheep hunting. That's what he wants to hunt and it's. It's been a really good partnership. But yeah, that's how I got into it. It was just basically watching a YouTube video and I realized it's hard but it's not impossible. Let's do it.
Speaker 1:Such a millennial thing to say. You watched a YouTube video and where you went because that's been on this podcast before how people have figured out information and why they started doing filming their own hunts and things like that, or get into bow hunting, it's neat. They started doing filming their own hunts and things like that, or get into bow hunting, it's neat. But, um, so walk us through. I guess, if you can't your first sheep season, well with the gear, how you went about getting you know what gear you were going to need for it yep.
Speaker 3:So, um, just to take you through. So we'll start with kind of my quick clothing system and then we'll get into kind of like nutrition and stuff like that. So so, and I will say I learned quite a bit about being in the mountains. I got thrown into a goat hunt my second fall here with a guy who's actually he's a guide in BC now His, his name's Grant. So he was, he was and still is dating one of my coworkers and she was like my, my boyfriend's going goat hunting and needs another person. You can, you go. And I was like yep, and I learned more on that hunt than than anything. We he ended up getting a goat. We I helped pack it out. I learned the misery of packing stuff out and I learned a lot about weight savings and things like that.
Speaker 3:So fast forward to the sheep game. First season. We we went up uh, my myself, my buddy, um marcus, and my friend parker, uh, parker thomas, he's actually from frederickson, new brunswick as well, so anybody knows him. Um, we went up this uh drainage, um kind of uh on the edge of banff National Park kind of deal, and when it came to gear I had to get a spotting scope. I got a spotting scope off of a coworker. I got a good one. I had good binoculars, I had a good harness, figured out my next skin layer really well to help move moisture away.
Speaker 3:Got a good pair of pants. They ended up being too warm and I ended up buying another pair of pants. I got a pair of uh, it's the sitka, um, not the mountain pants anyways the ones with the knee pads built in with the suspenders. They were very warm but they were also very good. The knee pads really helped when you're crawling around trying to look at sheep, which basically on that trip we just looked at rocks and we thought were sheep. Borrowed a tent from my buddy, ended up getting a tent the next season. Rain layer and then like a down layer, so like your static insulation for when you're not moving. So your down upper and your down pants. Good pair of hiking boots, merino socks I will say I'm a big synthetic fan, with the exception of two items. I prefer Merino boxers and I prefer Merino socks, and the reason why is they're easily washable in the back country and they don't stink as easy right every everything else.
Speaker 1:For me personally, synthetic all day okay, yeah, I mean, yeah, you hear that a lot of guys are starting to get back into I think. Anyways, wool I mean wool is a really exceptional piece of clothing to wear for hunting.
Speaker 3:Totally, totally. And you know wool it's one of those things. I think that there's places for wool and I think that people will have their preferences. However, for me, I like synthetic. I like how synthetic takes that moisture away from your body. So if I have a synthetic or I have a wool next to skin layer, that merino wool next to skin layer, yeah, it'll get that moisture out and away from me, but it will also retain a little bit of moisture potentially, and just for me personally, I really like how a synthetic I can wear a like an extra skin. It'll take it out through my mid layer and then into my outer layer and essentially it's evaporate my. Any moisture that my body creates is evaporating on the outside. So, yeah, synthetic. Um, a good sleeping bag. I fight with my buddy all the time. I like synthetic, he likes down. So don't tell him. But I'm probably going to get a down bag this year because I think he's right. But don't tell him that I think he's right.
Speaker 1:So imagine too, when you're doing this I mean I've heard of guys doing it for elk hunting Every bit of weight counts, and they will know everything, down to the ounce of what they're bringing in, what they don't need to bring in. I mean, they've really got it measured out to a science just because you are packing a lot and walking a lot 100, 100, yep, um sitting here.
Speaker 3:Uh, I don't go so crazy when it comes to like some people will cut their toothbrush in half to try to save a couple ounces people doing that yeah yeah, yeah, I don't.
Speaker 3:I don't get into that sort of craziness. Some items I'll do, like if I take like I'll take a bunch of pain meds and like I'll take like some sleeping pills and stuff like that, instead of leaving them in the bottles, I take them out and put them in a plastic, in a Ziploc bag. Okay, you know. So it's like I don't have that plastic, right, I'm just trying to think some of the things that I do. One item that may not be on a lot of people's radar that should be is a good pair of crocs and I got a good pair of crocs yep, and I gotta tell you I never thought I'd say it, but for river crossings, or you've been in your boots all day.
Speaker 2:Pardon me I never even thought about river crossings for crocs.
Speaker 3:Yep, you throw those crocs on, you throw them in four-wheel drive mode with the flap down and with the piece around your ankle, and you know you roll your pants up or take your pants off, throw your boots and socks over, you know, over your back or whatever, and you do your river crossing. Or when you're around camp. You've been in your boots all day and you just want to walk around camp. It's a great opportunity for you to throw the Crocs on. Your feet can air properly, dry out, and it's one of those items that, once you get onto it, maybe there's another piece of footwear out there. That's better, but so far I think Crocs reign supreme in the backcountry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the river crossing thing, that's a good idea.
Speaker 2:I always warm around camp and stuff during hunting season, but never even crossed my mind about river crossings.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So if you're out deer hunting and you're like, oh, I want to cross this creek, that's past my ankles, but roll your pants up, cross, you're free to be dry in a few minutes and then you keep on trucking.
Speaker 2:That is smart.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I didn't come up with that idea, that's just something that I've copied. It's still a smart idea, oh heck. Yeah, I'm just trying to think of other little items. I will say, when it comes to food, I think I rock about two pounds of food a day. The way that I do it is the way that I learned from the goat hunt my buddy. He had all of my food laid out. He was like dude, all you need to do is come. So he did it for me and I sort of took that and ran with it as well.
Speaker 3:So basically what I do is I like to have a. We'll start with breakfast. So last season I figured out that if you go to like a 7-Eleven, you can get these honey buns and they're 400, 500 calories, if not more, per bun. So what I'll do is, first thing in the morning I'll have my carbs. I'll eat that usually sitting in bed bang, there's 400 calories straight in. Then I'll eat that, usually sitting in bed bang, there's 400 calories straight in. Then I'll have like kind of a coffee or some sort of a drink, whatever.
Speaker 3:When I get on the go I might eat a chocolate bar or something like that. As I go, my lunch is always going to be jerky, some sort of a big protein hit, so like a like a bag of jerky, maybe a chocolate bar or two, some sort of like a fruit bar, granola bar, whatever, and then in the evening, as kind of that like pick me up reward for the day, big, nice meal, I will have a dehydrated meal. So instead of doing a dehydrated for breakfast and lunch and I will save weight, I'll get maximum calories throughout my day, like pick high calorie foods that'll keep me going with protein and carbs and sugars and stuff like that, and then in the, at the end of the day, I'll have a great big, um dehydrated meal. The brand that I prefer is peak refuel.
Speaker 1:If anyone's tried them, they're delicious so that's so important, right, just getting in what your body needs, because you guys are. I mean, how many? How much hiking would you guys do, average during the day?
Speaker 3:it depends there's been. There's been some days, I think last year. The first day was like I think it was 15 kilometers, which isn't too crazy.
Speaker 3:Then there was like the second day was another 10 but then on, and then yeah, and then it was like on the next day we probably covered like eight, but then on the way out we did like 20, we probably did 20, some just bang like right, we went down the. We went down this river instead of taking the trail. Uh, because the river was low and we knocked out like, yeah, 27 kilometers. This year the the first day we're. We're being very ambitious this year. Um, the first day is going to be a 30 kilometer day, like any way you slice it, but it's not going to be too hard. It's going to be like a kilometer of elevation over two kilometers, or maybe no, not a kilometer of elevation. I two kilometers, or maybe no, not a kilometer of elevation, I'm sorry, 400 meters of elevation, I think my buddy said over like 30 kilometers. So it's just like it's just a stroll essentially. So that shouldn't be too too bad, but just real quick.
Speaker 3:With the food, I will have a bag for each day and I'll number them one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, however many days that we're out, and I will strategically do those, strategically pack them. So, like the first day, I'll probably eat breakfast before I leave early breakfast somewhere along the way. So that day is like more supper heavy, more like I know that's a hiking day. If I know that I'm two days before I get into like sheep country, I'll try to have more snacky foods that I can eat on the go. That those days the last day of the trip, I'm heavy on a breakfast, I'll buy a dehydrated breakfast or something like that, cause I'm not going to eat supper that day, you know. So I try to be strategic that and I try to keep it two pounds or less of food a day with maximum calories?
Speaker 1:okay, yeah, that makes sense. So, with the food, when you start out on the sheep hunt, what are you looking for? Where are you going? What's the area? Like the terrain?
Speaker 3:that's also a good question. Um, it's kind of trial and error. So the first year we looked at these like we're like sheep, like eating grass, here's a bunch of meadowy mountain areas, let's go look there. Um trails, there's fresh tracks, we saw sheep on the way in, and then nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. And what we have kind of hypothesized, figured out, whatever you want to call it, is the sheep are either at that time they were either up really high, like we were up very high. They're up maybe like on the tip tops keeping cool because it was hot or they were in the timber. More likely that they were in the timber. Um, they like to hang out in there. Some sheep, that's all they do.
Speaker 3:My buddy grant last year he shot his first bighorn and he had the assiniboine tag which, um, real quick, is a very special tag in bc. Um, he got the assiniboine tag. He watched a ram go into a clump of trees, the ram that he shot, and then I think he said two days later it was either a day or two days later that ram came out of that couple of trees with another two rams. He didn't know what that was there at all. So they're very sneaky, they're they, um, they kind of do what they want and they go where they want, um, so half the battle is figuring out where they are. And the same friend, the piece of advice that he gave me and it resonates in my ears whenever I'm sheep hunting because I hate how true it is is that sheep are where you find them. And, pardon me, I said that really narrows it down it narrows it down.
Speaker 3:But but it's so true because you could have, like I saw a sheep the other day and it was it down. But the but it's so true because you could have. Like I saw a sheep the other day and it was. It was two in the afternoon, bright, sunlight, warm, and it was just out on top of a mountaintop eating. And it's like why would it be there? I would think it would be in the cliffs keeping cool or in the timber and my buddy was like, well, you would would think that, but maybe it was kind of buggy that day and it decided that it was better to be baked in the sun than get eaten by bugs where it was windier. You know, yeah, but then sheep just do what they want and they go where they want is kind of what I'm figuring out so the sheep that you're after, do you know?
Speaker 1:can you tell a little bit about what, what kind of sheep, and you know just a bit about the animal itself?
Speaker 3:absolutely so. The sheep that that we're hunting here in alberta is the the bighorn sheep, so it's the provincial mammal of alberta. Um, they live, you know, they live in the mountains. Obviously they're mountain sheep. Um, you do get them occasionally in the foothills and things like that.
Speaker 3:Sheep tend to not like the cliffy stuff, like goats, like the cliffy stuff. But I think when push comes to shove they'll navigate the cliffy stuff to get away from predators. But they prefer, like high, like alpine meadows, like nice grass, like sheep or grazer, right, so they they want to eat grass, okay, um, yeah, I don't really know too much more about their ecology. They run in november, um, which the season's closed here in november, except for a couple of very special tags, like the Cadaman Mine Tag, which that's a whole other ballgame man. Cadaman Mine Tag.
Speaker 3:That's probably one of the only examples of, in quotes, an easy sheep hunt, and it's only easy because you get access to a place where these sheep are just in their, you know, unpressured um on this, like mine ground, um, and you get all these Rams that come out of Jasper national park and all these other areas and that congregate there. But the flip side is that it's like minus 30 when you do that hunt. So like, yeah, you can basically hunt sheep and pretty easy terrain, easy training quotes is still nuts, but then the weather's blowing and it's minus 30. So that's an easy sheep hunt, but it's also very difficult.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I guess. So I mean, I was going to ask that too, if you guys hunt them in the rut or not, because there's no way you're not able to call them or anything like that. It's just glassing, is it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so near the end of the season in october, um, you will get like sometimes you get snow up high. It pushes them out. Maybe they're getting ready for the rut in november. They're starting to the rams starting to walk around in places that you don't normally see them. Um, but I did see. There is a video. It's actually in the catamon mine. This guy's got a video on youtube and his guide was using um like wooden painted sheep silhouettes okay and they were getting sheep coming in to these wooden sheep silhouettes.
Speaker 3:That's because there you can basically drive to the bottom of this like small mountain and climb up a few hundred meters and call these sheep with the the decoy. Right, I'm not trekking a decoy into the backcountry thank you very much no no thanks okay.
Speaker 1:So I mean there's, but it's yeah. So there's no calls, there's no lures, there's nothing like that that you could. That would work for the sheep hunt not that I'm aware of.
Speaker 3:If, listen, I'll tell you right now. If you figure out a way to lure or call in a sheep one, patent it to tell nobody, yeah, until you've gotten yourself a Ram and then, and then sell that because, yeah, listen, I would pay you an unbelievably high amount of money for something that would unlock the secret to shoot.
Speaker 1:I can promise you Good business venture for anybody listening and feeling ambitious.
Speaker 3:A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:So I mean it's, it's really just putting in the legwork and glassing, and that's, that's how you're going to find what you're after.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Do you think a lot of guys out struggle trying to figure out if it's a legal ram or not to go after?
Speaker 3:Do? I think that they struggle to find if it's a legal ram or find legal ram.
Speaker 1:Well, to determine if you're looking at one, if it is legal or not, because it sounds like it, it would be kind of tricky I think.
Speaker 3:I think so. There's rams. Do you look at them and it's like there's no question. There's absolutely no question that ram is so legal from every different angle, it's a no-brainer ram. Those rams exist. I've seen them like not while I've been hunting, but I've seen them and it's just like whoa, that's a legal-brainer ram. Those rams exist. I've seen them like not while I've been hunting, but I've seen them and it's just like whoa, that's a legal ram. Then you get rams like you get squeaker rams, which are rams that they're right on the line of legal they're right.
Speaker 3:Just, it's like and and some guys will mess with a squeaker ram, I will never, ever, ever mess with that. There's like there's videos on youtube here in alberta of guys they like buddy, shoot the ram and the boys go up to it and they throw the, the trekking pole up and they're like, oh, like, they're basically thankful oh, he's legal on that side and he almost makes it on the other side. Well, that's some anxiety that I do not ever want to have to have. Um, and then you get these rams that are kind of in the middle and those, like, those are the rams that like, yeah, you kind of want to, you want to look at them. Pretty good, all the rams, you want to look at them.
Speaker 3:Well, right but the, the, yeah, you don't want to mess with that. So I think that if you're doing your due diligence, yeah, you're going to look at a ram for a long time because you want to see them in perfect profile. You don't want to be from below, you don't want to be from above because it can make a non-legal ram look legal. Um, do the tips turn up? Is he thick out to the tips? So there's a thing called brooming. So brooming is when a ram rubs its horn against rocks and stuff like that and you get that. You know when it's thick on the end, you get that bristly. Look, you ever see that. So that's called brooming. So you'll get Rams that that. That broom themselves.
Speaker 3:And actually I've heard stories. I heard a story from a guy. There was a Ram that was Lee. It was legal. I don't know if it was the day like the day before, before the opener or what, but this ram was legal. They watched it. They're like, hey, we know where he went to bed, we'll go get him in the morning. Overnight he broomed himself back and he was a non-legal ram, yeah, so now he's not legal for another year probably it's good uh, survival instinct yeah, yeah, oh not, not even that survival instinct.
Speaker 3:Just well, you know I, I don't know why rams do it. I don't know. I've heard it's because they can't see, or some rams just like to do it yeah you get rams that don't broom at all, or hardly ever um, and then you get some rams that they broom very aggressively and they're like they're old rams and they're just never legal because they're brooming back. So far I guess I don't know, but but yeah, it's quite a thing.
Speaker 1:I wonder if it's like a buck rubbing its antlers on a tree, if they're marking if there's any scent and there probably isn't. But maybe it's just like how a bear scratches on a tree just to mark this is my spot. I wonder if they do it because of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I really don't know. I should learn a little bit more about their ecology, to be honest with you you know a lot more than us, that's for sure um, now when, when you're, uh, looking at a legal ram, does both sides have to meet?
Speaker 2:uh, the criteria are going to be one side. They could, he, he broom one side back, but the other side still be legal. Does that still classified as legal?
Speaker 3:or does both sides have to? Meet yep, that's a great question um one one, one horn has to be legal one?
Speaker 2:okay, I was wondering about that okay yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:No, it doesn't have to be both. You just got to have it on one so he can have a little stub on one side, but he could be a nice big full curler on the other.
Speaker 1:You're good to go oh okay, yeah, so basically what it is like for deer to be called. You know considered, you know you have antler restrictions. Why do you think they do that with the sheep? Just for keep the population for breeding.
Speaker 2:Or is it a maturity thing?
Speaker 3:I think it's a maturity thing. I think it's's like, generally speaking, and you, you will get rams that are exceptional for at a younger age, but I think that it has to do with um, at least here in Alberta. It has to do with you're shooting rams that are um. For them to grow to that point to be legal, chances are they. They probably reproduce. You know what I mean they're. They're, they're of the reproducing age. They've probably reproduced at least once.
Speaker 3:It's a good ram to take. I have also heard and I can't confirm this that it's because alberta wants people to be able to shoot older, more mature broom rams or broom rams. Okay, so you get a ram that he's old as the hills, you know 10, 11, maybe 12 years old, this ram ancient thing. But he's double broomed right back and he's no, he's never going to be full curl again in his life, right? Yeah, well, that's, that's the ram that you want to shoot, the one that's at the end of his lifetime. But in in other provinces or some states, if any place has a full curl restriction which there are some areas in Alberta that do have a full curl restriction you can't shoot that ram. But it's the one to shoot. He's the big double broomer, thick out to the tips, ancient. He's probably not going to live another year, so it gives an opportunity for people to be able to shoot boats.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, yeah, makes sense. So, what are you packing for a weapon on this hunt?
Speaker 3:So before I was borrowing my buddy's 7mm Remag it's a Tikka Tikka Vale Just because it was the lightest rifle that between the two of us we had. This is my buddy Parker. I recently got a Weatherby Backcountry Midnight Edition and I wanted it in 270 Winchester but they were sold out so I had to buy it in 6.5 Creedmoor. I know that that's a very polarizing cartridge, so the Creedmoor haters don't hate me. And then the Creedmoor lovers we'll see. I haven't shot anything with it yet, so stay tuned. The rifle we weighed it actually just the other day. So with scope, rings, bases, the rifle, everything on it, it weighs 6.4 pounds.
Speaker 3:All in, okay, yeah, that's pretty good, yep, it's thin, it's got a wicked trigger, it's got a muzzle brake. It's all about weight savings on that rifle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so do they need you know? I've heard people say, yeah, the 6.5 need more, but do the rands need a lot of power to take down? Like, are they really this thick muscled and thick hide?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, first of all, never shot one. Yeah, however, they're thick and I think they're tough, but I don't think they're overly tough, like I've seen some videos of guys shoot Rams and if you hit them reasonably well, they just sort of like run a little bit and tip over Um goats, goats. On the other hand, you hit one of those and if you don't anchor them good, they'll jump up and they'll go forever and go into some cliffy, terrible place and try to die up there or not. But as far as I know, if you sting a ram, pretty good, you're good, unless he runs into a nasty place and then game over okay yeah, but I don't think they're tougher than like.
Speaker 3:They might be thicker than a whitetail in some like in some instances like a big ram, like they're very thick, um, but I don't. I don't think that they're any tougher than a whitetail in the sense that every animal wants to live and if you shoot them and you wound them, he's going to do everything he can to get away from you and survive yeah, so what?
Speaker 1:what would be their main defense? Do they have really good eyesight? I'm guessing they rely on that more than their nose just the places that they are in the mountains yeah, I their eyesight 100.
Speaker 3:So the thing about sheep is, if you come at them from below, that's how they are used to. Having predators come at them is from below, so they key into that. I've heard that they're less prone to being sketched out by things that are above them, but I think it's like the classic, like they'll find a spot where, like say, they want to bed down, they'll find a spot with escape route, like escape terrain and some nasty stuff so that's nasty clippy stuff close by, and then they'll sit so that they can see everything coming from below. But they can smell anything coming from above okay, yeah you know those classic.
Speaker 3:Like you know, when you get the, the drafts coming down, I think, I think I believe it's in the evening. When you get the, the thermals coming down the mountain, they'll sit up. You know most of the way up a mountain looking down, making sure nothing's coming at them and then smelling what might be coming over the top.
Speaker 1:Okay. Do they have to deal much with predation? Do they have a lot of things that are able to hunt them, or is there just too hard of a meal to really go after for a lot of predators?
Speaker 3:Good question. So I've read an article on this Cougars. From the sounds of it, cougars are probably the number one predator for bighorns. I've heard that birds of prey on the very young ones could be a thing. I don't know. I've seen videos.
Speaker 3:I've seen videos, I guess on that yeah, right, like with like big eagles and stuff. Yeah, um, I, yeah right, I've seen those too. They grab the little like lamb and launch it off a cliff and then then chow time, right, yeah, um, crazy, I think that's on like the really young ones, but like I, I've never really heard of it happening. But yeah, cougars are probably the number one predator. Um, I'm sure that if, like, you'll get bears, like grizzly bears in the alpine and stuff like that, I'm sure if a grizzly came along, it came up, you know, onto a herd of sheep, they might, it might have a go at some sheep, you know, have some lamb chops.
Speaker 3:Um, I don't know about wolves. Like, maybe, if the sheep are down in the timber, if they were caught down in the Valley for some reason, um, for whatever reason they were down there, some wolves might have a go at them. But, uh, I think probably people are probably well, people are a good predator on them. And then probably the environment. You know, if they're in an area that's in the winter and they get too close to an avalanche path and get taken out by an avalanche happens to goats all the time.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 3:I would have never thought of that. Yeah, if you go to an avi path in the springtime, you can usually count on there being a dead goat in an Abbey path somewhere and also a grizzly bear chowing down on it when it thaws out.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just one of those things Like they, just they just get caught in avalanches like like any other critter sometimes, you know.
Speaker 1:Huh, yeah, no, I, I would not have thought of that. Oh times you know. Oh yeah, no I, I would not have thought of that. Oh, that taking them out, uh, so you're going on another, your what would be your fourth sheep hunt this year coming up yeah, third or fourth, like third, third year hunting, but I've been on on a few different sheep hunts now yeah okay, well, chris, I wish you the best of luck in that.
Speaker 1:I've learned a lot about the sheep and really appreciate you coming on and I can't wait to have you back on again because we're going to talk about some animals in a very different continent, in Africa.
Speaker 3:That sounds awesome. Well, I'm really looking forward to that. So I'll be back, I'll tell you about how the sheep hunt. So it's going to be this, uh, september. We're going to try to do a 10 day uh sheep hunt into a very remote area Um, it's all remote areas, but this one's it's. We're being very ambitious. So we'll see how it goes and, if it, if it comes to fruition, and then tell you about that. And then, absolutely, I'd love to talk to you about hunting over in Africa and some of those adventures.
Speaker 1:Awesome, Chris. Well, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3:Listen, it's been my pleasure, honestly.