AZ Raffle Sheep Hunt Part 8-Live Pics

Home Sweet Home

Notice the sheep droppings that I am sleeping on

Darr and I had a great time scouting and hunting with Donnie Young.  We spent 25 days in the field and saw over 115 rams and three times as many ewes and lambs.  Our hearts were set on harvesting a Boone and Crockett ram on this tag but I guess it was not meant to be.  Donnie's ram should score between 166-168 but we have to wait on the drying period.  We had figured the ram in the field to be 165-168 depending on where the exact circumference measurements fell.  The ram is 9 years old.  He has roughly 34 6/8 inch horns and 14 4/8 bases.  His 3rd quarter measurements are dang near 10 inches which is uncommon for a Nelsoni.  Even though he probably wont make Boone and Crockett All time book he should definitely make the awards book.  To put it all in perspective since 1995 here are the size of rams that have been harvested on this same raffle tag, 1995-154, 96-156, 97-159 4/8, 98-157 2/8, 99-159 2/8, 2000-155 7/8, 01-163 4/8, 02-159 7/8, 03-123 4/8, 04-155 2/8, 05-?, 06-165 6/8, 07-162 5/8, 08-153, 09-160, 10-154.  So according to the numbers Donnie's ram is the largest to be harvested in 16 years.  Donnie's ram was the second biggest ram we saw during our scouting.  I will post video of a ram that I saw early on but he seemed to have vanished.  The bigger ram was just a touch bigger than Donnie's but definitely not monumental.  We had lots of rutting activity during the whole time period so the rams were roaming all over.  We saw or heard head butting almost every day.

We have had much help along the way since finding out we were going to be the fortunate ones who got to guide Donnie on his hunt of a lifetime.  I sincerely apologize if I leave anyone out it is certainly not done on purpose.  Thanks first to Mr. Donnie Young, the tag holder, for having faith in Colburn and Scott Outfitters.  Special thanks to Kip Fattaleh, Greg Koons, Fred and Mary Ashurst, Clay Goldman, Russ Jacoby, Kelly and Austin Gibson,  Arthur Samora, Craig Steele, Floyd Green, Geof Moss, Scotty Thomson, Terry Henry, Chris Denham, Brendan Burns, Erin Butler, Gunnar Erickson, Velma Holt and Steve Hovik.  Without these folks this hunt would have not been the same.  Lastly, a big thanks goes to our Creator God for creating such a magnificent animal for us to enjoy!

The gear we used on this hunt was a critical element to our success.  We will be doing some gear posts here at a later date but would like to thank: Wilderness Athlete, Outdoorsmans, Swarovski Optik, Kowa, KUIU, Tines Up.com, Montbell, and Leki.

We have lots of material from elk season and this sheep hunt to post so stay tuned.....