My Oregon Bighorn Sheep

The hunt's over.  It all happened really fast.  My dad and I walked eight miles onto the end of a ridge the day before season and did our scouting from there, spotting some rams in a really terrible place to get to.  The next morning, after a minimally-prepared camp, the rams moved our direction and I was able to intercept them and make a 300 yard downhill shot on this ram:

 

[This is what the country looked like where I killed my ram]

[We had to check the ram in with a biologist within 72 hours of the kill.  He drilled a hole (above) and inserted a plug (below) that confirms the ram as having come from Oregon.  He also saved the shavings from the drilling and will send them to a lab where they will be kept for DNA evidence that the ram is linked with me.  Ram heads are worth serious money (he said $50-60,000 for a big one) so this DNA may be important in the case of a stolen head.]

[ODF 525]

[The ram was measured at 181 6/8 inches, or 1 6/8 inches over the minimum to make the all-time record book.  Unfortunately that's not the final call, as this biologist is not an official measurer and the horns have to go through a 60-day drying period first.  But either way - whether it makes it into the Boone and Crockett record book or not, it is a real nice ram and I am quite pleased with it.  He is really beautiful.]