In my younger years growing up in Alberta, Canada, I hunted
Rocky Mountain sheep every opportunity I had. Although I never did get one, I always dreamed of killing a big Rocky. My Grand Slam quest started in 2018 when I killed a Dall sheep in NWT with my son. That is when I figured I better get after it!
Fast forward to 2021 when I acquired a Rocky tag in Oregon. My son, Taylor, reached out to Sheep Mountain Outfitters about guiding the hunt and what they realistically thought we could hunt and kill. The anticipation set in as the hunt date got closer. We had planned a scouting trip about three weeks before the opener, but we had to cancel because of all the fires in the mountains. Talk about being worried! Would I even be able to hunt on August 1st because of the smoke?
Sheep Mountain Outfitters’ Dan and Todd kept sending Taylor and me pictures of rams they were finding. On one beautiful morning, I received a text with some new pictures. They had found a ram which they called “Big Sexy.” My heart exploded! I instantly fell in love with him. Every angle was something so special. Mass, length, flared out – he had it all.
Taylor and I flew out to Oregon on July 30th. When we arrived at the airport, my gun showed up, but both of our bags with all of our hunting gear were MIA. “What the heck are we going to do now?” I thought to myself. The hunt started in two days, we had no gear, and all of my reloaded ammo for my custom 28 Nosler was in the missing luggage. As luck would have it, seven hours later, both of our bags arrived on another flight.
We quickly jumped in a little prop plane and flew over the Snake River country. Talk about a nail biter! The canyons were huge. They were rocky, and cliffs were everywhere. I was getting nervous. Once we arrived at camp, everything began to set in. The scenery was breathtaking. There were over 10 guides with Sheep Mountain Outfitters to help out on this hunt. The morning before opening day, we made a plan. Four of us were going to hike into the area, and two other guides were going to horseback in another way. It took most of the day to get to spike camp where we met the other two guides and horses. We made some dinner and got the tents set up for the night.
Opening morning came, and the hunt was on. We hiked a couple miles to get into position to find Big Sexy. We spent half the morning looking for him but couldn’t turn him up. All of a sudden, one of the guides back at base camp over four miles away had found Big Sexy. We relocated and got in position to try and find him. We started hiking downhill off a cliffed out ledge, and I turned to my right and said, “There he is, Taylor. That’s him.” He replied, “There’s no way that’s him. That’s a boulder.”
Big Sexy was 400 yards below, staring right at us. We quickly identified it was him, circled around a little knob, and had a stare down with him for an hour and 15 minutes. Big Sexy would not budge. He knew something was wrong. He had heard us but didn’t know exactly what kind of threat we were. At this point, I was sitting with my gun shouldered, waiting for a broadside shot. All Big Sexy had to do was turn to the left and walk out in the open. As luck would have it, Big Sexy turned to the right, took four steps behind a boulder, and bedded down out of sight. We had to relocate around to the left and further down the mountain to get a better view. Taylor ranged Big Sexy at 252 yards and said, “When he turns broadside, let him have it. Breathe. You got this.” Boom! Smack! I sent a 195 grain Berger right into Big Sexy. He turned and ran off to the right, stopped for five seconds on a ridge, and right before he went over the ridge, I put another round into him. Big Sexy went down! I couldn’t believe this. I had just killed the sexiest ram I had ever seen in my entire lifetime.
As I made it over to Big Sexy, his horns grew on all of us. I was in shock. His right horn was almost 45" long! This is when I knew we had misjudged him big time. Big Sexy was green scored at 196". I’m now half a Slam complete, and it feels good. I can’t thank the whole crew at Sheep Mountain Outfitters and my son, Taylor, enough. I couldn’t have done it without their help.
Oregon Bighorn Sheep
Fast forward to 2021 when I acquired a Rocky tag in Oregon. My son, Taylor, reached out to Sheep Mountain Outfitters about guiding the hunt and what they realistically thought we could hunt and kill. The anticipation set in as the hunt date got closer. We had planned a scouting trip about three weeks before the opener, but we had to cancel because of all the fires in the mountains. Talk about being worried! Would I even be able to hunt on August 1st because of the smoke?
Sheep Mountain Outfitters’ Dan and Todd kept sending Taylor and me pictures of rams they were finding. On one beautiful morning, I received a text with some new pictures. They had found a ram which they called “Big Sexy.” My heart exploded! I instantly fell in love with him. Every angle was something so special. Mass, length, flared out – he had it all.
Taylor and I flew out to Oregon on July 30th. When we arrived at the airport, my gun showed up, but both of our bags with all of our hunting gear were MIA. “What the heck are we going to do now?” I thought to myself. The hunt started in two days, we had no gear, and all of my reloaded ammo for my custom 28 Nosler was in the missing luggage. As luck would have it, seven hours later, both of our bags arrived on another flight.
We quickly jumped in a little prop plane and flew over the Snake River country. Talk about a nail biter! The canyons were huge. They were rocky, and cliffs were everywhere. I was getting nervous. Once we arrived at camp, everything began to set in. The scenery was breathtaking. There were over 10 guides with Sheep Mountain Outfitters to help out on this hunt. The morning before opening day, we made a plan. Four of us were going to hike into the area, and two other guides were going to horseback in another way. It took most of the day to get to spike camp where we met the other two guides and horses. We made some dinner and got the tents set up for the night.
Opening morning came, and the hunt was on. We hiked a couple miles to get into position to find Big Sexy. We spent half the morning looking for him but couldn’t turn him up. All of a sudden, one of the guides back at base camp over four miles away had found Big Sexy. We relocated and got in position to try and find him. We started hiking downhill off a cliffed out ledge, and I turned to my right and said, “There he is, Taylor. That’s him.” He replied, “There’s no way that’s him. That’s a boulder.”
Big Sexy was 400 yards below, staring right at us. We quickly identified it was him, circled around a little knob, and had a stare down with him for an hour and 15 minutes. Big Sexy would not budge. He knew something was wrong. He had heard us but didn’t know exactly what kind of threat we were. At this point, I was sitting with my gun shouldered, waiting for a broadside shot. All Big Sexy had to do was turn to the left and walk out in the open. As luck would have it, Big Sexy turned to the right, took four steps behind a boulder, and bedded down out of sight. We had to relocate around to the left and further down the mountain to get a better view. Taylor ranged Big Sexy at 252 yards and said, “When he turns broadside, let him have it. Breathe. You got this.” Boom! Smack! I sent a 195 grain Berger right into Big Sexy. He turned and ran off to the right, stopped for five seconds on a ridge, and right before he went over the ridge, I put another round into him. Big Sexy went down! I couldn’t believe this. I had just killed the sexiest ram I had ever seen in my entire lifetime.
As I made it over to Big Sexy, his horns grew on all of us. I was in shock. His right horn was almost 45" long! This is when I knew we had misjudged him big time. Big Sexy was green scored at 196". I’m now half a Slam complete, and it feels good. I can’t thank the whole crew at Sheep Mountain Outfitters and my son, Taylor, enough. I couldn’t have done it without their help.
Oregon Bighorn Sheep