I love to hunt elk. Guiding hunts, floats, and fishing are all very special ways for me to earn a living. The difference is that… “I have to Sheep Hunt!” For me, there is no other place that I have found and no other experience that compares. I am sure there are many rams taken each year beside the road, on the trail or next to the river… those have nothing to do with what I am speaking of. In the 80’s and 90’s I guided countless Bighorn and Dall Sheep hunts. We would drop a hunter off at the airstrip (successful or not) sometimes on the proverbial verge of death, only to gather up the next victim and head out again. It never grew tiring, in fact it was just the opposite. “Exhilarating” would be more appropriate. I love every aspect of the sheep hunt. The terrain, camaraderie, the camping, the rocks. I love the rocks. Bighorn Sheep tags became more difficult to acquire through the 90’s and on into the new millennium.

I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I’d be drawn for an Idaho Bighorn Sheep Tag. I’d been putting in for 10 years and was drawn for the 2017 early season tag. I had gone on a successful guided mule deer hunt in November 2016 with the same outfitter, and was so impressed with the operation that I decided to change sheep areas and put my sheep tag in for his area.