What's the hardest hunt you've been on? Physically or Challenging.

[SMOOTY]

What's the hardest hunt you've been on? Physically or Challenging.

The most challenging hunt I went on was for the Aoudad Sheep. I hunted on a high fenced 300 acre ranch in Cleburne, Texas. There were about 80 head of sheep on this ranch and it seemed that we saw every one of them but could never get a shot. We were driving in a ravine and I looked up on the side of the ridge and spotted a ram in the cedar brush. We watched this ram for literally 6 minutes before he moved. I was amazed that he didn't move a muscle for that amount of time. When he finally turned his head I realized he was a good ram. I told my Uncle to get his gun ready. He was shooting a 300 mag and shot the ram in the back. The ram dropped in his tracks. I said to my Uncle, "you better put another one in him." About that time the ram jumped up and ran straight down towards us as if he was trying to ram us. My uncle let another shot off into the rams chest and the ram went down.

Later that afternoon we drove up on a herd of 11 sheep in an oat field. I got out of the jeep and put a stalk on the sheep. There were tons of cedar bushes in between me and the sheep so I relied on my dad and uncle to point me in the right direction on my stalk. I finally got within 150 yards and saw the sheep. The ram I was after spotted me but didn't spook. I belly crawled another 70 yards to where I could get a clear shot. The ram had his eyes on me the whole time. I made the decision to raise up on my knees and shoot. I shoot a 270 with 130 grain bullets. I raised up and the heard went into a dead run straight away from me. I shot the ram in the back and he acted as if nothing hit him. I ran to the last time I saw the herd together. No blood. All of the emotions of missing this animal filled my brain. I looked at the tracks in the dirt and realized that a set of tracks went one way and the rest of tracks went another. I followed the lone tracks about 50 only to see he ram laying in a sendero looking at me. This time, I'm no more than 50 yards from the ram and I take another shot. The shot hit the ram right behind the shoulder. THe ram jumped up and ran down into a canyon, up the other side, down the next canyon, and half way up the other side. I'm trying to keep up with the ram because I knew that if I let him go I would never find him. This ram went through places that seemed a rabbit would have a hard time getting through. I felt like a ran a marathon when I caught up to him. He was standing 30 yards away on the side of the canyon and I fired my last shot. He fell to the ground and I hooted and hollored like I won the lottery. After about 5 minutes of celebrating I walked up to my ram. When I grabbed him by the horns, the ram kicked me with his back legs. It felt like someone took a baseball bat and unleashed the fury on my legs. Needless to say, I backed up and let the animal expire. He turned out to be a great ram with 12" bases and 29-1/2" horns. I found one exit hole in his body. These sheep are made of pure muscle it seems. The Aoudad Sheep is the most challenging animal I have hunted to date.

The hardest physical hunt I have been on is my hunt for the Rocky Mountain Elk.

We started up the mountain at 2:45 AM at an elevation of 9800 feet. When we started up the mountain it seemed as if we were climbing straight up. In matter of fact, I had to grab the trunks of the surrounding Aspen trees to pull myself up. Backpack and all. At this elevation, you can only take about 10 steps then you have to rest. If your not used this high elevation it will defiantely take a toll on your body. We ended up climbing roughly 4000 feet which put us at around 13,500 feet at the top of the mountain. We reached the top of the mountain at 7:15 AM. Talk about jelly legs the rest of the day.

Let us know what the most physically challenging hunt you have been on is.
Or maybe the most challenging animaly you've hunted.
Or just your favorite hunt/favorite animal to hunt.

Thanks
Justin Smoot-AAE

[Jason]

Man that sounds like fun...did you get any elk?