Dall Sheep at 503 yards

[RDM416]

Hey Guys, I just got back from a Dall sheep hunt in the artic circle of Alaska. I was fortunate enough to come back with a really great ram. 15" bases, 37 1/2" full curl on one side, broomed on the other.

I made a one shot kill at a range of 503 yards. The shot was accross a canyon with only a slight downhill angle of .98 cosine, and negligable wind.

Equipment used: HS Precision .338 RUM, Swaro PH 6-24X X 50 scope, Swaro range finder, Barnes 210grn TSX.

The shot came after two very long days of following this sheep through some rough mountains, and a 6 hour vigil waiting for him to move from his bedding spot. He was bedded at 829 yards. Just a chip shot for some of you guys, but I needed him a little closer to feel comfortable with the shot. I hit him right where I aimed, he went about 20 yards and fell into a ravine /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Made it a bit more difficult to pack out, but I did'nt care! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif [image][/image]

 

[Nomosendero]

RDM416
Beautiful Ram sir & no doubt a great hunt. It appears I will
be in your neck of the woods tomorrow morning. Myself & my brothers have a place on Hwy. 16 close to Cove Creek road
that I need to do some work on.

 

[goodgrouper]

Excellent! Two thumbs way up!
A dall is my next sheep unless I get lucky on a rocky hunt.

I am glad to hear you got to take him at a "reasonable range". Some of those stinking guides up there won't let anyone shoot at a dall over 250 yards even if they know the hunter is an expert shot.

Now you have a trophy ram and a trophy shot!

Looks like a 9 year old ram. Did you age him?

Also, did you dial in your drop or use a reticle or just hold over?

What kind of damage did the TSX do? Did you find the bullet?

Tell us a little more about your rifle and load if you don't mind.

 

[Dave King]

Thanks for the post and picture, nice looking ram, I'm sure you're very pleased.

 

[jwp475]

Congradulations that is a tremdous ram for that area A GREAT RAM INDEED

 

[RDM416]

Goodgrouper,
Thanks to you everyone else for the congrats........ It was a great hunt, the best I have ever been on.....and the hardest.

As far as the rifle goes: I ordered it in from HS last spring and only got it in a week before I left for the trip. It is a PHR 2000, 26 barrel with a brake, 338RUM. I bedded the stock, but other than that have made no changes since I got it. I have only shot Swift 210 sciroccos and Barnes 210 TSX through it. Now that I am back and have a little time I will try some heavier bullets. It only shot 1" groups or so with the Swift, but when I switched to the TSX's the groups went to under 1/2" so I stuck with them.

I have a Badger Ordnance rail with Night Force ultra light rings, holding the Swaro scope. The scope has the TDS reticle. Sighted in 3" high at 100 for the main crosshair, the second cross down is 1"high at 500. Since he was almost exactly 500 I did not have to do any estimating.

I'm pushing the TSX at about 3250fps with 93grn of RL22. I did not recover the bullet. It seemed to perform well, although I was surprised the ram did not fall in his tracks but walked around for 2 min or so. I hit a little far back (where I aimed though, for biggest margin of error) but I still caught the back end of both lungs and the liver. This was the first animal I have shot with Barnes bullets of any kind. I will have to take another one or two before I really make a decision on them.

The AK dept of wildlife aged the ram at 10. The outfitter was Mike McCann. I booked the hunt through Cabela's. I would highly reccomend the outfitter.

They also like to limit shots to 200 yards and under. The guide I had was an ex army ranger with some sniper training, so he had some concept of long range shooting at least. I worked on him for several days about shooting long range. I finaly convinced him the 4th day of the hunt. We were looking at a ram he was trying to decide if was legal or not. In the meantime I laid down got my rifle arranged on my backpack, ranged him at 734 yards, pulled out my range card with drops and wind drift numbers. Then pulled out my calculator and punched the cosine number from the idicator on my scope rail. Them promply announced I could kill him from here if he was legal. The ram was a little short of legal, and George just looked at me like I was crazy. I told him to come over and look and got up from my rifle which I had arranged on my pack. He got over and peeked through the scope with my 700 yard cross firmly on the rams chest, took a look at my range card, calculator, cosine indicator, and wind meter and decided maybe I did know how to shoot long range.

As far as the one shot 503 yard kill.........sometimes it's better to be lucky than good /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Buffalobob]

Very nice looking sheep and some tough looking terrain. 500yds in the field is a good shot anyday. Congratulations

 

[Michael Eichele]

Congrats on a beutiful trophy. Your ram has good character.

Below is a pic of my last ram. I am still working on getting one this year. I have a nice double broomed ram I am in a waiting game with right now. Congats again!!

 

[duckinalaska]

RDM416,
Beautiful ram, I'm headed your way in November. I hunt in South Arkansas, and I can't wait. People think that I'm crazy for going back home to Arkansas for some good ol' whitetail. I'll never go a November without whitetail hunting.
Good on you,
Brandon

 

[RDM416]

Thanks, Michael and duckinalaska,

Michael, I hope you get that ram you are after! That's a pretty good boy on your back from last year too!

Duckinalaska, I agree with you on the Arkansas whitetail hunting. I've been doing my homework here and have been watching a couple of nice bucks in the area. Maybe they will still be around when the season opens!

 

[wildcat]

Great shot!!!!! and good looking Ram. My brother-in- law just bought property in Alaska, so I hope one day I will get to go on a Dall Sheep hunt. Once more, great shot. Wildcat.

 

[Boman]

Congratulations!
Sounds like a great hunt and shot. Got any pics of the rifle? Did you use a bipod or your pack as a rest? Did you get a look at the wound channel the bullet produced?
I have had very good luck with the 225gr Triple shock in my .340wby. I think you'll really like that 210gr bullet. I know a number of guys in Alaska who shoot that 210gr out of their .338Rums.

 

[RDM416]

Bowman,

Here is a pic of the rifle. If you look close, the little white dot on the far ridge is another ram at about 350 yards. We spotted this sheep a few days after I took my ram.

I used my pack for a [image][/image] rest. I much prefer that to shooting sticks or a bipod. I tend to be able to keep the butt of the gun more steady that way. Of course, one could use a bipod and place a daypack or jacket under the butt for additional support.

I did not look at the wound channel. I think the 210 TSX is going to be good terminal performing bullet. On the ram, I did not hit even hit a rib going in, so the bullet zipped through pretty quickly. Maybe I'll get a chance to see how they perform on an elk here in a few weeks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif