Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

'Trophy' photo caught end of once-in-a-lifetime hunt

Tim Groves, of Colorado Springs, won the Trophy Hunt contest sponsored by OutThereColorado.com and Cabela's outdoors store.

And as it happens, the award-winning photo captured the culmination of an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime hunt for Groves: a coveted bighorn sheep.

Groves' photo was one of 39 entries to the contest. As the winner, he received a $500 gift certificate from Cabela's.

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest and to everyone who voted. Check the website for upcoming contests in weeks to come.

While Groves lives in Colorado Springs, he was born and raised in Wisconsin, which most definitely is hunting country. He has been hunting for more than 40 years and has always been a bowhunter.

I asked him to share a tip with hunters and anglers, gleaned from more than four decades in the outdoors. He said, "diligence." That's a great trait, no matter your activity.

Then he shared another tip that we can all remember and share with our family and friends:

"My father taught me one of the greatest lessons I ever learned when he used to take my brothers and I musky fishing. We would be so discouraged at not catching any fish and he would tell us over and over 'It only takes one cast to make the whole trip worthwhile.'"

Here it is again: It only takes one cast to make the whole trip worthwhile.

I really like that!

Anyway, I asked Tim to share the story of his bighorn hunt with Out There readers. Writer Scott Rappold shared a story last year about local hunters' quest for a bighorn sheep (you can wait decades for a tag). When you talk to hunters who have finally received a tag for a sheep, they're on Cloud Nine. It's such a special event. And Tim's story reflects that.

Thanks to Tim for sharing his tips and his story, and to Cabela's for providing the gift certificate.

Here's Tim's story about hunting bighorn sheep in Colorado:

I had been judiciously putting in and waiting for ten years to draw a Colorado sheep tag and was finally rewarded when the Colorado Division of Wildlife draw results came out. WOW... I would finally have the chance to try and hunt a bighorn ram, with my Bow!

It happened on the 13th day of a 15-day season. I was committed at that point to spend all daylight hours trying to get within range of a bighorn. I had been very close to a band of 50-60 ewes and lambs, but tried to stay far enough away as to not bother them. There was a small 5/8ths curl legal ram that spent the whole summer with them and I was thinking I was going to have to use my tag for that little guy. I called him "Tinker Bell."

On the evening of the 12th day a 3/4 curl ram arrived. I was walking up to a little basin and saw him almost immediately. I was able to stalk within 30 yards of him and almost took a shot, but bit my lip in hopes a bigger one would appear.

The next morning I cruised on up to the meadow like I had done for almost the last two weeks. I began to look for sheep but could not find any. I moved up a ways and settled in at my favorite rock to glass because it has a great view of everything. I lay on my back with my head against a rock for 15 minutes looking for the herd of ewes. Where were they?

I figured they made the journey to the bottom of the canyon 800 feet below to get water. I had witnessed them doing this on several occasions, and then one by one they would pop up from below to begin feeding once again. I decided at that point that I would go over to the edge of the canyon and have a peek over to see if I could see anything.

I put my pack back on, picked up my bow and took ten steps when I had a feeling. I looked above me and saw a magnificent ram standing on the top of a white cliff above me. He was all by himself and his back was next to the 800-foot, nearly vertical, drop of the canyon. I took out my camera and took a few pictures of him and decided to try and make a stalk.

I backed out of his view, got up on the canyon wall that he was standing on, and began walking toward where I last saw the ram. Trees were blocking my view, but I could periodically see that he was still there. He was looking for the ewes in almost the exact same spot that I had been looking for them!

I needed to be very careful for fear he would just disappear over the edge and be gone forever. I was also aware that if I shot him at the edge he would bail over the side and be lost into the valley below. Even if I did find him down there, I could never get him out without a helicopter. So I just kept moving closer and closer.

I got to the last shrub that separated us at about 40 yards and he saw me behind it. I moved partially into his line of sight and stayed still. Holy Cow! Here he comes! He caught view of me and started walking toward me!

I'm sure he thought I was a lovesick ewe popping up from the valley below. 35 yards, 30 yards, 25 yards. He started angling away from the edge of the canyon and came to a stop at 21 yards. I came to full draw and let the arrow go. It was like an automatic shot. I had been shooting my bow every day for the previous 4 months, and I think I could’ve hit a quarter with my eyes closed at that distance.

The flight of the arrow was true and he spun and headed away from the edge of the canyon and ran into a shallow bowl below me. I sat down as the adrenaline started surging through me. My fingers went numb as I watched the ram. He started wobbling a little bit and collapsed. Oh my gosh! Did that just happen? I sat and looked across the basin at him on the hillside and wept.

Unbelievable.

I have hunted for over 40 years and NEVER have I had an experience like this! I wish someone was there with me to share in the hunt, but somehow it might not have been the same. It was just me and him. He was not the biggest ram in the herd, but he is SO beautiful - 7/8ths curl with over 16-inch bases on his horns. Once in a lifetime.

I am so fortunate to have been able to partake in this experience, to be a part of the circle of life.

The Division of Wildlife closely monitors all of the herds of sheep and determines how many rams and ewes should be harvested to keep the group at its healthiest. Just like a tree, the herd must be pruned to keep it strong. This will keep it at the right population for the available habitat. Over 20 lambs were born that year and only two sheep were harvested by hunters.

I took the lungs to the terrestrial biologist and they sent them to Colorado State University to help study and fight lungworm disease in wild sheep.

Many people in this day and age feel that killing an animal is a horrible thing. Yet all they are doing is letting someone else do the hunting for them. I look forward to the day when I can tag along with my boys when they too may have the opportunity to harvest a bighorn sheep. I will pass on all of the knowledge I have learned in my experiences. I will start applying again when I am allowed after the mandatory five-year waiting period.

It is a tradition as old as time. Humans have been hunting or being hunted for millennia. If it were not for this basic function of life on our planet, our species would not be where it is today.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, our brain helped us get an upper hand on how to be one of nature’s predators. Through the ages, man has continued to hand down these skills from generation to generation. Tribes have formal ceremonies before the hunt, and hold elaborate rites of passage for a boy to finally become a man and join the hunting party. Let us not forget these ways as we progress into our newly formed world of technology and fast-paced existence.