Our Ram

Big Horn Sheep taken in Teton County, MT by Charles Marlen with his son, Jim.

We have a primitive log cabin along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front where the overthrust edge of the mountains meets the short grass prairie. This has been a second home where my wife and I spent much time while rearing our children. It is also wintering country for bighorn sheep, and our sons know sheep well.

This ram was taken November 18, 1991, about seven miles into the backcountry from the cabin. I had gone in on horseback to stay at Klick’s High Country Camp, which is on the edge of the Bob Marshall Wilderness in the Sun River area. My oldest son Jim, also a physician, managed to take time from his busy schedule in Salt Lake City to come and be with me just for the excitement of looking for rams. He backpacked into the camp two days after I arrived.

Hunting on foot, I passed up a ram in the Bob Marshall the day before he arrived. Jim and I met as he was backpacking into Klick’s camp. He had found rams on the way in and as it became dark, we watched them in the distance before heading for camp.

Mid-November is the start of the sheep rut and the rams appear from places unknown. They move about a great deal searching for receptive ewes. The next day, we didn’t find rams until later in the day and they were younger rams. Then we spotted this ram in the distance and began the stalk. I eased the long muzzleloader on crossed shooting sticks along a rocky ledge only to find a ewe behind and next to the ram. He caught on and trotted off.

We went in the same direction and finally found him again, this time on a vertical inaccessible cliff. We waited. Another younger ram appeared and tried to butt this one off the cliff. Annoyed, this older ram found his way down the cliff into a deep cut and I ran ahead to intercept him coming out of the ravine. When he stopped near the top, I sat down near the edge and put the rifle over the sticks and shot him behind the shoulder. Jim, about 150 yards away with binoculars, saw that the shot had hit the ram and kicked up dirt beyond. Fortunately, the ram topped out and traveled only about 100 yards, fell and died. Jim and I were both excited with the unique experience of hunting a ram with a muzzleloader.

Twelve years earlier when I had my first permit, Jim was 16 years old and helped me look for bighorns, but he wasn’t able to be with me on the trip when I shot my first ram. I wish that this permit had been for him because, his interest and knowledge of sheep has continued to grow even though he has only been able to hunt sheep with his mind, eyes and a camera.

This bighorn is OUR ram.

1991 - Big Horn Sheep - 163 1/8