Of Rams & Hornets
by: Kevin Burnell

Heather (my wife) dropped me off down a dirt road about 6:00 am one morning and I started off through the woods. Not to long after that I had to, well lets just say I had to use the restroom, and since there was no restroom I proceeded to squat in the woods. Then came the bees!!! I got stung all over, (and I do mean all over).... Try to picture a grown man running through the woods with his pants down to his knees, screaming and yelping in pain, and waving his arms trying to swat bees.... Well I finally got away from all the bees and finished my business. Then I had to brave the bees one more time while I got my backpack and rifle back into my possession ( which I did at a full run) So here I am stung, stinging and ego bruised, but ready to go up the mountain in search of sheep.

About 3 hours later I was in the middle of the large cliffs and I spotted the sheep. They were about another 2 hours away. But first I had to climb to the bottom and go up another route to get close. I finally got within 100 yards of them and picked out the best ram out of the seven. I carefully placed my shot. My ram was harvested for the year! After I shot I started to climb back down to my pack (keep in mind that the cliffs are anywhere from 45-90 degrees) Before I could get to my pack I heard that old ram start sliding down the mountain. He fell a long way. He just kept going and going until he stopped in the middle of the face. I had to climb all the way to the bottom so I could climb up from under him.

When I got close to him a few hours later he was still a little bit above me stuck on top of a 30 foot cliff, and there was no possible way to get up to him. Meanwhile I am sweating and my butt is stinging like salt in a wound. I tried every mountaineering trick I knew to get up that cliff, but it was not going to happen. So I had to go back down to the bottom again and climb up, around, and above him. That way I could climb down to him. When I got to him I found that one of the horns broke off in the tumble he made, I looked for it but after awhile I realized that hopping around that cliff face was not the best thing to be doing. It was so steep that I had to come up with some way to secure myself to the cliff, so I wedged my rifle into some rocks a tied a piece of webbing around the stock so that I could hang and balance from it while I skinned and quartered the sheep. After about 3 hours I was off the cliff safe and sound with a ram on my back.

The next day I could hardly walk I was so sore and my butt was still swollen from my little dance I did with the bees. But I made it back safe and that's what counts.

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