My cousin and great friend, Dusty Seamands, was lucky enough to draw for the once in a lifetime ND Bighorn Sheep tag. Note, this is only a few years after he was lucky enough to draw for and shoot a respectable ND Bull Elk.
He has been putting in the time the past few weekends, driving out to the Belfield/Medora area and scouting, walking, glassing and trying to find the ram that he wanted. With the recent storm on the horizon, he left for Dickinson for the pre-hunt meeting. Friday morning (opener) he was able to get up near this beautiful ND ram and made an excellent shot. Then the work began, as this ram was tending to some ewes straight up a sheer cliff on a small out-cropping.
They retrieved him and the NDGF biologist, Brett Weidmann, met up with them for some measurements. Sounds like it has the potential to be a new state record. Last year's beautiful ram, shot by Shawn Burns, had a green score was 175 & 7/8, settling in at 174 inches after the 60 day dry-down period. Dusty's had a green score at around 178, so we'll see where it lands in two months.
Congrats to him! Cheers to a great hunt and hard work paying off! To all the rest of the tag holders and to the rest of us who will be chasing deer these next few weeks: good luck, be safe, and have fun!
Eric