I must just have a penchant for being miserable. Whenever I plan my hunts, I feel compelled to find a trip that will strain my physical and mental limits, and then shove me past them. My search for a bighorn ram in Montana’s backcountry certainly fit the bill.
I promised myself that if I ever had the opportunity to hunt bighorns, I would do it the right way. I’d climb high and hunt hard to find and kill a mature ram. My plan was to use horses to pack camp into the backcountry and hunt the high alpine basins on foot. We left the wall tent and wood stove at home, and brought the backpacking gear with no room for anything extra.