Sheep Hunting is an Excellent Fitness Plan said Kelly Brost
By Cate Cook

After waiting 18 years, Kelly Brost was finally lucky enough to draw a coveted Big Horn Sheep tag, though he would later wonder, climbing mountains that could cause an infarction in a healthy heart and sliding down rocky banks, what kind of luck this was! With plans to hunt on foot only, and past experience accompanying sheep hunters, Kelly set about exercising and getting in shape, asking a lot of questions, and planning well. By chance, while visiting a local insurance office on business, Brost got to talking hunting with friend and agent Bill Rouse, who had hunted sheep before. He offered his help, and pair started scouting and conditioning at the nosebleed elevations favored by wild sheep. Preferring to hunt with a handgun only, Kelly launched his trip armed with his Smith & Wesson 460, sneaking in on a large ram, which soon caught sight of him and scrammed. The determined sheep hunter made eight more tries with no trophy to show for his efforts.

On the evening before their 10th and last day out, the team spotted the big ram again, near where they had first seen him. Taking a rifle along, Kelly worked in, fearing he had again lost the critter when it moved on. They located the ram, which had joined up with three others in a nearby basin. As they watched them move, Bill advised Kelly to aim for the lead ram, and the marksman put his faith in his Ruger 77 – 7 Mag this time. Elated, Brost still didn’t really know what he had until the team located the ram over the rocky slope below, where they found a handsome nearly chocolate-colored carcass. Caping the beast in the field was an adventure in itself, as the hunters and their quarry slid precariously down the dangerously steep bank with every move. They were finally able to secure the critter, but it took four hours to cape the ram. The job continues with boning out the meat, and eventually meat, cape and horns were loaded onto Kelly’s pack. The value of horses took on new meaning, as Brost stood, with Rouse’s help, and tried to head down the mountain, and a very long five miles back to camp. The hunter notes sheep hunting is an excellent fitness plan also, as he lost twenty pounds during the 10-day hunt!

In spite of the grueling effort and extreme conditions sheep hunting demands, Kelly says he would do it again, every chance he got. In fact, he admits it is more addictive than any other hunt. Proof lies in the common habit of the sheep hunter who seeks the “Grand Slam” – all four wild sheep of North America – Desert, Dahl, Stone, and Big Horn (with Canada’s Finnan sheep – a Dahl/Stone cross, eligible as either).

Kelly’s sheep was a special prize for a number of reasons, as he discovered after it was examined by a Lander Game & Fish biologist. At 13.5” at the base and 31” long, and the sheep still had lamb tips. But the expert estimated the animal’s age to be a very old eleven and a half years. The horn size did not match his advanced years, but the growth rings revealed half his long life was extremely difficult years. And with very worn teeth, the old ram would have likely succumbed to the next high country winter. Instead, he is preserved forever in a full body mount, courtesy Horath taxidermy in Riverton.

This year, Brost was unsuccessful in all special draws, but expects to feed his newfound addiction with a sheep hunt in Canada or Alaska. He prefers a chance to hunt our northernmost state, as Alaska allows handgun hunting. Closer to home, Kelly expects to tag along as his son and daughter-in-law go after deer and antelope, and he may fit in a bear hunt, too.

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