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Feature Story Sheep hunter rams way into record book By MARK FREEMAN Scan the list of Oregon's top Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep trophies, and the numbers read like a shopping list for Fortune 500 hunters. Photo from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Bryan Bailey with his record Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. The record hunter-taken ram was shot by a man who paid $47,000 at auction for the tag. Other top rams came with auction tags costing up to $100,000. But smack among them is Bryan Bailey, who has parlayed astounding luck with keen hunting skills and self-reliance to shoot his way into Oregon's bighorn records dominated by big-spenders. Bailey in August shot a Rocky Mountain ram whose horns ranked tops among those taken across North America in 1998. The ram's large and near-perfect horns scored 192 6/8 points, the third highest of any Rocky Mountain ram shot in Oregon. "It's a pretty amazing animal, that's for sure," says Bailey, a 29-year-old grocery store manager in Morton, Wash. But those amazing facts may be the least impressive among Bailey's cache of hunting circumstances. While all the other top rams were taken by hunters who paid top dollar at auction for their tags, Bailey's tag cost just a $10 raffle ticket. The other top rams all fell with the aid of skilled, and pricey, hunting guides. Bailey hunted unguided, bringing along only his cousin. "It's an exceptionally incredible accomplishment that this young man did this alone," says Elvin Hawkins, an Eagle Point expert sheep guide. "This is the biggest ram harvested in Oregon by an unguided sport-hunter." State to hold auction, raffle for bighorn sheep Oregon again is offering one raffle and one auction tag for bighorn sheep hunters in Oregon. The owner of each tag can hunt Rocky Mountain or California bighorns anywhere there is an authorized sheep hunt in Oregon. These tags offer hunting from Aug. 16 through Oct. 25. For the raffle, tickets cost $10 apiece or six for $50 and 13 for $100. They can be bought at point-of-sale license agents statewide. The raffle drawing will be held at the May 15 Oregon Hunters Association state banquet in Bend. The auction tag will go to the highest bidder during the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep convention Feb. 20 in Reno. In both cases, anyone who previously has held any Oregon bighorn sheep tag is ineligible. The raffle and auction programs have raised about $880,000 for Oregon bighorn sheep management since the programs began in 1987. For more information on the auction tag, telephone the foundation at 307-527-6261. And it's also a big case of deja-vu. Bailey did the same thing in 1997, bagging a California bighorn ram while hunting with a $10 tag he won in a raffle in his native Washington. That's two state raffles, two tags, two unguided hunts-of-a-lifetime, and two bighorns. "It's like winning two straight lotteries in two different states," Hawkins says. And if all that's not enough to twist your horns, consider this: Hawkins is convinced Bailey's ram is a grandson of the famous "Scarface," Oregon's top-ever ram that died from natural causes in 1987. Bailey shot his ram two miles from the Hurricane Divide area of Northeast Oregon where Scarface -- also known as Spot -- was found dead, Hawkins says. "As a sheep enthusiast who follows this very closely, I'm 99 percent sure he'd be a grandson of Spot," Hawkins says. "I'd put my reputation on it." Added together, this improbable mix of luck, hunting skill and link to bighorn history makes Bailey's reputation as perhaps the best of all lucky Oregon sheep hunters. "When you put it all together, it does kind of blow my mind," Bailey says. "It's unbelievable." Bailey's string of luck began in 1997, when he bought two $10 tickets for Washington's raffle of a bighorn sheep tag and won. Hunting unguided and just a few hours from his Yakima-area home, he bagged a "respectable" California bighorn whose horns scored 155 points -- enough to make the Washington state record books. While attending a sportsmen's show in Portland last January, he picked up an Oregon hunting synopsis. Eyeing the Oregon bighorn raffle drawing, he bought a six-ticket package for $50. Like many states, Oregon raffles and auctions one tag each as a fund-raiser for bighorn sheep- management programs. The 1998 auction tag went to a Colorado man for $59,000. In the raffle drawing, Bailey's ticket was chosen from the 1,787 tickets sold. "I guess I can only be lucky at one thing," Bailey says. "But that's OK." Unable to afford a guide, Bailey again chose to hunt with just his cousin, Justin Harris, along for help. Hawkins and Bailey began corresponding, with Hawkins steering Bailey to the Hurricane Divide area where Hawkins knew of some big rams. After several scouting trips and plenty of telephone calls, Bailey and Harris backpacked into the rugged back-country three days before the Aug. 16 hunt start. They were after Ram No. 46 -- a large ram once ear-tagged by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "I didn't want just another ram," he says. "I wanted the biggest one I could find." On the night before the season began, Bailey skipped an afternoon nap to scout one last ridge before nightfall. And there, while sitting on a rock scanning a cliff face, he spied Ram No. 46. He watched for two hours before No. 46 and five other rams bedded down for the evening near Billy Jones Lake. That next morning -- opening day for the raffle tag -- Bailey hiked into the area and began sneaking in from 600 yards when he made a near-fatal mistake. "They saw me move, and they took off right up this vertical ledge," Bailey says. Having surveyed the terrain, he figured the rams were headed toward a nearby lake. Bailey took a short-cut through a slice in the ridge rock, hoping to head off the rams. Luckily, he did. Spying the rams along a draw, he raised his Remington .338 Magnum for a 300-yard shot. "They were too far, I figured," Bailey says. "But I figured this was now or never. I didn't know when I would pick them up again." His first bullet ran through the ram's abdomen. But Bailey saw only a puff of dust behind the animal, so he thought he'd missed. The ram hopped forward, turned and stared right at him. The second shot ended it all. No. 46 was his, and the improbable back-to-back raffle saga was complete. "I was shaking so bad I had to sit down and relax," Bailey says. As he hiked over to the fallen ram, the other five rams just watched -- almost in amazement at Bailey's feat. Not until he was within 35 yards of them did the remaining rams flee. Last fall, Hawkins scored the near-perfect horns, deducting only four-eighths of a point for imperfections. Upon inspection, Hawkins figures the genes inherited from Scarface gave the animal its massive, wonderful antlers. And seeing them go to someone like Bailey helps emphasize how sometimes luck and skill are more important than money to bag two rams in separate hunts-of-a-lifetime. "I guess what this all says is that us guys who are common folk can draw a tag and still harvest, in the state of Oregon, a true world-class ram," Hawkins says. "It's now a proven fact." (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470.) Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA