Kohler lands hunt of a lifetime

Last Wednesday, Wild Sheep Foundation member Mike Kohler of Yulee, Fla., was able to cash in on a tag of a lifetime as he tagged a 300 pound, 11 year old bighorn ram off of a 20-year-old Ft. Belknap Reservation tag originally sold to Malta's Babsie Bishop.

"I went to the council and asked them if I could market it," Bishop said. "My wife Toni had cancer at the time and we had some hospital bills. So they gave me the blessing to market it."

The sheer size of the ram wasn't the only thing special about the animal. His horns are likely big enough for the record books.

According to Kohler, the horns have an unofficial green score of 195 7/8, which would make it into the top 80 Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep of all time. The head of the sheep weighs forty-six and a half pounds, which was news to Kohler.

"The gross unofficial score is 195," Kohler said. "Boone and Crockett will do an official scoring on it but 180 is the minimum score into the Boone and Crockett record book and this sheep will score very, very, very high in the record book. This is a serious sheep and I've never shot anything like this."

There aren't many bighorn ram tags floating around because the population has been under attack by a disease, according to Bishop, limiting the amount of tags that are drawn.

"I'm an avid hunter and I've been hunting for doll sheep before," Kohler said. "I was literally sitting in Park City, Utah moving my son and I got an email from the Wild Sheep Foundation."

The Wild Sheep Foundation is a conservation organization based out of Bozeman that helps manage wild sheep all over the United States.

"They saw what was going on with Babsie and their situation and sent an email to all of their members," Kohler said. "Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep tags are arguably the hardest tags to get in the world, especially in Montana because the animals are so large."

Kohler, like many across the country had been waiting for the opportunity of a hunt of this magnitude. Though he was moving his son from Montana State University to Yulee, he only had a short window of time to make the hunt, because Bishop had scouts already scouting the area.

Kohler had received the email on Tuesday, September 13 and booked a plane that night because the team had spotted a pretty nice sized ram.

"I was thinking, okay sometime late in October, I'm going to get a phone call," Kohler said. "I'm driving a U-Haul across Utah and Toni calls and says, 'Mike, I know this is quick but can you come. They've spotted a big one'."

Bishop wasn't sure how big the animal was, and on top of not knowing, the Bishops had never guided or shot any sheep before.

"I'm thinking to myself, they think they've got a nice ram they are looking at but it can't be that big," Kohler said.

Before Kohler arrived on Wednesday, September 14 on an overnight flight, he still had no idea what to expect, assuming the ram would get smaller and smaller the closer he had got to it.

He told Babsie, "I want you to understand, I will do this but I'm reserving the right to say I'm not pulling the trigger. I want to see if he is really what you say he is."

He had doubts and asked what the big hurry was before he got on the plane.

Bishop would explain that Saturday would be the start of elk season, and if Kohler didn't seize the opportunity, the herd of elk above the ram would draw many hunters, that would eventually scare the ram off. Kohler then admitted that it made sense.

"I left Florida on Wednesday morning at 5:15," Kohler said. "I landed in Malta at 2 o'clock."

After he sighted his rifle, Kohler and the crew went up the mountain that same day.

By the time Kohler had arrived at the site, the scouting crew of Richard Boushie and Mark Doney had learned the ram's eating habits.

"He came out and we looked at him for about an hour," Kohler said. "We realized that we were really looking at a special sheep. These guys were not wrong; this was a very special sheep."

Kohler proceeded to make a clean, one shot kill.

"It's really common that when you shoot a big game animal that the closer you get to the animal, the smaller he gets," Kohler said. "The closer we kept getting to this sheep, the bigger he kept getting and when we got up on him, we realized what a true trophy animal this is."

Though the hunt was rushed, Kohler was impressed with the group's approach and the result.

"Everyone on this hunt has been beyond gracious," Kohler said. "They've been beyond professional in their entire approach, very respectful to the game animal itself, which is big. I think sometimes you don't realize is that you're taking an animal and it's something that you need to really have respect for and the people of Malta were fantastic."

Kohler was beyond encouraged by the reactions of locals, who were curious about the sheep after hearing about the hunt.

"Last night we had people coming out in their bathrobes at midnight to be able (see) and to cape this animal so that there would not be any chance of spoilage of the meat, the cape or anything," Kohler said. "I've had a couple of other experiences with Malta and this area back in '93 or '94."

Kohler hosted the Governor's Cup as the MC during his first trip to the Hi-Line in the early nineties. He also had his elk processed in Malta in previous years.

"It's a wonderful part of the world and I'll be back," Kohler said.