“14-year-old” Girl Harvests Boone & Crockett Bighorn Ram”…. I remember the headline and local TV story well—the big girlish smile that graced the screen and proud-as-punch dad beside her. I was there, but I stood behind the cameras when they filmed. It was her moment, after all. And she—my big sister—had earned it.
That summer, after the once-in-a-lifetime tag arrived in the mail and our family’s shock and elation began to dissipate, helping my sister fill that tag became Dad’s top mission. He started researching the area, talking to sheep experts, and making plans for the fall. My sis, a novice hunter, wondered what she was getting herself into.
September came and scouting trips commenced. Dad spent all of his days off taking my sister to the mountains to look for rams (conveniently, we girls were home-schooled). October brought more serious hunting and I tagged along a few times, enticed by the challenge and awed by the magnificence of the animals we were privileged to hunt.
As November and the end of the season edged in, so too did weariness. Grueling terrain, good rams that got away, and teenage hormones started catching up to the hunters.
Just before time and light ran out during the last week of the season, my sister got the job done with Dad’s shoulder as a gun rest, and a prayer that sent the bullet straight to the heart.
Then relief, excitement, gratitude . . . and a little envy from old-timers who had for decades put in for the same tag without any luck.
But really, I don’t believe that luck had anything to do with a young girl drawing a sheep tag and ultimately earning a place in the Boone and Crockett Club. Turns out that she was a teenager in need of a little toughening, and hunting was that year’s best teacher.