TOOLS OF THE TRADE
YOUR COLD-BARREL BET
A BULLET SHOCKS A BORE LIKE HOT WATER ON FROST-BITE. AND NOW THERE’S FOULING. WHERE WILL THE NEXT SHOT GO? BY WAYNE VAN ZWOLL
Low scope magnification yields brighter images than high when you’re aiming at rams in the shadows.
T
he week had brought snow above the Stikine, and long days in a small tent as storms lashed the peaks. Just a day and a half remained of the hunt when skies cleared and Terrell McCombs, with his two guides, struggled up toward a bedded ram. “The steep slope and deep snow made every step feel like 30-pound weights were strapped to each leg.” Then, suddenly, the animal
74 WILD S HEEP® ~ SPRING 2022
rose and climbed. “I had wanted a shot under 300 yards, but there was no hope for that now. I flopped [in] the snow and grabbed Rod’s pack for a rest.” Heaving from the hard climb, he called for the range as the ram neared oblivion on ridge-rest. “It’s 476 yards,” came the reply. Ignoring urgings to fire quickly, McCombs “took two more slow, deep breaths…. Every ounce of concentration was on
the ram….” He crushed the trigger. In B&C’s 14th edition of its alltime records book, published in 2017, the 13-year-old Stone’s ram killed by McCombs in 2007 ranks 70th. Of the top 100 Stone’s, just four had been shot in the 21st century. One long shot, prone over a pack after a demanding climb, has ended enough sheep hunts to root itself as the typical finish. But not all hunts
