Plains teacher bags massive bighorn
Members of the hunting group that was part of bagging a trophy size Bighorn Sheep ram last week in the Bitterroot Mountains are, from left to right: Will Tatum, Kelly Palmer, Greg Tatum and Plains English teacher and head football coach Mike Tatum (far right). Will and Greg are Mike's sons, while Palmer is a longtime friend. (Photo courtesy of the Tatum family)
For 30 years, Mike Tatum has been waiting for the chance.
And after three decades of waiting and hoping, he drew THE tag of his dreams, a hunting permit to go after a bighorn ram.
It is a prize that is in the dreams of many hunters. No guarantee the tag will produce a trophy size bighorn, but a chance nonetheless.
So when his name came up for the hunting opportunity of a lifetime, Tatum set out to make the most of it.
The second-term head football coach at Plains High School and veteran 7-12 English teacher, trekked into the Bitterroot Mountains last week and, with his sons and good friend along for the hunt, the huge, full-curl ram appeared in his rifle scope.
It was, he said, the moment of a lifetime.
“It was the most fun I’ve ever had hunting,” he said. “From the day I drew the tag to having my boys and a longtime friend (Kelly Palmer) to enjoy the final moments”.
The ram, which the group, including sons Will and Greg Tatum, quartered and packed out of Montana Hunting Unit 270, was never officially weighed but the animal had an unofficial “horn” score of 177-plus.
The horn score is based on a series of measurements, including length of the horn, circumference of the base, or skull end, and circumference of the horn at different locations.
According to a Google source, the minimum score required for a Rocky Mountain bighorn, the largest of four species of the animals native to North America, to be considered for the all-time record book is 180.
“We are not sure how much it weighed,” Tatum said. “We packed it out in pieces for about a mile and a half. We got an unofficial score of 177 for the horns”.
The group was hunting in an area up the East Fork of the Bitterroot River when Tatum bagged the bighorn.
“It was an amazing day and so good to have my sons and my friend along as part of it,” he said. “It only took 30 years to draw the tag”.