Wagner goes on ?hunt of a lifetime?

Salem?s John Wagner didn?t even know he was entered in the contest that won him ?the hunting trip of a lifetime.? Now, he?s looking at a spot in the Safari Club International record books for an aoudad sheep that he shot in Texas, and he has no plans to stop there.

It was just a couple weeks ago that Wagner got the phone call: he was told that a really nice sheep had been spotted near Alpine, Texas.

On Saturday, April 21, he flew there and met up with his hunting guides, Caleb McBride and Clint Hughes.

Hughes is a well-known sheep guide from New Mexico, and McBride is known worldwide for hunting cats ? lions, in particular.

?They said it (the sheep they had spotted) would be in the Safari Club International record book. To break a world record (is) every hunter?s dream,? Wagner said.

It wasn?t only Wagner?s dream, however.

?Every time I talked to my daughter, Samantha, she would ask me if I broke the record yet,? Wagner said.

At first, it wasn?t Wagner?s idea to go on a hunt for a record-breaking sheep.

In December 2010, he saw that his Facebook friend Corey Knowlton, who runs a hunting consortium and outfitting service and books hunts all over the world, put a contest online. Knowlton was asking for video submissions nominating a hunter for an all-expenses-paid hunting trip. But it wasn?t just the average hunting trip.

?It would be the hunt of a lifetime,? Wagner said.

Knowlton asked Wagner if he was going to enter. Wagner refused, citing that there were plenty of people who deserved it more than he did.

However, Wagner?s family disagreed ? and so did Knowlton.

Wagner?s wife, Vanessa, along with the couple?s two daughters ? Kaitlin, 12, and Samantha, 5 ? submitted a video without Wagner?s knowledge.

Then they waited.

Knowlton was supposed to make a decision on Christmas Eve of 2010, but his grandfather passed away at that time, and the hunting trip fell to the wayside for a while.

On New Year?s Eve, Knowlton made his decision, announcing South Dakota?s Andy Meisner as the winner.

However, since he didn?t make the decision when he promised, Knowlton thought he would make up for it by offering a second hunt on Valentine?s Day, 2011: this time, it was given to Wagner.

?I was just sitting at home with my wife and he messaged me: ?You just won the other hunt,?? Wagner said. ?I was shocked.?

Wagner?s first offer was to go to Spain and hunt red stag, but he passed on that trip.

?We don?t have a big house; there wouldn?t be room for a red stag!? he said.

Wagner told Knowlton that he was most interested in a muzzleloader or archery hunt. So when Knowlton mentioned a muzzleloader hunt for aoudad sheep, also called Barbary sheep, in western Texas, it sounded perfect to Wagner.

It was Wagner?s first hunting trip of this magnitude.

?I hunt Iowa game ? deer, ?coons and coyotes ? but that?s about it,? he said.

Scheduling the trip, however, proved more difficult than choosing it.

?It was supposed to be last year, but it just didn?t happen,? Wagner said. ?The timing didn?t work out.?

It was worth the wait.

Wagner arrived in Alpine, Texas, on Saturday afternoon, April 21. Knowlton had paid for his plane ticket and his hotel, and was ready to pay for his taxidermy as well. But after hunting for a while, Wagner wasn?t sure he was going to need any taxidermy work.

The group had set out before dawn on Sunday morning and was in the Glass Mountains for 14 hours that day.

In the morning, they followed a group of sheep but never stalked an animal. The afternoon was pretty slow, but eventually they came upon another group ? and then they saw it.

?This was a 35-36 inch ram,? Wagner said, referring to the length of each of the sheep?s horns. ?It would break the world record. The ?holy grail? of sheep hunting is a 30-inch ram.?

The hunters got within 375 yards.

?I had practiced (with the muzzleloader), so I had an extended range,? Wagner said. ?But it was our third trip up the mountain, and I was breathing hard.?

He aimed.

He shot.

He missed.

?I missed a phenomenal animal ? by about six inches,? Wagner said.

Disappointed, Wagner and his guides moved on.

Just before dark, they saw two more rams that seemed to be a respectable size. Both had their heads hiding behind a tree, however, and the hunters couldn?t get close to them. So they simply watched the rams, and decided to come back for them the next day.

?After that first day, I had gotten a shot at a great ram, and I thought I was done,? Wagner said. ?I was doubtful that I?d get another chance. But I was okay with that ? the experience was worth it.?

On Monday, the group went back out. They saw quite a few more sheep, but couldn?t get close enough to take any shots. A little after noon, they decided to take a break.

?An hour later, they (Hughes and McBride) told me, ?Okay, it?s game time,?? Wagner said. ?We went back to the rim and looked in the canyon again ? we never saw the sheep. These are professional (guides) ? known throughout the world, and we just couldn?t find those sheep.?

The group got in the truck to try another spot.

Wagner estimated that they moved 10 yards, when all of the sudden, McBride said, ?Oh! There they are?

There were two rams, the same they had seen the day before.

They had bedded right below the rim, out of sight of the hunters.

?It was a rush out of the truck,? Wagner said. ?Clint (Hughes) was yelling, ?The back ram is better, take the back ram, John!? Caleb (McBride) was yelling yardage as we went; he also let out a screeching whistle to get the rams to stop running.?

Wagner heard McBride yell 210 yards. He saw the rams stop at the whistle, took aim at the back one, and fired.

The ram went down.

Wagner fired once more, to be safe ? the sheep are big animals.

?When they told me I got him, I started shaking,? Wagner said. ? I had to put the gun down; I couldn?t hold it.?

It was 212 yards straight across the canyon, but by the time the group had gone down the canyon and back up the other side, they had walked about a mile.

?I?d been listening to them tell me how tough these sheep are. All I could think for that whole walk was?boy, I hope this ram?s still there,? Wagner said.

As they came over the last rock, Wagner saw the ram.

?My first thought was, ?He?s huge,?? Wagner said. ?When we got up to him, he was beautiful. There was back-slapping and high-fiving and even tears. They didn?t say much about him until we got back to the truck?just, ?it?s a great ram.??

But then the group measured the trophy.

?When they told me it was likely in the top five in the world, I lost it again,? Wagner said.

More recent measurements have determined that it will likely be in the top three in the world.

?I found out from the Safari International Club that it is at No. 2 right now. It will probably drop to No. 3, but no lower,? Wagner said.

The record for an aoudad sheep is 141 inches. To find the measurement of the sheep, hunters take the length of each horn, as well as four circumference measurements of the horn, and add them together.

?My ram was 139 1/4 inches,? Wagner said.

The horns have to dry before they can be officially measured, so the head and cape of the animal are still with the taxidermist in Texas.

Wagner had planned to leave Texas on Thursday or after he had shot a sheep ? whichever came first. He couldn?t have been happier to go home early.

Wagner is still waiting to see his finished trophy. It will take about six months for the taxidermist to complete the job. When he gets it, it will be going up in the house somewhere.

His wife and daughters are also excited to see it. When Wagner called his family to tell them about the ram, ?They all went nuts,? he said. ?I told (Samantha), ?It didn?t break the record, honey, but it came close.??

He is not finished trying for that record, however.

?I?ve heard that sheep hunting is the most addicting, and I know that it?s in my blood,? Wagner said. ?I can?t thank those guys (Knowlton, Hughes and McBride) enough. I already told them I?m coming back.

?I?d like to go back with my wife and daughters,? he added. ?We?re a hunting family.?

He?d like each of them to get a sheep, too ? even if it means finding room for four of them in the house.