Las Vegas sisters beat odds, bag two rams

You might even say it’s just cause for a day of thanksgiving.

For the Hammack family of Las Vegas, today is very much a day for giving thanks, the second one this week. The first took place Sunday, opening day of Nevada’s desert bighorn sheep hunting season.

It all started, as it has every year for many years, with the big-game tag applications Jeff Hammack submits on behalf of seven family members. Thereafter began the lengthy waiting period during which eager hunters, and sometimes parents such as Hammack, wonder whether they, or one of their charges, will receive a big-game tag when Nevada’s tag draw is complete.

Then one day in June, the wondering came to an end.

Hammack went online and checked the tag draw results. There Hammack learned that years of submitting tag applications for his 33-year-old daughter, Melanie Stewart, finally had paid off.

"The first thing I saw was that Melanie had drawn a desert sheep tag, and just couldn’t believe it," Hammack said.

Then, after calling several family members and friends to share the happy news, Hammack received a call himself. It came from his son, who told Hammack that his other daughter, 25-year-old Ashley, also had drawn a desert sheep tag. That call led to another exclamation of joy and numerous phone calls to spread the new news.

Not only had Ashley drawn a bighorn sheep tag, but she drew it for the same unit as Melanie. Both had drawn their second choice, unit 261 — the Last Chance Range. Their brother drew tags for antelope, mule deer and bull elk, but that’s another story of amazing luck.

"Oh, great. How am I going to do this?" Hammack recalled thinking as opening day of sheep season approached. "It makes it a little difficult with two people and two tags. Just getting on a group of sheep and there’s one big one, who shoots and all those decisions.

"The girls were excited. They were anxious because they’re hunters, Melanie especially. She gets really intense, you know, she just loves to go."

When the sun came up Sunday, the opening hours of the 2011 sheep hunt found the Hammack clan in the Last Chance Range looking for a group of eight rams Hammack had spotted the night before. After an hour of searching, they finally found the rams and managed to stalk within 185 yards.

Melanie was in the better shooting position, so Hammack set her up on shooting sticks and moved over to assist Ashley. Ten minutes later, Melanie touched off her shot and dropped the biggest ram of the group. Ashley tried to get a shot at one of the other rams, but they ran over the hill too fast.

For Hammock, the moment was bittersweet.

"In that moment, Melanie was elated, Ashley was upset. That was part of the problem with having both of them on a premium tag," Hammack said.

While the clan took photos, a family friend spotted the remaining rams in a draw about 800 yards away. Hammack took Ashley, and together they stalked to within shooting distance, where Ashley made the 175-yard shot and secured her ram. It was just 11:20 on opening morning.

Hammack said biologists with the Nevada Department of Wildlife aged Melanie’s ram at 8½ years and Ashley’s at 9½. They scored 156 4/8 and 141 4/8, respectively.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column, published Thursday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com.