Whitefish hunter Glen Prestegaard recently shot a bighorn ram ranked by the Safari Club International record book as No. 3 in the world for muzzleloader hunting.

Prestegaard took the ram on public land near Plains during a self-guided trip.

Prestegaard scouted the area, flew over the mountains by helicopter, then hiked with his black-powder muzzleloader for “many days” before spotting a big ram several miles away.

Using a scope and aerial and topographic maps, Prestegaard marked its location and hiked in.

As he approached the ram he found nine all together. He waited for more than an hour looking through timber to identify the largest of the group.

Prestegaard’s shot was from 90 yards.

He then called his sons Kaleb in Whitefish and Thor in Idaho. They drove to Plains and hiked in to the rock slide where the ram was shot to help pack it out.

Prestegaard had waited 30 years for this tag, which he calls “arguably the most coveted tag in North America.”

Bighorn sheep are named for the large, curved horns borne by the rams. Ewes also have horns, but they are shorter with less curvature.