A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity turned into a once-in-a-lifetime hunt for a man in Walhalla.

Hunting bighorn sheep in North Dakota is quite the challenge. Aside from the actual physical task of going hunting, only six tags were awarded out of nearly 17,000 applicants. David Suda was one of those lucky six to even get a chance.

“I was actually talking with one of my good buddies about it on the phone and he asked me what I would do if I got drawn and I told him you know I wouldn’t believe it. I’d say you’re pranking me or something. I told him it’ll never happen. And the very next day I get a phone call from Brett Wiedmann that I had drawn and the first thing I had told him was you’re lying, you know, and it ended up being real,” said Suda.

After weeks of scouting the B4 Unit near Watford City, opening day came and went pretty quickly for Suda.

Thirty minutes was all it took for him to take down this Ram, and what a Ram it was. The current record for a bighorn sheep harvested in North Dakota has a green score of 179. Suda’s scored an unofficial 190.

“It was just a world of emotions and to have two great friends there and your parents there, that was really special and something I’ll never forget. And it’s a dream hunt at 22, I don’t know how to– I pretty much topped the scale now I don’t know if there’s anything that’s up from here,” said Suda.

Suda will have to wait until Dec. 29 to officially become the new record holder. Hunters have to wait out a 60 day drying period to make sure there are no changes to the size of the horns before results are final.