2019 New Mexico Rocky Mountain Bighorn

wyflyguy

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Joined
Aug 7, 2013
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109
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New Mexico
I recently got my 2019 NM Rocky Mountain Bighorn ram back from the taxidermist. I haven't posted much here, but thought I would share my hunt and some pics with you to contribute some to the forum. Plus, some may be either preparing for or just wrapping up sheep hunts of their own. Hopefully this serves to stoke the fire for you.

When I saw that I had drawn a bighorn sheep tag I was absolutely dumbfounded. I was floating on cloud 9. I have been on several sheep hunts before, all desert bighorn ram hunts (1 for me - drew a NV tag when I was 17 and a couple with my father who has been lucky enough to draw NV desert ram tags 3 times), so sheep hunting isn't new, but hunting the rocky mountain sheep definitely was. I spent countless hours scouring maps, harvest data, internet forums, etc. for every piece of information I could find. I drew the Pecos Wilderness unit in New Mexico and it quickly became apparent that I was either backpacking in or I was going to have to find a guide or drop camp service to go in on horseback. Without a lot of extra money, I decided I was going to do this hunt DIY. I recruited the help of my neighbor and a brother who were thankfully willing to go along for the adventure. After pouring over maps and satellite imagery I decided on an entry point and made plans to take a couple of scouting trips. The first of those was planned for mid-June 2019. From where I parked, it would be about a 4 mile hike to where I planned to camp right at the tree line and then another 1/2 mile or so up to the top of the ridge. Unfortunately, I was only able to make it about half way there on this trip due to snow that was thigh deep that hadn't melted yet. Scouting was going to have to wait until July.

After some family vacation I was finally able to get back into the area in late July, just a few weeks before my August hunt. The snow was mostly gone by now and the hike went slightly better than I was expecting. The first evening up there I found about 100 elk and 12-15 sheep, including 3-4 young rams. It felt great to finally put eyes on some sheep! I had a lot of fun watching the ewes and lambs through the spotter.
Pecos Ewes.jpg


The next morning I climbed back up on top of the world in search of something bigger. I saw several better rams during the morning, which just got me more excited. About mid-morning I looked to the saddle that was about a mile in front of me and saw several sheep feeding and bedded in the grass. I carefully crept closer until I was about 0.5 mile out, then found a spot to sit and watch them. There were several rams in the group, which was great. As I scanned through the herd I almost fell over when I settled on this bruiser (grainy phone skope pic from 1/2 mile away)!
NM_Sheep_2019.jpg

I watched him for a long time and quickly decided this was the ram I'd be after during my hunt.

I saw a few more sheep, some more deer and lots of elk through the rest of the weekend, but nothing that came even close to that ram. So I headed home, super excited by what I had found and equally worried about that ram being spotted/discovered by someone else. The next couple of weeks were pretty painful worrying about that.
 

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Weak. Targeting a ram that can't see through that curl. :D Looking forward to more.
 
Fast forward to early August and my hunt had finally arrived. My neighbor and I loaded up and headed for the mountains the day before the opener. My brother was coming from NV and was planning to drive through the night and join us by lunch time on opening day. I hiked in, got camp set up and had a few hours to look around and do some scouting for the evening. We didn't venture too far from camp, and didn't end up seeing much. Time to hit the sack and try to sleep (didn't work - I was too excited).
Camp.jpg


There was a fairly large group with horses camped about 1/4 mile from us. At about 3:00 the next morning, we heard them ride by on their way up the hill. I definitely didn't sleep much after that. A couple of hours later, my neighbor and I got up, ate a quick breakfast and started our trek up the hill to cover the 2 miles or so to where I had seen the big ram while scouting. When we got about 3/4 of the way there, a shot rang out down the canyon in front of us. Then another.... then it was quiet. My heart sank as I imagined what the other hunters had found. We crept up the ridge to where we could see down to where the shots came from. We could hear guys talking and rocks rolling, but couldn't get a view of them from where we were. So we continued on toward the saddle I wanted to sit in and start glassing. When we got there, I carefully crawled through to take a peek into the big canyon to the east. To my surprise, I looked and immediately saw three rams bedded about 175 yards to my north. Two were average, but the third was much better. My neighbor, who had joined me to see the rams at this point (and who is not a sheep hunter), was ready for me to shoot any one of the three. He was dumbfounded when I pulled out my spotter because I wanted to get a good look at the horns of the biggest one. I spent the better part of 2 hours watching those rams and trying to decide whether or not I was ready to punch my tag on the biggest one (bottom ram in the photo below). While we were watching them, we heard another couple of shots off in the distance, which made this decision even more difficult.
Rams.JPG


After a lot of thinking, trading a few texts with my brother and others, I made the decision to sneak back out and leave them be. I knew there was another, presumably bigger, ram in the area and I really wanted my brother to be there with us. So, I packed up my spotter and the rest of my gear and we kept moving north to the next big canyon. I should point out that, at this point, I think my neighbor was ready to push me down the mountain. He couldn't believe that I was going to pass up this opportunity! But, to his credit, he said "It's your hunt, I'm just here to help." and let me make the decision.
 

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So we backed out, back over to the west side of the saddle and headed north. After we got to the north end of the saddle, we were able to look down into the canyon to the west and see the hunters who had shot and killed a ram there. I was relieved to see that it wasn't the one I was after. After we had walked another 1/2 mile or so, a couple of guys on horseback caught up to us. They had ridden along the same trail we were following and had just come through the saddle where I was watching the three rams. When the riders caught up to us they stopped to chat for a minute. They mentioned that their group had put a monster ram down and they were headed in to pack it out. "How big is he?", I asked. They were clearly excited by it. After chatting about the ram for a second, one guy pulls out his phone and shows me a picture. I couldn't believe it.....there, lying dead with one very happy hunter, was the ram I had been hoping to hang my tag on. I showed him a few of the photos I had of the ram from my scouting trip a few weeks prior and we confirmed that it was, indeed, the same ram. We congratulated them and sent them on their way.

Side bar - I found out later that there was absolutely no way we stood even a chance at that ram. That group had 10-11 guys, horses, etc. and had that ram dialed in and nailed down. They put together the video below of their hunt if you're interested.
 
At this point I was feeling pretty down. Hunting is full of highs and lows and this was definitely a low point for me. But I decided to head back to see if the rams I had found earlier were still around so I could have another look at them. However, when we got there I found that the horses riding through the saddle had spooked them out of their beds and they had disappeared.

By now it was mid-day so we opted to head back to camp and wait for my brother to make it up to camp. We waited out a couple of thunderstorms and took a nap before he finally made it up, but eventually he made it. We hunted close to camp for the evening, which was unproductive, but the view was stunning.

Sunset.jpg


That night as I crawled into bed I pulled out my phone and scrolled through all of the pics and videos that I had taken of the ram earlier in the day. The longer I looked at them, the worse I felt about having passed up the opportunity. I feared that we wouldn't be able to find him again because of the guys on horseback spooking them out of the area and all of the shooting and other noise of the day. I studied him hard and decided that he would fit the bill for me. If we were lucky enough to find him again, I was going to hang my tag on him.

It was a long, restless night.
 

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The next morning we were up early heading back to the saddle I had sat in the previous day in hopes of finding some good rams. I wasn't feeling great and had to stop half way up to the ridge line to revisit what I had eaten for breakfast (not pleasant). After an hour or so of hiking we were approaching the saddle when I looked up and saw a couple of ewes feeding their way through it. We slowed up to give them time to move off and then slowly crept up to get a look. I went first while the other guys held back. First, even though it made no sense at all, I checked the beds where the rams were the previous day. Unsurprisingly, they were empty. I then crawled a bit further to where I could see over the cliff down into the valley. To my astonishment, there were 7 sheep just below me. Four ewes and three rams. The first glance had me thinking these could be the same three rams we had found the previous day. I motioned to the other guys to join me so I could have some additional input. The largest of the rams was bedded facing away from me. The other two were staring right at me. I didn't need the spotter this time as my rangefinder indicated they were a mere 78 yards away. I studied the big ram for a minute, confirmed he was the same one I had watched the prior day and agonized over all night, and quickly got ready. I decided I was going to anchor him right where he laid as I had a good shot (laying broadside, head turned away - photo below).
Rams2.jpg


Now.....I'm not afraid to admit that I get the shakes something fierce in these situations. This time was no different. It took me a few minutes to get settled into a comfortable position, calm myself down and get ready for the shot. When I was ready, I squeezed the trigger. Boom! You know that sound a bullet makes when it ricochets off of something hard? You know....that "zing" sound? Well, that's what I heard. The ram jumped up, but was obviously still very healthy and trying to figure out what the heck was happening. It turns out that, due to the steep downhill angle and my prone position, I had shot one of those small rocks about 1 foot away from the end of my barrel. I quickly put another round in the chamber, sat up and tried to fight off the shakes that were coming back now with a vengeance. Luckily for me, all seven of the sheep stood there and watched the show. Now I just had to wait for the ram I wanted to get clear of the ewes. After what seemed like an eternity, the ewes decided they had seen enough and began filing away. As soon as my ram was clear, I squeezed the trigger again. BOOM! Nothing. No reaction at all. The shot had felt good and I couldn't believe that I had missed again. He took a few steps forward and paused. Then he stumbled, reared back and went over the cliff.

Pure elation! (except for the fact that he had gone over the cliff - that turns out to have added a lot of suck to the pack out).
 

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We quickly gathered our things and started picking our way down to where the sheep had been. When we got there, we peeked over the edge. It shouldn't have been hard to find him, but it took a few minutes. Finally, we found him piled up in a scree field a couple hundred yards below us. So, down we went to collect my prize.

Oh, in case you aren't aware, sheep don't live in flat country. They don't even live in mountainous country. They live in the steepest, nastiest areas they can find. We were reminded of this repeatedly as we made our way down to where the ram came to rest. But none of that mattered anymore. I had filled my tag!

When we got to where he lay, I took a few minutes to admire him. Bighorns are magnificent animals and they are awe inspiring to watch. Seeing one up close is a special experience. Then I moved around, put my hands on his horns, and lifted his head to get a good look at him. This is probably where the magnitude of the mountain of work ahead started to sink in. That's a lot of weight that needs to be hauled some 6-7 miles out of here.

Didn't matter. I was ecstatic to have him! (despite the photo below, I had the biggest smile of my life on my face the whole time. Maybe trying to look tough for the photos???? I don't know)
RamDown.jpg

RamSideView.jpg


After lots of photos and a few snacks, it was time for the work to begin. We carefully cut off the cape and head and began quartering him out. Then boning out the meat and laying on the flat rocks around us to cool. Then the meat went into game bags and eventually into our packs. We loaded up our packs and headed down the mountain. Since we were already half way down this face, we decided to continue down and out rather than back up to the top. Hindsight being 20/20, it probably would have sucked less to go back up, but that's a lesson learned for next time.
 

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We decided to haul him all the way out to the trucks, send my brother (who was really struggling with the altitude) to get ice while my neighbor and I went back in to pack up camp.
PackOut.jpg


At the end of the day we had hiked something like 16 miles, most of that with very full, heavy packs. It was well after midnight when we rolled back into my driveway. Exhausted, but still flying high from the adventure.

The next day (Sunday) I took the ram to the taxidermist (Paul Gallegos at Imperial Taxidermy in Santa Fe, NM. More on that to come) to cape out the head and start getting the cape taken care of. Monday morning I took the skull into the Fish and Game office to check him in. They aged him at 9.5 years old and green scored him at 184 5/8". 16" bases and very symmetrical. Very few deductions. After seeing all of this, I couldn't believe (nor could anyone else who saw it) that I had passed this ram up on opening morning.

After waiting the required time, I took him in to get an official Boone and Crockett score. That came out to be 182 5/8". I've never been all that concerned about score before, but it was extra icing on the cake to have taken a ram that makes the all time record book.
 

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Like I mentioned at the start of this thread, I just picked the finished mount up from Imperial Taxidermy about two weeks ago. I decided to go with a wall pedestal mount for him. No habitat or anything for now. I have my desert bighorn on the wall here as well (a 13 year old ram from southern NV) and I'm trying to decide if I can come up with a cool way to display them together.

I couldn't be happier with the mount. Paul's attention to detail is amazing. I'm happy to relive the memories of this hunt every day when I see him on the wall.
Sheep Mount 2.jpg

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Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed reliving my hunt with me. He's a uniquely colored ram that's a trophy in my book in every way. Glad I got to share the experience with good friends. I'm extra glad to have had their strong backs to help me get that beast off the mountain!
 
Awesome ram, hunt, and story, congrats and thanks for sharing.
 
Great hunt! Great ram! Great story! Congrats all the way around. Thanks for sharing this.
 
Outstanding. Seeing the other one I can believe why you passed on him initially, glad it worked out on this one, beautiful ram.
 
great Ram and story, I see that the taxi didn't reproduce the large bump on his nose, did you request it or was it up to them to decide?
 
Very cool! Thanks for sharing, this stuff is pretty much all I think about.
 
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