NM Barbary sheep hunt

fishing4sanity

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
6,030
Location
eastern Washington
I greatly appreciate Randy's efforts in providing this forum and its focus on DIY hunting, so in the interest of full-disclosure I confess my most recent hunt was guided, if that's a cardinal sin hit your back-button now. In the end, this turned out to be a very challenging and rewarding hunt, one I'm very glad I experienced.

Like many of you, over the years I've applied for many tags and have grown accustomed to rejections a couple of months later. One tag I've been trying to draw for the past five years is a New Mexico Barbary sheep tag. When New Mexico released the results of their draw this past year I received an email that started with a rather unusual phrase - "Congratulations!" The area hunted was BLM ground near Roswell, NM. This was my first time ever to visit New Mexico, I was amazed by how many thorny things those sheep are able to eat and surprised at how tough hiking in that broken-rocky terrain proved to be. I returned home very sore, but very happy.

First morning of the hunt
FirstMorning.jpg
Ram was spotted from here, trust me he's in this picture right at the arrow
TheSpot.jpg
As he lay
Ram1.jpg
Ram2.jpg
Ram3.jpg
Ram4.jpg
My self-reward at the first available DQ
20160204_142809-1.jpg
Too many miles and hours in the truck, but so worth it all
BackHome.jpg
 
Congratulations!! Have been intriguied by the animal myself and hope to hunt it some day. Is the terrain their somewhat flat or are the pictures a little decieving? Seems like you can see for ever!!!
 
DIY, guided or vouchured using an ' agent' - who cares!? hard to beat a great hunt and some DQ!
 
Personally if I ever draw one of these or an Oryx I'm having a buddy who is a NM outfitter/guide go with me.
 
Thanks for the comments. To answer a few questions: Snakes - the area has lots I'm told, but the only warm day was when we setup camp, after that a cold front & hard winds came in for a couple days followed by a couple of cold nights (low 20s) and comfortable sunny days. When the sun sets, the temp drops fast. Terrain - the elevation change where I hunted was fairly mild to moderate, lots of draws/canyons and rolling basins. The broken rock and cat paw thorns made hiking roughly 10 miles a day plenty challenging for me. Stalk & shot - we guessed the ram was approx. 1.5 miles away when spotted, after crossing the main canyon and a couple of little fingers we came out with a great view of the brush where the ram was bedded, but no ram. For an area with almost no dirt, there is a surprising amount of vegetation in spots, as we moved forward we spotted the ram bedded in the sun again just 60 or 70 yards from where he had been and now just over 200 yards away. The gun I used is a 300RUM and 180 grain AccuBonds.
 

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