NM Barbary sheep hunt

[fishing4sanity]

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

Ram was spotted from here, trust me he's in this picture right at the arrow

As he lay




My self-reward at the first available DQ

Too many miles and hours in the truck, but so worth it all

 

[T Bone]

Congrats! They are good looking critters in my opinion.

Let us know how you like the meat.

 

[Southwind]

Very very nice, thanks for sharing your hunt. The DQ reward was the piece de resistance!

 

[hank4elk]

Very nice one!
Snakes out yet?

 

[WestT]

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!!!

 

[putm2sleep]

Congrats man! Those are cool!

 

[putm2sleep]

DIY, guided or vouchured using an ' agent' - who cares!? hard to beat a great hunt and some DQ!

 

[jrabq]

Congrats on the great hunt and fine ram!

 

[hank4elk]

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.

 

[Art Vandeley]

Looks fun to me!

 

[nuevo_eph]

What was the stalking and shot like? I'm curious as to how close you can get and what you used.

 

[SFC B]

Handsome critter for sure. Love their color.

 

[MT_elk]

Congrats! Great looking sheep.

 

[JDH]

Looks like a trophy sundae!

 

[fishing4sanity]

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.

 

[redwoood]

Nice ram! Congrats!

 

[Mica Man]

Congrats on your success and a cool looking critter to boot!

 

[OriginalOscar]

Very nice. Congratulations

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

Looks like a great hunt in some unique country. A lot different than our NW terrain.

 

[Mthuntinfool]

Thats one on my bucket list, congrats!