ltho98
New member
Sweet. Ill be there. Tomorrow? What time?
NM: Desert Bighorn Sheep + OIL Elk
- Thread starter ltho98
- Start date
Sweet. Ill be there. Tomorrow? What time?
grandejuan
Active member
If you have access to a private plane, I'd fly the area before the season. It will give you some ideas where to start. All the other suggestions are spot on. I know how you feel about this hunt. I've drawn three sheep tags, a AZ resident desert and rocky tag and a non resident CO rocky tag. It truly is the hunt of a lifetime. You are now infected with the dread disease called "Ovis Pyrexia" or sheep fever. GJ
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grandejuan
Active member
Teamhoyt, OIL means once in a lifetime. In AZ it means one harvest not one hunt. I know of ONE guy who failed to get his ram who was drawn like 15 years later and was successful. I don't know if NM works that way. GJ
ltho98
New member
Once you are drawn, you are done. However there is a separate OIL for mountain sheep vs desert sheep. So, there's that. However, I can count on never being drawn again... ever.
grandejuan
Active member
Why??? As I said, I've drawn three sheep tags. Never thought that would happen either. Go for it. GJ
ltho98
New member
Nice. Who is the guide you are referring to?
Archie
New member
ltho98;2602974 [B said:
Congratulations!
I don't think your plan is stupid at all, and you obviously have the initiative and the drive to do it, but, dude, this is a once in a lifetime hunt. You will never get this chance again in New Mexico, nor maybe anywhere else. No shame in hiring an outfitter to help you be successful, and to set your mind a little more at ease so you can concentrate on your field craft and marksmanship. It can be pricey but it will pay off. I can tell you I've been hunting for a long, long time and my plan has always been that if I drew, my next call would be to an outfitter. I don't normally hunt the country where those beauties live, so I would be taking no chances.
Whatever you do, I wish you the best of luck. What a great opportunity.
Rich
ltho98
New member
They are taunting me.
This was in taos at the gorge bridge.
ltho98
New member
I've put in about 4 scouting days in so far and i've managed to not see a single shred of sheep or much of any other wildlife.. but then again i've been getting there around 10am to a few hours before dusk and its been 90+ degrees out. Are desert sheep daytime active? Or more like elk where they are active right after dawn and right before dusk? I'm also having a hard time figuring telling the difference between sheep sign and deer sign. I've been hiking to the tops of hills and mountains to see if I can glass them high and low and I'm really not having a lot of luck. Any pointers?
You mentioned cow elk hunters in your first post. Don't expect to see them where you will find most of your sheep. But do stop and talk with them, you are not competing with them so they would give you sightings if they had any. Try contacting a member here named zia and see if he can throw you a pointer, he hauls salt up above timberline in some ranges, he might know that one too. Call the regional biologists and see if they would offer info. Good luck, be in top shape and be safe.
AggieOutlaw
Active member
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
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- 534
Where have you been looking? It's pretty hot lately. I assume they are in shade or near water in canyons to stay cool. Just a guess.
I saw about 30 ewes and lambs on the RG gorge near the high bridge over the weekend. Midday and they were out feeding in the sun. But it was only 85 and partly cloudy.
I saw about 30 ewes and lambs on the RG gorge near the high bridge over the weekend. Midday and they were out feeding in the sun. But it was only 85 and partly cloudy.
nuevo_eph
Active member
Any update on your hunt?
ltho98
New member
You know, I actually wrote a whole story and thought it posted. I guess it didn't.
Well I spent about 20 some scouting days throughout the year looking for these things and I realized a few things.
1.) You can go days without seeing them. But when you do see them you see quite a few of them.
2.) Much of the good sheep country is landlocked in private land... they just loved M mountain and strawberry peak, which was tough for me to access.
3.) My 37 year old knees are probably more like 68 year old knees.
After I spent thanksgiving in california, I came back to ABQ and packed up all my gear and camped for about 4 days to do scouting before opening day. In the months prior to the hunt, I devoted my off time to studying sheep-- I was an amateur hunter that had only killed a javelina by this point. I read pretty much everything that Jack O'Connor had to write about sheep and every scholarly article I could get my hands on. I had these dreams that I would have all the animals inventoried long ahead of time, would have built my own dossier of all the sheep I was going to chase, use a bow, and come opening day I would be bivy camping a short distance away from the biggest ram in the units. In reality, I only saw a handful of sheep a few of those days. In my scouting session pre-opener I only saw sheep one day in those 4. I didn't see anything > 170 ish.
I started panicking a bit but I did a bit of soul searching and reminded myself that, i'm not a trophy hunter, i'm a meat hunter. I felt like there was a lot of competition for getting the biggest and it was really bothering me that I wasn't seeing these giant sheep that people had historically pulled out of the unit. I decided that I i need to keep my reasons for hunting pure and not let the rarity of the tag or the chatter about horn size get into my head too much. At that point I decided that I wanted to shoot something that I didn't want to be embarassed about but not to stress out too much about going after the biggest and the best and to seize the opportunity on a "passable" ram.
Opening day of the hunt me and my hunting partner (the gf- Annie) put ourselves on a range in a box canyon where I had seen a few rams. Glassed the whole day and didn't see anything. Annie is a great hunting partner with an amazing game eye... but she struggles with early mornings.
Second day - Go back to the same range and didnt see shit. Mid-morning I decide to check a few other areas where I had seen a group of ewes prior. I spotted a few rams on a ridge and realized that they are literally right off the highway. I wanted to take a closer look and also get on top of them. I got around them and managed to come down from the top and get within 20 yards of these rams. (Thats annie in the 4runner spotting me from below)
I looked at the biggest ram and I didn't feel like it was one I wanted to take, so I decided to snap the picture instead. The sheep totally busted me snapping the picture and started to get out of dodge. I had seconds to finalize my decision if I was going to shoot or not... so I decided to shoot. Off-hand, poor position... at no more than 75 yards. All the sheep run away, and my biggest fear is that I wounded it and will have to track this guy down. I look for a blood trail, fur, anything to give me an indicator that I hit this animal-- I find nothing. Annie is following the sheep as they are hightailing it miles away from me and she tells me that none of them are limping, looked in good health, and are likely laughing at me. Clean miss. I don't consider myself a bad marksman, but shit... this was humbling. Who misses a shot at 75 yards? Two months prior I nailed a bull elk offhand at 450 yards. I was questioning if I may had knocked my scope around. I'm also kicking myself because if I had my bow... that would be a bow kill I would be proud of. I take a few test shots and find that my rifle (actually, its Annie's rifle... she has a 300WM which is much lighter than my 300RUM) is shooting true and that I just messed up. A part of me is glad that it was a clean miss, but I was really questioning my marksmanship. I scrape up my ego and need to figure out what I'm going to do next. A friend of mine came down from Magdelena to help me glass and I'm grateful. We positioned ourselves on opposite sides of Polvadera and he tells me that he spots a couple of rams that he called "passable". I haul ass to what I think is the position he described. I find the sheep and position myself for a shot that I consider the closest I can get - 484 yards. Probably about 600 foot of that was vertical ascent. I look them over and tell myself - I'll take it.
I pull down the bipod on my rifle and place the bottom reticle on the shoulder of the "larger" ram, went through my mental checklist and squeeze the trigger.
My buddies set up their camera and captured the rest:
[video=youtube;CSxOjj9R7p4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSxOjj9R7p4[/video]
Time slowed down for me in that moment. It took me a few seconds to re-find the downed ram in the riflescope but realized that the hunt was now over. I rolled over onto my back took a long breath, resisted the urge to puke from stress, picked up the rifle and made the long climb to look at the ram.
There aren't really words to describe what I was feeling-- but it was a combination of relief, catharsis, emptiness, and excitement.
Relief and catharsis because this had been so built up in my head for months and months that I was glad that it was over and I didn't have to stress out about harvesting or not-- what was done is done.
Emptiness because I knew that this once-in-a-lifetime hunt is over-- I would never be experiencing this again.
Excitement because well--- I just harvested a desert sheep
I'm very grateful for the opportunity that was given to me and I hope those that do this hunt after me have just as a profound experience as I have.
The best part of this whole experience is the people I've met along my journey-- from the guys at BHA, WSF, the wildlife biologists and the people I just happened to have passed by along the way. The stories and the laughs that we shared along the way will always mean infinitely more to me than the size of the horns.
That said, the ram did score 167 official.
And for those that are curious-- sheep tastes AMAZING.
My mom made pho with the long bones and it was the best pho i'd ever had.
I made frito pie chili for super bowl and my friends absolutely loved it
The backstraps are tough-- but tenderized they make a good chicken fried sheep
... and in good sheep hunter fashion-- the balls taste like-- well.. balls. They had the texture of a hot dog and just kind of absorbed whatever flavor you put them on. In my case, I was inspired by Steve Rinella and just used butter and garlic. Not bad!
The true treasure of this hunt isn't just the head that I have.. but really that I also get to feed my family and friends with this rare meat that few will ever taste.
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WildWill
Well-known member
Awesome. Congratulations one of my dream hunts.
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2016
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- 1,988
Well done! Killer ram
fishing4sanity
Well-known member
Congratulations! Great looking ram and I like that dark color. Any luck with the elk(s)? Next time you get a haircut send me a lock of hair, I'll try a voodoo ritual and see if I can change my luck in this sheep draw thing.
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ltho98
New member
I did! I really slacked off and didn't do much scouting or anything for the elk hunt because I devoted all my time resources into this sheep hunt. But it ended up well. Harvested on the second day in Valle Vidal with a 320 class bull.
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