monster ram! | continued from page 9
California desert Bighorn Sheep live in some of the roughest terrain imaginable.
drawn they were as excited about me having been drawn as I was. After several scouting trips I found the ridge line was my number one spot to hunt but I wanted to be sure so we hiked the WHOLE ZONE from the top of the mountain all the way to the desert floor. These scouting trips confirmed that the desert side and the ridge line were going to be the best bet as we always saw sheep there. The DFG required that all sheep tag recipients attend a mandatory sheep orientation seminar, held in October, prior to being given our actual sheep tags. The DFG presided over the seminar, and the Wild Sheep Foundation, the BLM, the Parks Department and the US Forest Service were there to provide us with information. A short history lesson was given by DFG and the Wild Sheep Foundation on how and why we are now able to hunt the Desert Bighorn Sheep that was, until 1986, a “fully protected” animal. They gave us the ground rules of the hunt, where we could hunt in 10 Archery Magazine
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our zones, and how to field judge a legal ram. During the seminar all of the hunters had to introduce themselves and state their weapon of choice. When it was my turn I introduced myself, then, eyebrows throughout the room raised when I told them that this was an ARCHERY ONLY HUNT for me and I would only be using my bow and arrow. Several of the skeptics in the room asked, “Aren’t you bringing a gun for backup?” “What if you don’t get a sheep and it is the end of the season?” I simply replied, “It is archery only and if I don’t get a ram then I’ll just have to eat my tag.” Again, those that didn’t think it could be done smirked and rolled their eyes as if saying… That’ll be the day! Glassing that first ram on my first scouting trip did something to me. I got hooked on it and I couldn’t wait to start my hunt. Two weeks before my zone opened the other zones opened up for hunting and that was killing me! I couldn’t just lay around the house thinking about those lucky guys
so I decided to make one more trip to the desert and hike farther north. As I followed the ridge line north I spotted two big rams. One was an absolute GIANT!! I did a quick estimate and determined the biggest one would score in the upper 180’s or even into the 190’s. After watching them bed down on a knoll I slowly slid out of the area with a BIG GRIN on my face. Yep, I had really found the place to hunt! I told my boss about the big ram and he could see the excitement in my eyes. He knew I had been scouting the entire summer and with the season getting ready to start he asked me, “Are you going to be around for the next two months?” To which I smiled and replied, “I’ll let you know after I get my sheep!” Opening day finally arrived! There was a slight drizzle, a little wind… and I had my bow in my hand and was hunting for a California Desert Bighorn Ram. Four of my hunting buddies would be helping me on this first day of my long awaited hunt. Bill, Doug, and Dave helped me set up camp in a small draw below my favorite ridge line. We then scaled the slopes to the ridge line where we began glassing and immediately spotted a small ram heading south on the west facing slope of the ridge. I decided to hunt north along the ridge line with Doug to the area where I saw the two large rams two weeks earlier. Dave and Bill were going to follow the small ram south to see where it was going and to do some glassing in that direction. Wayne, my fourth buddy, was located about a mile away in an adjacent drainage where he could glass from the bottom up. Doug and I had a two mile
hike to reach the knoll where I had earlier glassed the two rams. However, about half a mile from the knoll we spotted five smaller rams and one was a shooter. I field judged him to be in the 160 inch class. After about an hour of watching them we started the stalk by dropping down the backside and doing some side hilling. We climbed back to the top of the ridge and as we crested, so did the rams. We were busted and they in no time put a half mile between us. By this time it was late in the day, the wind was trying to blow us off the ridge and it was raining harder and coming at us sideways so we started hunting back towards camp. We met up with Dave and Bill on a ridge where they had been glassing. Wayne, meanwhile, had seen a few nice rams glassing from below and tried texting me but due to bad cell service I didn’t get the text until later. Between the five of us we saw 21 sheep that first day. The next day of my hunt started with a little drizzle but no wind. We left camp and climbed the ridge to a vantage point for glassing. Doug immediately found a herd of seven rams about a mile away, as the crow flies, from our location. One of the rams looked as though it would be in the 170 class. Well, the crow was not flying so that mile turned into three miles as I tried to get there without being seen in all that large open country. But with a huge surge of adrenaline it only took me oneand-a-half hours to make the trek. When I got to the spot where I was to look back at Doug, to get a status update, he directed me to come over the top because the sheep were side hilling and feeding slowly toward me. As I crested the continued on page 13
The celebration begins as the crew toasts my success with sparkling apple cider.
I realized this once in a lifetime bow hunt could be very long and very tough... both mentally and physically.
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