Hunting New Mexico Bighorn Sheep: Lessons Only Learned Once in a Lifetime
This October, I loaded up my truck and headed for the Hatchet Mountains located in southwestern New Mexico to meet my boyfriend for a once in a lifetime desert bighorn sheep hunt. Bighorn sheep densities are low compared to other big game animals, therefore drawing a tag is very difficult. He spent time scouting before the hunt and now it was game time. We were lucky enough to have both our dads and my brother join us. This hunt led to quite the adventure and several rewarding lessons.
We were able to scout several weeks ahead of the hunt. Despite putting days in behind glass, we failed to locate any substantial sheep. From surveys and reports from fellow hunters, we knew they were there but were coming up empty handed. If the sheep were there, why weren't we finding them? As the hunt progressed and we located more and more sheep, we learned there is such a thing as glassing too hard and we were guilty of it. During scouting trips, we spent a great deal of time searching through hillsides with a fine-tooth comb. We had an idea of where the sheep would be, and we poured all our energy into picking those bluffs, hills and ledges apart. Glassing those small areas so intensely kept us from looking over a much greater area. When we finally started seeing sheep, we found them on ridges, at the bases of hillsides and everywhere in between. Nine times out of ten if they weren't on one hill they were on the next. We learned, the key to locating animals is not to scour the spots that look right, but to make a quick scan of everything you can see and then move on.
Another useful and quick glassing technique I learned is to constantly scan the skylines. Bighorn sheep are known for always being above you and the contrast of their silhouette against the blue sky is easy to look for. The first sheep I spotted during scouting was scanning a skyline to see a ewe and a lamb, ultimately this is how I would spot the ram James ended up harvesting.
Opening day dawned and I glassed up a herd of bighorns with ewes, lambs and most importantly multiple rams. The herd had a ewe in heat (it is not uncommon for desert bighorn sheep to come into estrus any time of year) and the rams were not straying far. James wanted to take his ram with a bow but had a rifle in camp just in case. A mature ram was apparent in the herd and the next day James made a stalk on him. He was able to close the distance, but no shot opportunity presented itself that he was comfortable with. The ram and his ewe spotted James and took off down the mountain and out of sight. My Dad decided to name this ram Pretty Boy for his mass and non-chipped horns.
One of the major things James and I struggled with was judging rams. Few of us get to casually check out trophy sheep from time to time the way we often see a bull elk grazing in a field, or some dandy mule deer buck eating the neighbor’s flowers. We were lucky to have my dad and brother join us for part of the hunt. Both have been successful on their own desert bighorn sheep hunts and they taught us essential techniques to better analyze rams. Part of what makes sheep difficult is that there just isn’t as much about them to judge. With deer and elk, you analyze width, main beams, mass and each individual tine. With bighorn sheep, you look at one simple curling horn on each side.
Many quality guides on judging rams can be found online and their authors have much more experience than I do, so I won’t try to teach you how to judge a ram, but share some of the points that we found particularly helpful. Sheep are so special and unique that each one we found looked impressive. The only thing that made any ram not look like a trophy was a bigger ram standing next to it. This simple truth makes solo rams dangerous for someone concerned with size. Fortunately, during our hunt rams were still pursuing ewes and we had occasions where eight rams were in one herd. This enabled us to determine which rams were truly significant. One thing James found particularly helpful for keying into mature rams at a glance was body size and shape. Older rams develop a bit of a gut, oftentimes with hips that protrude a little and even a drooping “swayback'', like an old horse. These bodily features were sometimes more conspicuous than horns on obscured or distant sheep and helped to identify sheep that needed closer inspection.
Knowing this was a once in a lifetime hunt made James want to be sure of his shot and want to take home the ram that he would be proud of. Over the next eleven days, many miles were hiked, and a range of inclement weather was endured. James made several stalks, closing the distance to under 100 yards several times, but instances of swirling winds and vanishing herds left us empty handed.
We showed up prepared for both weather and long days in physically challenging terrain. Although preparedness isn’t a new lesson for us, or our readers, it is a lesson worth reiterating. We were hunting the desert southwest, but still experienced the snow, freezing temperatures and heavy fog you would expect to encounter hunting the northern “thin horned” cousins of our quarry. Fortunately, we had come ready for everything with clothes ranging from shorts and t-shirts to heavy jackets and gloves and we wore every bit of them.
Prior to the hunt, James and I worked to get into “Sheep Shape.” We hiked with weighted packs, ran and strength trained. Had we not trained, we could never have chased sheep day after day. Being this active was inevitable, which made it vital to maintain our hydration and nutrition. We did this with a constant flow of jerky, packaged tuna, dehydrated fruit, water and electrolytes among other things, as well as more robust meals for breakfast and dinner.
By day 13 of the 15 day hunt, James had opted to carry his rifle. That morning, we found a herd of 20 sheep. We glassed the herd thoroughly but couldn’t come up with any mature rams. James and I decided to leave these animals and begin looking for others. Glancing upwards at a skylined saddle, something caught my eye. Looking closer with my binoculars I found two silhouettes in the open. No mistaking them, new sheep were surveying our area, not just sheep but rams, not just any rams either, big rams.
James decided very quickly to pursue them. The problem was they had started moving quickly along the ridge above us like they were on a mission. James dropped into a small draw leading
to the saddle that the two rams seemed to be moving toward. In the bottom, he could move quickly without being seen, but there was no way for him to know if he could make it to the saddle before the rams. Nervous, tired and with burning lungs, he decided to climb to a vantage point to try to relocate them. Rifle in hand, he reached a high point and spotted the two rams in the saddle above him. They were still moving steadily and soon would be behind a substantial ridge. He was determined not to risk letting them out of his sight again. He rested his rifle between the trunk of a piñon tree and a sturdy branch, ranging the sheep at 479 yards. A few more steps, a short pause, trigger squeeze, James had his once in a lifetime desert bighorn sheep. As we made our way to the downed ram, we realized it was Pretty Boy.
Helping James on his hunt this fall was an unforgettable experience which strengthened me as a hunter. One of the many sayings about sheep hunting is that you don’t hunt sheep, you experience them. Well this truly was an experience that I learned from. Ironically, I had a fleeting thought about how rewarding it was to learn this unit and locate sheep. I couldn't wait to do it again next year. Unfortunately, there is no next year with sheep hunting. When you go on a sheep hunt, whether it is yours or someone else's, take everything in. When you are preparing for a sheep hunt don’t leave anything out. Some hunts take one day, and some take longer, but each moment spent out on the landscape is one to remember and cherish forever.
Written by co-founder Kristy Manuell and James Kiehne
