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| Joe Gonzales with his heavy 31 3/4" ram |
Well, Joe and I made our annual trip back to New Mexico to hunt barbary sheep again. I like to think of this as our "Poor man's" sheep hunt. Brought over from Africa in the 60's, along with the Ibex and Oryx, these animals seem to have found their niche and have thrived thus far. Although there are other places in NM that these sheep are far easier to hunt, like the private ranches and other units with easier access to sheep habitat, the area we hunt seems to produce some heavy rams (including this ram Joe harvested on his first ever barbary sheep hunt). Even though we've seen several giant rams, they did not get to be so large by living in the "easy" to hunt areas. We see these big rams every year but getting to them is as near as impossible as any we've ever encountered. That's saying alot as every year we find ourselves in very questionable situations just to get at the younger rams. When I use to live in NM this hunt was available with an OTC tag. Thinking back, it makes me sick that I didn't have more opportunities to hunt them. Now that we have to travel across two states just to get to our hunting area and considering the tags have gone into the draw system, it sure makes this hunt that much more of an opportunity to cherish and enjoy each time we can make it back. Over the last several years we have been able to increase our knowledge of these beautiful animals and have been successful in harvesting several sheep.
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| Joe's 2012 Ram |
Joe was first up this year. Joe went down a couple days before the season opened to do some scouting. With the lack of snow in the high country and the warm temperatures, Joe was seeing fewer sheep than usual and although they had not been pressured yet, the sheep were already high up in the hills. The evening before opening day, Joe glassed up a nice herd of sheep with a couple respectable rams. Since it is such a long trip down there, Joe thought he might as well get a closer look in the morning to see if he could close the distance on the rams. After leaving the truck a couple hours before light and arriving several hours later after a near completely vertical climb, Joe started glassing for the rams at first light. The sounds of rolling rocks above him finally allowed Joe to hone in on the rams' location. Even though he was within a few hundreds yards, the cliffs and bluffs kept the sheep hidden for quite some time. Once the sun began to warm the rock walls, the wind began changing directions with the changing of the thermals in the tight canyons. Usually this means trouble but since Joe was already close, this herd of sheep was in trouble. Joe suspects the sheep caught his wind and one by one, started peering over the edge looking for the source of the odor. Joe ranged the first sheep at 358 yards and set up behind the 7mm STW and dialed in to compensate for the yardage and angle. As the sheep kept looking and swapping positions, Joe picked up the tell-tale mass of a nice ram approaching the cliff edge. As the this ram stood on the rim edge, chaps blowing in the wind, Joe took careful aim and fired one shot. Once again, the steepness of the country masked the sheep's retreat. Even though the shot felt good, Joe had to scale the bluffs and cliffs to see if his shot was true. It took Joe near 1 hour to cover the 350 yard distance between him and the ram. Fortunately, Joe's shot found it's mark and the ram was down. As Joe neared the ram, it appeared to be taking its last breath, or so he thought!!! Since the climb was so difficult, Joe had left all but his rifle at his shooting location to expedite his ascent to the ram. Now Joe had to retrace his steps to gather his back pack and knives. Back at his shooting location and figuring his hunt was over, Joe unloaded his rifle carried only water, knives, and an empty pack back up the rock chutes to his fallen ram. Well, here is were Joe re-learned an important hunting rule. As Joe made it back the area of his ram, he found the ram alive and standing 50 yards away from were he left it earlier. Joe quickly dropped his pack and was once again headed back down hill to retrieve his rifle. With rifle back in hand, Joe was again headed uphill only to return to an expired ram. Needless to say, with all the up and down trips, Joe was already worn out and he still hadn't put his hands on his ram. After deboning and caping the ram, Joe headed downhill for the final time. Arriving back at his truck after dark and legs weary from the hunt and a heavy pack on the way downhill, Joe's 2012 barbary sheep hunt was now final. Congrats again to Joe for another beautiful ram!!
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| Joe Gonzales and his 2012 ram |
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| Unfortunatley, being solo in steep country makes for few self-portraits... |
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| One of my rams on a homemade pedestal |
A few weeks later, it was my turn my turn to head east towards sheep country. As is usual, I'm not the type to hold out for the giant and thus, have not killed any rams as large as Joe but I have taken quite a few sheep over the years. This year was not to be different, I was looking for any respectable ram. I love the beautiful European mounts this sheep make. My good friend Gary drove all the way over from Arkansas to join me in my hunt. We have hunted annually with Gary in NM and AZ and have been fortunate enough to help Gary in taking many big game species across the two states, inlcuding several barbary sheep. Gary and I spent our first day glassing and scouting. The combination of this big country and Kowa binoculars make for some great glassing opportunities. We stood mobile all day but it wasn't until the evening hours that we finally spotted sheep. The first herd we picked up had 2 nice rams so amid following other sheep, we watched this herd until we couldn't see any more. These sheep tend to stay still over night so we were confident that we could find them first thing on the second morning. With a different wind direction predicted for the morning, Gary and I felt we should wait until we could see which direction to approach rather than try to get in position before light. Sure enough, I was glassing before I could clearly see and as each minute passed, more and more sheep became visible. This herd had not moved more than 50 yards over night. Gary and I loaded up and started our upward climb. Fortunately a heavy fog moved in which masked our approach and kept the temperatures cool for our hike. At one point, we stood still for about 30 minutes as the fog was so thick we did not want to put ourselves in a bad spot without seeing where we could climb and we did not want to spook any sheep and not be able to see them run off. Slowly but surely (with an emphasis on SLOWLY) Gary and I kept climbing to a pre-determined spot we thought we could relocate the sheep from. After 2 1/2 hours, and with the weather finally clear, we thought we put ourselves in a good position above and downwind from where we believed the sheep to be. Gary and I unloaded our packs, drank some water, and cooled off a bit. As I slowly crawled to the edge of the hill to look over I immediately spotted a lone sheep bedded 212 yards away. What luck, more often than not, plans don't tend to work out this good. We joked to each other that we better be careful or somebody might accidently get the impression that we knew what we were doing!! All joking aside, it was pretty cool that our plan, put into place the evening before, had actually put us in perfect position. As we began looking for the rest of the herd, the sheep started standing and began feeding over the bluff and out of site. Knowing we had the advantage of being undetected thus far, Gary and I slowly crept closer and closer. Step by step Gary and I moved in, using our glass every other step to try and re-locate the sheep. As I looked down and across a small drainage, the herd of sheep began appearing one at a time. Gary and I dropped to our knees and began sizing up each sheep that appeared. At 132 yards, the biggest of the rams finally made his way out of the drainage. With Gary watching for me, I squeezed off my first shot on the unsuspecting and quartering ram. By the reaction of the ram, and the tell-tale thump that followed, we knew he was hit hard. As the sheep bunched up to figure out what was going on, I put a follow up shot into the ram to ensure he did not go to far. High fives and congrats ensued as the rest of the herd made its way up the crags and cliffs. Gary and I took our time making our way down to the ram and found he had rolled off a 40 foot cliff and came to rest just above another big drop. After taking in the moment with stories of past hunts and a quick photo session, Gary and I got to boning and caping my ram. A few hours later, and with 4 very tired and sore legs, Gary and I arrived back at the truck with enough time to break out the binoculars to find next year's ram. Well, we found next year's ram, but those cliffs will have to wait until that ram wants to come down, or until we can afford a helicopter to get us that high. Watching the sun go down on sheep country keeps the spirit and hopes alive and well and will help get us through another year of waiting. Once again, enjoy the pics as we sure enjoyed the memories they help capture.
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| Arthur Gonzales and his 2012 ram |
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| Arthur and the 7mm STW that has put many sheep on the ground! |
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| At 64 years young, Gary still loves to hike up and down this sheep country. |
