A lifelong dream came true in July 2017 upon receiving a telephone call from Bryan Bartlett of NMWSF and some staff members of NMDGF. After many years of applying, my name was drawn as the lucky recipient of the 2017 Desert bighorn sheep raffle! At 66 years old and with a two-week-old total knee replacement, I immediately ascended to “Cloud 9” of sheep hunters’ heaven. A true sheep hunter’s dream had just come true, and the old Huntin’ Fool cliché kept flashing before me, “Apply, Apply, Apply!”
However, this dream come true had started over 60 years ago when, as a young boy, I started reading Outdoor Life and the American Rifleman magazines. American Rifleman initiated and continually grew my knowledge and love for firearms and still continues today with my benefactor membership in the NRA.
The sheep hunting articles in Outdoor Life initiated a youth and lifelong dream of hunting the four species of North American wild sheep.
The legendary writer and author Jack O’Connor was a staff writer for Outdoor Life during my youth and wrote many articles on his sheep hunting adventures. His hunts for Dall sheep in Alaska, Stone sheep in British Columbia, and Rocky Mountain and Desert bighorns in the lower 48 and Mexico added fuel to the fires of my sheep hunting dreams. Like most of the sheep hunters of today, Jack O’Connor ate, slept, and dreamed of his next sheep hunting adventure. However, based on my much-read history of Jack’s pursuit of the four wild sheep species, his most beloved sheep was the Desert bighorn.
How Jack must be smiling from sheep hunters’ heaven today as he looks down and sees the great successes of the Wild Sheep Foundation and its state affiliates in their continual efforts and programs for keeping sheep on the mountain. All state affiliates of WSF have faced tremendous challenges not only to keep sheep on the mountain, but also to expand their domain through environmental improvements, restoration programs, and coordinated and sustained interaction with state and federal agencies for the preservation, health, and expansion of wild sheep numbers.
Arguably perhaps, but NMWSF, NMDGF, and the dedicated leadership of both have achieved an unparalleled success at reintroducing nearly extinct Desert bighorns to their native ranges, expanding their ranges, and expanding the quality and size of the state’s Rocky Mountain bighorn population. Today, New Mexico offers sheep hunters some of the best, if not the best, opportunities to harvest a trophy Rocky Mountain and/or Desert bighorn sheep.
After many years of hard work and God’s blessings, from 2006- 2010 I was able to harvest two Dall sheep and one Stone sheep. Of course, I continued to apply for a Rocky Mountain bighorn and Desert bighorn license in every state that provided a viable opportunity for an aging sheep hunter. I also applied for every raffle ticket drawing available.
Finally, I got the phone call from NMWSF, and on November 8, 2017, my dream hunt began with my guide, Jessie Novak of JFW Ranching Consultants, in the Caballos Range in southern New Mexico. The beauty of the high desert plain and surrounding mountains was spectacular and gave worthy cause for the expansion of the challenges and anxieties I faced in pursuit of a ram that called this formidable environment home. We spotted and glassed sheep in every location we hunted, and in several locations, we spotted shooter rams that were way beyond my physical capabilities for making a successful stalk.
On day four, we finally located a group of eight or nine sheep in an accessible location and we had the right wind for making an undetected stalk. There were several younger rams in the group, but there were two rams that met the age and quality level of a ram I had dreamed about harvesting. We stalked into a shooting position 250 yards below the bedded group and settled in under the beating sun, waiting for one of the shooter rams to stand and stretch. Unfortunately, the larger of the two shooter rams had been swallowed up in his surroundings, so we concentrated on the second shooter ram and his younger ram partner.
After continuous glassing by Jessie, he whispered that the smaller ram was a shooter that was fully tipped and had flaring horns but did not carry the notable mass of his bedded senior partner. With a look of dismay on his face, he also whispered that the senior ram had a large chunk missing out of his left horn several inches above the horn’s base. I was sitting somewhat in a daze, evaluating this new horn report as Jessie whispered to shoot whichever ram I wanted when they stood up.
I lay there in a prone shooting position, ready for a ram to stand while the senior ram stared in our direction. My mind raced as my excitement level had my heart feeling like it would beat out of my chest. Before me lay a book ram except for a battle scar indicative of his struggle for life and dominance in a brutal and unforgiving domain. The ram’s battle scarred horn seemed almost symbolic of his whole existence to this point in his life.
The younger ram stood, stretched, turned 180 degrees, and looked straight at me as I eased into my scope/eye alignment. The senior ram stood, turned broadside, and picked up the gaze of the younger ram. With a deep breath, my heartbeat and body relaxed. Boom! I heard the distinct whop of a solid hit.
As I approached my beautiful and battered ram, I was overcome with emotion knowing that a lifelong dream had come true and that the opportunity to observe and honor this beautiful and majestic ram, in life and in death, had become a reality in my sheep hunter’s dreams.
Many thanks to NMWSF, NMDGF, and the services of Huntin’ Fool and their continuing message to Apply, Apply, Apply! The beauty and majesty of a ram is not always measured in inches. Honor the ram!
New Mexico Sheep Hunting
Login