In April 2022, the hunting gods smiled down on me, and against all odds, I was lucky enough to draw a New Mexico Desert bighorn sheep tag. When you open an email to see the code BHS (Bighorn Sheep), you check the email a dozen times to make sure it is real. Then, you text everyone in the world you know to share the news. I was fortunate enough to have three friends from my hometown of Cody, Wyoming respond immediately, stating they would be with me on the hunt. I will be ever grateful for Alex, Derek, Jake, and new friend Austin.
The hunt started with more trips to the town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (also known as T or C) than I ever thought I would make in my lifetime. The first day of scouting, the wind was blowing very hard and the sheep did not seem to be anywhere we could easily glass. We spent the first half of the day hiking ridges and glassing only to turn up the wrong 180" species, a mule deer. We decided to switch spots, and as we did, the wind died down. We ended up glassing a group of 11 sheep with what looked to be two nice rams.
The next morning, we had a renewed excitement. We headed down to the southern part of the unit to do some more scouting. We saw what looked like a very nice ram and moved for a closer look. We got a really good look at him and then backed out carefully so as not to bump him. He became our #1 ram. Further south, we located about seven other sheep with three nice looking rams, including a possible #2 ram.
The second half of the day, Jake and I returned to the spot from the previous evening with hopes of getting a good look at the two nice rams. It did not take long to find them feeding along a shallow drainage. Three of them were nice rams, and we now had a new #2 and a #3 ram.
My childhood friends, Derek and Alex, got in that night. The game plan for the next day was to locate the #1 ram from the southern part of the unit and hope he was with another ram to get a gauge on his size. The second part of the plan was to spread out and see if we could locate a larger ram. My summer scouting was just me, so I was not able to see all of the unit. Having a team of guys there was perfect to cover more ground and see more sheep.
On opening day, we got up early and headed down to the southern end of the unit. At first light, Austin spotted a large ram skylined near where we had seen the ram the day prior. It was him, #1! He was alone, no ewes or other rams with him. We sent Jake down a creek bed road on the four-wheeler to post up on him. Meanwhile, Alex and Derek were confident they had eyes on a good-looking ram. I decided that before I took a ram, I wanted to be sure he was the one I really wanted. We made the hike over to check out the rams. One of them stood out as a long ram, but he did not quite have the mass I was hoping for.
The hike over to Alex and Derek took longer than expected, and daylight was getting short. Jake had watched #1 for most of the day, but in the afternoon, he disappeared up a wash. We grouped back together in T or C to compare notes and thoughts about the rams we had seen. I decided I wanted to make sure we were not missing any other large rams before I made my decision. The next day, we would look for other sheep.
No wind was forecasted, but we woke up to a very windy day. We knew from our previous windy scouting day that sheep were not going to be on faces feeding. They would be tucked away out of the wind and difficult to find, but we still went out with high hopes of glassing up a big ram. Austin, Derek, and I focused on the northern part of the unit, a section I had not really scouted, and Alex and Jake headed to a larger bowl and were able to spot a few ewes and a small ram out of the wind. I didn’t see a single sheep that morning.
It was Friday, and some of the guys were headed out Sunday night. The next day, rain was supposed to hit the unit. We had a very intense discussion with the group about a game plan for the next day. I made the decision to head back to the south and look for #1. I think the disappointment of not seeing much the day before and the thought that my support would be leaving soon influenced that decision.
That next morning, we were up early to get as much glassing done before it was supposed to start raining. As the sun came up, there was not a cloud in the sky and zero wind. We split off in two groups. This time, Alex, Austin, and I were in one group and Jake and Derek were in the other. Alex quickly hopped out of the truck, got out his spotting scope, and within one minute of sitting down, said, “There is a ram up on top.” After a few minutes of looking, we knew it was #1. He was on an exposed face feeding about 1,800 yards from us. Now, how would we take him? Our first option was to hike up the hill, pop up 60 to 100 yards from him, and try to get a shot. The second option was a long-range shot.
Using onXmaps, we estimated the ridge directly across from the sheep to be about 800 yards. We decided that with a dialed-in Best of the West rifle, a long-range shot was our best option. Derek stayed on the ram with a spotting scope while we made the hike around the back of the ridge. He kept his eye on him in case he fed away from us.
The first ridge we hiked ended up being about a 1,100-yard shot. We had estimated wrong. There was zero wind when we spotted the ram, but it was now fairly breezy. In these conditions, shooting 1,100 yards was off the table. Through some good onX mapping, we found a saddle that would get us closer to the ram. That was our play. We sidehilled out of sight to the next hopeful shooting spot and ranged it at 780 yards. This was a very long shot, but I was confident in my rifle and my spotter, Jake.
I set up for a prone shot, and Jake ranged the ram again. He was still feeding at 780 yards, facing to the right away from us. I adjusted the turret and dry fired a few times in order to get some of my nerves out. I thought I was all set up, but the wind was going to be a problem. We could not tell how much it was blowing through the canyon. Jake ranged him again and suggested I put the crosshairs right behind his shoulder. I put a round in the chamber, checked my level, took a couple slow, deep breaths, and fired. I hit the rocks about three feet in front of him. The elevation was perfect, we were just unable to judge the wind. The ram had no clue where we were or where the shot came from and moved behind a large rock. I kept my crosshairs just to the left of the rock where I thought he would step out. The ram calmly walked out from behind the rock and returned to feeding, now facing the opposite direction. Jake ranged him again and told me to aim directly at his shoulder. I shot again and hit about a foot to the right of the ram’s rear. This time, he took off.
The ram dropped below some cliffs 660 yards away. He was facing left, so this time, I put the crosshairs right on the front of his chest. I squeezed the trigger and hit him. It was a deadly shot, but not one that dropped him. He turned back around and came across the hill, showing he was very injured, and bedded down below a cliff. He was facing to the right, so I put the crosshairs right on his white rear. He was done, a shot right through his heart. I had killed my once-in-a-lifetime New Mexico Desert bighorn ram!
We hiked over to him, and I will never forget the mass in his horns. Jake made quick work caping him out, and then we headed out. That evening, we celebrated at the local steak house. It was a well- deserved dinner for my team of sheep hunters. We had got it done before my crew left. He was the ram I had dreamed of. I will never forget this hunt with hometown friends. My time in T or C was over, but it was something I will never forget.
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