July 2026
Max Points, Max Reward | California Bighorn Sheep Hunting
Story By: Todd Pavlik
Drawing a California bighorn sheep tag is one of the rarest opportunities in western hunting. Knowing that I had the maximum number of points possible in California for sheep, I figured that I had as good a chance as anyone in the draw. Huntin’ Fool is always a great resource for deciding which unit to apply for, and as usual, I read the entire section to come to a good decision.
When I found out I had drawn, I immediately started thinking about an outfitter. This is literally a once-in-a-lifetime hunt, so I knew I needed some help. I contacted Dawson Work of Camp Five Outfitters in Paso Robles, California. I had done a couple of hunts with him for pigs on his beautiful ranch and valued his opinion. He told me to call Dry Creek Outfitters. It didn’t take long on the phone for me to decide that these guys were the ones I wanted to hunt with. I had drawn the second hunt in that unit, which was in January. Matt St. Martin, owner of Dry Creek Outfitters, explained to me that that was probably the better hunt since they would be in the unit quite a bit in December and have current intel on where the majority of the sheep were and what their movements were like.
In December, while he was hunting the unit, Matt put eyes and video on a sheep that he had been aware of for a couple of years. He sent me the video of the ram and said, “He is special.” Even though I’m not a sheep hunter, I could tell the ram was indeed special. Matt told me that, starting the day after Christmas, they would put guides on the mountain to keep track of the ram’s movements until opening day on January 3. Matt wanted to reward his team for doing such a great job throughout the season. They’d had a couple of hunters try for this ram previously, only to have the clients be unable to physically make it in far enough to take this extraordinary animal, and everybody on the team wanted to get him.
I arrived at camp on January 2 and met Matt. We hit it off immediately. I had a large wall tent all to myself, which made it easy to get all my gear sorted and organized. At dinner that night, Matt explained the plan for the next day. We would leave early, but two other guides would leave earlier than us to get up the mountain and find the ram, hopefully close to where they had seen him last.
Opening day delivered beautiful blue skies and very pleasant temperatures. After a short drive, we pulled off the dirt road. Matt showed me where we would be going, which always helps me mentally prepare for just how difficult a hunt might be, but it didn’t look bad. We left the truck around 6:00 a.m. and took a short break around 8:00 to let the spotting guides get up high to locate the ram. Word came over the radio that they had the ram. Off we went.
It was a bit of a walk, but we were in position to make the shot at 1:00 p.m. Matt ranged him: 320 yards steeply downhill. I had been shooting my TS Customs 300 PRC out beyond 600 yards for months in preparation for this hunt, and once in the prone position, I felt very confident of the shot. Matt took some time to make absolutely sure that this was the ram we wanted, and that time allowed me to really calm down and be relaxed for the shot. There was another ram with him, but he wasn’t a factor. At the shot, I lost him in the recoil, but when I found him again, he was done.
Handshakes and hugs followed. It’s always difficult to try to preserve and savor the initial feeling of such a thing; you know that it’s so fleeting…but you do your best. Readers of Huntin’ Fool know the emotions that one experiences as you walk up on a dream animal that you’ve just made your own, so I won’t try to describe them—I’m not Hemingway or Ruark. Pride, satisfaction, and awe come to mind, but there are others for which words cannot be found.
Let me just say that slowly approaching this majestic animal, trying to preserve the sentiment, smells, sights, and overall experience in my head for posterity, was overwhelming. The character, bases, length, and width of his horns stood out immediately. He surely would have lost his right horn by the next year if not for the fact that we got to him first. There was a huge chunk of horn missing from his right side, a badge of a hard-fighting life on that mountain.
I want to sincerely thank Matt and his entire crew for the extraordinary effort on this hunt. I couldn’t have done it without them.
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