Hunter: Blaine Rogers
Species: Barbary Sheep (Aoudad)
Location: New Mexico
Method: Rifle
It all started when my dad told me I had drawn a Barbary sheep tag in New Mexico. I asked where, and he said over by Roswell, New Mexico. I quickly got onto the computer and found the place. I watched videos of Barbary sheep hunts and what we should be looking for. The hunt was almost a year away, so we waited. As it got closer, my dad started to look for resources and reach out to friends who had hunted Barbary sheep in the area. We got some tips on an area, but they were vague. Everyone kept saying either “hike a lot and you will find them” or “glass a lot and you will find them.” It's hard to glass and hike at the same time.
We left Arizona on Thursday evening before the hunt and made it to Deming, New Mexico, where we slept in the camp trailer in a parking lot. The next morning, we continued the drive until we reached our camp spot around noon. Camp was set up quickly, and we made our way out to look around a bit. All we found that evening were deer.
The next morning, we hiked around some private areas (we learned there is a lot of private land in eastern New Mexico). We did a “quick” seven-mile hike only to see close to a hundred deer and fifteen or so elk, including some great bulls. Still no Barbary sheep! Our friend had joined us and had gone out by himself, and he found a small herd on private with a few small rams. That evening, a storm blew in, dropping some snow and rain. We attempted to find more sheep with no luck. That night, we discussed the first day of the hunt. The only problem was that we had no plan. We hadn't seen one. We’d glassed and hiked. Then we’d hiked and glassed, and still no sheep!
The morning came quickly, and we woke up to a thick fog. Oh no! We couldn't glass more than fifty yards, so Dad and I loaded up and went to the spot we had been the morning before. We got set up to glass and saw a bunch of deer, and Dad said, “I have some bulls, but there's something by them that doesn't look normal.” They were three miles away. We glassed and decided to go get a closer look. We made the three-mile hike down an old road and circled behind the hill where we'd spotted the bulls.
The area was thick with tall weeds that stood over my head. Dad said, “We got to get out of this so we can see.” We got out of the weeds, and, sure enough, right where we had thought we’d seen them, were four Barbary sheep rams. Dad helped me get set up; they were just standing there at 400 yards! The sun was in my eyes, though. Dad kept asking if I had them, and I said, “Yes.” Were they big enough? The local game warden had said, “Shoot the first twenty-five-inch ram you see, as it's a tough hunt.”
Dad wasn't sure if they were big enough but said, “This is your hunt. Do what you want. We will be happy.” I decided to pass. It was the first morning. We did pursue them farther to get a better look but ended up losing them.
We made a large loop and got picked up by our friends, and they took us back to camp for a water refill and lunch. At 2:00 p.m., we needed a ride to the pickup. One friend would take us there, and the other was going to scout a new area that looked promising. We went to the truck and decided to go glass from the same place we had that morning—and boy was I glad.
As soon as we had the tripods up, Dad said, “I have a sheep.” It was a lone ram standing in the exact same spot as the ones we’d seen earlier in the morning. Off we went, hiking the three miles again as the light began fading. The walk was more of a run. We got down to where the Barbary sheep had moved to. Our friend moved into a position to watch and video. We crept 350 yards but couldn't see him. We needed to back up. We moved back fifty yards, and there he was, moving all around, feeding here and there. We waited for what seemed like forever until he gave us a broadside shot. Boom! Down he went! I made a quick follow-up shot, and it was done. Having never seen one before that morning, I harvested my first Barbary sheep on the first day of the hunt!
Additional Resources