Desert Bighorn Ram

[catnthehat]

DAY 1?!
Holy smokes Congratulations!!
You did super!
Cat

[58thecat]

So what was taken on day two....holysnapinbajesuseh!

[sage 13]

Originally Posted by cowmanbob

Yes he did, I’m inclined to help him get his Rocky Mountain bighorn.

Well started with what some would say is the hardest first.
Good luck on the RMB.

[Red Bullets]

Very nice ram. Congrats.

[marky_mark]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MooseRiverTrapper]

Looks like a good time Mark!

[KWP]

What a beauty looking animal

[marky_mark]

Where to begin
If you would have asked me even 1 year ago, if I ever thought that I would get a desert bighorn sheep. I would have laughed and said not very likely. This trip wasnt planned out years in advance. It was more along the line of single digits of weeks. An opportunity came up and I jumped at it.
For this trip I took my fierce ct 6.5x284 its 1/4 moa with the 156 gr berger eol bullets, ES of 8 fps, 2940 fps is the avg.
Flights down are pretty standard. Get to phoenix then there is 2 flights a day down to hermosillo. If you have your documents in place, US and mexican customs area breeze! It was about a 3.5 hour drive from Hermosillo to our hunting area. The further away from the city we got, the more interesting the trip became. At no point did it ever feel unsafe. The further we went, the more grateful you feel to live in a place like Alberta. Not that its a bad thing, but they just live a much more simpler life.
Accommodations for the hunt was a tent camp at the base of the mountains we would be hunting. Many times we were able to spot sheep right from here. Food in camp was excellent. There was another hunter hunting deer for 2 days and after that I had 2 cooks that were swapping making their favorite dishes for our meals. The mountains were particularly rugged but they are covered from top to bottom with vegetation. Cactuses seguros choya and many other plants that wanted to rip your arms to shreds were everywhere. Holy cow, those sheep are hard to see! Having good optics is an understatement! The more trained eyes you have spotting for you the better! All of the guides were from the nearby pueblo town, so they were actually "natives" and not "mexicans". They can spot those sheep. I have never been schooled spotting animals like this before. Id think that I spotted a sheep then the guides would look and say ya senor that is a muy grande stone sheep and then we would all chuckle. He was a pretty funny guy.
So I arrived to camp around 3 pm got all unpacked and settled and we went for a cruise in the evening to see if we could put any rams to bed. Id say we would see minimum around 20- 25 sheep per morning or evening when we were out spotting. We didn't see any big rams, but just seeing desert bighorns a couple hundred yards away just reinforced that this was actually happening and its "game time". We had a few cervezas and with that cool desert air I slept like a baby

DAY 1
Breakfast was ready before dawn and after a good meal, me and my 5 guides were all ready to go. We drove a whooping 300 yards from camp before we got out and spotted out first sheep. Bunch of ewes and lamb. So we continued up the valley. I think we stopped another 4-5 times and seen probably 10 more sheep. Lots and lots of young rams. We eventually make it as far as we could drive and then hiked probably a 1/4 mile to a high vantage point to glass again. From here you could hear some rams butting heads so we were on high alert. After glassing for 15 min scanning as far away as I could possibly see, low and behold 2 5 year old rams pop up at 300 yards. They must have been hiding behind 1 of the 8000 possible bushes on that mountain for cover.... they dont care about us and there full attention is on something on the other side of a ridge. After about another 15 min the 2 rams head in that direction. So off we go in hot pursuit. We make it to the ridge they went over and it was like they were abducted by aliens. They were gone... Oh well, off we go to try an find the big boys...
So down the valley and over to the next one.
As we are making it to the first spot to glass our truck starts acting up. Apparently its done the same thing before and the mechanic should have the part back at camp. We all glass for about 20 min and then they decide that me and one guide stay are going to stay and hunt. And the other 4 are heading back around to camp on the other side of the mountain. Not even 5 min later im looking through my binos and what is that! That wasnt there before!! All i seen at 850 yards away was head, horns and mass! I point him out to my guide and grab my spotter for a better look. Hes on the radio telling the other main guide come back. Get him centered in the spotter and im start looking for my phoneskope for some pictures while my guide is sizing him up and chatting with the other guide on the radio. Im taking my time.... sending messages to buddys on my inreach... find my phoneskope and the world is perfect. Go to set up and take some pics and hes gone??? I ask my guide where did he go, he says he went over the mountain and we have to go chase after him. Well the World all of a sudden isnt perfect anymore lol We all load up and take off in hot pursuit.. We get into position around the ridge where we last seen him and we start glassing. I spot a couple more sheep near the top of the mountain but they are just ewes and lambs. After about 15 min i catch a glimpse of him in the same spot as where we originally seen him. We all duck down and he turns and disappears out of sight unaware that we are there. I start ranging spots where he could give me a shot and they are from 175-225 yards away. Only problem was it was around a 35-40 degree angle of a shot. Good thing this summer is splurged and bought a really right stuff tripod with their anvil ballhead. I mounted arca rails on all my stocks and that is the deadliest combo around! So i get my rifle mounted up on my tripod, get everything set up so I can be as steady as possible if i get a opportunity. I just finish getting everything ready when I hear both guides start making noises.... There he is looking straight down on us partially behind the edge of a bush. Not the most ideal of shots but thats all I was given. I ask the guides if i should shoot and both of them, ya ya ya shoot, big ram, heavy, shoot. So at this point im getting pretty excited but i am rock solid steady, aimed at inside his near shoulder. I tell myself im going to count to 3 and shoot... 1, 2 bang lol Good squeeze good recoil management everything felt perfect... Usually its bang, whoomp, then high 5's. This was bang, echos, sheep running at a million miles an hour! I rack another round and try to slow him down as hes going over the ridge. Now all the doubt starts creeping in. Did I miss? What happened? Make it up to where I shot at him and Im not seeing any blood. Im following his footsteps when i hear one of the guides. Senor mark, you hit him blood, lots of blood, come come. That tough bugger ran over 3 ridges and probably 4-500 yards. He was leaking really bad. Turns out my shot was within a inch of where i aimed. I clipped is leg on the way by and the bullet entered his armpit area, must have just missed his heart, completely destroyed his one lung and the bullet continued through his body til it stopped just under the hide near the spine in the area between his hips and ribs. The whole through the diaphragm was so big that some of his intestines were coming out of the hole in his armpit. Im guessing that the bullet shed half its weight. But it did cause as much damage as possible, while still penetrating over 3 feet of body. That's why I shoot bergers.
The rest of day 1 involved champagne and tecate lights lol

Day 2
We went to take the fellow who was deer hunting back to the little town halfway to hermosillo. Along the way we stopped and chatted with another one of the main guides at the pueblo village and he said that there was 5 more big rams there. So with the deer rut pretty much over, for the rest of the trip we were looking for another big ram. We seen a nice wide 4x4 mule deer on the way back to camp but I have a bigger one already at home so we let him grow for someone else.
So for the next few days we searched for the other 5 and ran across one of them, but he gave us the slip when he ran over the top.
All in all it was a great trip
My plan is to go back again and im taking cowmanbob and whoever else needs a desert with me

[marky_mark]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[marky_mark]

Originally Posted by cowmanbob

So glad it worked out for you. Great ram to start your slam.

Thanks buddy!

[marky_mark]

Originally Posted by bowhuntercam

great looking sheep. congrats.

Thanks Cam

[marky_mark]

Originally Posted by Kurt505

Nice job Mark!! Congrats.

Looking forward to find out how the creedmoor slayed the sheep

Thanks Kurt
Beers one night here soon

[thumper]

What a great story! Thanks for taking the time for putting it together and adding the photos for everyone here to enjoy!

[cranker]

Awesome, Congrats, very nice ram ! Your on your way to a FNAWS slam !

[waldedw]

Nice ram bud

[lucky_magic_stick]

Congrats! A heckuva accomplishment. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't green with envy.

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[wildwoods]

Wow what a great write up OP. I was in west Texas a couple years ago chasing Aoudad with some AO members. Your story took me back to that ranch all over again.
Just curious as to the details of how the hunt came to be? You said it came together quickly....
Congrats on a fantastic Ram!

[mightybuck]

Beauty ram now get it into artistic taxidermy to get a great mount done on that beautiful animal

[fishnguy]

Thanks for the write up and pics, senior Mark. Well done and a great looking ram.

Hope you don’t mind me “organizing” your pics for easier on the eye viewing. Thanks for sharing, man! Great ram!

Originally Posted by marky_mark

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by marky_mark

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[Ryry4]

Great ram! Congrats.

[marky_mark]

Thanks for the comments everyone!
Got a couple pics from my guides


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[Dougewasiuk]

Awesome Ram!

[bucksnbears]

One of the best re- counts of a hunt I've read in years
Felt like I as there with you.

[OldRussian]

Thanks for taking the time to type up a recap of your hunt! Beautiful ram!

[marky_mark]

Originally Posted by bucksnbears

One of the best re- counts of a hunt I've read in years
Felt like I as there with you.

I tried to write it as if we were at the lounge having a beer 🍺 Talking about adventures

[pikeslayer22]

Originally Posted by marky_mark

Where to begin
If you would have asked me even 1 year ago, if I ever thought that I would get a desert bighorn sheep. I would have laughed and said not very likely. This trip wasnt planned out years in advance. It was more along the line of single digits of weeks. An opportunity came up and I jumped at it.
For this trip I took my fierce ct 6.5x284 its 1/4 moa with the 156 gr berger eol bullets, ES of 8 fps, 2940 fps is the avg.
Flights down are pretty standard. Get to phoenix then there is 2 flights a day down to hermosillo. If you have your documents in place, US and mexican customs area breeze! It was about a 3.5 hour drive from Hermosillo to our hunting area. The further away from the city we got, the more interesting the trip became. At no point did it ever feel unsafe. The further we went, the more grateful you feel to live in a place like Alberta. Not that its a bad thing, but they just live a much more simpler life.
Accommodations for the hunt was a tent camp at the base of the mountains we would be hunting. Many times we were able to spot sheep right from here. Food in camp was excellent. There was another hunter hunting deer for 2 days and after that I had 2 cooks that were swapping making their favorite dishes for our meals. The mountains were particularly rugged but they are covered from top to bottom with vegetation. Cactuses seguros choya and many other plants that wanted to rip your arms to shreds were everywhere. Holy cow, those sheep are hard to see! Having good optics is an understatement! The more trained eyes you have spotting for you the better! All of the guides were from the nearby pueblo town, so they were actually "natives" and not "mexicans". They can spot those sheep. I have never been schooled spotting animals like this before. Id think that I spotted a sheep then the guides would look and say ya senor that is a muy grande stone sheep and then we would all chuckle. He was a pretty funny guy.
So I arrived to camp around 3 pm got all unpacked and settled and we went for a cruise in the evening to see if we could put any rams to bed. Id say we would see minimum around 20- 25 sheep per morning or evening when we were out spotting. We didn't see any big rams, but just seeing desert bighorns a couple hundred yards away just reinforced that this was actually happening and its "game time". We had a few cervezas and with that cool desert air I slept like a baby

DAY 1
Breakfast was ready before dawn and after a good meal, me and my 5 guides were all ready to go. We drove a whooping 300 yards from camp before we got out and spotted out first sheep. Bunch of ewes and lamb. So we continued up the valley. I think we stopped another 4-5 times and seen probably 10 more sheep. Lots and lots of young rams. We eventually make it as far as we could drive and then hiked probably a 1/4 mile to a high vantage point to glass again. From here you could hear some rams butting heads so we were on high alert. After glassing for 15 min scanning as far away as I could possibly see, low and behold 2 5 year old rams pop up at 300 yards. They must have been hiding behind 1 of the 8000 possible bushes on that mountain for cover.... they dont care about us and there full attention is on something on the other side of a ridge. After about another 15 min the 2 rams head in that direction. So off we go in hot pursuit. We make it to the ridge they went over and it was like they were abducted by aliens. They were gone... Oh well, off we go to try an find the big boys...
So down the valley and over to the next one.
As we are making it to the first spot to glass our truck starts acting up. Apparently its done the same thing before and the mechanic should have the part back at camp. We all glass for about 20 min and then they decide that me and one guide stay are going to stay and hunt. And the other 4 are heading back around to camp on the other side of the mountain. Not even 5 min later im looking through my binos and what is that! That wasnt there before!! All i seen at 850 yards away was head, horns and mass! I point him out to my guide and grab my spotter for a better look. Hes on the radio telling the other main guide come back. Get him centered in the spotter and im start looking for my phoneskope for some pictures while my guide is sizing him up and chatting with the other guide on the radio. Im taking my time.... sending messages to buddys on my inreach... find my phoneskope and the world is perfect. Go to set up and take some pics and hes gone??? I ask my guide where did he go, he says he went over the mountain and we have to go chase after him. Well the World all of a sudden isnt perfect anymore lol We all load up and take off in hot pursuit.. We get into position around the ridge where we last seen him and we start glassing. I spot a couple more sheep near the top of the mountain but they are just ewes and lambs. After about 15 min i catch a glimpse of him in the same spot as where we originally seen him. We all duck down and he turns and disappears out of sight unaware that we are there. I start ranging spots where he could give me a shot and they are from 175-225 yards away. Only problem was it was around a 35-40 degree angle of a shot. Good thing this summer is splurged and bought a really right stuff tripod with their anvil ballhead. I mounted arca rails on all my stocks and that is the deadliest combo around! So i get my rifle mounted up on my tripod, get everything set up so I can be as steady as possible if i get a opportunity. I just finish getting everything ready when I hear both guides start making noises.... There he is looking straight down on us partially behind the edge of a bush. Not the most ideal of shots but thats all I was given. I ask the guides if i should shoot and both of them, ya ya ya shoot, big ram, heavy, shoot. So at this point im getting pretty excited but i am rock solid steady, aimed at inside his near shoulder. I tell myself im going to count to 3 and shoot... 1, 2 bang lol Good squeeze good recoil management everything felt perfect... Usually its bang, whoomp, then high 5's. This was bang, echos, sheep running at a million miles an hour! I rack another round and try to slow him down as hes going over the ridge. Now all the doubt starts creeping in. Did I miss? What happened? Make it up to where I shot at him and Im not seeing any blood. Im following his footsteps when i hear one of the guides. Senor mark, you hit him blood, lots of blood, come come. That tough bugger ran over 3 ridges and probably 4-500 yards. He was leaking really bad. Turns out my shot was within a inch of where i aimed. I clipped is leg on the way by and the bullet entered his armpit area, must have just missed his heart, completely destroyed his one lung and the bullet continued through his body til it stopped just under the hide near the spine in the area between his hips and ribs. The whole through the diaphragm was so big that some of his intestines were coming out of the hole in his armpit. Im guessing that the bullet shed half its weight. But it did cause as much damage as possible, while still penetrating over 3 feet of body. That's why I shoot bergers.
The rest of day 1 involved champagne and tecate lights lol

Day 2
We went to take the fellow who was deer hunting back to the little town halfway to hermosillo. Along the way we stopped and chatted with another one of the main guides at the pueblo village and he said that there was 5 more big rams there. So with the deer rut pretty much over, for the rest of the trip we were looking for another big ram. We seen a nice wide 4x4 mule deer on the way back to camp but I have a bigger one already at home so we let him grow for someone else.
So for the next few days we searched for the other 5 and ran across one of them, but he gave us the slip when he ran over the top.
All in all it was a great trip
My plan is to go back again and im taking cowmanbob and whoever else needs a desert with me

I would be interested in going.

[cougar bait]

Awesome ram, what a start to your slam!!
Were u on the Indian reserve by pointa chueca (spelling??) right across from tiberon island?

[RZR]

Congrats to a great start to your quest for the slam!

[AB2506]

Nice ram. Thanks for the write up.

[chain2]

good read thanks for postin...chain