Bowhunt America | Articles

Article Topics

The Joy and Pain of Sheep Hunting

By Ron Niziolek

I'd stalked with my bow in my lap, sliding on my rear end inch by inch down the steep mountaintop basin to within bow range of several rams. Two of the rams stood when I came to full draw. My ram stood just as the bowstring slipped from my fingers, and I watched helplessly as my arrow plunked into the bed at his feet.

The rams bounded across the basin and climbed into the safety of the cliffs, eventually disappearing over a distant boulder-strewn ridge. Fatigue plagued my mind and body. After 12 days of bowhunting sheep, I was whipped.

My hunt had started August 14^th when my brother-in-law Wayne and I had packed in 9 miles and 4,000 vertical feet with horses to our sheep camp in Wyoming. We were brimming with confidence. The previous year I’d spent ten days with another friend in this same area. He’d had the tag. I was the spotter and packer. My friend had had a couple of chances at rams but didn’t connect. I was sure that I could get it done now that I had the license.

That afternoon and evening, Wayne and I located three rams and four grizzly bears. The rams were stalkable, and I was cocky enough to think I’d be done the following morning. I was almost right.

The next morning, opening day, we watched as the rams bedded down about midmorning in an open basin. After discussing stalking routes, I was off. Wayne closed to within about 400 yards of the rams to video. As I crawled closer, two rams were in view, one of the big ones and a smaller ram. The third ram was over a little rise. The big ram I was after was sound asleep with his nose on the ground, head cocked to the side and one massive curl resting on the ground. I wanted a 20-yard shot. When I was 40 yards out, I nocked an arrow and continued my crawl, freezing whenever the rams would stir. Too easy, I was thinking.

That’s when Mr. Murphy played a little visit. The unseen ram, who was larger than I thought, stepped up over the rise and pegged me. Every sheep head swung in my direction. With little to lose at this point, I slowly rose up and drew my bow. Never shoot at an alert animal, right? I did anyway and it was a clean miss as my ram jumped the string, whirled and ran.

On both of these stalks, I lacked experience and patience. Very likely, had I waited in both instances, the rams would have stood on their own and given me a much better shot opportunity. I rushed it. I bowhunted for a ram for 27 days that year, well into rifle season, never connecting with my bow, haunted by the thought that I was so cocky and sure of myself but failed to succeed.

That hunt was more than a decade ago. Today, after participating in many more bowhunts for wild sheep with other people, I am much better prepared mentally for any stalking situation.

Sheep Country

I love sheep country, particularly the high alpine basins above timberline that sheep love. Towering crags of weathered rock loom above. Ancient snow packs feed the headwaters of streams below. Wind-stunted trees lean at twisted angles, battered by years of fierce winds. Marmots chirp their shrill whistle of alarm at unwelcome intruders. The remote serenity of these places will bring a spiritual feeling to even nonbelievers. There’s no experience like it in the world. This high country can make the toughest of bowhunters feel insignificant and humble. It will beat you down, wear you out but somehow keep you wanting more. The winds there can literally take your breath away or knock you off your feet. Intense lightning storms are common in late-summer and fall afternoons. I’ve spent hours at night trembling in a small tent with brilliant flashes all around, the ground rumbling constantly like a long earthquake. My friend and I have also stayed up all night with our feet braced on the fiberglass tent poles to keep them from beating us during a raging wind storm. Just being in sheep country is an experience you will never forget.

Sheep Fever

Those who have experienced sheep hunting either passionately hate it or love it. However, even those who profess to love sheep hunting will readily claim at times that they will never do it again. Hunter memory is short, and usually within a week or two they forget about the pain. Blisters heal and muscles lose their soreness. Try bowhunting wild sheep and it becomes a supreme challenge that will test your physical and mental capabilities daily. Most of all, it will test your heart––the desire to push yourself to extreme limits and never give up. Start with a positive attitude and cling to it no matter what challenges you face.

Sheep Weather

Bowhunting for sheep usually takes place in August, September and October. Variations of this are the late, brutally cold hunts for bighorns in Alberta and late hunts in the Southwest for Desert Bighorns. In the mountains of the West you must be prepared for all weather extremes. It can be 70 degrees one day and you may wake up to snow the next morning. Having proper clothing is essential for a safe hunt. Sitka Gear has used mountaineering design to enhance their clothing, and they have perhaps the best all-around layering system available. It’s all I use now. Don’t take chances with hypothermia. High winds, lightning, hail storms, rain and snow are very common. Be prepared.

Altitude Sickness

Altitude sickness can be potentially fatal. Altitude sickness, also known as acute mountain sickness (AMS), is a pathological condition that is caused by acute exposure to low air pressure, usually outdoors at high altitudes. It commonly occurs above 8,000 feet. Symptoms often begin to occur 6 to10 hours after ascent and generally subside in one to two days, but they occasionally develop into the more serious conditions. Symptoms include headache, fatigue, stomach illness, dizziness and sleep disturbance. Exertion aggravates the symptoms. If you do have acute mountain sickness, the best treatment is descent. Painkillers may ease the headache, but they don’t treat the condition. Resting for a day or two might give your body time to recover. It is essential that you never go up higher if you have acute mountain sickness.

Other Dangers

Grizzly bears and other large predators can be a factor. I’ve seen as many as 12 grizzly bears in one day while bowhunting sheep in Wyoming. Keeping a clean camp and maintaining proper food storage are necessities.

Injuries of all sorts can happen in sheep country. A sheep hunter I guided a few years back slipped on a talus slope and dislocated/broke his ankle. This happened on day 6 of a 10-day hunt. Luckily he fell only about a half-mile from base camp. I took his backpack and mine to camp, cut some splints, grabbed duct tape and some pain medication and hiked back to get him. We left his boot on, splinted as best we could and headed for camp. He had to slide for a hundred yards before we could try the over-the-shoulder buddy walk. That ended up being too dangerous in the talus rocks. I ended up carrying him piggyback all the way to camp, then plopped him on his sleeping bag with his foot propped up on a duffle. We used a bag of ice-cold runoff water for an ice pack, then had to climb 1,000 vertical feet before I got a signal on my cell phone to call for help. The next afternoon horses arrived, and late that night we made it to the hospital. Bad or dangerous things don’t always happen, but by being prepared you can make it through just about anything.

Playing the Sheep Application Game

If you intend to jump into the process of applying for sheep tags, know that it can be both expensive and confusing. One way to handle things is to use an application service. That’s an added expense, but they’ll help you apply for the best areas. You can also do it yourself with a little research. You can definitely increase your drawing odds with careful research and by applying for less popular areas with higher drawing odds. Here’s a brief state-by-state breakdown of available sheep tags.

Arizona is home to Desert Bighorn sheep and is a bonus-point state. Getting drawn is tough, although each year you apply and don’t draw you will accumulate a bonus point. Accumulated bonus points increase your odds in future drawings.

California also offers drawing tags for Desert Bighorns, although precious few tags are available for nonresidents. That makes the odds of a nonresident hunter drawing a sheep tag in California unbelievably steep.

Colorado is quite possibly the best state for prospective nonresident sheep hunters, and it’s the only state that offers archery-only sheep licenses. Colorado is a preference-point state. You must apply for at least three years before having any chance of drawing.

Idaho has lots of wild sheep. It also has some of the most rugged sheep country in the Lower 48. There is no bonus-point system in Idaho. Drawing odds, for all applicants, are therefore among the best in the West.

Montana is the Mecca for monster Rocky Mountain Bighorns. It has better drawing odds than most states, some of the largest sheep and the lowest license fees of any western state. The units around the famous Missouri River Breaks consistently produce record-book rams every year. Montana also has a few unlimited units that you can hunt every year. Success rates in those units are very low. Montana does have a bonus-point system.

Nevada has Rocky Mountain Bighorns, California Bighorns and Desert Bighorns, and you may apply for all three. Nevada is a bonus-point state. The longer you apply, the better your odds of drawing a tag.

New Mexico is the easiest and cheapest state to apply in. New Mexico has big rams and offers Rocky Mountain Bighorns and Desert Bighorns. You can apply for either as a first or second choice. Draw odds are slim. There are no bonus or preference points in New Mexico.

Oregon is home to Rocky Mountain Bighorns and California Bighorns. There are no preference points for sheep, and drawing odds are poor. Only a very few sheep areas are open for nonresident applications.

Utah offers Rocky Mountain Bighorns or Desert Bighorns. It is a bonus-point state, and 50 percent of the permits are reserved for those with the most bonus points. Drawing odds are poor.

Applying for a sheep tag in Washington is expensive, and the drawing odds are poor. Still, you can’t draw unless you apply. Washington is a bonus-point state.

Wyoming allocates a generous number of sheep tags for nonresidents. It should be stated, however, that many of the best sheep areas lie within designated wilderness areas and nonresident hunters must hire a certified Wyoming guide to hunt in those areas. Depending on the unit drawn, that may rule out do-it-yourself hunting. Also of note is the fact that Wyoming started an optional, pay-for-preference-points system for nonresidents in 2006. Preference points are expensive at $100 per year, but they are worth it if you want to hunt sheep in this beautiful state. Seventy-five percent of Wyoming’s sheep tags are reserved for those with the most preference points.

Sheep-Hunting Tactics

While you wait for a tag, learn as much as you can about sheep and sheep hunting. Read and save magazine articles and books about sheep hunting and learn from everyone you know who has hunted sheep with a bow or a rifle. When you do draw a tag and decide to use your bow, my advice is to forget trophy rams and harvest any representative animal you can. Sheep hunting is tough.

Use the best possible optics. Binoculars and spotting scopes by optics leaders like Leica, Swarovski, Zeiss, Leupold, Bushnell, Nikon and others are what you want. I use 10x40mm Zeiss binoculars and a Leupold 12- to 40-power spotting scope. The scope is comparatively lightweight and packable, and it’s an invaluable tool for sizing up rams at a distance. Early-season rams like alpine basins above timberline. Later in the year, the rams will use the timber more and become very difficult to locate. When glassing, look for ram pastures. These are small areas of green grass isolated within large expanses of cliffs. Rams will frequently use these areas for feeding and bed down nearby. When rams are timbered up, you must remain patient and glass even harder and longer. Focus on any small openings in the trees, especially if there are rocky escape areas nearby.

When planning stalks, ignore the age-old advice about approaching only from above. Use any and all terrain features you can to hide your approach while keeping the wind in your favor. You may be above, below or level with the sheep. It doesn’t matter as long as you have stalking cover and the wind in your favor.

An angle-compensating rangefinder can be a very useful tool while hunting this vertical terrain.

Sheep Learning

Sheep hunting always seems a learning experience. Several years ago I had the opportunity to help noted bowhunter Randy Ulmer on his Wyoming sheep hunt. Randy is a superb bowhunter with much sheep experience, and what I learned from him was patience. Randy never once rushed a stalk. He would watch and wait for the most opportune time before making a move. His glassing technique was also flawless. He used tripod-mounted binoculars for steadiness and would cover the terrain in a grid fashion. He didn’t miss spotting many rams. Randy also wore a large goofy-looking floppy hat while glassing. He did that for two reasons. First, to protect his face and ears from the glaring sun at high altitude. And second, to provide shade for the eye piece of his binoculars.

Darren Collins is a staff shooter for Mathews and was the eighth person to complete the Super Slam of North American big game animals with a bow. Darren knows sheep, and they are among his favorite animals to hunt.

Darren drew a Colorado Bighorn tag a few years ago after 13 years of applying. It’s the only Lower-48 sheep tag he’s ever drawn, despite years of applying in multiple states. He took a dandy ram on day five of his do-it-yourself hunt and that sheep remains one of his favorite trophies.

His advice is simple. Use the best possible optics and stalk rams from whatever direction works best. Out of the five rams he’s taken, two were stalked from below, two on the same level and just one from above.

Sheep Success

There really is no better time to begin your quest for a wild ram. The joy of sheep country, the incredible vistas and the majestic mountain peaks are all very real. But don’t kid yourself. There’s some pain involved as well. Getting up those peaks is rarely easy, and drawing a sheep tag in the Lower 48 may take a surprising amount of time and patience.

All in all, though, there is no trophy quite like a big old ram, and the joy and pain somehow combine to create the experience of a lifetime.

Enjoy this article? Share it!