Throughout the last 44 years, I have applied for as many hunts as I could afford, but when it came to the California draw, to my disappointment, I never drew a tag. When California went to a modified preference point system in 2002 and with max points, this increased my chances of obtaining a coveted Desert bighorn sheep tag. With the Lord’s blessing in June 2024, I discovered that I had beaten the California lottery system and drawn a Desert bighorn sheep tag for the Newberry/Rodman/Ord mountains.
I attended the mandatory Fish and Wildlife sheep hunter orientation in Davis, California. While I was there, I knew there were outfitters and guides that were offering their services. My thinking was how hard can this be? I made the decision to hunt on my own. I went home and started to make plans for my hunt. Already having commitments in Colorado and Wyoming, I could not pre-scout my hunt unit. October and November came and went.
Opening day started on December 7th, but I could not make it because my binoculars would not focus and I had to send them for repairs to Swarovski Optik. Thanks to them, I quickly received them back on December 13th. On December 17th, I drove to my hunt area. I spent the next four days driving and glassing, looking for sheep. With no luck, I did not see a single sheep. In the early morning hours at first light on December 21st, I located my first Desert bighorn. They were far in the distance on a high mountainside. Two were not legal, and the third may have been a legal ram. They did not give me much time to look at them because they were in a hurry getting into the rocks to bed down. Believe me, after they bed down, they are almost impossible to find.
Soon after that, I started to do some serious thinking. With my hunt area being very desolate and remote and not seeing sheep or a human being for three days, I concluded if I were to be successful and for my safety, I needed some help. Later that morning, I drove the next four hours back home. While driving, I started thinking of outfitters I knew who would give me the best opportunity at filling my tag. I already knew what my choice would be. I immediately called Matt St. Martin with Dry Creek Outfitters. I arranged to meet with him the very next day. I believe in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that God Almighty brings good people into my life to bless me and to make great opportunities happen. While meeting Matt and his son, Jonston, we discussed sheep hunting and all the details about my hunt. Matt said that he had a sheep hunt scheduled for the next week in South Bristols, and since my hunt unit was close by, he would call me when he finished the hunt and they would begin hunting with me. Matt said to get ready, so I did.
The next week was Christmas, but on December 29th, Matt called and said to meet him the next day. He and his guide, Nate, would be scouting and working for me to locate a ram. The next morning, I left home at 10:30 a.m. and arrived in Barstow, California that afternoon. While pumping gas, I received a call from Matt stating they had located two good rams. Matt said he would send me a pin location to meet him. He and Nate would meet me up on a high ridge.
As I got to their location, Matt and Nate were set up with spotting scopes. I looked through the scope and saw a real good ram about two miles away. Matt then said, “We need to go on this ram.” I mentioned to Matt about it getting dark soon, and he said we would be coming back in the dark whether we got that ram or not. I also said, “Is it really steep going down over there?” Matt said, “Yes,” so with a leap of faith, I paused for just a moment and then said, “Let’s go.”
Immediately, God’s strength came into me, and at the age of 69, I felt like I was 25 again. Being dressed in scrubs, a T-shirt, and tennis shoes, I ran down to my truck and changed out. We started going down a steep, deep ravine and then ascended to another steep ridge side. Keeping up with Matt, we traversed across the ridge, staying below the skyline. We finally got to the bottom in a rocky drainage with a lot of cactus. We climbed that rocky drainage and kept going up for a while when Matt stopped and said, “There’s the ram just ahead of us. He’s a good ram, and you need to shoot him.”
From where I was standing and behind Matt, I could not see him. Matt said just to stay low and move ahead a bit. I literally crawled a few feet. I could not see the ram and had to lean to my left. I was finally able to locate him. I was astonished with my heart in my throat seeing a dark phantom silhouette standing on the skyline looking directly at me. I was staying as low as I could get. Matt then said he was at 165 yards and handed me my rifle. I quickly and carefully checked my dial and made sure to turn down the power in the scope. With three rounds in the magazine, I jacked a shell into the chamber with the safety on. I said to Matt that I would shoot from a small, elevated rock that was just ahead of me. Matt said “No, if you move forward, you will blow him out of here. Use my pack to shoot from.”
Matt set up his pack frame in front of me, and I rested my rifle and took the safety off. As I was looking through the scope at the ram, I said to Matt that I could not shoot because he was looking straight at me. Matt reassured me to be patient and that he would turn. Sure enough, in just moments, the ram turned left to give me a clear shot. My first shot was a hit. With Matt staying on him looking through his binoculars, he said, “You hit him.” We could see the ram stop and then struggle for a few moments. I put another round into the chamber. I shot once again, and the ram took about four steps and went down.
When we got to the ram, I was in stun mode. Matt said that I had just killed a really nice ram. It was late and darkness was closing fast, so I punched my tag and we took a few pictures. Matt quickly prepared the ram for our return the next morning. In the desert, walking back to our vehicles in pitch darkness, you can easily get lost, turned around, and walk down the wrong drainage if you are not familiar with the area. With a two-hour walk in the dark, I had reason to be concerned, but with Matt and his GPS guiding me, I was relieved with no worries.
Early the next morning, Matt, Nate, and I returned to the kill site. We took several pictures and then Matt and Nate began preparing the ram for the pack out. Matt and Nate know what they are doing. They both tag teamed, skinned quarters, and wrapped and loaded the ram into our packs for the journey out. It was January 31st, New Year’s Eve. What a great day having God’s blessing and walking out with a beautiful ram. It doesn’t get any better than that.
I want to say thank you first and foremost to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for his blessings to make this all possible and that he brought good people into my life. Thanks to Matt, Nate, and Dry Creek Outfitters not only for their professional services and helping me but for their kind and caring demeanor, for their good energy, for who they are, and for what they do. Also, I would like to thank the California Wild Sheep Foundation for their efforts in supporting the Desert bighorn sheep management program. I want to thank them for providing healthy herds and a good population so future generations have an opportunity to enjoy and to be blessed as I have. Every day is a blessing. Every day, I feel blessed to live in a great, beautiful country as we do. It is a great time for hunting, it is a great time for our country, and it is a great time to be free.