Strategic Shift Leads to Desert Bighorn Trophy Harvest
Was this for real? I quickly restarted my phone and logged back into my portal with the Arizona Game and Fish. It still stated I had drawn my first choice for Desert bighorn sheep. It was real! Instantly, the excitement started building.I applied for the unit knowing it would be a very tough hunt. Most likely the two tags would not go to a max pool applicant. I had a very slight chance but still a chance of killing a 170"+ ram. At that point, I had no idea how hard of a mental and physical grind it would actually be. Reality really hit hard after getting the sheep data numbers from the Game Warden over my unit. The aerial survey showed 116 total sheep and only 1 Class-4 ram.
My scouting started in August with 115–118 degree days. It was a very short window to glass sheep on their feet before they went and hid in any possible shade. This time of the year was a good time to make sure I knew the unit upside down and backwards. Between the elk and deer hunts, I was able to make two more trips down to scout and hopefully find the ram of my dreams. November 1st came, and the nerves started to build a little. It was 30 days before my opener, and I still did not have a shooter ram.
On November 5th, I loaded up and headed to the beautiful town of Ajo, Arizona. This would be my new home until I killed the sheep of my dreams or my hunt ended, whichever came first. I scouted every day after arriving in Ajo, and quite a few days were with my youngest son, Skyler. We found a few decent rams in that mid to high 160" class but nothing we considered a “definite shooter.”
On November 22nd, things started to look up quickly. That day, my oldest son Steffen and brother Michael had made the trip to come and help me scout for a couple days. I will never forget Steffen saying, “I got a big ram.” We immediately headed closer to see just how big he was. We watched that ram from a distance for the next two hours before it finally got dark enough that we felt we could slip back out unnoticed. Finally! A ram that I felt would break the 170" mark. With eight days still to go before opening day, I decided to keep looking for a bigger ram and check on this ram that I named “Steve” in a couple of days.
Monday, November 25th was the day. Michael and I had found a couple of solid rams that morning, and then about 10:30 a.m., it all changed. I had glassed a smaller ram right before he went out of sight around a corner from us. We quickly moved closer to get a better angle and make sure he didn’t have any other rams with him. When we finally got into position, I found the small ram bedded and lying flat on the ground like he was dead. I told Michael, “Look in my BTXs at that ram.” He looked and then said, “That ram has its head up, and he looks giant to me.” I immediately told him, “The ram is not big. Let me look again.” When I looked back into the BTXs, I saw the smaller ram still laying with its head on the ground. I then looked just above him and to the left near the edge of a small tree. I saw a sheep that looked to be a giant ram. He was partly in the tree for shade, so it was tough to see his head completely. After a whole lot of high fives and fist pumps, we moved closer to get a better look to see just how big this ram really was. We set up about 500 yards away and waited for the ram to stand from his bed. When he did, the decision was made right then. Stop looking for more rams and start babysitting until opening day.
I only had to watch this ram and keep tabs on him for the next six days. How hard could that be? I took Michael back to town so he could go home for a few days to get some work done before coming back for opening day. As soon as I dropped him off, I reloaded my truck and headed out to start babysitting from a long distance. The ram had moved some but not that far. I watched him until dark that evening. Before daylight the next morning, I was already in position for my day of babysitting. Within a couple of hours, my worst fear came true. He walked to the highest peak possible and walked over the top. No!
For the next five days, I searched and searched for the ram that eventually was named “Cotton-Eye-Joe.” No sightings, but opening day was almost here and I had Steffen, Skyler, Pat, Sean, Drayson, Michael, Xavier, and Ben showing up. We should find him easy with nine guys all looking in different areas close to where he was last seen. Wrong! After six full days of searching, a lot of my help had to leave. I was going to be solo for a period of time before additional guys showed. Todd, one of my best hunting buddies, came down for a couple of days to help me look since I was solo. The morning he showed up, he was joking and said he was there for suicide watch since it had been so hard and no sightings of Cotton.
Let’s fast forward to day 14 of the hunt. Skyler and I were glassing for Cotton when I called him on the radio and said, “I think it’s time to quit focusing just on Cotton and go take a better look at the long ram.” This was a ram that was big, but I wouldn’t give it a second look when I was just focused on Cotton. I had compared every ram we found to Cotton, and that made every other ram a non-shooter in my eyes. However, not killing a big ram was not an option for me. I knew it was going to take some time to relocate one of the few bigger rams we had found.
It was day 15 of the hunt and 21 days since we had seen Cotton. Sandi, Morgan, and Brandon had just arrived the night before, and they were excited to help find Cotton. We informed them that we would be looking for a ram we called “The Long Ram.” This was the last day Skyler was going to be there due to his work schedule and the only day for Sandi. At daylight, we were all glassing in the direction where The Long Ram was last seen, although Skyler was actually about 600 yards closer where he had a different angle.
Sandi said, “There is no way I am going to see anything in these 15x Swarovskis that you and Skyler won’t see in both of your BTXs”. I told her to glass the mountain looking west as it looked like a great place for sheep as well. It wasn’t five minutes before she said, “I have a ram. He is a smaller ram, though.” Now everyone was now turning to look at the smaller ram. I was giving Skyler directions on the radio of where to look to see the ram from his angle. In the process, I saw a different sheep buried up in the paloverde tree eating and he looked big. Skyler had the better angle to see this sheep, and he instantly said he was huge! He said he didn’t quite have Cotton mass, but we needed to kill him.
I patiently waited for the giant ram to feed where I could see him better at about 1,900 yards. He finally came around the tree and gave me a clear view. I told everyone, “That ram doesn’t have Cotton mass, that is Cotton!” My heart flipped, and I instantly started shaking. We were looking at Cotton for the first time in over 20 days and over eight miles from where we had last seen him. I met Skyler at the bottom of the hill, and a quick stalk was put on before Cotton could walk out of my sight for a second time. Cotton laid down looking away from us, and we quickly moved into position. When Cotton stood from his bed, I was prone with a great rest at 510 yards. One very well-placed shot and Cotton fell straight back into the bed he had just stood from.
I want to personally thank every single person who had a part in the success I got to enjoy. It took us all to accomplish the final goal. Also, a huge shout out and thanks to Jeff Lester who had the tag the year prior and supplied me with all the data and places where he had seen sheep. The biggest thanks to Owens Armory for making the absolute tack driver of a rifle that I had the honor of killing my once-in-a-lifetime Desert sheep with. With a hunt of this caliber, you better believe in your equipment with all your heart.