thought I'd share my latest adventure

The end of last month I spent 10 days in sonora
guiding a desert sheep hunt.
I left the sub zero temps of Wyoming behind and arrived in Hermosillo to temps in the 70s.
10 days of dodging cholla and eating homemade tortillas,evenings around a ironwood (palo fireo)fire and a great bunch of guys, who I've hunted with before.
A run down on the ranch and staff.
the ranch is 55,000 acres of very rough and rugged country. Home to many species including desert sheep , mule deer, javalina, coyotes, bobcat, fox, Mt lion, quail and dove.
The west boundry of the ranch was 20 miles of Sea of Cortez coastline and the added species of ocean animals and birds including sea lions
pelicans,herons shore birds and ospry.
The staff included Jorje (j) Pilon (p) and
Carlos (c) 3 brothers,as guides and spotters, Ible was the ranch "cowboy" (thou there was no livestock)
and Haviaer the fantastic cook and Simon as cooks helper.
I had worked with this great bunch of guys before and it was like old home week getting to share time with them again.
within hours of arriving at the ranch my sides hurt from the laughing and other hijinks as we
remember other hunts and fun times.
J has a very impressive record of nearly 200 sheep hunts under his belt, and P and C are twin brother with a passion for pursuit and the most incredible eyes of any hunters anywhere.
An example of this eyesight,
one evening looking into the setting sun, P spotted a sheep at 3 miles and we followed an old trail to shorten the distance.On the way P stated that thou he couldn't sex the sheep, it was bedded and upon reducing the distance to a mile we stopped and set up the 60x swarovski
and there on the slope amid the palo verde and cactus was a bedded ewe! and even more amazing he was using 8x binos!!!
Day 1
We saw 22 sheep including 1 ram in the mid sized range and with plenty of time we passed and enjoyed getting to know our hunter and his girlfriend,who hailed from Norway and aquainting them with the terrain and cactus dangers.
They each spoke some english and we worked our way thru a 3 language communication circle and settled into camp,country and hunting roles.



Day 2
We were just getting to our glassing location right at the crack of dawn when one
of the guys spotted a fast moving bright light in the morning sky, all optics were pointed
skyward and we watched the OMNI/UFO streak across the heavens above us.The evening news reported a rare comet that had crossed over Mexico at dawn.
The landowner had offered the hunter the chance to take a Desert Mulie if we saw a good one and after visiting with the hunter of our chances,
he was very interested but wanted to concentrate on sheep first then Mule Deer.
I told the hunter that when we saw the Right buck it would be time to shoot deer as we may never see the animal again.and I would only suggest he shoot, if it was a trophy worthy of interupting a sheep hunt for.

We were seeing about 20-25 sheep a day and maybe we would see deer,but for the most part this was rare.

On the evning of the 4th day we were hunting the northern end of the ranch and working the canyons, when we found the Right deer.
spotting 4 does and a grand old buck,we made a quick stalk and a couple running shots later we had a bonus trophy to break the ice with.

31 1/2 inches on the outside and dark,heavy horns. This was the best deer i have seen in this area,scarred and cactus torn, the hunter was very pleased with his desert warrior.
In places the beach was part of the road system and traveling in this area one day we happened upon another old warrior.

The skull was 12 feet long and overall length,
i think i stepped off nearly 60 feet of body.
The big vertabrea were bigger the a 5 gal. bucket.A very cool sight for a country boy from Wyoming.
By now we had looked over almost 20 rams,but were yet to see the "no brainer" we were looking for,i found the hunter, more than once admiring the fence trophys at camp.

Somewhere in the neiborhood of 200,000+ dollars of fence trophys.
The morning of Day 7
We hit pay dirt and a good ram was spotted and minutes after everyone training their scopes in the area, a 2nd even bigger ram was spotted bedded nearby.
The big guy was pushing 170! At last the "no brainer" we had been looking for!!
Jorje and I visited about the approach and we shook out gear from our backpacks and added water.
The rams were on a small chain of mountains maybe 5 miles long that bordered the ocean and were ringed to the east by flat desert landscape cut with arroyas, with hunter in tow we made our way down an arroya in the direction of our quarry.
The sheep had been working their way across a big face of the range, feeding and rubbing their horns in random palo verde bushes.
Jorje and I decided to set up on the next slope
and let the sheep come to us, as the slope they were on was too big and open for an approach and the sun should soon push these sheep onto the shaded side where we would be waiting.
Constantly checking the wind and crawling into within 300 yds of the peak of this slope we settled into a boulder patch and got the hunter set up,with a backpack for padding for a prone shot.
Minutes ticked by, with a round in the chamber and glasses trained on the shoulder of the hill we waited.
20 minutes in, we could see flickers of movement thru the brush,but as of yet couldn't tell which ram was which and no clear veiw of either.
check the wind,so far it had been steady from right to left, but i worried of changing thermals the longer we lay in place.
40 minutes in, we can see the smaller ram clear enough for a shot but only glimpses of the one we wanted.
45 minutes in and the thermals bite us in the ass and the smaller ram's head comes up like he had been slapped in the face and together they crash away up slope over the top with no chance of a shot on the big ram.
We run for the top of the slope and catch the sheep headed up the next canyon at 400 yards.
Big ram in the lead, I called his location out to the hunter and as the ram goes straight up the slope the first shot is taken.Instead of holding at the top of his head, the hunter holds in the lung region and under shoots the ram, a 2nd shot as he makes the skyline and they are gone.
No time to wish and wonder what ifs,we make our way to where they crossed the ridge and search for signs of a hit.
Finding nothing after a sweeping search of the area we make our way back to the starting point and rejoin the rest of our group.
They had seen where the rams went over into a big canyon beyond our view and sending Pilon,Carlos and Ible to the north end of the range, with instructions to scatter out along the base we make our way back into the heart of it and locate where the sheep had gone over
out of sight.
Crawling up to the crest of the ridge we are careful not to skyline and use a palo verde tree to break our outline.
We spend the next hour trying to relocate the rams, the ridge we are on effectively cuts this small mountain range in half,to the left the knife like ridge drops to the ocean, to the right it dies in the desert flat,and we can see all of it in both directions.
Another hour goes by, then we see smoke,It was planned that if Pilon,Carlos or Ible were to spot the sheep a signal fire would be lit
(cholla lites readily) and piling on more brush
would create a smoke trail.
We were back in buisness!!
Unknown to us,and as we are making a plan,Pilon had read the situation and knowing the terrain and where we were, makes a run on the sheep, pushing the big ram back our way. ( the rams had split up)
Jorje's sharp eyes spots the ram come over the ridge 3/4s of a mile below, headed in our direction, hes' going to cross between us and the ocean, as he goes out of sight in the bottom of a canyon we scramble to get down thru the rocks and cut the distance.
Pilon tops out and jogging to stay within sight of the ram he stalls at each high point to let the ram see him and keep him moving.
The ram isn't running, but he is steadily moving,he has 2 small ridges and a canyon to cross before he's on "our" ridge.
At first when I saw what Pilon was doing I wondered "What the Hell?" But then as things progressed I realized "this is going to work."
Each time the ram goes out of sight we adjust our position, closer and closer he makes his way to us.We set up on a point that gives us a commanding view of the slope he should come up.
Getting the hunter set up in the prone, I call out a couple landmarks and their ranges and about this time Jorje spots the ram at the bottom of the slope.
The hunter is calm and ready, the sheep is working upslope into range.50-75 yards at a time, stopping and looking back towards Pilon,
he has no idea we are laying in wait.
As he nears the top he is 400 yds now and the hunter says "I'm going to shoot"
The ram stops broadside and the dust flies just under his chest.DAMN!!!
A 2nd shot as the ram tops out and he turns toward us and running now, is headed staight up the ridge to us.Let him come,I'm calling out ranges 370,350,325, shoot him (the ranges out loud,"shoot him" to myself)
At 300 yds, before the hunter can shoot again
the ram drops off the backside of the ridge and out of sight.
LETS GO,I yell and 150 yard mad dash is made
Jorje in the lead and I in his hip pocket,
RAPIDO!,RAPIDO!(FAST! FAST!) I'm in Jorje's ear.
We are running full tilt across a 60 degee slope covered with loose,crumbling rock.
Below us on the slope a safety net of frosted cholla to break our fall if we lose our footing.
I remember saying to myself, "dear god please help me stay upright, cause its going to hurt BAD otherwise"
RAPIDO! Jorje, RAPIDO! I can hear the hunter
behind me and one more RAPIDO and Jorje leaps upslope off the sheep trail and waves me on.
I reach the crest and a quick glance back,the
hunter is 20 yards behind and coming fast,
eyes back to the front I search for the ram.
The canyon is 150 yards across to the next crest
and I'm convinced we've beaten the ram across the slope before he could clear the canyon, I search and search and the hunter arrives,i grab him by the sleeve ready to point out the sheep, but as the seconds tick by, it sinks in that the sheep has won this foot race.
I feel the readyness and energy leave the hunters body thru my connection with his arm,
and I know its over when he clears the round out of the chamber of his rifle.
We spend the next hour searching for blood or any sign of a hit, thou i clearly saw the fall of both shots.
And begin the longest walk a hunter or guides have to take, back to the truck, empty handed.
I know I was crushed and didn't even want to
"walk a mile" in my hunter's shoes.
We stop at one point and I pass out water,its physically painful to stand there, not knowing what to say,and we push on.
Looping along the ridgetops we have gone 3/4s of a mile and we stop again,hands on our hips
we take a breather.I turn back the direction we've come and am thinking of my hands on those big chocolate colored horns, my eyes focus
and there laying in a shade pocket 200 yards away is the 2nd ram!!
He's acting like a whitetail and is frozen
hoping we don't see him.I slowly turn to Jorje and cautioning him not react, tell him where the ram is.
Now the hunter, and with the same cautioned words, he looks and says "I'm going to shoot this ram"
With that said he drops into a sitting position and puts a bullet thru the rams chest,( thou I didn't know that at the time)the ram bolts from his bed and the hunter keeps shooting.
the 2nd shot takes out a hind leg,the 3rd is over the top of the ram by 6 feet. "Calm Down"!
The 4th shot I couldn't see the impact and the ram stops,the 5th thumps him in the chest again and the ram topples over backwards and rolls down the slope until he hangs up in some brush.
Talk about going from zero to hero!!
I believe my next words were, and I quote
"How the F%$k did that happen"

And now another footrace except this time the ram can't out run us, Jorje and i hold back alittle and let the hunter get there first.
This is "his" time, and its a long road from Norway to where he is "standing" right now.
After a few minutes we approach and putting my hands on the ram i see wet spots on the horns of the sheep and so not to embarass the hunter I don't look him in the face and give him a chance to wipe his eyes.It was a VERY humble experience.
Later he trys to convey to us the feelings of
how terrible he felt on 2 seperate failed chances at the big ram and how he was trying to formulate the words to apoligize for missing,
he said at that moment he just wanted to go home.
We reassured him that apolgies were not needed
and congradulations were in order,as the rest of the guys arrive they each congradulate and
with continued handshakes and backslaping, the misses are forgotten.
He says he is the first Norwegian hunter to take a desert sheep and when i relay this to my mexican counterparts the congradulations start
again.
It was a great 10 days in Sonora and I should of stayed a few more days as it was -12 below
when i stepped off the plane getting home and
-29 below the next morning.
Can't wait to do it again!! Anyone want to go sheep hunting?

Good stuff. I love it down there...

Great Story and Sheep!


Jeremy Gugelmeyer
www.sagebrushhunts.com

Joe,

Thanks so much for making that all happen for my client. I knew he would be in good hands.

Mark

Great story and great sheep.

Mark
It was my pleasure....
and my Thanks to you.
and all the other kind words

Thoroughly enjoyed reading your report. Sounded like a heck of an adventure and a well won trophy.

Great post and story with excellent pictures! But I can tell you are from Wyoming! It's Jorge, Pelon and Javier... no I didn't sleep in a Holiday Inn last night but I did have menudo for breakfast lol! Word is they are going to open deer hunting on the island as a separate hunt from sheep, any info?

Great report, trophies and pictures.

you got my lack of mexican spelling skills
right bwanamrm.
havn't heard anything solid on the island mule deer...

Great story..I was on the edge of my seat! Congrats!

Incredible! A dream hunt for sure...

Great report. Thanks for sharing. Pretty country down there.

What is that skeleton on the beach?

Perry

PERRY
its some sort of whale

If you havn't already known this....your job is way better than a factory job.

I didnt know you were going down until you had already left. Had I known I would have gone with you, I miss that ranch! Its a magical place! Congrats on the buck, I've never seen one that good there, he is a brute!

Drum

I love that part of the world. I will never be able to afford the price of admission for a sheep hunt, but would love to tag along on one some day as an observer.

Perry