Mountain Sheep and Goats

The highest hunting honor that can come to the North American big-game hunter is to become a "grand-slammer" on wild sheep. This means to take a legal, representative specimen of each of the four species: Dall (Ovis dalli), Stone (Ovis dalli stonei), Rocky Mountain bighorn (Ovis cana-densis), and desert bighorn (Ovis canadensis nelsoni, Ovis canadensis gaillardi, etc.).

Only a relatively few hunters have accomplished this feat, and cur­rently about a half-dozen hunters are trying for their second "go-round," attempting to get a ram of each species whose horns will reach 40 inches along their outside curl.

HORNS AND COLORATION

North American wild sheep are classified in various ways. One classifi­cation is according to horn type, with the Dall and the Stone comprising the thin-horned sheep and all others in the bighorn group.

Coloration gives another broad basis for classification. The Dall is white, the Stone blue-black, and the bighorns brown-gray. In size the Dall is smallest, adult rams averaging around 250 pounds; while both the Stone and the bighorns may reach 300 to 350 pounds. Generally the horns of the bighorn sheep are set more closely against the skull than those of the thin-horned group. Because this impairs the vision of mature bighorn rams, they often rub the tips of their horns against rocks to wear them down and broaden their field of vision.

The bighorn sheep tops many a hunter's list of most-wanted tro­phies. Its massive, curling horns, composed of a hollow sheath growing over a bony core, are never shed throughout its life­time. If you can climb above timberline, claw your way up cliffsides, and shoot a ram, see page 450 to learn how to score your prize.

RANGE

Another broad classification of wild sheep is according to range. The Dall's range covers Alaska and as far south as the southern border of Yukon Territory; the Stone's range comprises British Columbia and Al­berta, in the Peace River area; and the Rocky Mountain sheep's range is from the southern portions of British Columbia and Alberta on southward into Mexico. In a region overlapping the ranges of the Dall and the Stone is a species called Fannin (Ovis fannini), nicknamed "saddleback sheep," and considered by some to be the result of interbreeding between Dall and Stone sheep.

Two of the author's prized sheep trophies, a Rocky Mountain ram (left) and a Dall ram (right), illustrate the difference in horn diame­ter and pelage between the species.

Like the antelope, the wild sheep in Continental United States were headed for extinction. They were slaughtered largely for their prized flesh, considered by most outdoorsmen to be the finest of all animals. Wise con­servation legislation, such as protecting the ewes and permitting only a limited harvest of rams in each area (usually those with horns having three-quarters curl or more), and complete protection of the species in other re­gions have saved this prized animal and even made limited hunting avail­able. Currently, several western and southwestern states permit ram hunting on a permit basis. The best areas for the hunter, however, are Alaska, Yukon, and Canada, which have the largest sheep populations.

HABITS

As a species, mountain sheep are considered to be "predictable." That is, unless molested they will follow a definite pattern. They generally live at the highest areas within their habitat. In the Rockies, this means at ele­vations of 10,000 feet or over, usually above timberline. In Alaska and Canada, where the mountains are high compared to the "bush," but where the overall elevation is comparatively lower, sheep country begins at the 7,000-foot level and continues from there to the "top" country. In a general way, all species of sheep except the desert bighorn love the high rolling mountain-top country above all timber and foliage. Winter usually drives them off the very top country into the upper periphery of timber and brush; but in the fall hunting season, they will be found inhabiting the high rolling mountain tops. Summer drought will sometimes cause sheep to move, if high water holes are dried up.

Wild sheep live to an approximate age of twelve to fifteen years. Except in mating season, the rams have nothing to do with the ewes and lambs but gang up in bunches of males from two to nearly a dozen. During the rut, rams fight viciously for the ewes. Both sexes are horned.

Desert sheep generally live at the higher elevations of their lower country, in areas near available water holes.

The enemies of mountain sheep are man and wolves, and part of the species' survival strategy lies in staying at extreme elevations to escape both. Wild sheep can climb, run, and jump in treacherous cliff country along shelving ledges where neither wolf nor man can follow. The desert sheep's worst enemies are the herds of wild burros which occupy and despoil the sparse water holes in their desert habitat.

The vision of wild sheep is comparable to that of antelope. Many ram hunters swear that an old trophy ram can look through a two-foot granite boulder. And once spooked, a ram can quickly get through country no hunter can negotiate. In short, sheep hunting is most difficult, which makes bagging a trophy such a great thrill.

HUNTING MOUNTAIN SHEEP

Where riding animals are available, mountain sheep are hunted by a combination of horses-and-stalking. All country from the camp, usually set within the timber belt, must be climbed and the animals located well before mid-morning. Sunup is a fine hour to locate sheep, as they are more in the open alps and show up well in the slanting rays of the sun. At mid-morning, sheep will bed down for the day, usually in rough rimrock country where they can watch all directions from some high vantage point. During mid-afternoon, they come out again, to graze till dusk. This is also a good time to hunt, except for the fact that the long route back to camp, over treacher­ous terrain, would have to be made in the dark.

The procedure is ordinarily to ride to the highest ridges and periodically study all the open upper country for miles in each direction with high-power glasses. The light spotting scope is coming rapidly to be a part of every sheep hunter's equipment, as it gives the hunter an advantage which binocu­lars under 8 power would not give him. All basins are scrutinized carefully, yard by yard. The wild sheep's coloration, except that of the Dall, blends perfectly with shelving rimrock, crags, shadows, and even rocky trails; and many a ram has materialized out of a distant "rock" which has been glassed for minutes. Such scrutiny is made, as with any wary game, from just under the crest of the ridge or basin. Usually, the hunter crawls up to the crest, pokes the spotting scope before him, then looks through with only his eyes above the crest. Eyeglasses should be removed, as they reflect sun­light.

Experienced hunting horses, which will "picket" quickly in unhandy places and stay put without neighing, are a most valuable asset in any sheep

A spotting scope, which may be steadied on a packboard (opposite page), is a necessity for locating mountain sheep or goats, like the three billies above on the high cliffs of their habitat.

hunting. Picketing is done by tying a 20- or 30-foot lariat to the nag's halter, removing its bridle, and fastening the rope's other end to a large rock, clump of talus, or whatever is handy. The horses feed while the hunter and guide are gone, which is often for hours. The actual stalk is made on foot.

In Alaska and Canadian bush country, where horses are not available, hunters are often flown in to high-altitude lakes near known sheep habitat. Spike camps are set up, and all hunting is done on foot. The hunter or guide usually carries a packboard for taking along such necessities as rope, lunch, and so on, and for later carrying the trophy.

With desert sheep, the same general procedure applies, except that most of the traveling about is done by jeep or other four-wheel-drive vehicle. In all cases, game is located from below; approached as closely as possible by the best means of transportation available, then stalked on foot.

In most sheep country, the best procedure is to get higher than the game and hunt downward. In sheep hunting, this often means circling back a mile or so to get out of sight; doubling up and back of a cliff, mountain, or basin; then making the final stalk from an unsuspected angle. Any attempt to move directly towards game that has seen the distant hunter is the surest way to failure.

Many times sheep are located in such a position that it is impossible to stalk them without disclosing the hunter's presence. The best procedure then is to leave the game until it beds down or moves to another area where it may be approached unseen. Often this entails leaving the chase until an­other day and making the approach from a different direction. But with sheep this is feasible, as the game, unless spooked, won't leave a general area.

RIFLES AND CARTRIDGES

The right rifle for sheep is one with flat trajectory, good accuracy, and reasonably high power. In the broken peaks of sheep country, rams are often come upon at relatively close ranges. But it is often necessary to shoot long distances, and the rifle should be capable of handling both types of shots.

The rifle for sheep should be reasonably light, since much climbing in steep country, where oxygen is thin and exertion excessive, is necessary. It should have a relatively short barrel. Many times the sheep hunter must negotiate thin shelving ledges in semivertical cliffs where he can spit a quarter-mile downward. A long-barreled rifle, bumping into the spires and walls, is apt to push him into Eternity. Many ram hunters gladly sacrifice the velocity of a 26-inch rifle barrel for the handiness and safety of one 22 inches long.

Fine cartridges for ram hunting include the following:
.264 Winchester Magnum, using 140-grain bullets
.270 Winchester, using 130-grain bullets
7 mm Mauser, using 130- and 139-grain bullets (handloads)
.280 Remington, using 150- or 165-grain bullets
.308 Winchester, using 150-grain bullets
.30/06, using 150-grain bullets

The sheep rifle should be equipped with a good quality scope sight. The best all-round power is 4 power, unless the ram hunter wishes to make his scope double as binoculars, letting his guide carry the only other pair. In this case, a 6-power scope is better, and a good variable is perhaps best.

A rifle sling on the sheep rifle is a must. In both sheep and goat hunting, the climbing often has to be done on all fours if the hunter is to get where he wants to go. A good sling, permitting the rifle to be slung from the shoulder or across the back, allows the hunter free use of his hands.

ACCESSORIES

Other necessities for sheep hunting include a 100-foot length of light nylon rope, clothing as nearly the same coloration as the rocks in sheep country, a daily lunch of some kind of concentrated food, and slip-proof boots.

The rope will allow the hunter to descend and ascend places otherwise impossible to negotiate. Rams sometimes tumble or roll when shot into chimneylike crevices from where they could not be recovered without using a rope.

Hunting clothes of the same general color as the rocks will help to camouflage the hunter. Often a concentrated snack of candy bars or pinole is a virtual lifesaver when getting a ram unexpectedly entails staying out overnight. And in no other place, with the exception of goat habitat, will the right soles on hunting boots represent more life insurance. The popular "cord" soles are the best.

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT

The Rocky Mountain goat (Oreamnos montanus) is a type of antelope limited in range to an elongated strip of region coincident with the Rocky Mountain Range. Its range includes southern Alaska, Yukon Territory, British Columbia, the western edge of Alberta, and portions of Washington, Idaho, and Montana.

Like mountain sheep, mountain goats live their life cycles within a radius of from five to ten miles. As with other game species, food is the determin­ing factor and the dizzying heights, cliffs, and ledges where they live furnish lichen, the staple of their diet.

Mountain goats are white or creamy-white in overall color, and average approximately 250 pounds in weight. Both sexes are horned, and it is diffi­cult to tell them apart at a distance. Billies, however, generally appear larger, have a greater hump at the withers, and live a largely solitary ex­istence.

Twinning is more rare among mountain goats than among other species. The kid stays with the nanny until its second year. With the birth of the new kid, it is butted out of the family group onto its own.

Winter drives the goat downward from the cliffs and into the upper periphery of timber. But with early spring it heads up again. Wolves, eagles, and man are the goat's enemies, with eagles taking a heavy toll of kids. The black, spearlike horns of both sexes are dangerous fighting weapons, as people who have handled an occasional wounded goat have found out. Its main defense, however, is simply to climb away from enemies. Of all game the mountain goat and mountain sheep are the most sure-footed Ava­lanches, old age, and even an occasional misjudgment of footing do cause an occasional casualty.

HUNTING THE MOUNTAIN GOAT

Goat hunting is roughly comparable to sheep hunting. The basic differ­ence in both peaks-loving animals is that the mountain sheep likes the high rolling saddles and spines between the spires and peaks, while the mountain goat lives on the precipices and cliffs. The best hunting procedure is to get above the quarry if at all possible. Goats especially look for danger

The snow-white mountain goat, sure-footed denizen of the highest regions, wears the same pair of polished black horns on its shaggy head throughout its lifetime. Present in both sexes, the horns grow to a maximum length of about 12 inches. Scoring information on the mountain goat is on page 452 of the appendix.

from below and know less of how to handle any hazard coming from above.

As with sheep, goats are most often located by a thorough glassing from below the cliff areas of mountain country. Their white coloration makes spotting them and identifying the species relatively easy. Stalking goats usually takes an entire day. Often after the hunter makes his climb and knows for sure he is near the quarry, the craggy, rough terrain will keep the game from view.

This is aggravated by the fact that goats are phlegmatic by nature. Often they will lie or stand in one place for long periods of time without moving. After the hunter has succeeded in getting above the game, patience should be his watchword. Often through nothing more laborious than simply waiting for an hour or so, the hunter can cause his game to appear.

A simple trick for making goats suspected to be nearby make their presence known is to toss a small rock into a gully or crevice at ten-minute intervals. Falling rocks in goat country are common, due to weather­ing and sheer gravity. But the repeated rattling of a stone will often arouse the curiosity of a goat, and it will come into plain sight to learn whether it is friend or enemy.

The same trick is successfully used in getting bedded sheep to show themselves. In the case of sheep, it is best to roll only one small rock—a ram is more apt to spook.

The flesh of trophy goats is usually not edible—as opposed to that of mountain sheep. Goat trophies are usually caped out and lugged back on a packboard or the hunter's back.

Often the meat of wild sheep must be left overnight. Eagles and ravens will despoil such meat quickly by pecking, pulling out tufts of hair, and even evacuating their bowels all over it, unless suitable preventatives are used. The best way is to "rock up" any trophy or carcass which must be left overnight. This means to turn the dressed carcass belly down over a large rock in a crevice, then pile rocks over the exposed parts. Breezes will circulate over the carcass, allowing it to cool without spoilage, and preda­tory birds cannot get at it.

RIFLES AND CARTRIDGES

While mountain goats average less in size than the larger species of sheep, they take more killing. Pound for pound the wild goat will take as much killing as a grizzly. Its tough, spongy flesh absorbs bullets without the shock imparted to such thin-skinned species as deer.

In general, the same rifles and cartridges used for sheep will be adequate. To that list, the .30-caliber magnum cartridges might well be added. In areas where goats can be stalked to within reasonable range, cartridges of .35 caliber are even better—such as the .358 Winchester and the .348 Winchester—as an increase in bullet diameter, with other factors being equal, always gives better killing power on tough game animals.

BOW AND HANDGUN

Mountain sheep and goats represent an extreme challenge to the archer and handgun hunter. Both species can be taken with either weapon, but there are few hunters with the necessary time, patience, money, and stalking skill.

Early Indian hunters used to kill mountain sheep, especially, with the bow-and-arrow. They did not rely on their great skill in stalking to do the exacting chore, but they organized game drives to move the animals through narrow passages where the hunters would lie in wait. The narrow crevices along migration routes, the shelving ledge-trails at the base of mountain spires and rock citadels, and the walled-in mountain passes were the chosen spots. In these areas, within 20 to 30 yards of the trail, blinds were built. Once the game became accustomed to the blind, the best hunters would then wait inside while others moved the game towards the place of concealment.

An entire tribe in central Idaho, the Sheep-Eaters, once survived on mountain sheep killed largely in this fashion. In Alaska and Wyoming, some of the ancient rock cairns built as blinds for hunting driven sheep are still visible.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to bow-and-arrow or handgun hunting of either mountain sheep or goats is the fact that either species usually has to be stopped in its tracks. A wounded animal on the high cliffs often means a lost trophy.

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