Huntnm2001

The biologist aged him at 10+

Yes I have a head on photo

I had a great group of friend along to experience this hunt with me and we all had the time of our lives hunting an animal that many people will never get to pursue.

At the first shot the sheep didn't even flinch. I hadn't accounted enough for the angle of the shot! As he trotted across the ridge i made an adjustment and when he stopped i squeezed the trigger. And he dropped. He started rolling down the hill and came to a stop. I watched him for a few seconds and when he struggled to get up again I sent a final one on the way to finish him off. It took a little while to make my way over to him but when I reached my ram I was elated. He was everything I could have hoped for and a perfect end to a great hunt.

What really sealed it for me on this sheep was his body size. He was easily the biggest bodied sheep i had seen so I figured his horns should be even more impressive than they actually looked. I backed out of the area and watched him till dark, knowing I'd find him close the next morning. After a night of wondering whether I should punch my tag for this ram I was back behind the glass at first light. Sure enough, as soon as I could see there they were. I grabbed the rifle and off we went. After making a big circle I started up the canyon just below the sheep and immediately ran into another mature ram. When I saw him I almost had second thoughts about which to shoot, but in the end it was a good decision to pursue the one I had started after. I kept going up the canyon and ran into a group of ewes and lambs that were right in the bottom of the canyon. They were only 100 yards away and hadn't seen me yet so my shot would have to be from here, 543 yards.

Finally on the afternoon before the hunt I found a group of sheep a couple miles away with some rams in the group. I moved in closer for a better look and found nothing suitable in the group. Until I looked a few hundred yards left of the main bunch.

Sorry guys I was just reminded that I did not complete the story and post photos of the rest of the hunt. I made a couple more scouting trips without finding the ram I wanted to hang my tag on.

I intend to enjoy every minute of the hunt. The peloncillos are in unit 27, just across the border from the chiricahuas in Arizona.

This is in the far southwest corner of the state

I drew a tag for desert bighorn here in New Mexico this year. The hunt is not until november but I have already mad several scouting trips and located some sheep. I thought I would start a thread about it here and post some pictures of some of the sheep I have found and keep it updated throughout the year.

20 moa base will be plenty to get you out to your desired range.

I think I would stick with the 7.5 twist. I'm assuming the recommendation for 7 twist from hammer bullets is so they could be shot at lower velocities from smaller cartridges. As far as the weatherby freebore my guess would be that they shortened it up so handloaders can get the bullets closer to the lands for accuracy purposes.

I am running the 131s in a 25 creedmoor with a 7.25 twist. 7.5 would be fine at weatherby velocities. I'm running them at 2980 fps

I left new Mexico headed for Arizona late Friday afternoon. We arrived in camp around midnight and after a short four hours woke up to begin the hike in to the hunting area. Daylight found us hiking up a sign covered ridge to get a vantage point to glass from. After an hour we had turned up a doe and a fawn so we decided to work our way further up the ridge for a little different view. As I was wading through the shoulder high grass and oak brush I spotted a deer slipping across the ridge in front of me. I eased forward hoping for another glimpse and made it to the end of the ridge without another glimpse. I sat down on a rock to contemplate which thicket he had given me the slip in. Just then I caught movement in a header below me and saw a deer walking at 150 yards. I set up my rifle and got behind it while my cousin inspected the deer and confirmed there were two bucks with the front being the largest. I quickly picked up the deer and with the shooting window disappearing I settled on the deer and squeezed the trigger. The deer dropped on the spot and rolled down the hillside. I got him quartered and the meat divided and the packout began. There was a fair amount of slipping tripping and cussing but two hours later we were back at the truck having a celebratory beer. He is not a big buck by any means but he does have some character and a really cool deformation on his left antler. I am happy to have taken him.