A Divine Ram
July 11, 2024
By Paul Divine
Believe it or not, I actually posted on my work calendar “bighorn sheep hunt” before submitting my application. I applied for the South Bristol Mountains solely because I thought I had better odds of drawing as a maximum preference point holder. After applying for 25-plus years, I finally drew a tag! After the drawing, California Fish and Wildlife requires a hunter orientation, which I attended. I met the sheep biologists, a couple of guides, and folks from the Wild Sheep Foundation and Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep there.
I decided to hunt the first two weeks of the season (early December) with help from friends—Paco, his wife Sarah, and their neighbor Kelly. I did as much map and satellite imagery “scouting” as possible, talked to biologists and game wardens, and made one trip down to see the mountains. Later in the year, Paco, Sarah, and Kelly did some scouting for me since they lived close to the hunt unit. I hunted for 15 days, on and off, with Paco and Kelly. We saw several sheep and some nice rams at a distance but had difficulty relocating them to get in close. The weather was unseasonably warm. With the desert greening up, the sheep were moving a lot. On the last day, Paco and I got close to some sheep, and during the last 30 minutes of shooting light, I ended up passing on a young ram at 300 yards.
I planned hunting trip number two for mid-January, hopefully with cooler weather. I talked more with the sheep biologist and some guides to help decide my final plan. Luckily, Paco, Sarah, and Kelly would come back to help. This time, my girlfriend Julia would go too. For the first three of the ten days I had to hunt, I hired a guide to increase my odds. His name was Josh Schulgen of Sierra Crest Outfitters, whom I had met at the orientation and spoken to on several occasions. I went with Josh because he was down-to-earth, encouraging, and knowledgeable. Plus, he was willing to work with me on short notice. Josh also brought along a couple of friends—father and son, David and Jake.
We all got to camp Friday evening with the plan to hunt some of the same area I had hunted previously. We also planned to go into some new country where sheep were known to move into during the colder winter periods. With more of us, we could spread out in all directions and cover more ground at once. In the morning, we first glassed areas we hunted before and then moved into the area to the north. Once we “cleared” an area, we moved in closer, looking into as many hidey holes as possible. During the first half of the day, Paco and Kelly spotted a couple of ewes, and Josh made it to a good vantage point to one of the higher peaks. Josh spotted about 20 sheep, some of which David had spotted from his location. Jake, Julia, and I had not yet seen any sheep. Late that afternoon, Jake ran into Julia and me as he was heading north to another vantage point, so Julia and I joined him.
We stopped along the way, glassing from the side of one of the few roads. We could see a long distance, over many lower rolling hills, and I spotted Josh atop a mountain more than four miles away. Then, I saw my first sheep of the day, below Josh, feeding down the mountain. While Julia and I were glassing, Jake moved on to a higher vantage point, hoping to look into some of the canyons. Just as Jake left, Josh called me and said he spotted six sheep out in front of us a couple of hours before, but the heat waves were too strong to tell what they all were. As I hung up, Julia said, “There they are!
To my frustration, I couldn’t find them quickly. Julia then pointed to four of them more than 1,000 yards away. I almost immediately saw another two sheep come into view, both rams—and one a shooter!
By this time, there was probably an hour left in the day to hunt. We scrambled to meet up with Jake to make a plan, but Josh called back before we got to him.
I didn’t know what to do. But once we met up with Jake, we made a plan with Josh to stalk the ram near us and then make a decision. The stalk was down through a wash and up and over a couple of saddles to a rock outcropping that Jake marked as a good shooting location when he was glassing from his high point. As the three of us made our way on the stalk, we got another call from Josh. He said the two bigger rams were in a hard spot, and there was a good chance we would not be able to find them the next morning. But, he added, it was still my call.
We continued the stalk, and as we neared the rock outcropping, we all slowed down and moved quietly to look over the edge. Before we reached it, we dropped our packs. Jake said the sheep was only 200-300 yards across the canyon. We slowly crested the rocks with our binos to see the sheep getting up from their beds. The two rams moved across, following each other, while they fed and raked the brush with their horns. All the while, I glassed the biggest one, trying to decide if I should shoot or wait and try to go after a bigger one the next day. The wind was in our faces, the sheep didn’t know we were there, and the distance was perfect. I had a solid rest, and Julia was with me. This was the perfect opportunity. I couldn’t pass up the shot on a good-looking ram. I leveled my bipod and ranged the ram three times at 320 yards. I let Jake and Julia know I was taking the shot and slowly squeezed the trigger with the crosshairs just behind the shoulder when the ram was perfectly broadside. Looking through the scope during the shot, I saw the ram fall right in his tracks. “That just happened!” I said, almost in disbelief.
After some hugs, high-fives, and congratulations, we grabbed our gear and took a 30-minute hike down the canyon of loose rock and up the other side, arriving at the ram in the dark. We spent the rest of the evening taking photos and packing out the ram once Paco, Kelly, and Josh made it to us. It was a fantastic hunt and experience. This was my first hunt using a guide, and with Josh and Jake, it was like hunting with friends. I sincerely thank Paco, Sarah, and Kelly for their generosity and helping me on this hunt, Josh, Jake, and David for making this hunt a success, and Julia for being there by my side.
The author (left) and Jake (right) glassing my ram just before the shot on the first evening during my second hunting trip.
Even before I applied, I had a feeling that the 2023 California big game draw would be the one!
Believe it or not, I actually posted on my work calendar “bighorn sheep hunt” before submitting my application. I applied for the South Bristol Mountains solely because I thought I had better odds of drawing as a maximum preference point holder. After applying for 25-plus years, I finally drew a tag! After the drawing, California Fish and Wildlife requires a hunter orientation, which I attended. I met the sheep biologists, a couple of guides, and folks from the Wild Sheep Foundation and Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep there.
I decided to hunt the first two weeks of the season (early December) with help from friends—Paco, his wife Sarah, and their neighbor Kelly. I did as much map and satellite imagery “scouting” as possible, talked to biologists and game wardens, and made one trip down to see the mountains. Later in the year, Paco, Sarah, and Kelly did some scouting for me since they lived close to the hunt unit. I hunted for 15 days, on and off, with Paco and Kelly. We saw several sheep and some nice rams at a distance but had difficulty relocating them to get in close. The weather was unseasonably warm. With the desert greening up, the sheep were moving a lot. On the last day, Paco and I got close to some sheep, and during the last 30 minutes of shooting light, I ended up passing on a young ram at 300 yards.
California's South Bristol Mountains—photo taken on Day 15 of my first hunting trip. This is the southern end of the range looking north.
I planned hunting trip number two for mid-January, hopefully with cooler weather. I talked more with the sheep biologist and some guides to help decide my final plan. Luckily, Paco, Sarah, and Kelly would come back to help. This time, my girlfriend Julia would go too. For the first three of the ten days I had to hunt, I hired a guide to increase my odds. His name was Josh Schulgen of Sierra Crest Outfitters, whom I had met at the orientation and spoken to on several occasions. I went with Josh because he was down-to-earth, encouraging, and knowledgeable. Plus, he was willing to work with me on short notice. Josh also brought along a couple of friends—father and son, David and Jake.
Packing out my Bristol Mountain ram.
We all got to camp Friday evening with the plan to hunt some of the same area I had hunted previously. We also planned to go into some new country where sheep were known to move into during the colder winter periods. With more of us, we could spread out in all directions and cover more ground at once. In the morning, we first glassed areas we hunted before and then moved into the area to the north. Once we “cleared” an area, we moved in closer, looking into as many hidey holes as possible. During the first half of the day, Paco and Kelly spotted a couple of ewes, and Josh made it to a good vantage point to one of the higher peaks. Josh spotted about 20 sheep, some of which David had spotted from his location. Jake, Julia, and I had not yet seen any sheep. Late that afternoon, Jake ran into Julia and me as he was heading north to another vantage point, so Julia and I joined him.
We stopped along the way, glassing from the side of one of the few roads. We could see a long distance, over many lower rolling hills, and I spotted Josh atop a mountain more than four miles away. Then, I saw my first sheep of the day, below Josh, feeding down the mountain. While Julia and I were glassing, Jake moved on to a higher vantage point, hoping to look into some of the canyons. Just as Jake left, Josh called me and said he spotted six sheep out in front of us a couple of hours before, but the heat waves were too strong to tell what they all were. As I hung up, Julia said, “There they are!
To my frustration, I couldn’t find them quickly. Julia then pointed to four of them more than 1,000 yards away. I almost immediately saw another two sheep come into view, both rams—and one a shooter!
By this time, there was probably an hour left in the day to hunt. We scrambled to meet up with Jake to make a plan, but Josh called back before we got to him.
“Don’t shoot, don’t shoot! I spotted two bigger rams!”
I didn’t know what to do. But once we met up with Jake, we made a plan with Josh to stalk the ram near us and then make a decision. The stalk was down through a wash and up and over a couple of saddles to a rock outcropping that Jake marked as a good shooting location when he was glassing from his high point. As the three of us made our way on the stalk, we got another call from Josh. He said the two bigger rams were in a hard spot, and there was a good chance we would not be able to find them the next morning. But, he added, it was still my call.
We continued the stalk, and as we neared the rock outcropping, we all slowed down and moved quietly to look over the edge. Before we reached it, we dropped our packs. Jake said the sheep was only 200-300 yards across the canyon. We slowly crested the rocks with our binos to see the sheep getting up from their beds. The two rams moved across, following each other, while they fed and raked the brush with their horns. All the while, I glassed the biggest one, trying to decide if I should shoot or wait and try to go after a bigger one the next day. The wind was in our faces, the sheep didn’t know we were there, and the distance was perfect. I had a solid rest, and Julia was with me. This was the perfect opportunity. I couldn’t pass up the shot on a good-looking ram. I leveled my bipod and ranged the ram three times at 320 yards. I let Jake and Julia know I was taking the shot and slowly squeezed the trigger with the crosshairs just behind the shoulder when the ram was perfectly broadside. Looking through the scope during the shot, I saw the ram fall right in his tracks. “That just happened!” I said, almost in disbelief.
Left/Top: Pictured from left to right with my ram, Paco, Kelly, Julia, and me. Right/Bottom: My guides Jake and Josh were like hunting with friends!
After some hugs, high-fives, and congratulations, we grabbed our gear and took a 30-minute hike down the canyon of loose rock and up the other side, arriving at the ram in the dark. We spent the rest of the evening taking photos and packing out the ram once Paco, Kelly, and Josh made it to us. It was a fantastic hunt and experience. This was my first hunt using a guide, and with Josh and Jake, it was like hunting with friends. I sincerely thank Paco, Sarah, and Kelly for their generosity and helping me on this hunt, Josh, Jake, and David for making this hunt a success, and Julia for being there by my side.