2021 Arizona Desert Bighorn; Lefty the Miracle Ram

[Steve O]

Well Friday was not a good day. We couldn’t turn up Lefty. We were going to have to go in deep and root him out. Saturday morning we leave camp at 4:30 a.m. We got about 4 miles in and started glassing. I was now staying to watch the back side of the mountain they disappeared on and the 4 miles both ways and Craig was going to look deeper. We would check in with each other every hour and we saw precious little all day. We were not coming out, we had brought enough to spend an uncomfortable night on the mountain. Those are never fun.





On the bright side, my bed there next to the boulder broke the wind and I saw some absolutely stunning starry skies. Not a cloud in the sky and certainly no light pollution in the middle of the wilderness area.

 

[eamyrick]

Following along. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Steve O]

I had found a steep and scary pinnacle to glass from. I bailed off of it to sleep as it seems I am becoming scared of heights the older I get. I started up very early and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise. It was strange to me to have cell service deep in a wilderness area but I turned on my phone once an hour to see if Craig had left any messages and to occasionally check in with my hunting buddies and family. At the 9:30 point after only seeing a few ewes, I was giving my son an update. We had both hoped he would at least be able to make the drive out and do a day or two of scouting but it was not in the cards. He is working at the local hospital as a CNA getting his paid patient contact hours for physician assistant school and is graduating from the University of Michigan this spring. Finals were approaching and he could not chance the time out. Growing up we spent a lot of time outdoors and hunting but high school and college football and hunting seasons don’t mix. He hung up his cleats last year due to injuries and has been playing catch up with all his hunting as studies allow.

I sent him the video of Lefty bedding (he was getting updates no one else was) and while he was typing out his questions I went back to glassing. For some reason, I looked at an Ocotillo “flat” over two miles away.

There was a ram walking away.

It was a GOOD ram but it was a long way away and I could not say for sure. I leaned into my little KDC Granite tripod HARD to steady my binos and at that moment he made a hard left into the morning sun and those glorious 12x NL Pures showed me it WAS Lefty and he was solo. Those pain in the rear ewes had finally worn out their welcome.

I typed “I found him!” to my son and shut the phone down. I let Craig know I found him 100% and where he was. He was able to get confirmation from way out with his big 95mm STX and we picked a spot to meet up to start the final stalk.

 

[Steve O]

It was all uphill for me to get to the rendezvous point and it was probably 5 miles for Craig…we got there within seconds of each other. We worked up the wash Lefty was bedded overlooking. We got to the point where he was bedded originally and he was gone. We continued to work towards the head of the wash where the plan was to come out and find him on the back side of mountain. Then Craig saw his silhouette and we scrambled to set up a shooting position.




I hastily get “prone” with my fore end on a little bean bag on a boulder at a 25° angle and my pack under the rear of the stock. My feet were jammed up in the air by other rocks and I looked like a plump letter “u”.

Well, we didn’t need to rush. Lefty did not have a care in the world. He sat up there and chewed his cud. I on the other hand was struggling. I had him dead solid in my crosshairs and I was not going to move. For almost two hours I looked into the sun thru the 15x of the Leupold alternating between prayer, “It will be alright”, use the 2nd hash mark, and SQUEEZE the trigger. All the while the sun was beating down on me and I was OUT of water.

Lefty stood up. Craig had coached me to wait for a broadside shot. He had stood up quartering to me and I had him lined up perfectly. I knew I could anchor him NOW.

I mentioned he was in a good position now, could I shoot. As soon as the first nanosecond of the Y in yes came out of his mouth Lefty was down. Then he did his best mountain goat impression and threw himself off that 50’ cliff.

Oh no.

 

[Steve O]

What a glorious sight. The old classic 264 Winchester had done the job it was absolutely designed for. The entrance hole was dramatic and it exited the opposite ham. Perfect performance.

God wanted me to get that ram on a Sunday. The exact and entire time I laid there in the hot sun waiting for my shot was the time of our church service back home. Again, no coincidence, and just amazing to me. These beautiful wild sheep and the memories He has given me thru them are a daily reminder to strive to get to heaven where we will experience 10,000 times the wonder of the mountains and wilderness here in our earthly life.

 

[USMC-40]

Probably the best write up and story I’ve read on here.

Thank you for taking the time to do it!

 

[Nick Muche]

This is awesome! Very happy for you Steve!

 

[BC Alpine Hunter]

Excellent story. Thanks for taking the time to bring us along on that adventure.

 

[HawkeyeHunter]

Really enjoyed reading about your hunt. Congrats on a great ram and thanks for the great story telling

 

[Steve O]

Thank you all for the kind words. I hope this helps someone, someday. It is fulfilling to share the ups and downs.

As I said earlier, I don’t do many guided hunts. If I don’t draw something interesting out west, I just go to Alaska and hunt something other than sheep, goat, or big bears. It’s not that I don’t like guides, but even on my brown bear hunt, I always felt I would have been better off by myself.

This hunt was completely different. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I would have failed miserably without Exclusive Pursuit Outfitters and my guide and co-owner Craig Steele. The guy is as smart and determined as I’ve ever seen. He and Lee know how precious these sheep and the once in a lifetime tag that goes with them are. I’ve never seen such dedication and relentless pursuit in all my days. They treat it as an honor that you put your trust in them. I cannot recommend them highly enough. I assume their elk, deer, and antelope hunts are similar. Craig pushed my buttons and got the most out of me and I truly felt an integral part of the hunt, not just a dude; a trigger puller. I could not spend the rest of my life looking at that ram if that is all I was and he knew that. And I appreciate that more than I can convey.







Craig is like 6-4, 180# and quite the athlete…NOBODY is going to keep up with that in the mountains. I did my best and while he pushed me to my very limits, he took great care of me too.

After we got the ram down we knew we were in a little bit of trouble. We were more than 6 miles back and both of us were already out of water hours earlier. We did not take his normal professional time with the trophy photos. Then both of us made quick work of the skinning and boning. Finally we divvied up our gear and Lefty and started the long miserable pack out. All I needed to do was make it back to an old mining road by dark and I would be able to follow that back by headlamp. He made sure I got to that point and then hit the afterburners. He got to the truck, moved it to a closer position for our route out of the wilderness and met me back on the way out with some water and Body Armor. I was in 4 wheel low at that point just blindly putting one foot in front of the other and using those wonderful trekking poles to keep me upright. We drank like fiends! We made it back to camp about 10 pm and we were wrecked but so satisfied.

 

[Steve O]

Monday morning I made an appointment with AZGFD to get Lefty checked in. Arizona does a great job managing their sheep herds. If it were up to the biologists, I am confident the populations would be booming. Unfortunately, scumbag politicians are always manipulating and ruining things…

Anyway, every sheep taken is aged, measured, and health/dna samples are taken. I was peppered with questions as well. Everyone at the Kingman office was interested in the hunt and the area and was a pleasure to deal with. Truly, I have never had a bad experience with anyone at AZGFD from the wardens in the fields to the ladies in the draw office.

As I mentioned earlier Lefty had pneumonia. They were disgusted to hear about the domestic goats we found. Pneumonia is a huge threat to wild sheep. An equal threat where I was are ferall burros and horses. Not only do they eat valuable sheep feed, they take over water sources and bully and attack the sheep trying to get a drink. They are an invasive species and should be eliminated as such. BUT, the bunny huggers and their political buddies have all that tied up in court. Fish and Game has their hands tied. The best they can do is trap them and they are “adopted” by people.

What a joke.

I will been seeking out some of the big shots at the WSF show next month to see what they can do to help. This is a HUGE problem.

 

[Russp17]

Great write up and congrats on the wonderful sheep and hunt!

 

[mike vines]

Excellent write up and wonderful picture support. Thanks for taking us along.

 

[NJFikkert]

Awesome story and great pics! Thanks for bringing us along!

 

[Steve O]

I did not need such a big cooler. While I was in town, I picked up some dry ice and kept the meat and cape in perfect condition. I got with the taxidermist as soon as I got home and finally took care of packaging the meat tonight. Made up the tenderloins for dinner. Not Iowa whitetail, but not bad at all.

 

[GARLICSALT]

Amen Brother

 

[TWHrunner]

Congratulations. Just tremendous

 

[Whip]

Simply outstanding Steve. You deserve every bit of joy that whole thing bestowed on you, from the application right on through to doing this write up and every detail in between.
I know exactly what you mean by having the right guide that makes sure you are a Hunter and not just a shooter. You were on the other end of the text messages when I was in the middle of my OIL hunt with exactly the same type of guide. It makes all the difference.
Congratulations again buddy!

 

[MattB]

Congratulations, great story.

 

[Marine4life]

Congratulations on the amazing experience and thank you for the great story, pics and videos. You help fuel the dream going forward. I also want to thank you for sharing your faith with us - God is in all of us and it’s nice to see you are proud of that.


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