Huge Nevada Desert Bighorn
By Jay Myers
After years of having the same discussion about how we never draw, my buddy Todd finally called with good news. He had drawn a desert sheep tag in his home state of Nevada! The unit he drew wasn't his first choice, but was close to where his father lived and this would allow for frequent scouting time prior to the opener.

As with all desert sheep hunts, there are many people willing to help and ready to offer advice. Fortunately, I was asked to come down and help, along with Todd's dad, Merv, and his two brother-in-law's, Ryan and Brad. We had all come together hunting in one way or another and connected in the way only hunters can understand.

Merv spent a lot of time in the area hunting in past years with Mike Hornbarger, and knew a few of those "honey holes" only a long time sheep guide can point out. Mike had passed away the year before after guiding many hunters to great sheep, as well as helping his daughter harvest one of the largest in that unit.

As it got closer to season, we were all like a kid the night before Christmas. There were many maps with dots and lines to mark glassing points and places rams had been spotted. The camp was determined and all other logistics were arranged before it was time to head to the mountain. Todd and Merv provided some tasty meals and a comfortable camp.

Two days before season, we started glassing some of the country where we hoped to find a mature ram. We covered proven drainages as well as some of that country that looked just too good not to hold a big ram. It wasn't until the night before season that we found a mid 160's ram that Todd really liked. With a long season and plenty of time to hunt, it was a hard decision to make.

We spent about two hours watching this ram and six others feed and eventually bed from across the canyon before it got dark. There was a lot of head scratching and "what would you do's" while we watched. We met up with Merv, Ryan, and Brad that night at camp to discuss our plan for opening morning, and Todd finally decided that was the ram we were going to go after.

Opening morning came with us all behind the glass watching the rams get up out of their beds and start feeding. We watched for a couple of hours as they crossed three draws and settled in on a bench for their day bed. Todd, Ryan, and I loaded up and crossed the canyon to make our stalk. We ended up choosing the wrong draw and bumped a lone ram on the way to our sheep. By the time we crested the ridge, all the sheep were on alert and moving out. We couldn't tell which ram was the one we were after, so we watched to see where they ended up.

The rams settled in the next canyon and Todd and Ryan made a stalk as I watched from across the canyon. The stalk went well and everything looked good. The ram stood up and Todd took his shot, but missed. The rams all banded together and decided it was time to leave the country.

The next day we decided to start by looking on the back side of the mountain where the rams were last seen. We looked up every draw from multiple vantage points, but the rams were nowhere to be found. At lunch, we all got together to discuss a game plan for the afternoon. Merv and Brad decided to go back to our original position to see if they could relocate the rams, while Todd, Ryan, and myself would continue looking over the back side of the mountain.

It wasn't long before we received a text to get back over as Brad had found a "hawg". We packed up and buzzed over to find Merv and Brad looking at a new ram that needed no more than a second to know it was time to put together a stalk.

Ryan and Todd decided to take a route putting them above the ram about 170 yards. It seemed to take hours for everything to take place from our position at 400 yards out. When they finally got into position, a younger ram that was bedded next to our ram, stood up and alerted the big guy. Just as it looked like they were going to give us the slip, Todd touched off his rifle and we watched the big ram go down. The whoops from the spectators let them know that he had made a great shot.

We all made our way over to the ram wondering just how big he really was. None of us had a tape, but judging by our hand measurements, we realized just how long he was and the mass spoke for itself. The traditional high fives and hugs ended a wonderful hunt.

Once we got back to camp, we finished the caping and made the ram an honored guest at the campfire. Score didn't really matter, the memories made with family and friends in that special canyon in the Nevada desert will last forever.