Here, two handsome Rocky Mountain bighorn rams tend to their harem of ewes on a jagged hillside near Clifton, Arizona. At this point in the operation, game officials must decide whether to stalk these animals on foot, hoping to lure them within the short range of tranquilizer guns, or use helicopters to cast nets from above. The barren terrain is a complicating factor; wary bighorns scale canyon walls with relative ease. Finding the herd is one challenge. Sneaking into position -" from the ground or from above -" and capturing the animals is an entirely different story.
Photo by Bill Decker
Photo Gallery Comments (1)
Thinking about it, this was probably pretty difficult to do. It said that the range on those tranquilizer guns is only 50 yards, which when hunting rams is rather difficult to get into that range. Also, the terrain that these Bighorns live in is very steep. I would imagine that if they sedated an animal the risk of it falling and injuring itself, just due to the terrain was high. I have seen videos of rams/sheep that were shot and fell a long ways down the hillside which resulted in damage to the horns. A huge disappointment I to the hunter. It sounds though as if the division was able to re-locate these animals without incident. A good job for sure.
Post a Comment
Thinking about it, this was probably pretty difficult to do. It said that the range on those tranquilizer guns is only 50 yards, which when hunting rams is rather difficult to get into that range. Also, the terrain that these Bighorns live in is very steep. I would imagine that if they sedated an animal the risk of it falling and injuring itself, just due to the terrain was high. I have seen videos of rams/sheep that were shot and fell a long ways down the hillside which resulted in damage to the horns. A huge disappointment I to the hunter. It sounds though as if the division was able to re-locate these animals without incident. A good job for sure.
Post a Comment