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Manny's Self Guided Arizona Desert Ram

By Manny Bercovich

Manny's Desert Ram After 19 years of applying, my dream of sheep hunting finally came true. I drew one of the coveted Arizona Desert Bighorn tags. This was the toughest but most rewarding hunt I've ever been on. I was very lucky to have my friends help me out.It was a busy summer with scouting trips whenever I could get out (nearly every weekend).

Opening morning was a bust with all of the rain. My boat broke down before the hunt so I rented a pontoon boat that we named the "Sheep Wreck". It proved to be the best way to access the sheep in this unit.

Saturday evening we glassed across from the Apache Lake Marina to Goat Mountain. In between the rain all I saw was a muley doe. Sunday I dropped off two of my buddies Dan P. and Mark into Alder Creek and they hiked in a couple of miles and stayed all day with out seeing any sheep, Dan did see a small whitetail buck. My other friends Dan H., Wayne and I went into Ash Creek. Wayne saw a whitetail buck also. No sheep. The wind blew all day and made it very difficult to glass. On Monday Mark and Dan P. had to get back to town to take care of some business and came back a few days later. Wayne, Dan H. and I went back into Ash Creek because it just looked sheepy. Dan H. picked up a nice ram about 9 a.m. We watched him for about 1 1/2 hours. He was at the base of Goat Mountain and stayed in the shade the whole time. We were hoping he would bed down, but it didn't happen. He would feed a little, and walk off like he was trying to get somewhere.

We went back in on Tuesday and didn't see anything. In the meantime, I was getting updates from other friends and the unit 24 tag holder. They were seeing sheep near Saguaro Lake. My plan was to hunt half a day on Wednesday and pack up in the afternoon to check out other areas. On Wednesday, we decided to cover as much ground as we could so we started boating from the dam and glassing along the cliff edges. The water was calm and just a breeze blowing, it seemed perfect. We spotted our first sheep in Alder Creek. It looked like two small rams. We hiked in about 3/4 mile and could see that it was two small rams and three ewes. It looked like the rut was still in full swing.

Arizona Rams Passed On

We went back to the “Sheep Wreck” and boated just past Ash Creek and Dan picked up another sheep. It was a ram bedded on a boulder at the base of Goat Mountain. He looked pretty good from the boat but we needed a closer look. We pulled into Ash Creek and hiked up a ways to get a closer look. We put the glasses on him and he looked small. He had nice mass but his horns didn't come down to his jaw line. I decided to pass on him and look for a better one.

We got back into the boat and by this time I was thinking about staying another day. We were starting to see more sheep. We boated past the ram I had seen and cruised into Indian Spring. I decided to turn out of the cove and just before leaving, Dan turned around and saw my ram on a ledge right next to lake in the back of the cove. Dan said "Jeez" (not really, but you get the picture), you could probably shoot him from the boat. I turned around and there he was. I wheeled the “Sheep Wreck” around and we beached the boat just below where we had seen him. While I was maneuvering the boat, he walked off. I didn't get a real good look at him but he was bigger than the ram we had just glassed. For the first time I chambered my single shot Encore.

Manny's Great Desert Ram We gathered our gear trying to stay calm. The easiest way up was right below where he was standing. The only way out for him was to go straight back from where he was or go south. We started to climb up as quietly as we could without kicking any rocks (right). As we got up half way I could see the ram looking at us about 100 yards away. I picked up my binoculars and could see he was a pretty good ram. He was heavy, boxy, and horns below his jaw line. Dan got the camera rolling and I set up my tripod. The ram continued walking up the hill and looked back a few times. I wanted a broadside shot, and he looked like he was out about 175-200 yards out. I knew my 25-06 was a tack shooter at 200 yards. Finally he turned broadside, I looked for a few seconds and he looked like the ram for me. I fired and the ram took five more steps without even flinching. I thought I had missed. I reloaded and Dan shouted “You got him!” I looked up and saw his front legs come off the ground and he rolled down the hill about twenty yards.

I made sure to watch where he had stopped to confirm he stayed down. My 19 years of waiting was finally over. Dan went down to the boat to pick up the pack frames and I went see my Indian Springs ram. It took me about twenty minutes to climb that 200 yards, steep and loose rock. When I finally got to him, I couldn't believe the size of this ram. He was huge! I finally saw the left side of the ram which had a big chunk missing. I didn’t get to see his left side as he was walking away. I honestly don't know if I would have taken him if I had seen his left side. But you know what, this ram has character and was king of the mountain for a while. I'm very happy with the ram. Thanks again to my old friends and new.

Manny got some great footage of the hunt. Click the play arrow below to see the footage. If the video will not play continuously, click the pause button and allow it to download before pushing play. Enjoy!