Buxndiverdux
Old Mossy Horns
I'm 51. The ages in that picture are 22, 40, 28, 37. Definitely helps to be in shape. I've been in the gym lifting 2 days per week (for the last 3 years) and once I drew the elk tag I added 2 more days of cardio. I weigh the exact same as I did when I got married at 28 years old. Being in decent shape is a priority for me, just to be healthy. I do tend to be more focused on it with a strenuous hunt on the schedule.Not many hunters here in this state have one of those trophies. Notice how good of shape everyone is in. My buddy at 64 just finished his Slam with a Dall. He paid an extra guide to carry his pack due to his knees. You worked for that trophy.
This sheep area was a lot more accessible that you would imagine. The mining industry of yesteryear cut roads all over the place in western Arizona. All of these roads are navigable by UTV, ATV, and a truck if you have no care in the world for the body, paint, or condition. The sheep hunt wasn't as much walking as the elk hunt. These sheep find shade and don't move around a whole lot. Their rut is in the summer, so this time of year they are looking for food, water and rest. Those elk were on a mission every day traveling miles up nasty stuff. The elk hunt was much more difficult from day to day basis.
When we did find a sheep that needed a closer look, the climb was every bit as difficult as the elk hunt, especially considering navigating the rock/marbles on a side hill. Both areas equally as steep in places, but the desert was tougher to navigate due to all the rocks, shale slides and cactus to avoid.
So yes... I did work for it. Months of planning, 2-4 days per week in the gym, range time, scouring maps, calculating statistics from game and fish. In the end, I still have to give all the credit to the guys that helped me. They scout these sheep year round on the weekends for fun. They participate in all the habitat and water catchment improvements in sheep country. They are the reason I got the quality of sheep I got. I don't have enough experience to judge them accurately.
A friend asked me if I could have done it DIY. I absolutely could have. It would have been a lot more logistics planning, but I would have shot a pretty good ram I think. But no way would I have known what I was looking at when I pulled the trigger. Which is precisely why I recruited some help that does know what to shoot.
The bolded statement above. "These sheep find shade and don't move around a whole lot." This was something I learned pretty quick, which is what made this hunt challenging. We had to pick apart every nook and cranny, to find them. Many times they were concentrated in areas you couldn't see from a trail. If there was a hidden pocket, they were in it somewhere. And it wasn't a coincidence that the older rams were in these hard to find areas. Most people never look, because it's a grind to get up there, and easier to search out the next opening in the flat land.