Chasing the Rut: Bighorn Sheep

Photos and Text by: Jared Lloyd

BIGHORN SHEEP

Bighorn sheep have been called the mountain monarchs for a reason. Nothing truly compares to the experience of photographing these wild sheep in the rut. Imagine a remote and wild canyon. Mountains rise to over 10,000 feet all around. Sheer rock walls descend in front of you. And a sound that can only be described as a shotgun blast echoes and reverberates around the canyon from the thunderous impact of two rams smashing heads.

Big horn sheep are brutal. And their testosterone is the stuff of legend. Even their testicles swell up nearly 10 times their normal size to look like 8lbs bowling balls swinging around.

Sorry for the mental image!

During the rut, bighorn sheep are a lot like pissed off and hormone filled teenage boys in a locker room. They pick fights constantly. They work almost tirelessly to provoke each other, walking up to another ram, and literally kicking him in the gut or the balls! So much time is spent just trying to pick fights during the rut that it’s a wonder any of the rams ever actually breed.

And when a large ram is able to push too much, too far, and elicit a response to the challenge, the whole world stands still.

It starts with a tip and show of the horns, those big and massive curls that wrap around their heads like two crowns. This act is to advertise their size, their strength. Size matters in the world of bighorn sheep. And if the challenger does not concede, the two rams back away from each, putting distance in between that they will charge through in one of the greatest displays of sheer power you will ever see.

Once a sufficient distance is acquired, there is a pause. And then, each ram does the unthinkable, they  raise up onto their hind legs and charge forward, running at full speed, before launching themselves with so much force that when their head collide, the resulting impact and shockwave can be heard at times from nearly a mile away.

When working a herd of bighorns, you can pick out the dominant breeding rams almost instantly. Yes, there is the sheer size of body. Yes. they have the biggest and most worn set of horns of them all. But the actual color of their fur is different as well. Breeding rams, dominant rams, are darker than the rest. They stand out instantly. A quick glance across a hundred animals will quickly tell you which rams are in charge out here.

As photographers, we are typically searching for those individuals with the biggest and fullest set of horns. We want the ones whose horns not only wrap around into a full curl but continue to twist beyond. Finding such an individual, however, can be more difficult than you would think.

Much like the antlers of deer or moose or elk, the size of a ram’s horns is largely dependent upon diet. They are also dependent on age. And they are dependent upon exactly how those horns grow.

The first two of these concepts are simple enough. We have discussed the importance of diet and minerals in the size of antlers already for instance. And given that true horns are never shed, the older the animal the longer the time to grow those weapons. But it’s the last bit about how they grow that is unique with these animals.

You see, as a ram’s horns get larger, and they begin to curl, they can often begin to interfere with a bighorns ability to see. Every animal has a superpower that allows for it to survive. For bighorn sheep, its their eyesight. Everything about their world requires incredible vision. Their eyes have been compared to 8 x powered binoculars. They can spot movement from one mountain top to the next. Rest assured that when you approach a bighorn, you were seen, studied, and fully considered, before you ever set eyes on them.

Much of this has to do with not being eaten. Rams are prey species and their main predator is the mountain lion. But much of their incredible eyesight also has to do with their ability to navigate the sheer vertical world they often inhabit. Think of the precision it takes to leap from knife edge to knife edge with a thousand foot drop below. Anything that impedes with their ability to fully see, to discern distance and depth, interferes with their ability to survive.

So important is this eyesight for sheep, that they have even evolved unique rectangular pupils to enhance depth perception. You and I, as predators, have evolved a pair of eyes set forward on our face specifically to aid in depth perception. But sheep, as a prey species, need a wider field of view. Prey species evolved to wear their eyes on the sides of their heads for a 320-degree field of view.

This is a problem for a bighorn sheep. These animals need razor-sharp vision, phenomenal depth perception, and need to be able to spot predators trying to sneak up on them. Rectangular pupils, it turns out, allow for an animal to wear their eyes on the sides of their head while still maintain excellent depth perception. And this is something that bighorn sheep share with the likes of frogs and octopi.

Back to the horns though.

As a ram’s horns continue to grow, and interfere with vision, sheep begin fighting to grind them down. They rub the tips of their horns on rocks, they try to wear them down and break them off. Yes, the size of one’s crown is a symbol of genetic health. But when it comes to picking and winning fights on the playground, that full curl is not actually an advantage, and it can be a real hindrance when it comes to survival.

At the end of the day, most headwear on animals is a hindrance to survival. A bighorn ram’s horns can keep them from being able to see. Elk antlers can weight up to 50lbs each. Moose, even more. And all that weight comes at a price. So, why have any of this stuff to begin with?

It’s all about sex.

Bighorns and big antlers advertise genetic success. The larger the better. The more symmetrical the better. It actually takes a bull elk the same exact calorie requirements to grow antlers as it does a cow elk to grow a calf. And even though that headwear can ultimately slow you down, blind you, or get you killed, sex is more important. All mammals do this to some degree. Humans buy big shiny rocks and flashy cars to show off their genetic success to potential mates.

There is one other factor that plays into all of this as well: disease.

Bighorn sheep are completely helpless when it comes to bacterial pneumonia. This didn’t exist in North America until Europeans showed up with their domesticated sheep. More than hunting, more than habitat loss, it has been the spread of domestic sheep and their diseases that have driven bighorn sheep to the brink of extinction. And today, pneumonia continues to stand as the biggest challenge to bighorn conservation across the Rocky Mountains.

When an outbreak of pneumonia makes it into a population, it does so in the remote high country of mountains. It happens outside of our gaze, at 10,000 feet fay beyond any road. First, a simple cough. Usually it’s young a lamb. Then others begin to cough. Slowly lungs fill with fluid, and sheep begin to die. The very young, the old, the wounded, the big bruisers of the population fall like the coming snows. And when what is left of the herd migrates down from the mountains to their wintering grounds in November, there is no trumpeting of what occurred over the previous months. There is only a silence. Gone are the battles on the cliffs. Gone is the heart stopping crack of two heads coming to blows. In its place are the survivors, much fewer in number now.

Pneumonia is to the bighorns what smallpox was to the natives of this continent. And although there is no question in any one’s mind as to exactly what has reduced bighorn sheep to less than 10% of their original numbers, nearly 10 million domestic sheep continue to graze across the Rocky Mountain states. And while one year may produce giant bighorn rams, the following year you may find only a handful of young males in herd while the big rams lay dead high in the mountains.

As for the rut, bighorn sheep round out the season for us. Whereas it all begins with bison in August, it all comes to a close with bighorns in December. Come the end of November and the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, bighorns are beginning to come to blows. And the battles tend to peak the first two weeks of December.

Like many of the other species described in this article, there are numerous places to find and photograph bighorn sheep around the West. My list skips over some of the more notable places that many photographers congregate such as Big Thompson Canyon in Colorado and Badlands National Park, for my personal favorite locations. Other well-known bighorn areas such as Glacier National Park do not allow for access during the rut. For folks who have visited Glacier in the summer, they are probably familiar with the large numbers of bighorns on Logan Pass. However, this road closes in September of each year – months before the rut begins.

Locations . . .

Dubois, Wyoming

Though mule deer in November can be fantastic here, the real draw for most people who make the trek out this way are the bighorn sheep. Dubois plays home to the largest population in the world.

Dubois is by far my favorite place to find and photograph bighorn sheep. With nearly 900 individuals in the herd, at times you can find yourself completely surrounded by impossible numbers here. However, a big disclaimer has to be made before going any further: these sheep are not necessarily easy to get to.

It takes a high clearance four-wheel drive vehicle and low range on the transfer case. You have to be comfortable driving in snow. You have to be comfortable navigating your vehicle over and around rocks. You have to be comfortable climbing up the side of the mountain that will have everyone plastered backwards in the seat on the way up, and have you practically standing up on the way down. Me? I love this stuff. But it’s not necessarily for everyone.

Dubois holds a special place for me due to the ancient traditions of this landscape. As, the handiwork of the Shoshone tribe and their ancestors can be found everywhere. Teepee rings sit atop a great mesa overlooking the valley, thousands of petroglyphs can be found on the rocks. Stone hunting blinds sit in major convergence zones of game trails that are thought to be many thousands of years old. Archeologists believe that people have been traveling to this place for nearly 10,000 years to hunt bighorn sheep. And there is something almost spiritual about this, knowing that you are walking in the footsteps of people reaching as far back as the last ice age, carrying on a tradition and a shared goal of finding bighorns.

Because of the inherent danger in traveling to this area on your own, I am not going to give specific details as to exact locations. However, you should reach out to the National Bighorn Sheep Center in Dubois Wyoming, as you can hire them to drive you up the mountain to the sheep. Their number is: (307) 455-3429

The National Elk Refuge. Jackson, Wyoming

Just over the pass from Dubois is Jackson Hole, and at the southern end of the valley if the Elk Refuge. Most people are familiar with this location as being home to some 7-14,000 elk in the winter (in the summer there are no elk). Come late November, a herd of bighorn sheep migrate down from the Gros Ventre Mountains and onto Miller Butte. And if you make your way to the dirt road on the backside of the refuge, you can find yourself surrounded by sheep come Thanksgiving.

This is a great spot. I used to live in Jackson Hole before moving north to Bozeman, Montana and I could be found on the elk refuge come December almost ever day. You can stop into Cowboy Coffee for your latte, and 5 minutes late find yourself watching 100+ bighorns in deep snow.

Shoshone Canyon. Wapati, Wyoming

On the east side of Yellowstone National Park, the road running from Cody, Wyoming to the eastern entrance station plays home to a tremendous herd of bighorns during the rut. Other than Jackson Hole, this is probably the easiest population to access during the winter. By December, the sides of the road will often be covered in sheep as you move into the canyon.

This place is a short drive from Cody, Wyoming meaning you will have easy access to hotels and food. Cody is not a major tourist destination in December like Jackson Hole is, therefore it can be a lot less expensive to fly in and stay for a week of wildlife photography here.

Wilcox Pass, Icefields Parkway. Alberta, Canada

Wilcox pass has some of the best bighorn sheep photography on the continent, and the place consistently provides access to some of the largest rams I have ever seen. But there is a caveat, you have to hike. And there is a caveat to the caveat, it’s a really steep hike. And there is a caveat to the caveat’s caveat, it’s at elevation will less oxygen.

Personally, I love Wilcox Pass. It’s a popular hiking trail just south of the famous Athabasca Glacier and views of the Columbia Icefield and the Athabasca are breathtaking from the Ridge. But, it’s a climb. But it’s a climb that’s well worth the effort.