Searching Again for Desert Bighorns

Christine had a very early flight to Seattle, so after dropping her off at the Tucson Airport I proceeded to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. They have this wonderful 22 mile unimproved dirt/rocky road through the Ajo Mountains. There is spectacular scenery and great closeup views of the rugged mountain peaks. I got there by 7:30 AM, so thought I had a good chance of seeing some Desert Bighorn Sheep. But, no. Great drive, but no luck. So, I went on to Cabeza Prieta. I took a couple different drives looking for Feral (wild) Burros, but no luck there either. So, now on to Imperial National Wildlife Refuge on the Colorado River, just north of Yuma. As I am driving through (truly on 4x4 high clearance good tire road) I came across a couple of Army guys who were there setting up targets in the Yuma Proving Ground adjacent to the refuge. They were kind enough to show me where they had spotted several sheep. As we got to that point there was still one Ewe in sight so I took this photo:

We parted company as I continued on my search for the Desert Bighorns. Again, not much luck. So the next morning, I get up at 3:30 AM (in Yuma) so I can be exactly where I want to be (at INWR) the moment the sun comes up (5:00 AM). It's 67 degrees now, but by 8:00 AM it will be 90 degrees, and by 11:00 it will be 109 degrees. I've got the top off the Jeep so I can get a good view of the mountain slopes. While I saw a few Wild Burros, no Sheep. So, I continued on to Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. They have 600-800 Bighorns in those mountains. This is a rugged rocky drive. Reminds me of James Bond, "shaken not stirred". I spent several hours at Kofa NWR but again, no luck. So, I decided to go back to Imperial. As I was just at the point where Imperial NWR becomes Yuma Proving Ground, I ran into the same Army guys. They had found where a couple of Ewes had bedded down. Here's the photo:

Normally, I would toss a photo like this, but in this case it tells the story. I am using a 400 mm super telephoto lens. You can get an idea of how difficult it can be in spotting Bighorns. (There are two Ewes in this photo). Determined to do better than this, I pressed on. Near the end of the Yuma Proving Ground, just as it becomes BLM land, I came across a Ewe at close range:

I had to be quick, because within seconds, she was up over that ridge and out of sight. I did climb the ridge and spotted her again, but by that time she was three hundred yards away up the mountain slope. A few minutes later, (it's about 6:30 PM), I finally found what I really wanted:

This Ram was lying down on the mountain slope away from the sun. That meant I was standing in the sun looking at him. I needed to find an angle where the mountain would block the sun. That was this photo. But, I realized that he wasn't the slightest bit phased by me, so I decided to do a little climbing. I continued to the point of getting this (and several other photos):

I said "thank you" to him, I hope he understood, and left him exactly where I found him. Persistence paid off. Tomorrow, some of the Wild Burro photos.