Finding Bighorn Sheep

"Now, a few words on looking for things. When you go looking for something specific, your chances of finding it are very bad. Because of all the things in the world, you're only looking for one of them. When you go looking for anything at all, your chances of finding it are very good. Because of all the things in the world, you're sure to find some of them."  Admittedly, that is not my quote -- although I love it and, as a wildlife photographer can really appreciate it. The quote is from the movie "The Zero Effect." I have found Rocky Mountain  Bighorn Sheep in British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Idaho, Mountana, Wyoming, and Colorado. I have found Desert Bighorn Sheep in Arizona, which I have talked about before. 

Now, a few words about photographing them. Finding them is not always easy. Photographing them is often impossible as in this case at Yellowstone NP in Wyoming. In the first photo, well, you'll need to see the second photo also because it is nearly impossible to see the Bighorn Sheep in the first photo. There was no access or way to get up the mountain to photograph them.

Bighorn Sheep photo taken with a 400mm lens.

Same photo "zoomed" in photoshop.

Sometimes roads get you up into the mountains where photographing can be easier -- that's if you find them. The next three photos were taken at 14,000 feet on Mount Evans in Colorado.

Now a few words about luck. Putting yourself in the "place of most potential" increases you chances of being lucky. That is to say, you probably wouldn't have much luck finding Bighorn Sheep in downtown Tucson -- or New York City for that matter. But, in the mountains of Jasper National Park in Alberta Canada, I have gotten lucky several times. This photo was taken with a 28 mm lens. I was in my Jeep and the Ram was only five feet away from me.