ss7mm
Well-Known Member
A few days ago was the last day of deer season. I was going to switch to a different area for the last part of the day when I saw some sheep. Initially it was a single ewe and when some more came out I started taking pictures and video. You'll have to excuse the shakiness in the video as it was cold and I was hand holding the camera. I've seen a few ewes and maybe a single ram here before but never this many sheep this far away from the rocks and steep stuff where they always stay. I keep putting in for a tag but so far no luck. Some day I'll probably draw the tag and won't be able to find a single ram.
When the sheep started coming out to where the ewe was I tried making a couple of "sounds" and it seemed to calm them and even seemed to attract some of them as more of them showed up. They even got so calm that they laid down in the road and I was in plain sight right in front of them about 100 yards away.
After the third bunch came to see what was going on I slowly went towards them and they just walked off to the left about 200 yards and bedded down. All in all I saw these 3 bunches and another big bunch on a farther hillside as well as singles and doubles on another hillside.
All the time I was in plain sight but they seemed calm and relaxed. Whether the sounds I made had anything to do with it or not I don't know as I've never been this close to this many sheep and I just thought I'd try it. I will definitely try it again if they ever co-operate like they did here.
This is the first sheep that came out to join the initial ewe. They were standing in the road and when they heard the sounds they just started laying down.
[ame="http://youtu.be/eE_i5hGNp8g"]Bighorn sheep lay down - YouTube[/ame]
This is the third group coming around the corner to join the first two groups. Sorry about the wiggles, but hand held in cold weather is not easy to do. Hind sight is 20/20 and had I known how they would react I'd have put the tripod to use.
[ame="http://youtu.be/mVROOlld1Hw"]Third group comes to join first two groups - YouTube[/ame]
This is one ram coming to see what his buddy was doing.
[ame="http://youtu.be/9ZMAqQAQWIQ"]Ram comes to see what his buddy is doing - YouTube[/ame]
A couple of pics. One of the sheep laying in the road and one of the rams from the bush bashing as they crossed the hill above me. The sounds you hear in the video are not the ones I made to see how the sheep would react. It was noises I made while trying to use my rifle as a rest to steady the video camera but it didn't help much as you can see by the shakiness of the videos.
When the sheep started coming out to where the ewe was I tried making a couple of "sounds" and it seemed to calm them and even seemed to attract some of them as more of them showed up. They even got so calm that they laid down in the road and I was in plain sight right in front of them about 100 yards away.
After the third bunch came to see what was going on I slowly went towards them and they just walked off to the left about 200 yards and bedded down. All in all I saw these 3 bunches and another big bunch on a farther hillside as well as singles and doubles on another hillside.
All the time I was in plain sight but they seemed calm and relaxed. Whether the sounds I made had anything to do with it or not I don't know as I've never been this close to this many sheep and I just thought I'd try it. I will definitely try it again if they ever co-operate like they did here.
This is the first sheep that came out to join the initial ewe. They were standing in the road and when they heard the sounds they just started laying down.
[ame="http://youtu.be/eE_i5hGNp8g"]Bighorn sheep lay down - YouTube[/ame]
This is the third group coming around the corner to join the first two groups. Sorry about the wiggles, but hand held in cold weather is not easy to do. Hind sight is 20/20 and had I known how they would react I'd have put the tripod to use.
[ame="http://youtu.be/mVROOlld1Hw"]Third group comes to join first two groups - YouTube[/ame]
This is one ram coming to see what his buddy was doing.
[ame="http://youtu.be/9ZMAqQAQWIQ"]Ram comes to see what his buddy is doing - YouTube[/ame]
A couple of pics. One of the sheep laying in the road and one of the rams from the bush bashing as they crossed the hill above me. The sounds you hear in the video are not the ones I made to see how the sheep would react. It was noises I made while trying to use my rifle as a rest to steady the video camera but it didn't help much as you can see by the shakiness of the videos.
