My first face to face with Desert Sheep, and Hi There :)

[Stinky Coyote]

I suppose i should have started with post like this rather than just jumping in with an optics review but as we all are and how timing of the day goes i'm obsessed with the gear and the sheep.

Will try and make this short. Been doing some family trips past couple years to Palm Desert for a break from winter and i usually try and take a 'man day' while down there. Last year i went up hwy 74 looking for sheep with primary goal of going for a killer ride on a rented harley, this year i rented the harley only as a means to try and find some sheep. Primary goals achieved each year, got the killer ride last year, found some sheep this year. The bike rental leaves the rental car with wife/kids, important!

Last year



This year
The ride to the end of the road


Then hike up the valley and try and spot where previous research and contacts pointed me to where sheep are often seen


No luck spotting, so went left of that cliffy stuff and found a route up to the top, more scrambling than i anticipated

 

[Stinky Coyote]

View is nice up top, lots of country on backside to enjoy day and find some sheep



Ran some ridges to likely best glassing point, had a little lunch, then slapped those binos on the tripod and got serious, 5 min later some ewes/lambs fed up out of a steep draw some 800 yard left of me and i caught them just as they were coming into a part of the world i could see, the stalk was on, closed to last finger of cover before it was wide open between me and them, maybe 175 yards, my faux hunt coming together as i hoped

The spotter is pointed at the sheep here


And at 4x zoom on my camera


Ahhhhh Desert Sheep

 

[Stinky Coyote]

Ahhhhh Desert Sheep Cont....15 adults with 6 lambs



And for humility....oh, this looks like a nice easy way out as i know the way i came was going to be a bugger going out, lets give it a try, i have time for mistakes and could use more of a workout anyhow


Lol, yup, cliffed out bad, a trip around the front side revealed no other chances down, go back to the harley pic and you'll see the drainage i was trying to come out there behind the bike, i have new respect for that mellow looking country! Easy going up top but things seem to fall off the planet as it gets closer to the valley floors.

End of the line, back up and over the way i came, good way to fill the day and get the workout i was looking for


The gear, modded slik 634 to sitting height, the manfrotto 700rc2, the ultravid hd 10x32's and the ed50 (didn't own the kowa on this trip) and point and shoot camera that rides in my front pant pocket on all hikes/hunts is canon sd1400

 

[Stinky Coyote]

Wtf is that? Some ole dino egg imprint in a rock maybe?


Hi Roksliders, my name is Blake, I am a sheep and gear aholic, nice to meet yall. Hope you enjoyed my best Jack O'Conner imitation although coming down off there i thought i might have to try my best bird imitation.

 

[shaun]

Awesome Pictures

 

[Rockey]

Glad you didn't have to resort to the bird imitation, that tends not to end well. Great pictures. Getting cliffed out happens to us all whether we want to admit it or not, no worries! Thanks for sharing Blake.