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More Photos and an Article of Dan's 2009 Desert Bighorn Sheep Hunt

Finishing My Big 10!

By Dan Rorbach

I’m a native Arizonian and have been hunting in Arizona with my family ever since I was old enough to hold a rifle.  In my family hunting was a way of life and the yearly trips to the J-Six Ranch, Chiricahuas or Graham Mountains was a special time that everyone looked forward to.  In those early years, deer and javelina were the main species that I hunted but as I grew older the weekend trips grew into one week to 10 day vacations with everyone taking off work and school.  We traveled further to the White Mountains or Flagstaff after elk, or to the Kaibab for deer.  As I recall, it was sometime in my late teens or early 20’s that I started dreaming about obtaining my Arizona Big Ten.  After all I thought, how hard could it really be?  I’d already bagged 5, whitetail and mule deer, javelina, elk and turkey.  That is half, so naively I figured I would just go after the other 5.  Well last year I turned 60 and Desert Bighorn Sheep still kept me from accomplishing my goal.  I had no idea way back then how hard it is to get drawn in Arizona.

The spring of 2009 was no different than every other year when I sat down to fill out my application.  Every year I would read about the areas and because I was unfamiliar with so many of the areas I would put in for the favorites 31-32 Aravaipa or 37A Silver Bells.  After so many rejections I decided to change areas.  My brother, David, enjoys, for some strange reason, to hike around in the low deserts.  I called him for some insight into areas I’d never been.  He told me he had seen sheep during a recent hike in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge and suggested I put in for the northwest portion, 45A.  There was only 1 tag available, what the heck, and figured I can’t do any worse than I’d done for the past 30+ years.

I remember driving home from my cabin in Pinetop on a hot Sunday afternoon in mid July when I had this really strong urge to check the AGFD website for the draw results.  That evening I got on line and SUCCESSFUL was next to Bighorn Sheep.  Little did I realize that after all the dancing and screaming that evening, Bighorn Sheep were going to consume every waking hour of my life for the next 6 months.  I was very excited and couldn’t wait to go scouting and see the Kofa’s but it was summer and the temperature along the Yuma/Quartzsite Highway 95 was 110+.  In the meantime I read, watched videos, went to sporting goods stores and tried to absorb everything I could about an animal that I had never ever seen, in a land that I had never been to or stepped foot in.

Finally, I could stand it no longer and in late August (still ridiculously hot) my brother and I went for the weekend to the Kofa’s.  I was expecting low rolling desert type hills.  I thought glassing would be easy from the flats in my truck with the air on and the sheep would just be grazing on the slopes.  Wow!!!! Did I get a rude awakening!  The hills were giant mountains with deep canyons and spires that towered high like something out of “Lord of the Rings”.  There were rocks and boulders everywhere.  Where are the sheep?  High? Low? In between?  I was in complete awe, confused and most of all worried.  Scared would be a better word.  I was scared that I was going to blow my one chance to accomplish my dream.  Noticing me turning pale, my brother asked what was my problem and I responded that I was in a lot deeper than I ever expected.  He asked what I was going to do and I said, “Go home and hire a guide.”

I’d received a lot of mail from guides around the State and I immediately began calling.  I narrowed my search down to 3 skilled sheep guides and personally interviewed each.  All were very good and had great résumé’s, lots of referrals and had hunted 45A in recent years.  I felt it was very important to meet and talk to the guide and get that comfortable feeling.  That is what I felt when I met with Pat Feldt, Arizona Guided Hunts.  It just clicked, we liked each other and as an added bonus Pat lived only a couple miles from me in Vail, Arizona.  Pat took me along while he scouted and I saw my first Desert Bighorn Sheep in the wild.  He helped me set up my Ruger 25-06 with a 6.5-20X Leupold for long shots and we went to the shooting range together twice to sight-in and practice.

In late August I received a flier from the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society for a clinic that they put on in late September.  My brothers and I went and the seminars that they offered were very informative.  Last years trophy mounts were on display and I met with representatives from Kofa National Wildlife Reserve, BLM, and AGFD.  They had maps, area rules and game statistics.  Additionally, there were vendors showing binoculars, tripods, etc.  At the ADBSS table I met last year’s president, Dave Mattausch.  ADBSS had a raffle going on and Dave signed me up for a membership in the society.  I got posters and pamphlets about Desert Bighorn Sheep and drove home that evening more excited than ever with a wealth of new knowledge in my head.

After what seemed like an eternity, the wait was over. It was December and the season had finally arrived.  I was ready, my gun was sighted-in, I was fit and trim after months of exercise and walking and all my equipment, new and old, was packed.  I was excited beyond belief as Pat picked me up and we drove off to the Kofa’s.  Pat’s friend Eliot and my brothers met us at the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge to set up camp along the main entrance road.  On our last scouting trip, the month before, we had seen a nice Class III ram and we were hoping to find him again.  We were told by AGFD after their annual November survey that there were no class IV rams and only 3 class III rams in 45A.  We felt fortunate that we found a class III and I content that was the best we were going to do but the season was young and there was more time to look.  On the second day we found the class III ram we had seen previously.  We called him Flare because the tip of his right horn flared out.  Flare was way up high and watched as he went over the top of the ridge.  The next day we went around to the other side and early in the morning found what we thought was Flare, but some how this ram looked different and seemed bigger.  His horns brightly shined in the early morning sun.  We named him CT for “Car Tire” because he looked like he had perfect circles, similar to white wall tires hanging from his ears.  CT was about 1.5 miles away, across the valley, half way up the slope with 1 small ram, 4 ewes and a lamb.  While glassing CT we found Flare on the same slope and side of the valley as CT, only one ravine over to the west.  CT was definitely bigger and could even be a class IV.  After watching him for what seemed like forever, we began our stalk.  1 ½ hrs later, Pat and I were in the base of the valley, 800-900 yards away from CT.  CT was lying down on a small rock outcropping, the other sheep were lying down also except for one that was grazing.  Slowly we advanced from a high bank, to a tree and then to a bush. We had come to a point where there was no cover left, except for that bush.  We had made it to 600 yards and were busted.  CT jumped up, stared in our direction, and Wow!  He ran fast, straight up and over the highest ridge.  I was sick, totally deflated, he was gone.

For the next couple of days we scouted and saw some sheep but smaller rams.  We found Flare again but CT was on our mind.  We stayed out of the valley where we saw CT in hopes that he would return but no luck in our distant spot checks.  We decided after 2 days to go back into the valley early the next morning.  It was the 6^th day, the 6^th of December and we hiked in the dark, about 3 miles, to the middle of the valley.  As the sun was getting ready to rise, Pat and I split up to look at different slopes.  Pat started up a small mound in the middle of the valley and 2 ewes ran down the mound right past him.  I was watching from my perch on another mound and followed the sheep as they ran across the valley to the northern slopes.  There on the slope was Flare again.  Pat and I signaled that we both saw Flare and we began glassing the slopes to the west.  Unbelievably, the sun peeked over the east slope and both of us at the same time saw CT’s big horns glowing.  Halleluiah, my heart was trying to jump out of my chest.  CT was just west of where we had seen him before, the same slope that Flare was on 3 days before.  We watched CT for a long time and decided to cross the valley way to the east and then skirt the north slopes using them as cover.  After over two hours we came to the last slope and drainage from CT.  Quietly, we climbed the slope and saw CT grazing across a major drainage, 400 yds away.  There was just no way to get any closer, so I crawled to the top of the slope and lay down behind a bush.  I was now 375 yds away.  I calmed down, took my time and shot.  Oh my God!!!  My shot went high.  CT darted to the left and stopped next to a Palo Verde tree staring in our direction, obviously confused as to what just happened.  I shot again and unbelievably missed again grazing the tip of his inside ear.  This time he turned and ran over to a rock outcropping and again stopped and stared.  I waited for another shot, calmed down, aimed and squeezed off my third shot.  It hit him perfectly in the chest and he dropped.  “CT is down,” I exclaimed.  Pat and I crossed the drainage to CT and I could not believe the size of the horns up close.  We took pictures and processed him.  My brothers had watched the whole thing from 2.5 miles away through the spotting scopes.  They immediately came running to help pack him out 4 miles to the road.  We were all very tired that evening as we ate tenderloin from the ram but I felt completely satisfied.  It was the end of years of putting in applications and 6 months of getting prepared for the hunt of a lifetime.  Finally, I had my Arizona Big Ten!

The next day in Tucson, at the AGFD offices, we checked in CT.  He measured 163 and they estimated he was a 9-10 year old, Class IV ram.

Sheep guide Pat Feldt, Dan and his 9-year old desert ram.

Desert Bighorn Sheep Country

Looking for desert bighorn sheep through the glass

We glassed up a desert bighorn ram eating red barrel cactus

Dan's Testimonial: "Pat has Eagle Eyes!  This was truly a once in a lifetime hunt and finished off my Big 10.  The big 9-year old ram was much more than I had ever hoped for!"

Video of Dan's Hunt

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