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Pending record desert bighorn
Story by Nate Skinner, for Lone Star Outdoor News
Bobby Theis recently harvested what will likely become the new Texas state record desert bighorn sheep while hunting south of Alpine on the Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area. The ram scored 185 5/8 inches and is undergoing a 60 day drying period before officially earning the title.
Theis bought his desert bighorn tag through a Wild Sheep Foundation auction in 2021 as a conservation permit, and 100 percent of the proceeds were put toward wild sheep restoration in Texas. He elected to have his longtime friend, owner and founder of High West Outfitters, Jim Breck Bean, guide him, alongside guide Jasper Klein and the Elephant Mountain WMA manager and biologist Cody McEntire.
“We chose to make the hunt during the spring for several reasons,” Theis said. “For one, the rams are typically known to be in large bachelor groups during this time of year; and not to mention, mild weather is usually the norm.”
Bean agreed springtime gave the group the best chance at seeing the large inventory of rams that the landscape had to offer.
“You’re very likely to see the majority of the rams that inhabit that area during the springtime, as they are almost always bachelored-up,” Bean explained. “We felt as if this would give us the best chance of encountering the oldest and biggest rams that lived there.”
Unlike some auction tag hunts in which the majority of the scouting is done well before the hunter gets involved, Theis was there from the beginning to take in the whole experience.
“Bobby is definitely the exception to most auction tag hunters, in that he really wanted to be a part of the entire hunt process,” Bean said. “We didn’t do any scouting prior to his arrival for the hunt.”
Bean said the WMA staff, along with McEntire, gave him photos and descriptions of what they felt like was probably one of the oldest and largest rams in the area.
“We made it our mission to put eyes on this sheep as quickly as possible,” Bean said.
Theis arrived for day one of his hunt, checked to make sure his rifle was sighted in, went through the introduction and debriefing with the WMA staff, and then set out into the field with Bean, Klein and McEntire.
“We saw 23 rams that first afternoon,” Theis said. “Later that evening, we consulted back with the staff who had been scouting, and came up with a plan for the next morning.”
The next day, they scoured the whole range the next day and saw 56 rams.
“At mid-afternoon, a group of rams that supposedly included the sheep we were told about was spotted,” Bean said. “We were able to glass him from about 1,200 yards away, and it was clear he was a ram we should definitely get a better look at.”
Theis and crew worked their way above the rams to try to get a better vantage point to observe the one that captivated their attention.
“There were 19 rams in this group,” Theis said. “Everybody weighed in on how big and old the ram that we were chasing was, and we finally decided that I should take him.”
Bean and Theis worked in about 20 yards closer to the group of rams until they found a good spot to lie down. Theis made a perfect, 305- yard shot from the prone position with his 6.5 PRC, and the ram went down.
“When we walked up to the ram, we knew right away that he was going to surprise us,” Theis said. “He was exceptional in every way.”
The ram was originally thought to be 10 years old, but after Theis harvested him, the staff aged him at 11.
“We also had underestimated how big he really was,” Theis said. “Bean had him estimated in the high 170s, but he surpassed that with ease. We had no idea he had the potential to become the largest desert bighorn ever harvested in Texas.”
The current record desert bighorn stands at 184 points, shot by Stephanie Altimus in 2007.
