A few last of the year sheep photos.

[buglinbilly]

Early during the 2nd week of Dec. I went to one of Utah's sheep units to take some photos. Usually I can find quite a few sheep and get some pretty decent photos but this year it was pretty slow and they seemed much harder to find. I usually go a few weeks earlier so that might have been the reason.

Anyhow here are a few of the photos I took that day for those of you who like sheep.

As a side note, here's a photo of a ram whose picture I took in 2009 and he was killed by a monster muley guy this past year. I was contacted by one of his friends and I sent the photo onto him. In fact last year there were three different guys who took animals whose photo I had taken before they ended up taking them on a hunt. One was an antelope in Wyoming and one was a mule deer in the Bookcliffs that was taken by a muzzleloader and the other was this sheep. In years past I have been contacted by others who have seen photos of animals I photographed and who were taken by MM guys.

So if you ever see one of my photos and you end up taking the critter, just let me know I will gladly send you a photo while he was living.

You can notice in the last photo of this ram, the white patch on his neck. So he was easily identifiable. I understand he scored about 171 as I recall.

Have a good one. BB.

 

[Zeke]

BB
Your work is first class and you're all class for sharing them with us!

The photos are spectacular!

Pertty cool that you would share your pics with a guy if he harvests a "photo'd" ram.

Thanks as always,
Zeke

 

[DoeNob]

Great work!

 

[oregonmuley]

Really nice!! I also always really enjoy your antelope pics which are great, will you be posting up any of those??

 

[littlebighorn]

Billy,
Great work as always! Love looking at sheep!

So, listing the score of that last ram suggests to me that he was killed this year, or is that just an estimated score?
Also, are you taking these photo's in November or December?
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sandbrew]

Bill Awesome Pics! Thanks for sharing! I love the look of the ram in photo# 3. When I draw that unit I will call you.

Sandbrew

 

[buglinbilly]

oregonmuley, I took a ton of antelope photos this year and I would be happy to post some if you are interested. I think I have posted some on this forum earlier but maybe I didn't. I post a lot of wildlife photos on several different sites so it's hard for an old, non functiong brain to work. Keep an eye out in the next day or two and I will post a few.

littlebighorn, the sheep photos I posted from 2010 were taken around the 8-9th of Dec. Most years I try to get down there and take them around Thanksgiving time.

The ram was taken within a couple miles of where I photographed him during the 2010 season. I took the photp above in Nov. or 2009. I know he scored in the low 170's but can't remember the exact score.

Many years ago I found a ram for one of my hunting partners that he ended up taking with a muzzleloader. It was about 1995 as I recall. He scored 176 and some change. I saw that photo just the other day and wanted to post it now, but couldn't find the file I have it. If I do I will post it.

Here's another photo of the ram with the white neck spot, but its of his other side. It was taken in 2009 with the other photos I got of him.

And here's another pretty nice ram whose photo I shot in 2009. I got lots of pretty decent photos that year.

Have a good one. BB

 

[oregonmuley]

Great - I'll be on the lookout for them. I did scan over the older posts and came across many of your old antelope pics - but if you have any new ones that would be great. Never can get enough of pronghorns, really cool critters!!

 

[Dreaminbig]

Great photos. If you decide to come to Montana and want to photograph some of our rams i can point you in the right direction. Very small payback for the info you gave me.

 

[greatwestern]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-06-11 AT 11:25PM (MST)[p]Alright! excellent photos as always Bill!

i also have quite a few live pictures of rams that have subsequently been harvested in various areas, and i enjoy the chance to give them pics to the successful hunter should i get the opportunity...they always seem to be pretty thrilled with it as well!

hell, a good one was just taken this year by the auction hunter. this is one of the pictures i got of him when he was 7, and knew then he'd grow up to be quite a hammer...he's the handsome feller with the fresh chip muggin for the camera...also, the tight curled big dude in the foreground was killed the next year and went 182 and change, his right side was broomed back about 2 inches shorter than the left

i figured young Bart about 172-3 that day, and it was a pleasure to see him develop over the years...once he turned about 10 it was game on for that dude, but he proved to be quite a slippery guy!

http://www.boone-crockett.org/NEWS/...=news&ID=2E69F1D8-673A-4C2F-BC4E-58EDA610F152

shoot BB, if you wouldn't mind, i might bug ya about what kind of gear your shootin with? i'm in dire need of a serious upgrade

thanks again for the awesome photos!!

 

[PleaseDear]

Way nice.

That one ram seems to be there year in and year out.

He must like that area! ha

Thanks for sharing Bill.

Robb

 

[buglinbilly]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-07-11 AT 10:59AM (MST)[p]Those photos were taken with my Olympus E5 and my Zukio 70-300 lens. All were hand held and most were taken in the dark, shaded canyons.

Here are a couple from last year taken on the sunny side of the hill with my E3 and same lens as mentioned.

Even with the bigger lens, these photos were taken at less than 20 yards. Getting close sure helps getting shots that show detail. And sheep are probably the easiest animals to get close to and shutter noise doesn't seem to bother them much. Not so true with mule deer, antelope, bear, etc.

Have a good one. BB

 

[greatwestern]

hey thanks for the info Bill

nah, gettin close certainly is no problem, but i'm afraid there's not much that can be done to improve the image quality off my old coolpix 5mp point and shoot

been looking at some different digital slr bodies, and available 70-300 type lenses...but i'm a greenhorn with that stuff and don't really feel qualified to make the puchase yet...i don't know which ones! need more practical experience with em

anyway, thanks again, and cheers to such excellent and enjoyable images!

 

[ridgetops]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-09-11 AT 10:00AM (MST)[p]Those are some very nice pictures. You sure do have a talent there. I wished I could have had you come out on to Stansburys this last fall. I tried to talk a couple professionals to come out with me and I would pay for their prints but got turned down. I have a picture of the ram the other hunter shot out there and I'm going to send it to him for his album.