Outdoors With Mat Taylor
Desert bighorn sheep elusive, desirable

Former Soil Conservation Service employee and longtime writer Mat Taylor offers his outdoors column for Dispatch Record readers. He can be contacted at (254) 518-2262 or via e-mail at mntaylor@agristar- .net.

It's just 17 days until the opening of the regular fall deer and turkey season. Hunters are making a last-minute check of their equipment, sighting in rifles, checking deer feeders and sharpening hunting knives.

White-tailed deer, by far, is the most popular big game animal in Texas. On the other hand, the most elusive and difficult - and desirable - game animal to hunt in the state is the desert bighorn sheep.

Texas Parks and Wildlife's annual sheep population surveys in the rugged mountains of far West Texas continue to climb toward levels not seen in more than 100 years. In August, biologists observed 991 bighorns along seven TransPecos mountain ranges. This is an impressive increase of 169 animals from a year ago.

This year's survey recorded more than 400 bighorn sheep in the Sierra Diablo Mountains north of Van Horn. The Sierra Diablos were the birthplace of the restoration effort more than 60 years ago after more than 11,000 acres were acquired by the state as a sanctuary for the last remaining bighorn.

The desert bighorn was once prominent in the remote mountains of West Texas, with populations of more than 1,500 animals in the late 1800s. Due largely to unregulated hunting and diseases introduced by domestic sheep, bighorn numbers fell to about 500 in 1903.

Protective measures for the bighorn began when hunting was prohibited in 1904. Changing land use, however, caused numbers to continue to decline, and the last recorded sighting of a native bighorn sheep occurred in 1958.

With the help of private landowners, support from the Texas Bighorn Society and hunters, the desert bighorn sheep has made a comeback. Stocking of sheep obtained from other western states over the last two decades and transplanting animals into suitable habitat have nudged the natural recovery process.

One adage says that "Nature abhors a vacuum." In nature, if one species is removed, another will take its place. For example, if a pasture is overgrazed and the high-quality grasses are removed, weeds that livestock will not graze will take its place.

The same thing has happened with bighorn sheep. After bighorns disappeared from many Texas mountain ranges, aoudad or Barbary sheep -- an exotic species imported into Texas from northern Africa -- were introduced and have thrived in Texas. The aoudad has filled the niche once occupied by bighorns.

The aoudad, however, is a threat to the continued growth of bighorn populations. TPWD biologists say aoudads aggressively compete with bighorns, as well as mule deer, for precious water and food supplies. The imported sheep also carry diseases transmissible to bighorn sheep and will attempt to herd away bighorn ewes.

Still, the desert bighorn sheep has shown resilience that validates its reputation among big-game species. Because they have such keen survival instincts, particularly sharp eyesight and the ability to traverse the most rugged and remote areas, bighorn sheep are considered one of the toughest animals to hunt in North America.

As TPWD wildlife biologists identify surplus rams during their population surveys, a select few hunting permits become available. Mike Pittman, who oversees the three-state wildlife management areas where bighorns are located, said when a ram is seven to 10 years of age there are changes in its behavior. They become more reclusive, and since they already have contributed to the herd, they are considered surplus animals.

This year, 13 harvestable surplus rams were identified, and 10 permits were issued to private landowners. Three hunts will occur on TPWD managed lands.

For the average hunter, he can forget about getting a permit as they have sold for thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in the past. Also, the odds of getting drawn for one of the TPWD permits are extremely small.

On the other hand, the average hunter can afford an aoudad sheep hunt, and many hunts are readily available in Central and West Texas.

I have never seen a desert bighorn sheep in the wild. I did see one at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum a few years ago. The Texas Bighorn Society offers online visitors a chance to observe these animals in the wild via a satellite Web camera near one of the watering holes constructed atop Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area south of Alpine. Visit the Internet at www.texasbighornsociey.org for additional information.