Little Big Horn

[James Riley]

That country is very steep and I almost didn't go down to investigate but I knew it would bug me if I kept walking.

That right there has caused me to just keep on trucking so many times I can't remember, and find beautiful county that most sane folks wouldn't go up, or down into. I thought about carrying binoculars to save me some boot leather but then, nah, just keep going. Sometimes it's a bust, but then sometimes you hit pay dirt.

I was sleeping down in the bottom of the Owyhee Canyon once and when I awoke I just laid there, looking up, studying the sky, clouds, cliffs and everything. There was this one perfect, graceful arc sticking out over the edge of a cliff, way up high, tiny. It just didn't look right. I thought it was probably a dried old root from a sage brush that eroded out of some dirt. It was summer time, so I was traveling at night (no flash lights) and the cliff looked imposing. Nonetheless, that feeling you describe took hold, so I started climbing.

I found this half curl with a fully articulated skeleton about three quarters of the way up on a little ledge where coyotes couldn't get at him. Only ravens and such. I was on a trek from the ION to Bruneau so I left it behind for a couple of weeks and returned later to pack it out. I have a picture of the whole deal somewhere. I'll have to look. After that I also found a nice full curl and another half curl.

 

[mtmander]

wow , do you have to get the sheep horns plugged ? I do my best to sty away from steep country , at my age it isn't worth getting hurt.

 

[James Riley]

wow , do you have to get the sheep horns plugged ? I do my best to sty away from steep country , at my age it isn't worth getting hurt.

I'm not sure if I had to get them plugged, but I did. I had a full curl mount that was given to me from a friend in Wyoming, plus the two half curls and the full curl winter kill and took them all into Idaho Fish and Game. They plugged all four animals for me, in the back where you can't see it. I'm not sure how USF&W fits into the picture but I figure I've made a good faith effort to obey the law. They are all in Colorado now.

 

[James Riley]

Here's a picture of the ram "in situ". The photo does not do justice to the height above the river or the cliff over the edge, but I'm no photographer:

 

[James Riley]

Here's the bigger one. I kept the atlas and some vertebra, drilled them out, put a pipe through them and attached them to the wood in a way were you can't see any hardware. I did the same with the second half curl and gave it to my former partner:

 

[roadhunter]

Very cool.

 

[noharleyyet]

"in situ"...like

 

[1_pointer]

Cool finds and pics! Thanks for sharing. I wonder if a fall is what caused its demise?