Story from Texas Bighorn Society
Jim Stout really wanted to complete his “sheep slam” with a desert bighorn in Texas. Stout purchased the desert bighorn sheep hunt at Elephant Mountain WMA (EMWMA) during the auction at the Texas Bighorn Society Round-Up this past June.
Project Leader Trans-Pecos WMAs Mark Garrett said several of the staff at EMWMA had seen a really nice, mature ram on a few occasions over the last year. The ram would seem to vanish after being spotted for months at a time. Due to his uncanny ability to seemingly disappear, he became known as “Ghost”.
Stout was expected to arrive on Saturday, the staff at EMWMA began scouting on Thursday for the old ram. They located one ram that looked really good, but were unable to get close enough to determine if it was in fact “Ghost”. Friday, however their luck changed. They were able to get in close on the ram and knew it was him. For the next day and half they tried to keep an eye on the big ram, hoping he wouldn’t vanish.
Stout arrived on Saturday, once he was issued the permit and unpacked, the group set out in search of “Ghost”. He was located in an open area at the north end of the mountain; making a stalk in on him that much more difficult.
After a short wait, he dropped off the edge, allowing the hunt party to move in without being seen. Once in position, they knew they only had one shot, approximately 350 yards. When the time came, Stout did not disappoint. “Ghost” was down.
The 12 year old ram scored 178 7/8 green.
