Bret Scott of Riverside with his potential archery world record desert bighorn sheep taken in the wilderness on the south side of the San Gorgonio Mountains in the Whitewhiter-Mission Creek drainage on Dec. 20.
By JIM MATTHEWS
www.OutdoorNewsService.com
For the second time in less than a month, a record bighorn sheep was taken by one of the handful of hunters drawn for 2011-12 season tags in Southern California.
Bret Scott, an avid 51-year-old archery hunter from Riverside, arrowed a giant ram in the wilderness on the backside of San Gorgonio Mountain in the Whitewater-Mission creek drainage on Tuesday, Dec. 20, just four days after the season opened.
The ram scored 180 7/8-inches on the Pope and Young measuring system, and if it doesn’t shrink more than one-inch after the 60-day drying period, it will become the new world record for desert bighorn sheep taken by an archer. With just five rams taken in California by archers, it is about 18-inches bigger than the nearest ram taken in California and certain to be the California record.
The rams horns are 35 1/2 inches and 37 inches long and the bases of both horns 16 1/2 inches.
“I just wanted a legal, mature sheep,” said Scott. “Talk about way over the top.”
Scott said he’s been applying for bighorn sheep since California first authorized the hunting of wild rams in the state, and he had the maximum number of preference points (10) when he applied for the tag in May. He found out in July a hunting buddy from San Diego had been drawn for a sheep tag in the Cady Mountains, unaware the drawing had been held. So when he got to work, he logged onto the DFG’s automated licensing system and saw he was drawn for a San Gorgonio Mountains tag.
Considered California’s most difficult sheep hunting zone, the terrain in this part of the San Bernardino Mountains is steep and rugged. Scott said he and hunting buddies starting scouting every weekend starting in August. By the time the hunting season opened Dec. 17, Scott had logged over 20 days of field time finding where the sheep were living in the hunting zone. While Scott had spoken to a guide who specializes in hunting this area, he was determined to hunt on his own and bag the sheep with a bow.
“I told everyone I was going to use my bow to the end of the season, even if I had to eat the tag,” said Scott. Many bowhunters have switched over to a rifle after being unable to get within bow range, but Scott said he was determined not to do that.
All the pre-season scouting and hard work paid off for Scott, and he and his four hunting buddies had rams in their spotting scopes and binoculars opening morning. Scott made a long, difficult stalks on opening Saturday and Sunday on rams, but he was unable to get closer than 200 yards either day.
Bret Scott of Riverside with his potential archery world record desert bighorn sheep taken in the wilderness on the south side of the San Gorgonio Mountains in the Whitewhiter-Mission Creek drainage on Dec. 20.
On Monday, he and one hunting partner put in a long day without seeing a single sheep, and Scott said he was worried that by stalking sheep the previous two days he may have spooked the animals away from where he’d been seeing them since August. But on Tuesday morning he said sheep at first light at a great distance and then climbed to find it was a ewe band. But at 8:50 a.m., he spotted a group of three huge rams that one of his hunting partners had seen late Sunday evening, and planned his approach. The big rams were in a group of 25 sheep. Scott snuck around a knob, knowing the sheep were close by, and suddenly a bighorn ewe was watching him from just 30 yards away. The female wasn’t sure what she was seeing, so she walked to within 10 yards of Scott. Her eyes widened and she crashed off down the hill.
The whole group of animals followed her, but they stopped down the ridge, the three big rams closest to Scott, still unsure of the danger. He quickly ranged the distance on the closest of the big rams at 57 yards, took aim, and sent an arrow into the chest of the big sheep.
The rams ran down the ridge but stopped when the big ram got wobbly, lay down, and died.
While Scott didn’t know it at the time, a possible new world record bighorn sheep for archers was on the ground. It was just an hour after they’d first spotted the big rams.
Cell phones spread the news rapidly, and even before Scott had the sheep completely skinned and the meat boned out and on pack frames, two hunting buddies were already just below them on the ridge, hiking up to help. By the time he was back at the truck, the ram still on his backpack, his cell phone was ringing constantly as friends called to congratulate him. More people showed up at the truck.
A Department of Fish and Game biologist met Scott later the same day to validate his tag and do a preliminary measurement of the sheep, and that was when he realized he’d taken the biggest archery-killed desert bighorn ever bagged in California and potentially the world record for archery.
This is the second bighorn taken this season in California that will set records. John Berens, also a draw-tag hunter from near Sacramento, shot a sheep scoring 186 inches in the Orocopia Mountains on Dec. 3, the opening day of the season in that hunting zone. Berens sheep is expected to become the new overall California state record bighorn.
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