Mike and I had the best sighting of a Bighorn Sheep I've ever seen since I began observing and classifying Bighorn Sheep in the early 90s. Yesterday while out on Patrol with Aaron, USFS REC-34, we came upon a very healthy looking Class III Ram standing in the middle of Angeles Crest (Hwy 2).
When looking up facts about Bighorns you will find:
"They can move over level ground at 30 miles per hour and scramble up mountain slopes at 15 m.p.h." Well, I can tell you this is true as we saw it for oursleves.
As we came around the turn and came upon this fellow, we were doing about 25 MPH, Up ahead the Bighorn, standing in the middle of the road began to run right down the middle of the Hwy in front of us and began to pull away. We stayed a couple of hundred feet behind it and clocked it at 30 MPH. It just kept following the road and we couldn't believe he wouldn't slow down, change direction and exit the road in an attempt to escape. That Ram ran right down the middle of Hwy 2, taking the curves, for a
quarter mile . We began slowing down, giving it more space between us as we didn't want to stress the animal. But we couldn't believe he wouldn't leave the road. The Ram finally slowed up and exited the road, running down the side of the ravine. Boy could that fellow move!
Not only do they run at 30 MHP, they can sustain that speed for a quarter mile. Upon coming back through that area we encountered either the same Ram or another one standing again in the middle of the road. This time the Ram immediately exited the Hwy for the protection of the Ravine. We stopped and jumped out to see if we could see it running down the steep and rocky slope. It was gone! We couldn't see it but could see the dust and heard it running across the rocks several hundred feet below us. Truly powerful, agile and magnificent animals!
When out on patrol we use one of two government vehicles. If only one Volunteer is out patrolling with Aaron he'll use the pickup. If two Volunteers are out patrolling with Aaron, we use the Blazer. Aaron now calls the Blazer (USFS government vehicle no. 45), our lucky vehicle, as while the three of us have been out on patrol in it we've seen a mother Bear and her cub, a bobcat and Bighorns all running across Hwy 2 in front of us.
In all the time Aaron has patrolled the high country, he had never seen any of these animals in the Angeles National Forest until he began hooking up with the USFS Volunteer Patrol Group in the Blazer. Next Patrol we're hoping for a Mountain Lion sighting. I guess we'd better take the Blazer.
