Endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep at Sawmill Canyon and Wheeler Ridge

Dale Matson

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The Six Sheep In Sawmill Canyon (That we could find)

My wife Sharon and I went to Sawmill Canyon near Aberdeen this week with the tip from Steve Yeager (AKA “The sheep whisperer) that there were bighorn sheep in the mouth of the canyon. Knowing they are there and the general area is no guarantee, however that you will actually find the sheep even with spotting scopes and binoculars.

We drove as far as prudent and parked and walked the rest of the way. We both found a seat on large boulders and began to scan where we thought they might be. Fortunately for us it was early but late enough that they were up and moving and not laying down. Finding the sheep usually begins with finding one and continuing to look until others begin to appear also.

This was a group of 6 standing near each other standing and eventually began moving out from the mouth of the canyon. It seems like the ordinary morning routine is to be up higher for safety from mountain lions and to work their way down to better feeding areas as the day progresses.

The morning sun from the east was in our favor for finding and photographing the sheep. Even though they were well aware of our presence, they continued to actually move toward us making for closer photographs. They seemed to know that we were a benign presence.

The following morning, we drove off the highway at Pine Creek Road and made our way to Wheeler Ridge. Even though we got close to the ridge, the sheep were up quite high and more than a quarter mile away. The sheep stayed high for much of the morning and did come down some but we had to leave for Fresno at 11:30am.

We bid our adieus to Steve and Danny from the CA Department of Fish and Wildlife who had recently pulled up to conduct some mission in the area. Just can’t get enough photos when you have a chronic case of sheep fever.

A tripod was necessary for these photos. I used the Sony 100-400 mm GM lens with a 1.4 TC. These were not National Geographic photos but had it not been for Steve, Sharon and I would never have found the sheep. Keep in mind that there are only about 500 of these sheep total.

Young Ram