Lynn Sessions

While arch hunting near Moab, David and I encounter some Mountain Sheep near the road. After taking a few pictures of a ram and three ewes we continue down the road and encounter another ram running along the fence. We pace him slowly with the vehicle waiting for him to jump the fence.

While Mule deer are beautiful fense jumpers, I had never seen a shorter legged Mountain Sheep jump anything. We were waiting for the event when the ram suddenly charges and hits the fence hard. After much crashing and struggling the ram manages to crash completely through the fence. However, one wire was caught on one horn and he was attempting to back away to free himself. At that point we had stopped the vehicle and I was wondering how we were going to untangle the thrashing beast. However the wire finally gave way and the ram was free. The ram then bounded up the steep slope like nothing unusual had happened.

So THAT is how Mountain Sheep cross fences?

Ouch!