Bighorns After the Fire

November is traditionally a great month to view and photograph bighorns in the Big Thompson Canyon. I’ve driven the first 10-12 miles numerous times over the past few weeks, but I have seen only a few. Over the past few trips, I finally was able to photograph a small group of around ten bighorns. None of the “big boys” were in the group, but a couple of them are plenty worth the shots.

Between the fire and a few years of “trophy hunting, the population of big rams has been dwindling. I’ve spoken with a couple of photographers that tell me there are a couple of larger rams up the canyon, but the population is scattered. I am holding out hope that more of the large rams will reappear later in the month.

Many of the ram photos below are of a bighorn some bighorn watchers call “Archie”. Note the arced scar on his left side. I was photographing him for around 20 minutes as he crossed a few hundred yards of rocky terrain. At one bend, he bolted down the final 15-20 feet of the canyon wall. I stopped taking photos to wave both hands and alert an oncoming truck. The driver slammed his brakes, missing Archie by only a few feet. The ram jumped the guardrails, and in a couple of additional jumps, made his way to the river bottom below.

If ther’e a positive side to this story, I might suggest that habitat recovery for the bighorns should be fairly quick. Fire definitely burned a lot of trees, but the bighorns eat grasses and shrubery, which should return in abundance next spring.