These handsome animals are much larger than the deer and antelope; specimens have reached almost two hundred pounds. But it is their great curling horns that make them a prey for trophy hunters. These were first considered a subspecies of Ovis canadenis, but after Edward Nelson of the US Biological. Survey did study on them following a lengthy trek down the peninsula in 1905, the title was changed to Ovis nelsoni, to distinguish them from their northern kin. With the coming of miners and ranchers with firearms, the beast readily fell prey to meat hunters, especially as they tended to gather around the few water holes. But Gov. Cantu issued a order in 1917 protecting the Bighorn. At first, enforcement was lax, but as time passed it stiffened. Climbers on the east side of El Pichco del Diablo are now often checked by game wardens for firearms. Leopold closes with "A desert peak without Bighorns attracts few. With a ram crowning its crest, it is a palace to be visited by the royalty of the sporting world. If ever a species deserved the protection of government and sportsmen, it is this statuesque master of the arid crags." *A. Starker Leopold, WILDLIFE IN MEXICO

Walt Wheelock [3-27-84)

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