It runs without warning, this love of mine. Carving its way as it goes. Thundering falls, then quiet. I chase it but cannot see it.
The mountains and desert of far west Texas are forbidding terrain. Yet perfect for the Desert Bighorn Sheep. Almost lost forever by 1960, now restored. Texas today has eleven herds of free-ranging desert bighorn sheep, the result of restocking efforts begun in 1954 and continuing to the present time. A significant number of which are at Elephant Mountain in the Chihuahuan Desert.
“Bighorn sheep have lived in the desert mountains of the Southwest for at least 9,000 years. In less than 100 years, poaching, market hunting, net wire fencing and diseases introduced by domestic sheep wiped them out in Texas.”
“Today, some 1,800 desert bighorns roam their historic range in the mountains of the Trans-Pecos. Barring a disease outbreak, that number should increase.”
Sheep on the Mountain. Article by Henry Chappell
Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area is open year round except during special hunts.
Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition 