Bighorn sheep ram on the prowl for the ladies

With warm weather on the Colorado Front Range, yesterday was a perfect day for spending time with these awesome creatures.

While the bighorn rut is just starting to heat up, action was pretty light unfortunately. However, I did manage some nice poses from them.

This handsome fellow was trailing a bunch of ewes and lambs and had them largely to himself. Some younger rams were in the area as well, but none that matched the stature of this guy.

There are three subspecies of bighorn sheep with the Rocky Mountain variety like this one being the largest. These guys can weigh over 300 pounds with their horns alone weighing 30 pounds! Here in Colorado, they are our state animal and are incorporated into the logo for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.