Painted Desert Ram Hunts

Hunting Painted Desert Rams at Stone Creek Ranch is an experience like no other. Our expert guides scout acres every day, rain or shine, in order to make sure you have the most successful hunt possible. Whether you’re a novice hunter or a seasoned veteran, we’ll make you feel comfortable from start to finish. We’ll make sure this is a hunt you’ll never forget.

All-Inclusive Hunting Packages:

You may hunt using any method you prefer, including Spot and Stalk, Bow Hunting, Rifle Hunting, Pistol Hunting, Safari Style, or from a Blind. Our Packages Include:

Single Room: $495/night + Trophy Fee
Double Room: $795/night + Trophy Fee

• Non-Hunting Guests $450 / night
• Chef prepared meals
• All-Inclusive Beverages
• One-on-one Guide Service
• Ranch Transportation to and from the field
• Trophy Care (field dressing, caping, quartering of meat, and storage in our onsite refrigerated cooler)
• Transportation for your Trophy to the Ranch’s local Taxidermist and/or to local meat processor.(Hunter makes all other arrangements with Taxidermist and meat processor.)
• Game Room, Trophy Bass and Crappie Fishing and other activities as time allows.

NOTE: Hunters may hunt without a guide but must accept full responsibility for judging the caliber of the animal he or she shoots and the associated trophy fees. Hunters are encouraged to tip the guides 10-15%. Bowhunters are encouraged to tip guides 20%. There will also be a $175 ranch access fee applied to the final bill.

Call us at (254) 317-0468 to learn more about our individual and corporate markhor hunts.

More About the Painted Desert Sheep:

A spotted hair or shedding sheep. Rams are horned and ewes may be polled (no horns) or horned. The ewes generally weigh from 60-120 pounds and rams generally weigh 75-200 pounds.

The Corsican Group of Sheep (Painted Desert, Texas Dall, Black Hawaiian, American Blackbelly, Desert Sand, and sheep referred to as Corsicans) is actually the result of initial crosses decades ago between the shedding, wild, European Mouflon Sheep (Ovis musimon, native to Corsica and Sardinia) with a wide range of more well known “wool” breeds of sheep including Rambouillet, Churro, Merino, and Jacob.

At times, some of these crosses also included a hair or shedding sheep called the Barbados Blackbelly (Ovis aries) which were imported from the Caribbean island of Barbados, West Indies with bloodlines originally coming from Africa.

One of the first crosses happened in the mid 1900s at the YO Ranch in Texas between Mouflon Ewes and Rambouillet rams resulting in beautiful snowy white, shedding sheep now known as the Texas Dall. the two lambs which were produced by the Rambouillet X Mouflon cross were found by Bob Snow of the Y.O. Ranch and were originally called Snow Sheep.

The crosses continued to produce multiple colors: from all black sheep (Black Hawaiian), all-white sheep (Texas Dall), spotted sheep (Painted Desert), brown to fawn and black sheep marked like Barbados Blackbelly sheep (American Blackbelly), fawn, and black or fawn and cream-colored sheep (maintains Corsican name), to Champagne and white sheep (Desert Sand).

Originally, these sheep were primarily used for “trophies” due to their nice horns. As the popularity of the sheep increased, the focus has become achieving recognition for these sheep for other markets such as meat, show, pasture/fence line clearing, etc., and for simply being unique sheep deserving of recognition as unique breeds.

As with other breeds of sheep and even other animals, Texas Dallas, Black Hawaiians, Desert Sands, Corsicans, American Blackbelly, and Painted Desert Sheep started out as hybrids or composites of 2 or more different breeds – with one parent being the Mouflon Sheep. Once the special characteristics of these wonderful sheep became more popular, efforts to get these sheep recognized as a unique and individual breed were underway by dedicated breeders.