Where Can You Find Bighorn Rams And Where Was This Photo Taken?
Bighorn Rams are found throughout much western North America. They can be found in the desert southwest in and around parks like Zion and Joshua Tree and all the way up to Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada and farther north into Canada.
This particular bighorn ram was photographed in Northern Montana up at Logan Pass. Logan Pass is located along the Going To The Sun Road at Glacier National Park in northern Montana.
Logan Pass and the Hidden Lake area is a very popular spot for both people and Bighorn Rams (and the ewes) to hangout. The Bighorn Rams like to hang out in the parking lot and lick the salt (and rumor has it, anti-freeze) off the parking lot pavement. They can be seen up there anytime but right around sunrise can be the best time to see them. It’s important to keep your distance from them. They don’t generally charge people but they can and do sometimes ram vehicles. A pair of Bighorn Rams smashed up my Subaru at Logan Pass!
What Is It Like To Travel To Glacier National Park And Photograph Bighorn Rams?
Glacier National Park is a MASSIVE park up in northern Montana. The best way to go to Glacier is by taking a road trip, in my opinion. If it is too far to drive or your just prefer to fly there, the closest airport is the Glacier Park Airport in Kalispell, Montana. Since the surge in national park visitation, flights to Kalispell and the local rental cars (which can be hard to come by) have gotten quite expensive. Lodging including campsites in local campgrounds have gotten more expensive and harder to come by. If you plan to go to Glacier, it is important to book early and set aside a nice hefty budget.
Bighorn rams and the ewes (females) can be seen at locations all over the park but are most commonly seen on the eastern section of the park. If you want to maximize your chance of seeing bighorn sheep at Glacier you are most likely to see them at Logan Pass and on the east side of the park in Many Glacier and the higher elevation mountain trails. At Logan Pass, the best time to see them is in the morning though they may be up there at any time. If you want to get good photos of them, chances are you’ll want to have a big camera lens. Unless you don’t mind carrying it long distances then somewhere like Logan Pass will be the ideal spot to photograph them from the parking lot.
What Does It Take To Get Wall Art Quality Photos Of Glacier Bighorn Rams?
The most important thing to bring with you if you want to photograph bighorn rams in Glacier (or anywhere else) is your patience. There is a good chance you will see them up at Logan Pass in the morning but it is by no means guaranteed. Logan Pass will probably be the easiest place to photograph them if you have a big camera lens and don’t want to do a lot of hiking with it.
Along with your patience you’ll need to have a long camera lens if you want to safely photograph them, get good shots and adhere to the park rules that say you should stay 25 meters from and large wildlife like this. You’ll need to pay close attention to your camera settings if you are using a long lens and photographing the bighorn rams in the morning or evening in low light conditions.
At first you’ll probably just want to get any photograph of them. Once you’ve got at least a few shots to show your friends or post on social media you can start to get more picky and wait for opportunities to photograph them with a nice scenic background.
As noted above, if your car is dirty or has road salt on it, it may become a target the bighorns will lick and smash up as was the case with my car.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing Bighorn Rams At Glacier?
If you are heading to Glacier and hope to get wall art quality photos of bighorn rams, you’ll probably want to have a long lens. Some of the bighorn rams at Glacier National Park are habituated to people and may walk close enough to get photos of them with a cel phone but you should try to keep your distance and back off if they get close enough to photograph them with a cel phone or something similar.
In order to maximize your chances of getting awesome photos of bighorn rams, a DSLR or mirrorless camera setup with a lens that can reach up to 400mm of more is ideal. This photo was taken with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400mm lens. If you have a long lens with zoom capabilities you will have much more flexibility to capture the photo you want whether it is a closeup of the face or a full body photo with a nice scenic background that can be found all over the landscape at Glacier National Park. The best balance of cost and performance for shooting bighorn rams in my opinion is a DSLR like a Canon 7D MK II combined with a Tamron 150-600 lens. The Nikon varieties would work very well too.
If the bighorn rams will be way off in the distance you may want to use a tripod and you may want a lens longer than 600mm. Any lens longer than the Tamron or Sigma 150-600 zoom lenses that is any good will cost significantly more. A tripod is best if you are a long distance away from them and will need to hold the camera and long lens steady for an extended period of time. If they are relatively close and moving then simply hand holding the lens and skipping the tripod should work just fine.
What Is The Story Behind Glacier Bighorn Ram Wall Art Photo?
By the summer of 2015 I’ve been road tripping around the US and Canada to the national parks for about 5 years. I’d seen a few bighorn rams and some ewes but not that many. I didn’t have many good photos of them. Social media didn’t amount to a whole lot at that point. Books, travel brochures and word of mouth were the most common and usually best ways to discover wildlife locations and new places to visit.
In August of 2015 I talked to someone who suggested going up to Logan Pass at sunrise to photograph bighorn rams. Supposedly they hung out there and liked to lick the salt off the ground at the parking lot. They may of may not like to do the same with antifreeze that leaks out of cars parked up there. Regardless of why they chose to hand out up there, I was just excited to know that they did hang out of up there. At the time I had a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400mm lens. It was the perfect size and zoom range for photographing bighorn rams around the Logan Pass parking lot.
I left my camping spot and headed up to Logan Pass. Arrival was just as the sun was coming up. The parking lot back in those days had only a few cars. When I pulled in I didn’t immediately see any bighorn rams. I hopped out of the car and scanned the landscape. There were a bunch of bighorn rams off in the distance by the Highline Trail. They were slowly making their way over to the parking lot area. I stayed by the car so as not to spook them.
They scampered around off in the distance and soon made a beeline for the parking lot. They stopped across the road to graze. Then a few crossed the road and hopped the big wooden fence that goes along the parking lot in that area. The goal was to get bighorn ram photos in a natural setting and a parking lot background was certainly not that. Those that remained across the road had a lot more photo potential.
The bighorns across the road moved a bit erratically. It was a challenge to get the entire ram in the photo frame with a nice background. I kept on turning the camera between a landscape and portrait orientation depending on how the rams were positioned in the landscape. Finally, the ram pictured hopped up on a large rock and struck majestic pose. The pose was awesome, the background was just about perfect and I was able to snap off some awesome bighorn ram shots up at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park.
The rams hung around for about a half hour in the parking lot and the lush areas around the parking lot. As more cars drove up the rams started to disperse and headed back into the mountainous area around the parking lot. Regardless of what happened the rest of the day, the entire day had already been a smashing success. Finally, I’d gotten some awesome bighorn ram photo that would make great wall art prints!
In What Formats Is Glacier Bighorn Ram Wall Art Print Available?
This Glacier bighorn ram print is available in size up to 40×60 inches on a variety of material including paper, canvas, metal, acrylic and wood. If you will be hanging it in an area with lot of bright direct natural or artificial light then something with a matte finish would be best. That would include matte canvas or paper. If it will be hung in an area with more diffused lighting. In areas with more diffused lighting, metal, acrylic and canvas or paper with a glossy or metallic finish will look awesome!
If you’d prefer something more along the lines of home decor, the Sherpa fleece blankets look fantastic and are super comfortable to wrap yourself up in. Shower curtains are great quality and can bring a nice BIG slice of Glacier to your bathroom. Shower curtains can be complimented with bath towels as well.
If you need shopping bags to replace the plastic ones that many grocery stores no longer carry, the canvas tote bags and very sturdy and can handle anything you want to throw in them. Phone cases make a nice fashion statement and do a great job protecting your pricey new phone. If you want to show off your love for Glacier or Bighorn sheep, t-shirts and other apparel make great fashion statements.
This bighorn ram image makes a great jigsaw puzzle and comes in 500 or 1,000 piece varieties. If you or someone you know loves a great puzzle, be sure to check out the puzzles.
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