Bighorn Sheep Near Many Glacier

One of the things I like to do when in places like Glacier National Park is to take a drive near sunset or sunrise to watch for large animals that come out at this time of day, usually away from human activity. However this trip last week I encountered a bunch of Bighorn sheep in a place I was not expecting, in the middle of the day near the most congested road in this part of the park.

I had just made my obligatory stop to peek inside the historic Many Glacier Lodge lobby, and was leaving. To get back to the main road I have to drive over a bridge across the creek and pass 2 houses labeled as private residences. As I crossed the bridge, there was a car in front of me. In front of that car, a herd of about a dozen Bighorn Sheep stepped into the middle of the road to cross. The sheep stopped in the middle of the road, hesitating due to the approaching traffic, and then retreated back between the two private residences.

As usually happens with large animal spotting along a park road, other drivers were stopping and getting out of their vehicles to take pictures. I did the same. I parked on the other side of one of the buildings, and crept around behind another vehicle to get a better look. The animals were still there. I expected they would wander back into the woods at any minute to get away from the increasing number of people who were stopping to look. Instead, they decided to move in the direction of the people. I was not expecting this since there was a lake on the other side of the road, and nowhere to go except to follow the road across a bridge to the hotel.

First, the sheep needed to move the people out of the way before they could get where they wanted to go. So a big mama sheep lowered its horns and started walking right towards me. In the world of horned animals this could be interpreted as a prelude to an attack. At the time, I had misidentified the animals as mountain goats due to the smaller horns on the females, and I had no desire to confront a mountain goat. So I retreated along with a couple of other people calmly but quickly back behind my car.




While the mama sheep stared me down, a couple of other sheep ran behind here to cross the bridge to the lodge. A few sheep behind them started to follow, but turned back. I thought perhaps the sheep were retreating, but someone on the other side of the street told me they were still coming. I peeked around the corner of the building to see two more adult goats coming towards me with their horns down in a defensive position. I was still in the path where these animals wanted to go. I got into my car and prepared to take some pictures out the window.

A mama sheep, protecting the young, walked right up to my window while staring me down. I was concerned she might be getting ready to head-butt me so I stopped taking pictures rolled up the window. She stood there as protection while a few more sheep ran past behind her. She moved on and then a few more sheep ran past. Then the remainder of the herd got intimidated and turned back.

Some sheep turned back from the crossing

Other sheep made it accross the bridge

Now the herd was split. The adult sheep looked rather nervous as more and more people stopped to take pictures. The sheep that crossed the bridge came back and the herd regrouped on a bluff overlooking the creek that emptied Swiftcurrent Lake.

Most of the sheep then stood there for a few minutes posing for pictures. They were right on the other side of my car, so I rolled down the passenger window and took some pictures. I was afraid if I got out of the car the sheep would run off, so I did my best to take some pictures with the zoom lens through the open passenger window in a way to make it look like I wasn’t so close to civilization.