Broadside
Hold on the back line of the near front leg, about a third of the way up the body. A ram's heavy winter coat and deep brisket make the body look taller, but the heart sits low, just above the elbow. The lungs fill the area behind and above it, roughly the size of a dinner plate on a mature ram.
Quartering and other angles
Shooting steeply downhill, hold higher on the near side so the bullet exits low through the far-side lungs. Uphill does the opposite: hold lower on the near side. Quartering away, aim for the far front leg. A ram bedded on a ledge offers a small, angled chest; wait for him to stand when you can.
Do not
Do not guess range in open mountain country, and do not shoot a ram that will fall off a cliff you can't reach. Distances in the high country are almost always further than they look.
Where they live and the typical miss
Rocky Mountain bighorn live in the Rockies and desert bighorn in the arid ranges of the Southwest and Mexico. The typical miss is high, caused by holdover on a range that was judged too far or a steep angle that was ignored.
Angle-compensated range
A 400-yard line-of-sight shot at a steep angle may need the holdover for a much shorter horizontal distance. Use an angle-compensating rangefinder or the cosine of the angle. Holding for the full line-of-sight distance sends the bullet over the ram's back.
Recovery
Before you shoot, look at where the ram will go when hit. A clean hit on a ram standing above a chute or cliff can still ruin the trophy or leave him where you can't get to him.