They are then led by an elder ewe who moves them around lower valley elevations. The hooves are hard at the outer edge and spongy in the center. The soft, rubbery and cushion-like padded soles permit them to keep their balance and add traction as they move across uneven and slippery ground and even scale up sheer rock faces. Unlike deer prints, bighorn prints are less pointed, less heart-shaped, more splayed, and have straighter edges. If walking downhill on soft ground, their dew claws may print two dots behind their hoof print.
Bighorn sheep follow narrow trails over mountainsides and steep slopes.
In addition to being excellent climbers and jumpers, bighorn are also good swimmers. A bighorn's walking stride is about 18 inches, the bounding gait on level ground is around 15 feet, and down a steep incline it increases to near 30 feet. As the fall rutting season approaches, rams have head-butting contests that increase in frequency as the season progresses. Two opponents rear back onto their hind legs, then drop to all fours and charge each other at speeds greater than 20 mph. Their foreheads slam together with a crack that can be heard for more than a mile.