The way the federal agents swarmed Jack Schubarth’s ranch in Montana on a late-spring day in 2021, it seemed they could have been taking down an anti-government militia. It was a dry morning when Schubarth, an 82-year-old whose family owns a small-town pet store, first heard the helicopter buzzing overhead. Then came around 60 federal agents and state officers, racing out of a fleet of black vans. They searched the property, found 15 guns, and piled them on Schubarth’s bed. But the guns weren’t what they came for: The agents were searching for his sheep.

Specifically, they were there for a Marco Polo argali he called the “Montana Mountain King,” or MMK for short. At the time of the raid, MMK was on his way to becoming the biggest horned ram in America. His muscular legs were capable of ca

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