I am considering a Bighorn Sheep hunt in Alberta in 2027. Rifle hunt. Would like to get any recommendations on outfitters you have used. Would also like to know if anyone has hunted bighorns with Willow Creek and their experience with them.
Thanks for any information you are willing to share. Please PM me if you are more comfortable doing that.
Dave
Hey Dave, I just wanted to give you some feedback.
I have hunted with Andre before, but not for sheep. He is an amazing person and guide. I cannot vouch for his sheep hunting, but he is known to have a great reputation as a professional and ethical person.
I have hunted with Scott Carter before. I hunted with him in 2022. I think you need to go into sheep hunting in Alberta with your eyes wide open.
First of all, there is heavy resident hunting pressure. I did not expect as much as we would see. Residents get to hunt a week before nonresidents and guided hunters. On our way in, we saw three sheep coming out that were all barely, barely legal. Resident hunters shoot anything that barely makes 3/4 curl, which is the right as residence and we should not operate them for it. However, it makes finding a mature ram impossible.
While in the mountains, rams were very scarce and already very skittish from the resident hunting pressure the entire week before. I believe I am very fortunate to have harvested what turned out to be a nice 7/8 curl ram. I am thankful to Scott and his team that I harvested a ram.
I think, regardless of the outfitter, my experience is common in Alberta or non-resident hunters. If you are looking for a full curl ram, essentially anything over a three-quarter curl, and will be disappointed with that type of ram, I would not suggest hunting in Alberta as a nonresident.
That being said, I would not hunt with Scott again. Because I had been warned by so many people of the heavy hunting pressure in Alberta for big horns, I paid Scott to pre-scout the area. The agreement was that we would have two guides in the area pre-scouting for one week. He did nothing of the sort, and totally ripped me off on that part. The guides I was with did everything they could to find a great ram, but they had no idea of what I had paid Scott extra for. We went in together, they had not been in the area before me at all.
Also, after paying for a very expensive hunt and harvesting a beautiful ram, Scott miss handled my trophy care (post hunt), and ruined my cape. I had a very unique chocolate colored ram, with an irreplaceable cape, and he ruined it.
Scott controls more than half of the nonresident sheep tags in Alberta and essentially has a monopoly on hunting in Alberta. He uses a wide variety of guides that may or may never have hunted for him before. My experience with him is he treats his hunters like garbage whenever you try to talk to him about anything. He acts like you should be thankful just for the opportunity to be blessed to hunt with him. Four months leading up to my Hunt, he would not answer any phone calls, text, or emails. I didn’t even know if it was really going to happen until a few weeks before the hunt, after having paid in full for the Hunt years before.
My two cents.
mikesoutfitting.com
