Hey guys/gals I’m looking for some information on Bighorn sheep hunting in the unlimited draw for Montana. I understand it’s some rugged country but I don’t know which unit to try or where to hike to to find sheep. Spotted one up by mystic lake last year and it started to peak my interest. Any advice on where to start would be appreciated. If anyone has harvested one in these areas I’d love to talk to you.
Thanks
Never mind the squealers.
Perspective: I have never hunted sheep in the current unlimited areas in the Beartooths (used to hunt when there were unlimited areas in the Spanish Peaks years ago), but I've been up there for 'fun' many times, admittedly several years ago, and as you know it's a serious haul. But so are a lot of pack trips in the mountains and the weather there isn't any different from the rest of the Beartooths, Absorkees, Crazies, and all the rest from North to South in the Rocky Mountains.
As suggested earlier, check the harvest records and talk to the biologists if you can, please search here and other forums for past threads. GREAT information.
Just for distance and logistics alone, I'd personally pick 300 or 303, even with the stories of people who hunt a ton and never see a legal ram. If I had more time on my hands, region 500 just to be there. I'd be packing a wolf tag as well.
If you live in Montana or can travel easy, I strongly recommend a late summer backpack trip to the region of your choice with a pistol and fly rod and glass like crazy to get familiar. Such a beautiful places to be if the weather is right and when most of the snow is gone.
No mystery, the hunting is different than a normal high country backpack trip due to lack of trails, and crossing rock slides in some areas. My pride gets hurt watching other people nimbly leap from rock to rock on these slides like goats as I pick my way like a dandy. It's also different from some backpack trips because it's later in the fall with a higher chance of snow. Personally, if there's a high chance of precip, I'm gone. Evening thunder storms come through all the time in the summer and early fall, I'll bet there's still a 'stain' in region 500 from a bolt that I swear hit 1/128" inch from my tent one summer.
Hope you get up there and keep after your archery hunt goals, great opportunity for anyone who wants to hunt sheep and you can't win if you don't play.