Bighorn Sheep unlimited areas Montana

[Coppertopr]

No die off is good news, thanks for the reply. Have a wonderful Holiday.

 

[left hunter]

I’m not sure what is up with 500 this year. I saw maybe 1/4 of the total sheep in there this year as I have in past years. The few guys that I communicate with that hunt in there experienced the same thing and none of us saw a legal ram.

I definitely watched a sub legal ram cough for a good 10-15 minutes though which is not something I have ever witnessed before.

I’m a bit worried. I may never kill a ram but I absolutely love that country and would hate to see it closed down

 

[Coppertopr]

Left Hunter,

Did you talk or tell any biologist about the sub legal ram coughing. I don't hunt 500, I had a tag for 502 and went early to scout/hunt in October and wasn't able to get back in November when they sometimes make it up from Wyoming. They tell me 500 is beautiful and almost always kills it quota, I believe 500 was Duncan Gilchrist favorite unlimited unit. I will shoot an email to the biologist today and see if they can give any insight on 500. I just don't want to see disease kill off the unlimited units. Thanks for the post, I will post the biologist remarks when I get an email back. Happy Holiday's.

 

[Coppertopr]

I have already received an email back from the biologist, The response was they have spent the last 10 days in HD500, saw no coughing and also saw a good number of rams and lambs. So it sounds like just an odd year in HD500 and hopefully two lucky hunters will harvest nice rams next year in that unit. The biologist also said they hadn't received any reports of coughing in that unit this year.

 

[left hunter]

I didn’t report it but was under the impression that another guy that saw it was going to. I’ll call and talk with them today just so they know what I saw.

One ram coughing might mean nothing though. I don’t know enough about the subject honestly.

I unquestionably saw significantly less sheep and mountain goats.

 

[MBN]

Anyone have experience packing a bighorn solo? I have packed a few Dall's solo with camp in one trip. Curious on what the difference would be weight wise.

 

[Bagpipe]

I can't imagine packing out a Bighorn and camp in one trip. Certainly not out of the Tooths. Three of us split a sheep and it was still pretty treacherous getting out of the high country with the sheep and our packs. I hunt in the unlimiteds with 46 pounds of gear. Granted, some of that got consumed but with the horns, cape and meat I was still over a hundred pounds. That was plenty on the rocks.

 

[wyosteve]

In 1992 I had a bighorn tag. After the kill, a buddy and I packed it and camp in one trip, including the life size cape. Our packs going in weighed 45 each. Coming out mine weighed 121. Luckily for us it was only about 2.5 miles but all downhill. Rubbed the skin off the top of all my toes!!

 

[ljalberta]

Anyone have experience packing a bighorn solo? I have packed a few Dall's solo with camp in one trip. Curious on what the difference would be weight wise.

I packed one with camp out solo in one load. Head and meat 14 miles. Shot it in the afternoon, so I split the trip up in two days. I left the cape to shed some weight, but it was still a grind. My feet bottoms were swollen and bruised and my hips were bruised.

There’s fellows who have done more weight over longer distances, but I don’t envy them.

We did 2 rams out with three people this year. Made for a dreamy walk.

The fellows in this video looks like they had a heck of a pack out as well (see the end parts of the video)

 

[Short Track]

Can I hire a helicopter to pack me to the top ?

 

[freu1chr]

No can not fly over it without special licenses


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[wymtnpounder]

Can I hire a helicopter to pack me to the top ?

Sure. Golden Rule. The one with the gold makes the rules. Might take a lot of gold lol.

 

[tkhuntsman]

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

I can say I won't tell you what unit I hunt or where I have seen sheep. I still plan to hunt them and it's the most physically and mentally demanding hunt you will take on. Scout and I don't mean a day or 2 in the summer and show up a day or 2 ahead, put in months as soon as the snow melts scout, and keep scouting honestly a day or 2 a week almost isn't enough. As someone else stated before you just might see more grizzly bears than sheep. Your looking for anywhere between 5 and 30 resident sheep in these units. I've put in countless days over years and seen sheep 5x and legal rams twice no kills. It is one of the most fulfilling hunting experiences you can have but every single aspect is work.

 

[buffybr]

I know at least 1 of the guys on this forum has direct experience sheep hunting in the MT Unlimited units. We’ll see if he comments. He’s also knocked down a Dall and knows the level of effort required in this area.

You’ll earn anything you get in there.

I wasn't a member here when you posted this, but I kind of fit the experience of the guy you mentioned...

I started hunting the Unlimited in the early '80s and hunted them into into the '90s. My biggest problem was that I didn't hunt them seriously enough and mostly only went in on the opening weekends.

I ws lucky enough to have killed 3 rams, passed on another ram then finished it when another hunter wounded it, and I did kill a good Dall ram in 1999.

As a 2 1/2 year old thread, I don't know if Zhive went on an Unlimited hunt or not, but from his pics in his first post he way ahead of many of the Unlimited hunters. Sheep are creatures on habit and can often be found in the same general area at the same time year after year.

A couple of other good tips have also been mentioned: Talk to the FWP sheep biologist for the units that you are thinking about hunting. There are different biologists for the 500 Units and 300 Units. They will usually give you good info. I killled my longest horned ram in an area that the biologist told me there were no rams, because he had some buddies hunting in that area.

Also check the kill reports for the previous 5 or so years. All killed rams must be checked in with FWP and the kill site listed on your harvest report. (The kill site listed for the wounded ram that I killed WAS NOT where I killed it)

My rams...

 

[Geewhiz]

I'll save you some time-- no one is giving up information on the unlimiteds.

There was once a beautiful thread of a successful trip with photos and everything but the member got none stop pms asking for details of the hunt he deleted all the posts.

My advice is just pick a spot and do some scouting. People get lucky and fill the quota every year.

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This would be a really great thread to delete all traces of. Can we do that?

 

[RC_]

@buffybr those are some epic pictures! As someone on the younger side, I always love the older photos showing guys getting it done without all the gear and technology we have today

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

I wasn't a member here when you posted this, but I kind of fit the experience of the guy you mentioned...

I started hunting the Unlimited in the early '80s and hunted them into into the '90s. My biggest problem was that I didn't hunt them seriously enough and mostly only went in on the opening weekends.

I ws lucky enough to have killed 3 rams, passed on another ram then finished it when another hunter wounded it, and I did kill a good Dall ram in 1999.

As a 2 1/2 year old thread, I don't know if Zhive went on an Unlimited hunt or not, but from his pics in his first post he way ahead of many of the Unlimited hunters. Sheep are creatures on habit and can often be found in the same general area at the same time year after year.

A couple of other good tips have also been mentioned: Talk to the FWP sheep biologist for the units that you are thinking about hunting. There are different biologists for the 500 Units and 300 Units. They will usually give you good info. I killled my longest horned ram in an area that the biologist told me there were no rams, because he had some buddies hunting in that area.

Also check the kill reports for the previous 5 or so years. All killed rams must be checked in with FWP and the kill site listed on your harvest report. (The kill site listed for the wounded ram that I killed WAS NOT where I killed it)

My rams...

That’s cool man. Great pics. Probably more than a couple stories have been told around the fire of those hunts.