I paid $2500 for my Ewe tag, please big bucks for a guide. Any legal Ewe within 400-500 yards will be in my freezer. and she's getting mounted too. That's if I make it to 13,000 feet.
Last year I took a NR with a ewe tag into a Wilderness area in Wyo under the resident guides licenses. When this tag was proposed I was, and still am, opposed. I understand the logic behind the tag just don't think there is sound enough data to justify the tag. I opposed it at the Commission meeting but in the end the tag was approved so when a lucky hunter reached out for help I was happy to help out. In the end the hunt was a bunch of fun. Much harder than I had anticipated. We got it done in a couple days. He was the only NR to fill his ewe tag in this unit in 2022. Overall, including resident harvest, success was very low. I assume most thought they would be able to take one from the main road. This was not the case. This year G&F increased the ewe tags and lengthened the season to help increase ewe harvest. Time will tell if any of this was a good idea.
It holds no interest for me but I don’t have any issue with others doing the hunt. Especially with sheep, they wouldn’t issue the tag if it was harmful to the health of the herd.
My wife had a ewe tag last year and it was one of the most fun hunts I’ve been a part of! Meat is fantastic as well. I hope to draw the same tag myself in the future! I say go and enjoy it.
I drew a ewe tag here in Washington in 2019 after drawing an OIL ram tag for the same unit in 2014. I knew it would be a gimme hunt, but sheep are pretty good to eat and I thought it would be neat to put a ewe on the wall next to my ram. To make it a little more challenging, I took my Thompson Center Seneca sidelock muzzleloader. It was pretty neat to be able to hunt sheep again and I spent most of the day watching sheep and attempting to get within my limited (~50 yard) range. I finally had a shot at about 40 - 45 yards and took the ewe in my avatar. After caping and stripping the meat, I hiked out and was back to my truck by the end of the day. In all, it was as some have said, a pretty easy hunt, but I had a great time and had a good load of prime meat. Ewes aren't an OIL permit here in Washington, but the odds of drawing a second one are very small and I would rather let others have the experience.