Bighorn hunt rut or early season?

ridgerunner · May 14, 2003

Washington split the bighorn seasons into two time frames, a late September/early October hunt and a November hunt. Length of the seasons is the same. I've never hunted bighorns before but if you have what would be the better time to hunt them, the first season of the year or the rut? My fear with the rut hunt is that the tag holders in the first season will kill the larger rams. I appreciate any thoughts.

Craig · May 14, 2003

Tough question. I think I am putting in for the early hunt. I have never hunted sheep but a friend was lucky and drew a tag two years ago. He went on a ton of scouting trips and found the ram he wanted. He was up there opening morning and shot the ram on the first day. In the early hunt the sheep have not been pushed around and might not spook as easy. On the late hunt there might be bigger groups of sheep and they might move around more. This could help by them being more visable ( spelling? ) during the day or it could hurt you. They could move out of the area looking for the female sheep.

If you pick the late hunt at most depending on what unit you pick there will be at most 4 hunters hunting the early season. There will be some big ones left and the big ones will be looking for the females.

good luck with the draw.

ridgerunner · May 15, 2003

Craig -

What unit did your friend draw?
What size ram did he score on?

I think that many of the sheep hunters fill out on the first day of the season.

shep · May 15, 2003

Any of you guys know where the new sheep unit is? I believe its called Mt. Hull??

ridgerunner · May 15, 2003

It's up in the Okanogan. There should be a map in the regs.

Craig · May 17, 2003

His tag was for Cleman Mountain and it scored 163.

FALCON · May 17, 2003

Brian,

Check you PM.

rabidrattlesnake · May 20, 2003

I drew my once in a life time a couple of years back and had a great time. The hunt was in mid september and you would have thought the rut was in full swing. Just about all the rams were smacking noddles so I had a real fun time. This is not to say that all sheep act the same. Our sheep are pertty inbread and love their sisters, so they may be the exception. Hell after the shot all the sheep ran right at me stopped 100 yards past me and started to eat again. I gutted and capped my ram while in eyeshot of 3 rams that would go 170. Our sheep are not the smartest animals on the mountain.

shep · May 20, 2003

LAST EDITED ON May-20-03 AT 06:34PM (MST)[p]Where did you draw your tag rabidrattlesnake? How big was your ram?

FALCON · May 27, 2003

Rabid:

I'm with Shep. Give it up!! With great odds like 1 in a 1000, I doubt it matters too much which unit it is. The boys want to know. Which unit and how big. Don't worry, I won't tell a soul;-]