Montana Unlimited Sheep

[BUCKSPY]

Has anyone out there ever hunted,knows anyone who has hunted,or someone who might have info on Montana's unlimited sheep areas?
It is on my list of things to do and I'm just looking for some info. I've read Duncan Gilchrist's Montana Sheep books and have gotten everything I know from those so far.

 

[NVBighorn]

Ahhh, the unlimited areas. I think every sheep guy has to consider those areas at one time or another to be considered truly bitten by the sheep bug. I have researched them a time or three. I have never been encouraged enough by what I found out to actually go hunt them. I know a guy who did (actually a couple). He hunted there twice and actually killed a ram on the second trip. I think you need to figure on that approach to do any good. A few years to learn the country. The competition with the guides is what turned me off.

I will be interested to see what else is posted here.

 

[biglazykis]

Not much wrong them, if you know what you're getting. They are basically a quota hunt, once the quota is reached, the hunt closes. I think its a good way to get a tag, if you have time to be the first in the area. Many of the limited areas the population is up and down so much the tag that was really good last year is virtually worthless this year. I'll need to find which areas are unlimited and how the access is to them.

 

[DonV]

Do a search here. others have asked this. I have heard very little good about these areas. For ex. the quota units often have a quota of 1-2 sheep. Many times they do not reach the quota. Meaning there are years where no sheep are taken.

I hear it is big, steep, rough country with few sheep. Unless I had a lot of time to scout and lived close by I would contact a guide.

You can always hit Alberta and pay only $15,000 for a sure tag.

Look into Idaho, there are areas with decent odds for getting a tag.

 

[biglazykis]

After looking at the areas and prices, etc. I think the only way I'd put in for one in unlimited area is if I had a real good friend/relative that had land where the sheep are and you each had enough time to do the scouting and hunting. The price being the same as a limited area, and eventually the preference points will catch up to ya, the limited areas hunts would be a surer deal. I didn't realize at first that the prices on the tags were the same.

 

[Longhorns]

I hunted many years ago. I would look at it this way it would be a vacation and I would be carring a gun and a tag in some of the greatest country in the U.S.,with a remote(minscule) chance to take a ram. I backpacked in saw sheep,goats, grizzly,deer and the elk were going crazy bugling. Ten days of hell climbing in deadfalls up and down steep mountains. Ok, I might do it again.

 

[BUCKSPY]

NVBIGHORN,

How big was your buddies ram? I know Jack Atcheson Jr. used to or still does guide hunters in there every year and was very successful doing it? He obviously knows the area (duh) and I'm guessing has another guide or two locate rams and sit on them until the hunter shows. That is what I'm guessing anyways.

 

[biglazykis]

this is what I have to say about Atcheson














WhoV

 

[NVBighorn]

I think Atcheson has the area pretty well sewed up.

BUCKSPY, can't remember how what he scored but it was a nice looking sheep. Not big but 7 or 8 years old so he was a nice ram. I may be wrong but I don't think there are a lot of high scorers out of there. I think his ram came from one of the 500 areas to the east. They backpacked in. There were at least two others that also killed rams in the unlimited areas from my hometown back in the 70s.

LONGHORNS, that's exactly how I look at it. Go for a vacation. You are still sheep hunting even if you don't have much chance. And the worst day sheep hunting is better than the best day working. I actually have a friend (who is younger than me ) who wants me to go with him on exactly that premise. Who knows, I might even go through with it this time.

 

[BUCKSPY]

I don't want you to take this the wrong way, Longhorns but I wouldn't look at this as a vacation. I live at 9,000' in the Central Colorado Rockies and have 13,000' to 14'000' foot peaks within a long hike of my doorstep. I can dayhike up to timberline and watch rams with just a thirty minute drive and a two hour hike. So the idea of taking a "vacation" with a pricey permit in pocket isn't exactly what I'm looking for. I'm trying not to sound like some ungrateful elitist that only considers a hunt a success if the tag is filled. When I do plan an out-of- state hunt, I cover as many details as possible and do my best to prepare myself. When I went on a self guided moose hunt in Alaska, it took me eight days to find a legal bull and he was miles from the lake we were on and about 1,500 feet of elevation up on a mountain. I had decided that I wanted more than a $4,000
dollar camping trip in Alaska and half killed myself getting the bull out. I have no illusions on the difficulty of trying to locate rams in such a formidable area. I'm curious to talk to hunters who have done it and what might have contributed to their success and why. There is the luck factor,but part of this is manufacturing your own luck through effort and prepardness.

I appreciate your guys responding to this post right away and enjoyed seeing the responses. It is nice to talk about a sheep hunt that Average Joe can go on and atleast fantasize about. Yes, I would like to draw an area 5 ram tag in Wyoming or a Rock Creek tag in Montana but those are pipe dreams at best, especially with the advent of application services. The unlimited areas? The temptation continues.

 

[biglazykis]

I don't really remember all the unlimited areas.... where they at compared to the nearest town? From that I'd know a little more as to where you are looking.. Instead of Rock creek, the Thompson Falls area is better, Melrose was really good til the pneumonia and poachers got to it, Tendoys west of Dell might be real good in a few years if they don't fall prey to those asme problems, even the Big Blackfoot just east of Missoula has some large rams.

 

[Longhorns]

Buckspy

I do as much more research or more than most and apply for as many quality hunts that I can (0 for 28 with only AZ remaining). When I hunted the Unlimited areas. I had just returned from working for an outfitter in AK the previous year. I had killed a Dall and wanted to hunt more sheep. I was in great shape and felt the money was well spent.I have spent quite a bit of time since photographing and observing sheep Rocky and Desert. I did the research and I did the phone calls and I wanted to give it a try. It was a successful hunt I just didn't kill a sheep. Since, then I have hunted some of the premier areas and sometimes I turned down average if not above average animals and they were all great hunts. If,you want to hunt sheep in the lower 48 MT is the only chance. The question I have is,how does buying an unlimited tag effect ones preference points?
Good Luck!

 

[BUCKSPY]

Longhorns,
How long ago did you hunt there? Did you see any mature rams on your hunt? Anybody know if Atcheson still guides hunters there and what his success is?

 

[biglazykis]

Atchenson was in Butte, does a world wide tours guide service. Set you up with the guides in other locations. I don't know if any of them are still guidng outa Butte or not. Last I heard one of them was in trouble with the law over dead sheep outa Melrose.....only rumor....
I did see old Jack coupla three years ago down Utah or Idaho right after his camper trailer decided it didn't like being behind the truck and wanted to trade places.

 

[DonV]

I too would love to hear more about the unlimited areas, despite how hard they are it would be a spectacular trip. The question is I can only afford a trip like that every other year, so for now, I would rather wait and draw a tag.

I too apply for many great hunts, each year I apply for more and more as funds become avail. After a few more years of not getting a tag I will start getting impatient and be thinking about the unlimited areas more and more. Trouble is by then I will have many pref/bonus points so my odds of getting a tag inc. I can always apply for just a pref. pnt in place like WY, and apply for nearly impossible to get tags like some in Montana, but I would need 1-1/2 years to plan the hunt and would prefer to not then find out I drew a premium tag for elk, goat or another sheep tag in the same year. What to do. I guess getting lucky next year would solve the problem!

 

[Longhorns]

Buckspy, I hunted the unlimited areas in '80. The area that I hunted is no longer in the unlimited areas. The unit was decreased in size a few years ago. It was just north of the Park and the city of Gardiner. I saw only 2 and 3 year old rams (3) and a small band of ewes. I had met a guy from MT that came to hunt(sheep,moose & caribou) with the outfitter in AK and he turned me on to this spot. Also,I talked with a guy from Gardiner. He knew a great deal about sheep in the area, but I lost contact with him several years ago.
I was just up there this past Memorial Day and was checking out some areas for future goat hunt.
I think you would need someone to share some local knowledge and a couple of horses to hunt the areas near the park for sheep.

 

[Bambistew]

Not to scare anyone off but....

I was raised in an unlimited sheep area (Spanish Peaks). A couple of years ago I bought an unlimited sheep tag to try my luck. I was in prime shape,(21 yrs old) knew the area prety well, and did my reserch. I spent 7 days scouting, and locating good areas for sheep. The week before the season opened I spent an additional 3 days scouting. We did see quite a few sheep, just no legal rams. The area opened the day after labor day and lasted only 6 days. We saw sheep the first two days of the hunt, (about 20-30 a day). Then all the people started to show up (we would see about 20-40 people a day), and the sheep disappeared. Another thing that screwed us was the forest service nuts were blasting boulders out of the trail.

If I had it to do again, which I will someday, I would find somebody to fly it, or spend at least a week scouting. I don't think I would pay an outfitter $3000 or more for a sheep hunt cause I know they don't get very many at all. Contrary to what you have heared.

I think the fish and game has harvest stat on the internet now or you can call them and they will send you the info. Like someone else said they only give out a couple of permits, in each area. Very rarely do they ever fill all the permits, and some areas are open for three months. The way I figure it the odds of killing a sheep in these areas is about as good as drawing a permit for a limited area that has monsters and a chance to kill one.

On the good side you can get a permit every year untill you kill one then you have to wait 7 years....

BS

 

[BUCKSPY]

Thanks for the replys. I checked Montana's website and found harvest stats on the unlimited units. In one of the 300 units, there were 4 rams killed last year and none in 2000. I remember driving back from Alberta in and around the 20th of September in 2000 and there was a nasty storm dropping a bunch of snow an temp's into the single digits in Yellowstone the day we drove through. I got to witness the Yellowstone elk migration firsthand. 300 type bulls everywhere but no real monsters.

The storm closed I-80 from Rock Springs to Laramie because of glaze-ice on the road and a bunch of accidents and stranded motorists.

Maybe that had something to do with the zero harvest in 2000. Anybody know if Montana publishes the horn size and age of harvested rams?

 

[Bambistew]

If I remember right, the info that I got from the fish and game had horn measurements. I would give them a call they may have it on record.


BS

 

[kilowatt]

Last years questions about this topic.

 

[HunterHarry]

I am a little late on the post, but several of you guys are right as far as I know.I have those Gilchrist(R.I.P.) books and video. You could call Jack Atcheson Jr. He is the "Dean" of that Area and those guys are pretty friendly, I stopped by thier Taxidermy/Booking agency and they gave me a tour of the place(many trophies form all over the world)However they might be tight-lipped about the honey holes,as they are getting big money now for the unlimited sheep hunts they offer.Good Luck Buckspy!---(HunterHarry)They have a website,you might shoot them an e-mail

 

[Bambistew]

You're right about the Atchesons. My buddy was talking with him a few years ago about the 19? B&C ram he killed in the Melrose area (Montana) and he told him that he was more proud of the 160 incher he took in the Spanish Peaks... The unlimited areas are about impossible to get a sheep in, thats why they don't limit the number of hunters. Like I said before your odds of getting a sheep are about like drawing a permit...

Good luck to anyone who plans on going.

Ivan

 

[ridgerunner]

I have a book at home written by a Montanan who has taken 3 sheep out of the unlimited areas and if I remember right is pretty forthright in telling how and where to hunt it. He doesn't hunt it anymore but told Jack his spots and that is why he has done decently in that area. I don't remember the name of the book but it probably has some useful info.

 

[BUCKSPY]

Ridgerunner-Would you mine checking the author and title and posting it here? Thanks!