Sheep Talk

DownThePipe · Apr 19, 2013

Well, it's time to apply for trophy species. I'm going to be throwing my name in for California bighorns for the first time- as I've basically given up on drawing an antelope tag to hunt with my rifle.

Anyway, even though I'm not putting in for the unit, I was wondering what people's perception is of unit 37 for Rocky Mountain sheep now that a few years have gone by with the increased tag numbers. Is it others perception that 37 really has the population to support those tags, or has it just become an opportunity hunt?

Anybody have any good stories from last year or know of a monster they are looking to put on the ground?

Is anybody else putting in for sheep this year? If so, let's hear the stories about how long you've been waiting (to pass the time...)

Here's me with another guy's sheep from 3 years ago...

dreaminbouthuntin · Apr 19, 2013

37 is not for the light hearted and I've been putting in for 15 years and never have drawn. Not huge rams in there, and the wolves have left their mark on the unit.
I keep putting in for 37 because its close for me, but thats about it.

It is a restricted atv unit and no atv trails are in the unit.

If you draw and want to be aggressive in the hunt, you will need to set up camp in the back country. it is accessible by horse back or hiking.

Driving in everyday, hiking and hunting wont work well I dont think. I have seen guys hunting that just had to stay in their campers 5 miles out due to bad road conditions and drove every day.. It seemed like a huge waist of fuel and time.

Needless to say they weren't unsuccessful.

They dropped the sheep in many years ago and they seemed to be growing in population, but with heavy wolf activity in the unit, they have become scarce in a lot of areas. it is like they said, screw this, and left.

The tag is difficult to draw for sure.. i know first hand. if you do, good luck and have fun.

HayZeus · Apr 19, 2013

That is a real nice sheep. Good luck on drawing for a California. I know of a couple smokers that were taken in the past 2 years and hear theres a couple more that are real nice. Good luck in the draws.

nvborn · Apr 21, 2013

Is that a 37 ram?

Zeke · Apr 24, 2013

I love sheep.... and any sheep talk!
That's a helluva ram!
Zeke

DownThePipe · Apr 24, 2013

That's not a 37 ram, but a bordering unit... The sheep were really working the burn that year.

Yeah, it's really tough to kill the time in the offseason and offyears being a sheep hunter (unless you have a lot of $$$). It's funny how some people hold information really close to their chest and how some people know where every 6-9 year old ram in a unit summer/winter and will tell you knowing it's a 1:50 chance you draw.

Anyway, the reason I brought up 37 is because it was interesting to me when the IDFG went to 6 tags, and now that a few years have gone by, I would bet that it's getting even more difficult to kill a quality animal having to fend off 5 other tag holders knowing that only a couple rams in each unit are at that elite age class.

Zeke · Apr 25, 2013

You're probably right.

In some/most cases, more tags = less quality.

There's a fine line between opportunity and quality. Too bad we all want both but it's so hard to get when it comes to sheep.

"Quality" is difficult to define. I guess quality to me is any class IV ram!

Zeke

brymoore · Apr 25, 2013

IDF&G increased the tags in 37 after flying over in 2011 and seeing 21 class 3 or 4 rams and 15 Class I and II. This is up from the 25 class 3 or 4 rams seen in 2007 and 9 in 2003. The rule of thumb for issuing tags is one for every six rams.

5 rams have been harvested in each year since the survey. Average length and circumference are at some of the highest recorded levels.

http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/huntplanner/hunt.aspx?ID=32688

Sheep numbers are up in the Lemhi and continue to grow. The Lemhi is one of the few bright spots for Idaho wild sheep.