don't ask me questions about specific locations and ill answer anything I can for you. ive been in both 500 and 501 and might be able to at least help you understand what you are getting into.
Fire away and ill cover what I can.
1st question, have sheep ever set foot near mystic lake? Hell yes they have. sheep have been killed in that area in recent years.
michael
is it a good idea to go in a week early? Yes, but just know those sheep can vanish in an instant. One evening you have them and the next am they are gone- never to be seen again. But yes, by all means go in early. Since you are in CO id take some trips up there hiking this summer if you could just to learn the country. Have say 3 general areas you are going to concentrate on and check them all out.
Remember those sheep live in the trees. Sitting all day glassing a rocky hillside isn't going to produce much.
Glassing is your friend here. get some vantage points where you can glass a drainage and sit there. the sheep ive seen in there are hunkered down in the trees during the day and come out to feed in the am and pm hours. They don't need a huge area to feed in either
also, if you find some Ewes that doesn't mean the rams are with them- these aren't elk and you will be hunting long before the rut.
as far as packing that's an interesting topic. First of all food will be your biggest weight by far. My food list will have me just a hair over 2 lbs per day and well over 3,000 calories.
I am trying to get a trip lined up for my dad and I moose hunting in ak and I will buy one of the bear fences for that trip bu I wouldn't even consider it for this trip.
you are going to have to watch your weight going in if you are planning on going in a week early. I can easily carry enough food and gear for 10 days anything longer than that and it can get to be tiresome. Since there are 2 of you you are going to be able to share some items such as cooking gear, water filter, tent, etc so you can get your total weight down averaged out.
yes you will see people, however very few are going to effectively hunt these areas. not that they aren't capable of it, they just don't seem to get their heads around it and when they see how big it is I believe very few people will ever stick to their plans.
I wouldn't necessarily plan on hiking 10 miles every day, as I said earlier glassing is your best plan here. you can kill what you cant find and the chances of you just walking into a band of rams is slim.
go in knowing the odds are against you, but someone is going to kill 1, 2 or 3 sheep in 501 next year- it might as well be you.
ive spent time in both units and have been truly scared only once, and that was hiking out in the middle of the night in the rain when I should have been sleeping and ran into one on the trail. its even creepier in the dark!
by the way, are you trying this with a bow?
The first time I had an unlm license I brought my bow only- it was a mistake bigtime. I wouldn't even consider it now and I like to think im fairly capable. ill be going back in the next 3 years, it all depends on what happens with another hunt im working on with my dad, but I will be back there again.
Best advice is forget whatever most of the naysayers have to say. Ask everyone of the truly negative guys how many times they have spent any time in these units other than on the main highway going through cooke city and you will get the only answer you need.
Ive spoken with a ton of people who have done these hunts, both successful and not, and none of them are nearly as negative as those who say its impossible.
You can probably figure about 1/2 the guys with a tag are residents who buy one just because its cheap for them, and just in case.
Then the other half you will have about 2-4 of them guided so they are going to at least show up.
Now out of the rest which is anywhere from 14-20 guys probably half of them will show up, hike around a bit till they realize they didn't think it through and head out with the first excuse that they can come up with.
maybe 3-5 other guys are in there for the early rifle elk hunt and have a tag incase they see a sheep.
A couple guys are helping on a goat tag their buddy had a ton of points for so they put in for the sheep just in case, and then you are going to have 3-7 guys who are really going to hunt their rears off for a week, then roll out.
After the first week of season you would be all alone except for a few straggling goat hunters and maybe one or two guys really looking to kill a ram.
if you can get through the first week without the guided hunters filling the quota and the one or two other diehards, I believe you have a real shot but it is going to take some time.
Map out the area you are going to and strategically glass each basin till you are convinced there is nothing there- and that may take a couple days or more. then move to the next and so on. Eventually your going to find some and as long as you have the time it is decent terrain for killing a sheep if you can find them.
And no, I haven't killed a sheep in these areas so I guess take what im saying with a huge grain or granite, but ive spent my share of time in there with both bow and rifle and I believe I have a decent chance on my next trip.
As far as im concerned these areas are better than some draw areas if you can get the guides out of there without killing a sheep as these guys know the areas well. ive actually considered trying to work a deal out with one of them but at $5k + $5k trophy fees im just not able to swing that at this time. When you consider the canmore odds vs the price I feel this is a better hunt, but the rams will definitely be smaller. Best thing about canmore is you can hunt the rut, where here you can not, unless the quotas go unfilled then the season in 500-501 runs till November 30 but you are most likely looking at some serious winter by then in these areas.
"As far as im concerned these areas are better than some draw areas if you can get the guides out of there without killing a sheep as these guys know the areas well.ive actually considered trying to work a deal out with one of them but at $5k + $5k trophy fees im just not able to swing that at this time."
Do you think that going on a guided hunt in the unlimited units would put you in better than average odds of getting a legal ram?
the guided hunters are killing the majority of the sheep simply because they spend so much time in there. about 95% of the battle is finding them here.
How'd the ole crimson tide make out in their playoffgame?
Any novice can kill a bull elk. Grab yourself one of these tags and kill a ram with your bow. You'd be among the first and it probably wouldn't be much harder than a 'Bama gobbler. Then maybe you'd get the recognition you deserve. :)
This hunt is above my level of trash talking...never done much mountain hunting and spotting and it doesn't parrallel elk/turkey tactics so my confidence is not the same as with elk.
my wife and I were in there in unit 500 camping and decided to roll out because the mosquitos were unbearable- this was around july 4th.
we moved down the main boulder road and camped one night along the river. im an early riser so I was up before daylight and was readying my fishing gear when right at the crack of daylight some nitwit one site over was frying bacon and the smell was everywhere!
I woke my wife up and said pack your crap cause we are out of here! I guarantee you that moron would have likely seen some bears if he kept that up. The biologist that summer was swamped with grizzly calls tearing into cabins on that road.
I don't know when or why they move into the higher country, but we have seen them in the summer in there but I think your right, ive seen more and more sign in the fall. that could also be because im spending most of the day behind optics though.
there is a lot of talk about these hunts, but not a lot of truth as far as what ive experienced for myself. most of the naysayers, like ive said in the past, have never made a track in the mud on these mountains. Then again others have spent so much time in primo sheep habitat that they could hardly get excited about these hunts. Big Dan has made a lot of stink about how much of a waste of time this area is, but remember he has a cabin near 680. He sees sheep larger than any in these areas right along the road up there.
im certainly not trying to talk anyone into it, because I don't need the competition, but I hate to see someone get steered the wrong way by someone who has never even been in there or hunted there. The bottom line is the odds are against you, but in reality they are on every hunt, are they not?
Just get your body and mind in shape and head in there on a summer hiuking/fishing trip. the fishing is unbelieveable, the scenery is better than ive ever seen anywhere else, and the thin air is good for your lungs. Get in there and see for yourself if this is something that interests you.
As far as myself, I will kill a sheep in the unlm areas, it isn't if, it is when. I will make it happen.
good luck and let us know how it goes.
michael
tons of morons go hiking in there every year with no common sense or bear knowledge and they make it out alive.
I say all this because the advice that mn_archer is giving out is spot on for Alberta too! Absolutely correct and will be glossed over by most people who plan on hunting the unlimited areas in Montana and should be read by every Alberta sheep hunter too.
Just like Alberta you better simply love hiking and living in the mountains to even have a chance for success.
I sheep bowhunt every year in Alberta and I love the ball busting climbs, often in the dark, the threat of a grizzly bear chewing on you, the beautiful views, the ever changing weather, the sore feet, the aching back muscles, worn out eyeballs, mentally overcoming the other hunters who constantly screw up your hunt, figuring out the most effective way to hunt each valley or mountainside and of course the possibility that I might actually find a legal ram and I might get a shot and I might even hit it and even kill it! I look forward to all of it as part of the massive challenge. Perhaps the hunt is only for the mentally disturbed!! haha, I'm one of them.
