GOS Sheep Hunt

[ryanb]

Sure, but what options do you have? A huge percentage of sheep hunters live significantly south of the sheep hunting areas. With fly in costs or the 16hr drive times, how many "scouting" trips can you really make?

Do your research, pick an area that you think will be good and go hunt the shit out of it. Don't let anything hold you back, go up there with the attitude you WILL kill a sheep, and you just might

[boxhitch]

This is were most sheep hunters stumble in my opinion and follow the masses blindly!
To much envasis on were everyone else is having success!

the hunters that find there own forgotten or tucked away spots enjoy the biggest success and dont fight the crowds.

Just like fishing.
You can go to the lakes everyone talks about, fish the shoals where all the boats are, but not use the right colour and come up empty, or hit the right one and be the only lucky boat..
Or you can find your own pond and try every hook in your box and catch a bucket full.....or get skunked

But generally there are no secret spots, most everywhere that holds rams gets hunted at one time or another, pressure ebbs and flows.
And not all hunters are equal either, many spots get hunted with no kills just because the sheep are overlooked.
Some have a map in hand with an X on the spot and still don't get their ram . First day 40's likely had some intel

Fishing and Hunting..........fun huh?

[twoSevenO]

pick an area that you think will be good and go hunt the shit out of it

and for most beginners that area is going to be one of the few popular spots that they've heard about from someone or read about on here, hence the "crowds".

I don't hunt sheep. But if I did, how the hell would i know what area would be good? I wouldn't. I'd have to start by going off what I heard from others, and would probably end up in an area with other hunters around. That's the point im making. Not that it can't be done, just that it's probably the way it ends up going for most newbie sheep hunters.

[bighornbob]

I don't hunt sheep. But if I did, how the hell would i know what area would be good? I wouldn't. I'd have to start by going off what I heard from others, and would probably end up in an area with other hunters around. That's the point im making. Not that it can't be done, just that it's probably the way it ends up going for most newbie sheep hunters.

Knowing where to start is the issue for most learned sports. Take golf for example, most people don’t wake up one day and go “Im going to start playing golf today”, go buy clubs and book a round of 18 holes that same day and shooting close to par. There is a natural progression that will most likely take place, watching golf on TV, buying books on golf, hanging out with other golfers, starting on the putting green etc etc.

No real difference in sheep hunting, watch the shows, read the books, talk to other sheep hunters, start on the putting green, go look for sheep in the summer, go in the winter etc etc. Like golf one would not expect shooting a good round the first year of golf. No different in sheep hunting. Sure it might happen where a rookie hunter goes out and shoots a ram the first trip without any firsthand knowledge but its tough. If its not feasible to scout for sheep, there are a lot of resources on the net that can give you a good starting point. Govt reports list creek names and some have maps of sheep distributions, sheep numbers etc. The BC record book lists kill locations. Some of these are pretty general like “Muskwa river” but others put the exact creek down. Spend some weeks looking into the names and looking for them on topo maps, do some detective work. Next go to google earth and look for the creeks and lakes etc. See what the mountains look like, how far are they from the lakes etc and think how far would most people be willing to walk. Even doing all this homework might get you the right lake to land at but it might take two or three trips to narrow down the valley the sheep like to hang out in.
The problem with a lot of new sheep hunters is they think just because they book a $1000 flight into some lake they should be successful their first year. No golfer who buys clubs the first year expects to shoot a good round that same year. So why would sheep hunting be any different. Personally I have talked to guys who don’t want to put the effort, time or money into a sheep hunt unless there is a real good chance of them being successful. Even when I have offered to put X’s on the map that would get them into sheep, the chance of rain or summer smoke or other hunters already there have kept them from going.

New sheep hunters have to learn that even with the best gear in the world, X’s on maps etc your odds of killing a sheep might only be 20%. Its still a needle in a haystack for the most part. Are you alright with this stat and the low chance of success?

There is a good reason that old saying is so true “The first ram you kill will probably be born the year you start sheep hunting.” That means its probably going to take you 7-8 years of sheep hunting before you kill a ram. Not sure who coined this term but they did it to be honest about the hardships of sheep hunting not to keep new hunters out of the mountains.

BHB

[twoSevenO]

^ yup. well put. So with the time dedication, the cost and low success rates it's exactly why you get so few new people venturing into uncharted territory on their own .... A lot of people consider a hunt without a harvest a failure and waste of their time and money.

[bighornbob]

A lot of people consider a hunt without a harvest a failure and waste of their time and money.

This is exactly it. I know when I shot my ram at spences I had guys scrambling to go out with me, willing to pay all the expences for the week. That is until I told them it was the first ram I killed in the area in 20 years of hunting the area on and off. Now its down to 1-2 guys that wanted to go out before I shot the ram as they went out on their own a few times.

The chance of harvest will not change but the cost spent can vary immensely. Every sheep hunt does not have to be a two week fly-in adventure. For the guys on the coast, you can drive too spences bridge in a few hours and be hunting sheep. Sleep in your truck or tent it. Probably no different then driving to princeton for deer. I live in Kamloops so I am only about 1.5 hours from hunting sheep. I have made three weekend trips before in a season and been the only guy out there one of those weekends. Sure there are deer (very few) and bear so you could kill other species but when focusing on sheep I am not going to hike 3 hours for a bear. I'm there for sheep and I stay focused.

You don't need Kuiu gear or Swarovski optics to hunt sheep either. I killed all three of my rams with a bushnell spacemaster spotter.

BHB

[Ltbullken]

Plenty taken! And it is a journey. It is said that the year you start sheep hunting is the year that 'your' ram is born.

[Ltbullken]

This is exactly it. I know when I shot my ram at spences I had guys scrambling to go out with me, willing to pay all the expences for the week. That is until I told them it was the first ram I killed in the area in 20 years of hunting the area on and off. Now its down to 1-2 guys that wanted to go out before I shot the ram as they went out on their own a few times.

The chance of harvest will not change but the cost spent can vary immensely. Every sheep hunt does not have to be a two week fly-in adventure. For the guys on the coast, you can drive too spences bridge in a few hours and be hunting sheep. Sleep in your truck or tent it. Probably no different then driving to princeton for deer. I live in Kamloops so I am only about 1.5 hours from hunting sheep. I have made three weekend trips before in a season and been the only guy out there one of those weekends. Sure there are deer (very few) and bear so you could kill other species but when focusing on sheep I am not going to hike 3 hours for a bear. I'm there for sheep and I stay focused.

You don't need Kuiu gear or Swarovski optics to hunt sheep either. I killed all three of my rams with a bushnell spacemaster spotter.

BHB

Dude! If you're not wearing Kuiu, do you even hunt? :P

[backcountry99]

Thats the problem, to much enphasis on killing!

and theres sheep in the southern half of the province to dont have to make the big drive north.

pretty easy to know were sheep are in the north go anywhere from dease lake to muncho and even more and theres sheep. Avoid areas that outfitters advertise to heavily and the current hot zones on the internet and the odds are youll have a great hunt without stupid pressure. And with time youll learn the better valleys and the common ram hangouts. And if success is paramount then maybe hunting might be the wrong sport.

[bighornbob]

Dude! If you're not wearing Kuiu, do you even hunt? :P

Just made my first Kuiu order last month. I bought 10 hip belt pouches for large sum of $13.50 CAN to my door Gave a set to each sheep hunting buddy.

BHB