3-31B Sheep Hunt

[Darksith]

Went scouting today, man is it ever steep and bigger than it looks online.

Anyone with any tips as to where we might find the sheep? Any licks possibly?

[SR80]

Not trying to be an ass, but its a called sheep hunting. Get in shape and start hiking those mountains. A lot of guys would kill for that tag

[bighornbob]

A wise man once said:


get out there and put your boots on the ground. Do some scouting before the season. If someone knows your spot they certainly won't tell you, the more time you spend in an area the more you will understand how to hunt it. It simply takes time to learn where the deer travel routes are and when they are there, and even then weather and other factors can change those patterns. But if you are seeing deer you know your in the right spot. Good luck, the beauty thing about alpine is you can utilize bino's to cover a lot of ground.

My tip to you, replace deer with sheep in your above statementJ
That being said the sheep will be where you find them, you can glass an area 10 times and nothing and on that 11th time, bingo a few rams feeding in the open.
I have hunted sheep in around that area (Lillooet to big bar for close to 25 years). Never drew a tag in there but I usually nose around once every couple years. Every time I go I learn a new area to glass from and thats the key.
Find an area that you can glass a ton of real-estate and when you find nothing, move to the next area and start again and repeat to the next area.
I have glassed bands of rams across the river from your unit that have hung out mid slope for days on end, then for whatever reason, they bail off the slope and run to the river. In a day and half I watched them feed within 100m of the river and not once did I see one go for a drink. Then after a day and half one ram decides to hike back up and the rest follow and they fed into an area I never saw sheep before.
Some will feed in farmers fields everyday while the next band could care less for the bright green vegetation.
Hunted that area the first week of the season and it got close to 40 degrees and some rams would bed in the shade of a tree while some of his buddies would walk to a rock out cropping in the full sun at mid-day and bed down for hours. So while some may be in the timber, others will be in the full sun and not caring one bit.
So the gist of my comment, keep glassing and you never know where you will spot sheep.

BHB

[Darksith]

What month is it? Ya we are going to do our homework, we will scout it a bunch since its close to home, but this ain't no deer hunt and the idea of a 1:85 odd hunt is to be successful, so I have no problems asking. I constantly help people with maps for Bison, high odd moose hunts and even the odd deer area through PM, if there is someone that can pass on a few pointers from experience then why wouldn't I ask, and why wouldn't they share with such a high odd hunt. We just popped in there on our way home from a trip up north, can't wait to get to know the area

Thanks for the tips BHB, appreciated and pretty standard. I was thinking about crossing the Big Bar Ferry to glass from the far side of the river, probably will do that on a scouting trip. Need to figure out the size of that ferry and what it can handle, but haven't looked into that yet, I will though.

[twoSevenO]

You cant just "pop in there" on your way from somewhere. You need a dedicated trip in to figure things out.

You're also repeating your questions without having put in any work yet. I've already told you to hit the other side and glass over. Way easier than hiking the steep stuff in this heat.

Get a dedicated trip in. Easy to go for 3-4 days around a long weekend!

[russm]

What month is it? Ya we are going to do our homework, we will scout it a bunch since its close to home, but this ain't no deer hunt and the idea of a 1:85 odd hunt is to be successful, so I have no problems asking. I constantly help people with maps for Bison, high odd moose hunts and even the odd deer area through PM, if there is someone that can pass on a few pointers from experience then why wouldn't I ask, and why wouldn't they share with such a high odd hunt. We just popped in there on our way home from a trip up north, can't wait to get to know the area

Thanks for the tips BHB, appreciated and pretty standard. I was thinking about crossing the Big Bar Ferry to glass from the far side of the river, probably will do that on a scouting trip. Need to figure out the size of that ferry and what it can handle, but haven't looked into that yet, I will though.

Clear some space for PMs

[Darksith]

You cant just "pop in there" on your way from somewhere. You need a dedicated trip in to figure things out.

You're also repeating your questions without having put in any work yet. I've already told you to hit the other side and glass over. Way easier than hiking the steep stuff in this heat.

Get a dedicated trip in. Easy to go for 3-4 days around a long weekend!
haha, yes I certainly can. Had the whole family with me, was a pre scout scout. Checked out Kelly lake campsite, found the road down to the river. Just wanted to get the lay of the land, goal wasn't to locate sheep, just to see what type of gear I would need/want for scouting adventures to be most productive. I got to see that it was mostly burned, which google earth didn't reveal, and I also got to see just how steep some of those slopes were which google earth again didn't really relate. We will probably spend 10 days scouting that spot before the season opens, and then look to spend as much time there as needed in hopes of punching a tag.

I received your suggestions and I did take them to heart. Its on my list of to do's. I don't plan to hike those hills without seeing a sheep first, it would be near impossible to just stumble upon one, but there are some nice bowls up top that might be worth checking out, and I probably will. Just always looking for more first hand knowledge, no added info can hurt. Believe me, we will put in the time to get it done if theres animals in there. Ive already done a lot of homework finding studies and tracking info from collars put on animals in that population. Hopefully will talk to some locals there next trip as well, maybe even find a cabin we can borrow/rent/barter for the use of. Lucky for me I am my own boss, so getting the time is pretty simple

[Darksith]

Clear some space for PMs
done, thanks in advance

[twoSevenO]

haha, yes I certainly can. Had the whole family with me, was a pre scout scout. Checked out Kelly lake campsite, found the road down to the river. Just wanted to get the lay of the land, goal wasn't to locate sheep, just to see what type of gear I would need/want for scouting adventures to be most productive. I got to see that it was mostly burned, which google earth didn't reveal, and I also got to see just how steep some of those slopes were which google earth again didn't really relate. We will probably spend 10 days scouting that spot before the season opens, and then look to spend as much time there as needed in hopes of punching a tag.

I received your suggestions and I did take them to heart. Its on my list of to do's. I don't plan to hike those hills without seeing a sheep first, it would be near impossible to just stumble upon one, but there are some nice bowls up top that might be worth checking out, and I probably will. Just always looking for more first hand knowledge, no added info can hurt. Believe me, we will put in the time to get it done if theres animals in there. Ive already done a lot of homework finding studies and tracking info from collars put on animals in that population. Hopefully will talk to some locals there next trip as well, maybe even find a cabin we can borrow/rent/barter for the use of. Lucky for me I am my own boss, so getting the time is pretty simple

10 days is a long time. Even if you scout half that you should have it figured out. Good luck man!

Glad to hear you have time set aside for it already.

[Darksith]

10 days is a long time. Even if you scout half that you should have it figured out. Good luck man!

Glad to hear you have time set aside for it already.
I sure hope so, its one thing to get a high odd draw 800km away or something, but to be within 2h of an area, as long as there are animals in there, we should be able to get it done...it certainly won't be for lack of time and effort.

[Mudsey]

If you change the Elevation Exaggeration in Google Earth to 1.5 it gives you a more realistic 3D view. I can't take credit for this (someone elsewhere on this board suggested) but it really works.

[wildcatter]

If you change the Elevation Exaggeration in Google Earth to 1.5 it gives you a more realistic 3D view. I can't take credit for this (someone elsewhere on this board suggested) but it really works.

Where do you change that?

[Mudsey]

Once have Google earth open click on Tools (in top left bar), then click on Options. About 2/3's down under Terrain heading will see Elevation Exaggeration and enter 1.5 in the box.

[wildcatter]

Once have Google earth open click on Tools (in top left bar), then click on Options. About 2/3's down under Terrain heading will see Elevation Exaggeration and enter 1.5 in the box.

Thanks man, that improved it quite a bit.

[Darksith]

follow up question for the experienced sheep hunters around the fraser:

I assume I am more likely to find sheep closer to sun rise and sun set just like deer, although anything can happen? Just wondering if I should focus my scouting efforts to early morning and evenings. Obviously when hunting, my style anyway is to spend all day glassing.

Hoping to bring the kids but have some quality time with them camping during the days

[guest]

Dark
When ive hunted those Rams i hunted in late in the season as i could. Was surprised many years ago by finding the most of them in the Timber on ugly slopes slides and out croppings.
Yes we did glass many early and late day. But it seemed more like hunting a Biggin ol MDeer buck in tough terrain.
I wish you good luck. Go multiple times if needed.
Its a terrific experience.

[Darksith]

Dark
When ive hunted those Rams i hunted in late in the season as i could. Was surprised many years ago by finding the most of them in the Timber on ugly slopes slides and out croppings.
Yes we did glass many early and late day. But it seemed more like hunting a Biggin ol MDeer buck in tough terrain.
I wish you good luck. Go multiple times if needed.
Its a terrific experience.
Ya I figured later in the season would be better. I have found biologist reports from collared animals in that heard, they generally don't leave the mountains until well past the LEH opening, but that doesn't mean there will be none. Lucky for us its close so we will put a lot of time into this hunt. Its all burned now, not sure what year that happened but might help finding them in the timber

[bighornbob]

Early and late is better for glassing as the animals will be up feeding. But they do get up during the middle of the day and stretch and piss. Have also seen them bed in the wide open slopes too.

Obviously better to glass when they are moving around as a white rump patch will appear more often then not especially when comparing to a bedded ram.

BHB