First sheep hunt. Advice and tips please!

[Cabled]

Hey everyone,
This coming August will be my first sheep hunt, despite being a lifetime member of the WSSBC I’ve never been. Weird…I know, but they seemed to be the best group to put my support behind, so now I’m a life member that has never hunted a sheep in his life����.
Anyways, I’ve hunted the alpine a fair amount, Muleys, bears, killed my first mountain goat last year etc, and I’m hooked! I put in for the early sheep draw this year….and drew 6-29. I’m still in disbelief, I views this as a draw you put in for every year and maybe 10 plus years later you get lucky.
I’d love to hear any tips or tricks some of you experienced guys have, I’ve read a lot about stone sheep hunting, are Dalls much different?
I do have some guys that have some info on the draw area itself, but of course I’d like to hear from anyone else who is in the know. So far I’ve heard I need to decide pretty quick wether to fly in of hike off the highway, any insight into the pros and cons would be great.
Anyways, just thought I better put this out there and try every avenue for this once in a lifetime opportunity. Thank you in advance.
Also if this post offends you…..sorry ��
Thanks, Mitch.

[Imdone]

Congrats on your draw that's terrific.

Best thing you could have done was joining the WSSBC. Lots of great people there putting more sheep on the Mountain as they say. Dig deep for your hunt. Start getting in shape now. Expect to travel far, get extra time off, go as long as you can. Your likely to never draw again. Be extra prepared in good shelter as fire can be limited to almost nothing available to burn. Take great optics, glass glass and glass more ! Go get one!
If I recall Kenny J on here did a Solo Dall . Great thread, great Dall.

[SR80]

I would recommend learning as much as you can about identifying a mature and full curl ram before heading in as well. Lots of great info online these days.

[ryanb]

We hunted 6-29 a few years back for the opener. The bugs were terrible and there was simply too many people there for the opener. I can't stand combat hunting, I go to get away from people not to be in a crowd. I would strongly recommend avoiding at least the first two weeks of August. It's a nice area, sheep numbers are fair, access is reasonable off the highway. You can fly into the airstrip or lake but these same areas aren't that hard to hike to from the highway anyways

[digger dogger]

We hunted 6-29 a few years back for the opener. The bugs were terrible and there was simply too many people there for the opener. I can't stand combat hunting, I go to get away from people not to be in a crowd. I would strongly recommend avoiding at least the first two weeks of August. It's a nice area, sheep numbers are fair, access is reasonable off the highway. You can fly into the airstrip or lake but these same areas aren't that hard to hike to from the highway anyways

Good info here^^^

The opener is bizy for sure.

[Weatherby Fan]

We hunted 6-29 a few years back for the opener. The bugs were terrible and there was simply too many people there for the opener. I can't stand combat hunting, I go to get away from people not to be in a crowd. I would strongly recommend avoiding at least the first two weeks of August. It's a nice area, sheep numbers are fair, access is reasonable off the highway. You can fly into the airstrip or lake but these same areas aren't that hard to hike to from the highway anyways



Good info here^^^

The opener is bizy for sure.


As digger dogger points out ryanb info is spot on, can you say bug spray, early season bugs are brutal

[ryanb]

Oh and Dall sheep are way easier to spot than stones lol.

[LBM]

As others have mentioned I would save the money and hike in off the highway, and go later in the year.
Also as mentioned learn whats legal and be 100% before you pull the trigger if your trying to talk
your self into it much better to leave it alone and go look for another.

[Linksman313]

Congrats on your lifetime draw, cant wait to hear your story on here later in the year!

[kitnayakwa77]

My advice..... Less focus on gear, clothing, and gadgets, more time spent on physical fitness and time in the mountains prior to your trip.
Physical fitness and time in the mountains equates to mental toughness, which is your most important asset in mountain hunting.
Little things to boost mental toughness can help, whether that's an extra instant coffee to start your day, a quote, a photo, or cozy socks at night.

[backstrap]

A good shelter. One that can handle pounding wind, heavy rain and blowing snow is a must in my opinion. You could have beautiful early season weather where it wouldn’t matter but you could also have the kind of weather that without a good tent could be a very tough and different hunt.

[Weatherby Fan]

Well Im not quite as experienced as some on here about sheep hunting and have no experience in your area but the 2 weeks I spent on a fly in with my brother and here's a few things or must haves imho, kitnayakwa mentions mental toughness above.......to me you either have it or you don't, if you don't you'll find out pretty quick when sheep hunting, but as he mentions being in shape will definitely make the experience more enjoyable.

Bug Spray....worst no seeums/mosquitos Ive ever seen hunting

Bring the best tent possible, we used a 3 man Hilleberg, we had blistering hot weather, winds of 50 knots for 24 hrs with thunder, lightning and rain as bad as Ive seen, pea soup fog and we never got wet the least in our Hilleberg tent and it stood up to all that weather.

Thermarest....man after hiking 15-20k in a day this fat guy was pooped and that thermarest felt like the beds at the Hilton

I took 3 jackets, a lightweight one that I wore daily, a gortex raincoat and a puffy, the puffy was my pillow as well as when I stopped hiking to sit and glass I would take the light jacket off and put on the puffy.....it was like two hours sleep,

I took a foam pad to sit on as well, weighs a few ounces but shale is no fun on your ass when glassing for hours, the other thing an experienced sheep hunter taught me was when you sit to glass set up your spotting scope everytime, you may not need it but if you do it’s ready to go.

[Cabled]

Thank you all for the advice so far! I’m definitely going to concentrate on showing up in the best shape possible. Luckily I’ve got a pretty good plan in place based on some others experiences. I have top end glass, a hilleberg tent and good boots. What I don’t have is experience hunting sheep. Being that I’m hunting Dalls, any tips specific to them or just general sheep hunting tricks are much appreciated. Whether I get a ram or not I will take a ton of pics and do a write up on here for sure.

[Scance]

Just in the spirit of sharing, I know on the first sheep hunt I went on I was way to focused and caught up in admiring all the ewe's and lambs and and the sheer numbers of them we were seeing, it was kinda distracting and awesome at the same time.. as many will tell you the mature rams will not be hanging with them and be in nasty spots that I didn't think of looking at very much in my first year.

[backstrap]

The first time I saw dall rams they were bedded in a boulder field in a hanging basin pretty much right out in the open….I didn’t see them for the first 2 hours I was glassing that very basin. One stood up and turned into 7 once I saw what I was looking for. They are easier to see than stones but can still disappear in the rocks until they move. I guess what I’m trying to say is once you get up there don’t just expect to see an obvious white spot on a green patch. Glassing first light and last light In early August up there isn’t a friendly schedule but I found it to be important in catching them on the move. They stand up and mess around a bit during the day but movement from one area to another seemed to be early and late most of the time. Also, if it’s a dry summer be very aware of water, for yourself as well as the sheep.
None of what I’ve said is carved in stone, it’s just what I’ve found true to me so far.

[stoneramhunter]

Hi and congrats on the draw. Lots of good advice posted. I would say that since this is a draw of a lifetime and you haven't hunted sheep if you could find someone that has experience sheep hunting and willing to join you if your so inclined would be a good thing. Not much beats having a experienced sheep hunter on your side:)
Good luck

[srupp]

hmm GREAT optics..cant shoot what you cant see..optics can save 100 kms over 14 day hunt..
sheep are very location orientated..same place year after year..
no self respecting class iv ram dares to hang out with ewes and lambs..HOWEVER when they do..not many sheep in that area.
hunt sheep like a glacier..slow and steady..let your eyes do the walking
sheep go UP to bed..best use of their 8x eyesight..and best use of thermals
hmm boulders and creeks..up and around the corner..literally around the bend
sheep usually come down to feed..
i personaly prefer opening day..once spooked they are much harder to approach..
screwed up BOTH my dall hunts..wont get a 3rd trip attempt..
last 3 years TONS of competition field was packed..both 28..29..
highest concentration of grizzlies in BC.
CONGRADULATIONS
Steven

[mod7rem]

In my experience there are no fixed rules about where you might find rams. My experience is mostly with Stone Sheep but in reality rams are where ever you find them. We’ve shot them way up high in the rocks and also low down in green basins. With ewes and without ewes. My biggest ram was with a large group of ewes in early august.
They may not hang out together for long periods, but it’s common for them to cross paths and have mixed groups.

My only advice would be consider all terrain. I have found lots of rams feeding down low in drainages where the brush is higher and green, then climb up higher in shale slides to bed down. Also found them so high up in the rocks it shocked me.

Get to good vantage points and take your time checking out all of it.

[mod7rem]

Also want to add that some of the older rams we’ve killed have been solo, or just with ewes, or in small ram groups of 2-4. Ram life is quite rough and aggressive. Seems like a constant power struggle just to maintain status, so I think that’s why some older rams have to distance themselves from younger rams.

[REMINGTON JIM]

Great INFO M7Rem - Thanks for Sharing it ! ;-) RJ

[Baconator]

My sheep hunting days are in my past but I have some advise to new sheep hunters. Be prepared to be wet, cold and hungry. I avoided hunting the first 2 weeks of the season because of the bugs. To be successful you have to hunt in an area with legal rams. You have to be in good enough shape to climb and you have to be able to make long shots. (Sometimes you just can't get within a couple hundred yards) I always hunted with horses so we would follow the trails and hunt the other side of the mountain than the fellows before us. Many times they pushed the sheep over to us and I imagine we pushed sheep over to them. Listen to Mod7rem he is a very successful sheep hunter and very modest!

[mod7rem]

My sheep hunting days are in my past but I have some advise to new sheep hunters. Be prepared to be wet, cold and hungry. I avoided hunting the first 2 weeks of the season because of the bugs. To be successful you have to hunt in an area with legal rams. You have to be in good enough shape to climb and you have to be able to make long shots. (Sometimes you just can't get within a couple hundred yards) I always hunted with horses so we would follow the trails and hunt the other side of the mountain than the fellows before us. Many times they pushed the sheep over to us and I imagine we pushed sheep over to them. Listen to Mod7rem he is a very successful sheep hunter and very modest!

Thanks for the support. But I still feel like I’m just stumbling around out there. I just have a bunch years of stumbling around so more chances of success lol.

[Danny_29]

I would say focus on enjoying the experience. Don't feel like the trip is a failure if you don't kill a ram. Better to leave empty then shoot an illegal ram. As new sheep hunter I would advise not shooting and 8 year old ram based on rings...that's a recipe for disaster. Field judging and aging them on the internet are two completely different ball games.

[Cabled]

I would say focus on enjoying the experience. Don't feel like the trip is a failure if you don't kill a ram. Better to leave empty then shoot an illegal ram. As new sheep hunter I would advise not shooting and 8 year old ram based on rings...that's a recipe for disaster. Field judging and aging them on the internet are two completely different ball games.
100% agreed. I Know that its going to be an amazing trip regardless of getting a ram, I won't be risking ruining the whole experience by shooting a Ram that isn't an obvious mature/legal one. I truly appreciate the tips so far, if anyone els has some insight id love to hear it!
Thanks again, Mitch.

[nazarow]

One thing that helped a lot with my hunt was having a spotter with phoneskope to review photos and video. Good luck on your draw!

[Weatherby Fan]

One thing that helped a lot with my hunt was having a spotter with phoneskope to review photos and video. Good luck on your draw!

This is exactly what I did using the phone scope, I use a Leica Spotting scope 25-50x65 and have the 1.8 doubler which enables up to 90X

http://i.imgur.com/VkrCYZ0.jpg (https://imgur.com/VkrCYZ0)


http://i.imgur.com/UE47wv3.jpg (https://imgur.com/UE47wv3)

[180grainer]

What type of rifle are you going with?

[Cabled]

What type of rifle are you going with?
I have a Kimber Montana in 280 ackley. I’m lucky enough to live about 5 min from GEF and he’s done it up pretty nice for me. Probably stick with my 145 lrx load, it was pushing 3110 fps before I got 2” chopped off the barrel.

[Weatherby Fan]

I have a Kimber Montana in 280 ackley. I’m lucky enough to live about 5 min from GEF and he’s done it up pretty nice for me. Probably stick with my 145 lrx load, it was pushing 3110 fps before I got 2” chopped off the barrel.

Thats a perfect load for hunting anything in BC.

With my GEF built 23 inch barrelled 280AI, my best group was with 60.0grs R26 at 3030 fps with 145gr LRX, soon as I got to 60.5 the group opened up.

I think Im going to try this load for next hunting season and see how it performs compared to the 160gr AB

[358mag]

Just remember , not all rams live up in the alpine-rocks .
Ran into a real nice old school guide years ago . his advice was plain and simple . Residents glass up high , guides glass in the timber .

[Cabled]

Hey Guys, thanks so much for the info so far, a couple more questions I have kicking around. If I fly to Whitehorse, is there one airline over the others that’s easier to transport firearms and hopefully a ram back home with? How do you go about getting a ram home if you flew in? Seems like I’d be flying with it before getting CI’d, is that even legal? Any good resources to learn how to turn lips/ears etc on a cape, I have a deer cape in the freezer to practice, just want to find a video to follow along with. I’ll be calling the CO office to ask about legalities, but if any of you have done the transport by air, what would you do different a second time around? Thanks again.
Mitch.

[ryanb]

No problem transporting by air. All airlines have straightforward firearm policies viewable on their websites. It's just another checked piece of luggage basically. Meat and cape can be put into a cooler then checked as luggage, no problem. I can't recall the exact procedure, but the Yukon CO did have some requirements about reporting the kill prior to boarding your flight out of Whitehorse. I would strongly advise you give them a call to get the latest. It was very straight forward though.

It's definitely worth it to just fly and rent a car and save a couple days of driving if you're coming from the lower mainland.

[digger dogger]

It's definitely worth it to just fly and rent a car and save a couple days of driving if you're coming from the lower mainland.

At the price of fuel, this is a good idea.
Even if a rental car is expensive, you get an extra 2-3days to hunt.

You could hitchhike also to the trailhead. :-)

[Tuffcity]

If you're looking for a commercial flight from the LML to Whitehorse I'd go with Air North. Hunter friendly and 2- 50lb pieces of baggage included with fare. Generally cheaper than AC. Also, Air North ships freight from here to YVR. AC does not.