Ram Mountains

[300WinMag]

I have heard sheep hunters refer to "ram mountains" and the importance of knowing what one looks like. I am curious to hear members descriptions of ram mountains and how they differ for stones, rockies and calis. In short, if you are in sheep country, what are the characteristics of the mountains where you should spend most of your time glassing - plant growth, shrub types, rocky peaks, grassy slopes, south facing, etc.

I have noticed that a lot of the mountains in the rocky mountains (i.e. region 4) pretty much go from tree line to high rocky cliffs. Is it worth hunting these mountains?

[trigger]

excellent question. very legit.
come on guys, lets here it.

much better thanpeople asking for exact spots.

[northernhunter]

Trigger, you must be flying around in the mountains up here, you know where they are. The best bet is to look in the places everyone else is'nt looking because chances are thats where you will find good rams. In the north for stone's it depends on the time of year where you will find them, early before they get shot up and skooped you USUALLY find them in high alpine basins, but most of the time the big ones live in the buck brush or close to it.

[bridger]

in my experience rams like mtns that have a grassy south slope for feeding and a rough north facing slope that has water and bedding areas with escape terrain. rams are traditional by nature and wiill use the same mtns time and again. sometimes you find them up high, but often they will be down in the timber if there is a lot of pressure. but ram mtns are ram mtns and are used traditionally each year. over the years we have found ram mtns and can alway find rams on them before the rut. only different is the elevation.

[300WinMag]

Bridger - does your rule of thumb hold true for RM rams as well? I just came from region 4 and had a hard time finding nice grassy slopes. It seems to me that most of the slopes were were rocky with small shrubs growing on them. Perhaps it was just the basins I was hunting.

[Rodd]

It doesn't take much grassy area for a Ram to live on, its WAY more important that the Rams have escape cover nearby, to evade Cougars and wolves. To answer your question, the more rocky the better! (For Most Sheep I've hunted)

[GoatGuy]

Ram knobs and 'nests' for rockies are usually little knobs and slides away from what looks like 'sheep country'. They often take far more 'risk' than ewes when it comes to feeding areas. They aren't at the top of the mountain out in the open, usually they're closer to the bottom, or at least near timber. Lots of spots will be the areas you have to hike into to look at where they're 'out of sight' from areas of activity. In the EK a lot of times they'll bed in the timber during the day and come out to feed close to the timber.

When you find these spots, don't forget them - sheep are extremely traditional.

[GoatGuy]

Bridger - does your rule of thumb hold true for RM rams as well? I just came from region 4 and had a hard time finding nice grassy slopes. It seems to me that most of the slopes were were rocky with small shrubs growing on them. Perhaps it was just the basins I was hunting.

Some of the grass patches are only a couple hundred yards by couple hundred yards and sometimes far less. The sheep will hang in there for a long time if they aren't disturbed at this time of year. Once you get to know the 'sheep spots' you'll find probably only 5% of the 'mountains' are where you'll find rams at this time of year. Once you get those spots figured out it's simply a matter of elimination.

If you're looking at the rocky stuff and the picture perfect spots you're looking in the wrong locations. If you're seeing them in the rocks, it's usually because they've been spooked by something (or someone).

In a year like this year some of the spots that look 'pretty' (ie south facing) could produce because of the second green up due to all the rain and the guys who have been glassing the stuff you see in the movies might see some sheep. It's really hard to say. From what I saw most everything was right up top the first couple weeks.

You'll also find muley's and sheep at the same level due to veg. So if you're seeing muley's midslope, look for sheep at the same elevation.