Stone sheep hunting early season vs late season

[moose2]

I was just curious to hear the pros and cons between hunting stones in early Aug compared to mid Oct. I am not all that familar with river boats , fly ins or horse back hunts I hope to get some info on these as well. I have done back packing hunts for these sheep at both ends of the season.
Summer Pros
-the sheep are less cautious early
-no legal rams have been taken yet
-camping weather is warmer
-creek crossings are more comforatable
-equipment works better
-hours of sitting with scope or glasses is way more pleasant
-driving to and from your area is safer and easier
-more hunting light
-better for taking school age kids
-won't interfer in other open seasons closer to home
-packs will be lighter with summer gear compared to winter
-foot travel is much safer than winter
-stoves require less fuel , some stoves need above 0 temps to even work at all
- IMO it seems to me there is way less grizzly activity in the summer compaired to the late fall
Summer Cons
- more bugs
-more crowds
-can be tougher dealing with cape and meat with more heat
-short sleeps
-hiking in hot weather can pose some medical issues if not carefull
-feet tend to sweat more adding to the risk of blisters
-sheep tend to be higher , but in some cases easier to spot because of this
Winter Pros
- opposites to summer cons
-leaves are off helping visablity in the treed areas
-can hunt other species then as well
-snow tracking advantages
Winter Cons
-opposites of summer pros
-way more safety issues getting around the mountains in winter
-camping can be unpleasent at best
-winter capes tend to make horns look smaller than they do on summer sheep
These are just a few of my thoughts on this please feel free to add your ideas as well
Thanks Mike

[KB90]

Hey Mike,

This will be an interesting one to follow, it looks like this year I won't have a chance to go until later, so i look forward to people's responses.

I know that you have gone later in the year and was curious as to how your style of trip differs.

Do you do short trips from the highway, or do you extended stays up a drainage like you would in August?
Do you have to buy/use all new/different gear? Or can you use the same gear with a few exceptions?
Which time of year do you prefer to go with all the pros and cons put aside?

[BlacktailStalker]

There are no cons to either Mike, you know this :)
Hoping for a lay off so I can subscribe to the winter 'list' :cool:

[proguide66]

One thing that 'may' be a surprising note it that water can sometimes be less available late than early as creek headwaters tend to dissappear quite soon as opposed to Aug rain,melting snow.Our main camp had a full creek in Aug , maybe knee deep and by Oct its around ankle deep making the upper last mile of creek a dry bed.
Sheep as well are easier to spot late and are usually quite low and some horny buggers are acting kinda 'rutty' early so seeing ewes isnt a boring thing.
50/50 on the cape thing.Some prefer the beefy look to a fall ram as opposed to a gangly pencil neck..ect...( I'm about the thick cape).
Either way its a damned fine experience in life to run around 'free' in those mountains...tough for it to be a negative experience no matter what the time.

[stoneguide]

Ill trow one in one late hunts. Many times on the later hunts you dont get high temperature swings. This this produces less and more predictable constant thermals. Hot early season can have large thermals that change drasticaly as the temperature rises and falls. So in my experience late season stalks are easier to plan than early as far as wind is concerned.

And like others have stated on capes it can be good either way. Some rams look great with early season capes and not so hot with heavier fall capes and can go the other way also.

Another disadvatage is that when backpacking it takes alot more fuel to boil water and cook food. And tougher to keep water in packs unfrozen and tough to keep water stored at camp.

Also hiking requires alot more layers so more weight must be packed. Layering way up when sitting and making sure to layer down before hiking to avoid sweating and getting cold.
SG

[fireguy]

I like the late season cape and the lower temperature for hiking. The water thing can be an issue, just be prepared. I have caught fish for dinner in the early season in a creek and had to look for water in the same creek in the late season. The advantage to hunting other species is 50/50, hiked in and had a monster goat within range of camp the first day, do you shoot it or not, decided to not and took a smaller 9+ inch on the way out never saw the big guy again.
Clothing is a must on late hunts as it can be cold there will be snow and in the summer I have hunted in shorts and hiked the drainages in sandels.

[hellojello74]

one advantage to the later hunt is some of the old guys that know how to hide well start to get cabin fever and will be out of hiding more than early, as well as sheep moving around much more later... just my 2 cents

[Wild Images]

Don"t like to see people, bugs or skinny necked rams so later is the call for me.

[blueboy]

Ditto on what AKA ( Ken ) of Wild Images said the later the better

[moose2]

Hey Mike,

This will be an interesting one to follow, it looks like this year I won't have a chance to go until later, so i look forward to people's responses.

I know that you have gone later in the year and was curious as to how your style of trip differs.

Do you do short trips from the highway, or do you extended stays up a drainage like you would in August?
Do you have to buy/use all new/different gear? Or can you use the same gear with a few exceptions?
Which time of year do you prefer to go with all the pros and cons put aside?

Hey Kyle
We like to set up a big base camp in late fall and do 1 or 2 day trips from it. It keeps the pack a bit lighter and we always have a warm camp with good meals to return to if needed. This requires much more hiking this way than being able to stay in the mountains for 2 weeks like you can in summer. It adds alot of packing to do this usually a couple trucks and trailers. Running up in a car with a pack in it wouldn't work for us this time of year. Camping in the mountains this time of year could mean equipment upgrades such as shelter, sleeping bag, stoves and fuel and warmer clothes all adding more weight. I love hunting both seasons for different reasons , but the late season seems to fit my plans better and I enjoy looking for different species. My partners and i drew a bear tags this year, so a later trip it is for this year anyway.
Mike

[Sitkaspruce]

I have done both and for me it is later. Last week of Sept/first week of Oct has been good for us, plus if we get weathered out, there is bull moose, elk and caribou to hunt.

As stated already, no crowds, no bugs, sheep are lower and feeding longer, the weather is cooler (not a warm weather person), easier to look after the best tasting meat and did I mention I really like late season capes...:wink:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Sitkaspruce/P9150061.jpg

Cheers

SS