wil askew

First off, let em introduce myself. My name is Wil Askew and I live in Oregon and spend pretty much all of my time hunting, well only 51 weekends out of the year; but I guess that is why I just successfully finished marriage counseling too.

I have been doing some research on the Montana over the counter ram tags. Sitting here for the past two hours digging for more information is leading me to belive that this may not be a good idea unless I am interested in giving a donation to the Montana fish and wildlife department.

If you have hunted the area or have some information, I would greatly appreciate it. I am sure that I can pass on some good information as well when needed, at least the counselor thought so...

AZBear

Wil,

Sorry, I have no info but Welcome to the site!

MThunter

The terrain is unbelievably difficult. Most of the sheep are in the park, and success is less than 1%. If any sheep do happen to be in the area, outfitters will sit on them and kill them the first day. If all you want to do is see some scenery, then try one. If you are hunting one to kill a sheep, the chances are minimal, and if you do you will kill a barely legal ram.

wil askew

I think this hunt has fasicinated me since I first read the story. I hunt off my back quite a bit here at home, so being in good physical condition and having the right gear is not a problem. I am sure it get very cut throat when you have a guide with a paying client in the same area.

I have been doing some reasearch but the best advice is from someone who has actually hunted it before. This can go two ways, either successfully or as a nice long nature hike.

MThunter

I attempted it last year, and my experience was mostly negative. I was physically ready for the hunt, but the numbers of sheep are so low that everyone knows of the few areas the sheep might be, and they're either gone or shot the first day. You're talking about an extemely rugged area that is fairly large with maybe one legal ram in the whole district. If you can afford to, fly the district until you locate a sheep in the summer. The best scenerio I can foresee is some legal rams still inside the park that could be monitored until they cross the line. Even with the utmost preparation, you could easily hunt one of these areas for 10 years and never see a legal ram. That being said, I'll probably attempt this hunt again sooner rather than later.

wil askew

If the tag is so hard to fill, why are you heading back out again? Tags must be a little cheaper for the resident. I have to do some serious thinking before I bite the bullet on this one.

Too many hunts planned and not enough time. Although this would be a great adventure, that may be worth it. If I read correctly, the season is in September...

MThunter

I would attempt it again because I had a problem with the guy I was hunting with that added to the negativity of the experience. The country is gorgeous, and I saw a lot of elk, goats, ewes among other things. Its a cool hunt if you're ready for it, but very difficult. The only hunting I've every done more difficult is cat hunting.

wil askew

Now you have me thinking again... This is not a hunt that I could do this year. It would be something to attempt next year.

I have too many things planned for this fall.