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Good place for me to jump in here! I actually just got back from a week in the Church on a successful sheep hunt! I like the idea of the Church being an unlimited area because of the way Idaho does their draws and you have to remember that its a true OIL state so that might keep some age class in there. I don't know how the outfitter pool would play into that I can totally see a concern. The great thing about that country is its lack of accessibility where we killed a sheep this year it took us a solid two days of packing to get it to the airstrip then from there had to catch a plane given a day of bad weather I could see getting a ram checked in even in 72 hours could be a challenge. So really I don't know the best answer but would be cool either way! I know my grandpa hunted back in the Frank in the day when it was open and over the counter ( he also killed an unlimited ram in 1982) something I strive to follow his footsteps in one day!
Believe I listened to a podcast this morning that sounded very similar to this adventure.
 
It's been a fun thread to follow and be a part of, I'll take the blame for a significant amount of derailments. It's all good fun and part of the adventure in reading others adventures even if they share way too much info, only post camp photos, eat bad salami or snap ankles.

One thing is for certain, only the ram knows and momma tooth only allows a select few to find out where the ram lives.

BTW I can't take credit for only the ram knows, a much more knowledgeable young man and accomplished sheep hunter than I owns it.
 
Unfortunately I don’t think an unlimited goat hunt would ever work, unless the biologists are trying to eradicate the goats in an area. They’re too easy to find and kill.

You could make it billy only and on a quota system that closes at sunset the day the quota is met. I still think the risk of massive over quota harvest and nannies getting killed is too great of a gamble for sustainable management. People seem to be useless at distinguishing billies from nannies. Whack a bunch of mature, breeding nannies out of a herd and it will take many years from them to recover.

I am a huge proponent of making more unlimited bighorn areas across the west. There are plenty of limited quota units that have dismal harvest success rates, just make those unlimited!
I can't argue. You make good points.
 
I believe is someone really wants to go shoot a goat they could go to Kodiak and whack one or maybe two. I've heard there are plenty there to shoot.
Years ago, Alaska used the excuse for requiring non-residents to hire guides in order to hunt Dall sheep and Brown/Grizzly bears that it was for the safety of NR hunter, unfamiliar with the challenges of the terrain and weather conditions. I have often wondered if the state extended the requirement to NR hunters pursuing Mountain goats because of the glaring hypocrisy, or if goats gained enough prestige that the state's outfitters complained about losing revenue to DIY non-resident hunters.
 
I know my grandpa hunted back in the Frank in the day when it was open and over the counter ( he also killed an unlimited ram in 1982) something I strive to follow his footsteps in one day!
I'm sure that I am not the only one whose interest in sheep hunting was inspired by reading Jack O'Connor articles and books, though I might be the only one here who actually read some of those stories in "Outdoor Life" when the issues were fresh on the magazine rack in the grocery store!

I don't remember Jack ever writing about building points in order to have a chance to draw a tag. I do recall him complaining in later years that he wished he'd never written about sheep "grand slams." Popularizing sheep hunting caused him some of the same consternation we observe voiced in this forum when some feel that the members are too free with information. The fact is, we live on a planet over-populated by people competing for limited resources. At least in countries with effective and responsive wildlife management, popularizing a given game species creates more interest in the animal, hence more political pressure to see it preserved and funding to effect management to that end.

I envy your grandfather's opportunity to purchase a sheep tag "over the counter" and hunt such country as the Frank Church Wilderness. I hope your own children will not have to envy the opportunity we celebrate in these pages and which you are able to anticipate today.

Welcome to the thread! By the way, what is "a true OIL state?"
 
Ill get a picture up...... but also was a little worried that I would derail the thread and get scolded for it ;)
Probably, since yours wasn't taken in an UL unit. But you have likely noticed that we tend to rein in the hall monitors too, since we all enjoy the wild sheep and their environs.

Personally, I would really enjoy seeing a photo or two of your grandfathers 1982 unlimited ram. Do you know which unit he hunted?
 
what I don't understand is how I saw zero trash all summer then I came in there after a week of unlimited hunters were in there and saw trash all over the place.
Damned despicable that mess! What is really puzzling is how those same a****les probably speak of how much they love the wilderness. Thanks for packing out somebody else's trash.

I hauled five tires and parts of a kitchen ranges out of some forest service land recently. I have to admit that the problem is so prevalent anymore that I usually either just shake my head, or pick up just recyclables or items I can re-utilize myself. (The tires will either be filled with sand for target backstops or used for raised-bed plantings.)
 
The idea of an unlimited grizzly hunt is a pretty cool idea. I had not thought of that one.
Geetar, When I first began researching the Bighorn unlimited units in contemplation of a hunt--it would have been about 1981 or 1982, there actually was an unlimited Grizzly unit. I'm vague with four-decade-old details; but I think it was in the Bob Marshall/Scapegoat. The quota was one bear, if I recall correctly, and the season closed when a bear was killed period, even if not by a hunter. All the talk about Grizzlies in the thread has made me hope that a building and expanding population might result in a revival of the idea.
 
I have to admit, this thread is more of a chat room BUT like so many others excluding Sir @Gerald Martin , I enjoy plugging in. What truly sucks about it......there might be a joke that's 10 pages old so if you stay on top of the thread you're lost. As example. the Johnsonville summer sausage comments remain a mystery to me.
 
I have to admit, this thread is more of a chat room BUT like so many others excluding Sir @Gerald Martin , I enjoy plugging in. What truly sucks about it......there might be a joke that's 10 pages old so if you stay on top of the thread you're lost. As example. the Johnsonville summer sausage comments remain a mystery to me.
I’m guessing only the ram knows?🤷🏼‍♂️
 
I have to admit, this thread is more of a chat room BUT like so many others excluding Sir @Gerald Martin , I enjoy plugging in. What truly sucks about it......there might be a joke that's 10 pages old so if you stay on top of the thread you're lost. As example. the Johnsonville summer sausage comments remain a mystery to me.
Unfirtunate experience with processed meat product gave one prolific contributor to this thread an excuse to GTFO of his sheep hunt early one year secondary to intestinal distress.
 
I have to admit, this thread is more of a chat room BUT like so many others excluding Sir @Gerald Martin , I enjoy plugging in. What truly sucks about it......there might be a joke that's 10 pages old so if you stay on top of the thread you're lost. As example. the Johnsonville summer sausage comments remain a mystery to me.
It seems this pandemic has resulted in multitudes of comedians and jokesters out of work. I think they are all on Hunt Talk now! :D
 
I have to admit, this thread is more of a chat room BUT like so many others excluding Sir @Gerald Martin , I enjoy plugging in. What truly sucks about it......there might be a joke that's 10 pages old so if you stay on top of the thread you're lost. As example. the Johnsonville summer sausage comments remain a mystery to me.
If you don't know what the summer sausage deal is its cause you ain't a "OG" on this thread.

download (3).jpeg
 
Serious inquiry regarding the Unlimited Sheep:

How much interest or support is there to have a sub-chapter of sorts of the WSF solely focused on promoting Unlimited style sheep hunting?

This thread, if nothing else, highlights the multitudes of people out there that hold the ULs in high regard, whether they participate in the hunt or not. I know within my group of friends, the Montana Wild Sheep Foundation Banquet seems to be the place where a small group of us can run into each other and discuss the unique issues that face the ULs, versus the limited draw hunts. There are numerous guys on here that have the passion and a few connections to maybe make something of it.

It's not that the Unlimited Sheep hunts don't benefit from the hard work and efforts of the WSF, but that they face issues that limited hunts don't. I look at HB202- A well intentioned bill to make MSG in Montana a Once-In-A-Lifetime opportunity that failed this past spring. While this seems great for limited draw hunts, it could seriously impact the Unlimiteds. Anyone here who doesn't think that removing opportunity for those most passionate about these hunts and locations would negatively impact the whole system in a multitude of ways is short sighted, IMO. Sheep hunting in the United States has become the past time for the wealthy more than any other species I can think of. Go to a banquet, and the vast majority of people are either waiting to get their one opportunity in a draw, have had their one opportunity, or they are financially in a place where they can go year in and out. Nothing like an RMEF, DU, or PF banquet where most everyone is on "equal" footing. The Unlimited Hunts go in the face of this, and as such, have gained the reverence that they have.

However, I fear that we are one legislative change, or even one retirement away, from having this very thing fade away. We can see the writing on the wall, locally at least, that hunting and species management decisions have become political. Without a unified and active voice to advocate for what we all see as an incredible gift, we may very well lose "this" to a decision made in marble and mahogany halls instead of the rocky crags of the Beartooths.

I think a local chapter within the MTWSF is possibly a start, but I would much rather see a national subchapter of the WSF. That way the influence and advocacy could potentially be used to promote this style of hunt in other locations outside of Montana.

I don't know where to start with this, and am by no means someone with the voice to take this baton to the finish line. But I know there's a grassroots community out there of our members, as well as those without the online footprint of HT, that I would fully support in this endeavor.

I don't need responses to this posed question- but I guess I would ask that you each consider what the ULs mean to you and get involved in some manner to ensure that in the meantime, we have a voice.
 
Probably, since yours wasn't taken in an UL unit. But you have likely noticed that we tend to rein in the hall monitors too, since we all enjoy the wild sheep and their environs.

Personally, I would really enjoy seeing a photo or two of your grandfathers 1982 unlimited ram. Do you know which unit he hunted?
He was in the Spanish peaks right before it became a draw.

on the true OIL state is short for a Once In A Lifetime tag, so in Idaho if you fill a sheep tag you are done for life and cannot kill another sheep in that state, unless its a Californian bighorn (south of I-84) then they have their own tags.
 
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