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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.
Unless you’re rich and buy the auction tag or buy your way to the raffle tag and then keep hammering rams in the name of conservation
 
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.
Thanks! My old brain couldn't dredge up a meaning, and it was much too late to wade through online search results for "OIL" :sleep:.
 
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 originates much farther back than ten pages. Our illustrious EYJONAS regaled us with the tale of how he had to evacuate the wilderness while evacuating his guts along the trail--I believe it was at least two seasons ago now. He claims convenience store sausage was responsible.
 
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 for one, can't knock the entertainment value of what is free but for the cost of the Internet access that I can't seem to live without these days anyhow.

Every once in awhile, I even get to vicariously enjoy an adventure, complete with photos, in that wondrous Absaroka Beartooth country.
 
It originates much farther back than ten pages. Our illustrious EYJONAS regaled us with the tale of how he had to evacuate the wilderness while evacuating his guts along the trail--I believe it was at least two seasons ago now. He claims convenience store sausage was responsible.

I think what really happened is EYJONAS saw a G-bear up close and filled his drawers!!!!! Then blamed the convenience store sausage.
 
It originates much farther back than ten pages. Our illustrious EYJONAS regaled us with the tale of how he had to evacuate the wilderness while evacuating his guts along the trail--I believe it was at least two seasons ago now. He claims convenience store sausage was responsible.
What a rookie mistake @EYJONAS! . Johnsonville only does brats well. Everyone knows if you're going to take summer sausage into the field, don't mess with the imitators, only take Hillshire Farm. Their motto "If your stool is loose then it wasn't Hillshire Firm". That said, I've since migrated to Columbus Dry Salami. Slightly higher fat content for energy in the field and it pairs well with those little Laughing Cow cheese wheels.

How's that for rabbit trail on a sheep thread?
 
I think it's something worth bringing up the biologists that have direct involvement. Along with WSF. I have had some small talk with a few of the long time unlimited participants of this opportunity as well and the thought is very well received.

Have also talked to a few others from this site about it.

I to fear we're not to far away from this to being a forgotten pastime. Maybe only one retirement away at that......

I'll clean my act up if I'm involved😁
 
I suppose if rule 1 is don't talk about unlimited sheep hunting and rule 2 is don't promote it then I see your point. Simple fact of the matter is though these hunts need participation to survive. If you look back on the history of amount of tags sold it hasn't fluctuated much since the 70s.

Many people attempt this one time and never return.

There's too much other opportunities out there that present far more success that people gravitate to.

It can't soley rely on resident participation either we need NR participation. I tip my hat to those that continue to play the game it ain't easy living within 100 of the unlimited units I can't imagine living over 1000 miles away.

As far as the technology aspect, it sucks. Google earth, OnX, any social media, especially dipshits that Facebook live their shit then cry about people showing up. It's just the world we live in and need to be more secret I guess on sharing info. It's to easy to cross reference anymore, but hell Bill Butler was bumping his gums 40 years ago. That people still live and die by today......

Amirite?
 
I would like to see them find places that are suitable to spread this idea. There are certainly a couple in Montana. Then if a few could be opened in Idaho, and maybe another in Wyoming and they all opened at the same time, that would spread out the growing demand.
That's my thought as well. If we can promote the idea of the Unlimited style hunts, not just the 5 districts that currently allow them. I think financially, States would benefit from a hunt or two like this where it is feasible. Participation, Conservation, Observations made and shared with the biologists, and "straight cash homie" are just a few of the benefits that come to mind.
UL hunters in Montana are largely responsible for the observations that allowed for a new Goat hunting district in the Beartooths. They're also almost soley responsible for the very few Wolverine sightings that have been reported in recent years. Throw in observations of Moose, Grizzly, etc., and it's safe to say that UL hunters are a huge resource for the local biologists to get "on the ground" reports.

Monetarily, Just looking at the quick math on it from 2020: for HD 500, 18 Non-residents each paid $1250 for a sheep tag. 37 residents each paid $125 for a tag. That's $27,125 for 3 rams (quota of 2, 3 killed). Over $9000 generated per ram, and typically ~$13,000/ram for an Unlimited district. This of course doesn't take into account hunting licenses or application fees, other tags purchased such as deer, wolf, bear etc.
Meanwhile, in HD 302: 6 Residents were successful in the draw- $750. 389 total hunters applied for the hunt. I don't have a R/NR break down, but even if 383 of the total were NR (6 residents drew, so clearly not all 389 were NR), and each of the 383 purchased a bonus point when unsuccessful at $75/person, then the state pulled in $28,725. That's a total of $29,475, again not including other tags purchased or hunting licenses. $4912.50/Sheep (assuming in a typical year all 6 tag holders fill. In 2020, only 4 of the 6 did- $7368.75/ram killed).

On top of that- the draw hunters, however small, benefited from the 268 hunters that participated in the UL hunts last year, and weren't in the draw pool. 31,855 hunters applied for a sheep tag in Montana in 2020. So UL hunters make up less than 1% of the draw. 482 and 680 applicants alone make up 13,777 of the applicants. Imagine how many draw hunters would be pulled out of the point pool if each of those districts offered a 10 day, 1 ram quota, archery UL hunt? I imagine it'd exceed our 268 current UL hunters.

More importantly though, is that regardless of how busy we feel the ULs may be getting- we make up less than 1% of prospective sheep hunters in Montana. This should be on everyone's RADAR. As goes the 99%, so goes the 1%. We need a voice to continue to advocate for the "why" behind the Unlimited hunts. There is a growing demand for sheep hunting opportunities, and I believe we have a responsibility to advocate for that to ensure the current 5 districts don't become overrun or worse, go by the way side.
 
If you guys are unaware, WSF has made some formal outreach to western state wildlife agencies to look for opportunities to create more unlimited sheep units.
You have any idea on the status of this? Are the other wildlife agencies open to the idea?
 
If you guys are unaware, WSF has made some formal outreach to western state wildlife agencies to look for opportunities to create more unlimited sheep units.
After Gray Thornton's successful unlimited hunt there was some discussion to open up some new unlimited sheep and goat areas. Wyoming was mentioned. Nothing has materialized from that effort that I know of. Good project for some you young guns to jump on and renew this effort.😉
 
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