Rat Fink
Member
I was one of the lucky few to draw a coveted 2nd choice bighorn ewe tag in Montana this year. I had spent a little bit of time in the unit in the past and felt I could get on the sheep pretty quickly. I had spoken with FWP staff and some other hunters and everyone said it was a tough go for a ewe in this unit on the easy to access public land. The main areas the sheep are in is public, but the access is controlled though private ranches and outfitter controlled lands. Well I am not about to pay a rancher that complains about too many sheep $75.00 just to cross their deeded lands to access public land. They complain there are too many sheep and then they go and make access difficult for the people that are supposed to be helping to keep the population in check.
I chose to stick to my guns and hunt the public ground from the long way in, which means gumbo mud hunting the breaks from the bottom up instead of top down. It took me all of 3 hours and I had my ewe. I caught her hanging with two young rams and near a few nice big mature rams. I scaled some of the vertical stuff to a bench they were on, and when I crested the lip of the bench, they scattered in the steep stuff above me. I hit her through the shoulders with 2 shots from my 7mm-08 and 120 grain TTSX's. She came cartwheeling down the hill and hung up in some rocks and sage just above me. It was a great relief to beat the odds and put a sheep in the freezer. She was the only ewe I saw amongst 9 rams that morning.
I chose to stick to my guns and hunt the public ground from the long way in, which means gumbo mud hunting the breaks from the bottom up instead of top down. It took me all of 3 hours and I had my ewe. I caught her hanging with two young rams and near a few nice big mature rams. I scaled some of the vertical stuff to a bench they were on, and when I crested the lip of the bench, they scattered in the steep stuff above me. I hit her through the shoulders with 2 shots from my 7mm-08 and 120 grain TTSX's. She came cartwheeling down the hill and hung up in some rocks and sage just above me. It was a great relief to beat the odds and put a sheep in the freezer. She was the only ewe I saw amongst 9 rams that morning.
