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[MTGomer]

This question gets asked a lot. The regulations say everything that they say and say nothing that they don’t.
Guys get confused trying to interpret things that aren’t there.

When a 2nd ram gets reported the hotline will be updated with a 48 hour closure notice and it will state exactly when the unit closes. “One half hour after sunset on xx”

Some guys think you should stop hunting when you know the unit is closing and it’s unethical to keep hunting. Some think there is cushion built into the quota and it’s okay to keep hunting.
Based on discussions with the bio, I fall more into the last camp, however I certainly would not kill a 6th ram on the afternoon of the closure day, knowing that the unit is already 3 rams over quota.

 

[BradA]

It will technically close on a Wednesday in that scenario. If you by the grace of God were able to find and take a ram Wednesday, then your scenario is correct. Which is what happened this season with the sixth ram. I will say that what happened in 501 this season is a sheer anomaly of what 2020 was.

Ok that makes sense thank you I was curious how that could have happened in 501 this year.

 

[BradA]

This question gets asked a lot. The regulations say everything that they say and say nothing that they don’t.
Guys get confused trying to interpret things that aren’t there.

When a 2nd ram gets reported the hotline will be updated with a 48 hour closure notice and it will state exactly when the unit closes. “One half hour after sunset on xx”

Some guys think you should stop hunting when you know the unit is closing and it’s unethical to keep hunting. Some think there is cushion built into the quota and it’s okay to keep hunting.
Based on discussions with the bio, I fall more into the last camp, however I certainly would not kill a 6th ram on the afternoon of the closure day, knowing that the unit is already 3 rams over quota.

Ok you explaining the hotline and what it says makes it much clearer, awesome thank you. Yeah I want to make sure I’m not doing anything wrong and was confused a little bit I appreciate you clearing that up for me.

 

[BradA]

Finally read through all 96 pages, can’t wait to contribute to this by posting pictures and telling stories! Congratulations to the luck successful hunters that posted on here over the last few years.

 

[Philthyphil]

I more excited than my wife expected. Kids were stoked.

 

[BuglinDrew]

Question for those much more educated than I am with the MT draw system:

I understand you can either buy this tag outright or apply for it as your first choice in the regular draw (which would guarantee it). I am planning this trip with a few guys all coming from Wyoming, and we are all putting in for sheep and goat tags here. IF one of us draws, that could change our MT plans.

It looks like this year the results for WY sheep and goat come out May 6th, while the results for MT sheep come out May 11th. GoHunt has the tentative MT sheep application deadline listed at May 1st, so I guess the long and short of my question is if there is any way to acquire an unlimited tag after May 6th?

 

[BigHornRam]

Question for those much more educated than I am with the MT draw system:

I understand you can either buy this tag outright or apply for it as your first choice in the regular draw (which would guarantee it). I am planning this trip with a few guys all coming from Wyoming, and we are all putting in for sheep and goat tags here. IF one of us draws, that could change our MT plans.

It looks like this year the results for WY sheep and goat come out May 6th, while the results for MT sheep come out May 11th. GoHunt has the tentative MT sheep application deadline listed at May 1st, so I guess the long and short of my question is if there is any way to acquire an unlimited tag after May 6th?

No.

 

[BuglinDrew]

No.

Appreciate the concision.

 

[BigHornRam]

Appreciate the concision.

I might be wrong here. Call fwp with your question.

 

[winmag]

Amendment posted to HB202 today. Looks like it excludes the unlimited areas from being OIL and keeps the 7 year wait if you harvest one in an unlimited unit. [Or they just cleaned up the language and it was supposed to be interpreted the same way before this amendment? apologies if this is the case] This certainly has the potential to drive more people to the unlimited areas after they fill their limited entry tag. Although it would probably be minimal because those folks could already be hunting the unlimiteds now but generally don't. I could certainly see it increasing the number of outfitted hunters in the unlimiteds. But maybe it would garner support to make a few more units unlimited if they get more popular?

Still against the bill.

https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2021/AmdPublicWeb/HB0202.001.001.pdf

 

[EYJONAS!]

I am glad to see the change, allowing successful hunters who harvest continue to hunt the UL districts. There are more than one thinks that continue the journey after they get one. Its unfortunate that things always come up and someone wants to "change" things, especially when they work.

In response to the extra attention, anyone doing these hunts has to remember the actual logistics of running this opportunity. They are not cheap and require a lot of attention. Hunter support is needed to continue this opportunity, plan and simple. Any of the "old school" sheep hunters will tell you the same thing.

I don't know the outfitter logistics behind this so I can speak for much. To my knowledge though, there is only a couple and I mean like 3 or 4 maybe that are even permitted to guide sheep hunts in the "unlimited" areas. I don't really see their involvement gaining more attention or clients over this. Which by the way, I think it has been over ten years since the last outfitted ram was actually taken.....

People will come and go on this adventure as they have for over 60 years, fact is most don't come back after the first couple innings and very very few finish the game. I would be surprised to see if it gained a substantial interest. I think theres thousands of hunters that would love a bighorn ram under their belt but most of the people applying like probably 98% are not looking for this style of a hunt.

I am waaaaaaaay more concerned for when Shawn decides to hang it up, and it's coming. I know many others that feel the same way. Some of which have been hunting the UL's for 40 years.... and they're good friends with him.

This being said, I don't like the bill. If they want to change draw opportunity....... change the draw. Anyone that says changing the draw wont increase or decrease any opportunity IMO doesn't make any sense. If our draw system wasn't "free" for the world to play, then you wouldn't have 15-20k people putting in for 3 districts in the Breaks. You'd maybe have 5k..... just a thought.

 

[shines@times]

Get your check book out.....

That's probably truer now than ever, even though no unit opens as late as 502 did back in the 1980's.

That said, even when hunting 502 in a season that runs long, if a hunter develops bivouacking skills and good sense to go along with the skills, such as will enable an honest evaluation of weather and other risks, the adventure can be tackled with a decent pack, good durable boots, a great ensemble of layered wool and synthetic clothing, a high quality synthetic sleeping bag (wet down is worthless), a closed-cell sleeping pad (I recommend foregoing the extra comfort of inflated pads for the infallible reliability of closed cell foam) and a Gore-Tex bivi. Even on the windswept Beartooth Plateau there are rock slabs and clefts, even campsite windbreaks erected by climbers, that permit one to shelter from direct wind. Dog hair stunted timber is a few hundred to perhaps as much 1500' below the top in enough places that it offers handy shelter in really critical situations.

I am simply addressing clothing and minimal shelter requirements here of course. One still needs food (probably half-again what one thinks they'll consume per day) and means to prepare it (I'm still partial to liquid fuel stoves such as MSR's XGK EX--if stove ever fails or gets broken the fuel is still usable for fire starting), water container and a pot in which to melt snow, not to mention their actual hunting gear such as weapon, ammunition and optics.

Given my own experiences when 502 was larger and opened later, I would not enter the country without snowshoes and ice ax. The ice ax was not part of my initial kit, but became an essential component after the one truly ticklish challenge that I encountered; and that particular adventure was actually encountered on the trail. In a shaded chute, an old snow patch had settled and frozen into essentially a sheet of ice. It was my first entry from that approach, and was well before the advent of Google Earth as an armchair scouting aid. It was late, I was tired and did not know what safe alternatives were available to gain the top before dark. I crossed the crusted chute, but found it almost impossible to kick footholds into the frozen surface, even though I was wearing rigid mountaineering boots. The next time I encountered such conditions I was carrying an ice ax. Crampons would have accomplished the task well, but I honestly haven't encountered extensive enough conditions to justify their weight. An ice ax is a much more versatile solution, as it provides additional climbing and hiking support especially if the hunter is successful and is burdened by a heavy meat pack during their egress.

I've noticed photos posted by MT Gomer in which he was wearing goggles in tough conditions. I have no experience with them myself, but they seem a good idea. I can see where not only the wind and spindrift, but snow glare as well could be well attenuated by the proper goggles. Certainly a bit of kit I'll consider if I convince myself to make another trip.

 

[shines@times]

I used crampons in this photo.

Still one of my all-time favorite photos from MT Unlimited Riley!

 

[EYJONAS!]

Still one of my all-time favorite photos from MT Unlimited Riley!

I think that's one of the all time greatest unlimited photos ever

 

[shines@times]

I listened to the House committee hearing on this today.

Regardless of your stance on this... I’m super disappointed in how incoherent these hearings are.

This specific bill’s hearing devolved into confusion about whether or not grizzly bears are hunted in Montana and whether or not hunters of moose, sheep, goat eat their kills, with no mention of a Wanton Waste law.

Intelligent comments on both sides of the topic came from the general public. I wish we could expect the same from people on the Committee

You are echoing some of my earliest impressions when I tried to get involved in the political side of hunting and shooting issues--that was over 45 years ago in a multi-club effort to establish a public shooting range on the Olympic Peninsula. I found so many "activists" were more concerned with their own egos, arguing Robert's Rules of Order and tangential issues than they were actually advancing the purported agenda (we still do not have such a range*) that I could only tolerate a couple meetings.

Sadly, idiocracy seems ubiquitous today. I've often regretted not having children, it usually produces but a brief twinge that only lasts until I reflect upon the probable future they would have had to endure.

* By contrast, skating park advocates got their way with seeming ease, even though the park was built on city property and has proven fatal for at least one user. Efforts for the shooting range were directed at logged-over state land well away from town with the proposing users accepting all development and maintenance costs together with insurance liability. Anti-gun and anti-hunter sentiment is nothing new.

 

[shines@times]

I guarantee you if it was wolves or grizzlies that were getting sick because of domestic animals, something would be done about it.

The Bunny Huggers have a thing for big bad predators, at least until they get chewed up. They think of all sheep as the woolly variety, not as the charismatic denizens of the high country that hunters know.

 

[shines@times]

BTW all the rams got killed in 501 so don't go there next year too. Probably take 5 years to rebound.

Kudos for your persistence buddy.

 

[Cav1]

My wolf hunt down Paradise Valley the other day was a bust but I had the pleasure of meeting this ol' boy at the mouth of Yankee Jim Canyon.

 

[ZMT588]

You know I always see pictures of sheep, videos of rams and what not. It wasn't until a couple months ago that I actually saw a young ram in person. Those are big animals. I never realized how big they actually are.

 

[RidgeRoamingRichard]

Thank you all for this thread. You would think with such a limited resource, hunters would be tight lipped and unwilling to help. You guys are the opposite, and it speaks to your character. I hope to someday have the gear and grit to do an unlimited hunt.