2025 Wyoming sheep recommendations

Hello all,
I am a Wyoming resident, I am getting enough points to draw in some areas, but not all.

I'm looking for recommendations on a decent hunt area to apply for. I refuse to pay trespass fees, and love the challenge of doing it without an outfitter. I have a pair of horses to help get me further into the tougher country.

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks John

If its once in a lifetime, put your ego aside and get some help

The horses are a big help. How many points do you have? How much time to hunt and just as importantly scout pre season?
When I drew my Bighorn license in WY my buddy asked me an interesting question. He said" When are you going to draw that license again"? Once in a lifetime for me. So I hired a guide. YMMV Best of luck to you!
Bruce

Thanks for your suggestions, I was going to apply for area 5, had an awesome friend that was an outfitter and was going to help. He is having health issues and he kindly informed me that he won't be able to go and help teach me the ropes, as it were.
As far as time, I have basically as much time as I want, and almost as much time to scout, which will definitely be a given.
I was just wondering if anyone has any better input on possibly a different area, that may have been producing good rams? Also was looking more for drainages to scout in a specific area to try to cut down on just going for horse rides in some spectacular country.

Thanks John

Unit 5 is a good area, so you must have a lot of points. The best units would require close to max points. Not sure you could do better than 5, unless you know about a specific ram somewhere. Enjoy your hunt, you only get one try at it.

How many points do you have?

I have 20, not sure what the max is these days

I honestly don't know the exact number, but I'm in the lower 20's.
Some of the better areas with very few tags, looks like it requires max points. I was told up the greys river was a great area for a good ram, but very few points given there. I also had some guys tell me that area 4 has some decent sheep in there. I do know to get to the sheep in area 4, you need a total of three days just to scout one day.

I believe the max points this year are 29. They point system started in 1995.

dogz said:

How many points do you have?

I have 20, not sure what the max is these days

Click to expand...

I don't believe you can draw unit 5 with 20 pts, maybe unit 1 or 4. The Grey's unit is max usually only 1 tag. You can check the draw odds and go from there.

I drew area 2 a few years ago and got a nice ram with a guide. His practice was to hunt area 5 with his first hunter and then shift to a bigger camp for the next several sheep hunters and then on into elk season. The way I understand it area 5 produces some good rams. It also has some of the largest numbers of permits for any single unit in the state. It should be a great unit to draw and hunt in. As long as you have plenty of scouting time you should be good to go. Especially with horses.
Bruce

I located another gentleman that just hunted area 5, I believe I may try for that area. I believe either he or his brother in law will go scouting with me and show me some of the country.
I have another couple of brothers will invite to take me into area 4, but where they hunt, it's a full day horse ride just to get there. From what I've been seeing, area 12 has the biggest rams, I was also told area 24 has some very respectable rams. Both of those areas require more points than I have. I believe I'll stick with area 5.

Thanks for all your input.

Johnny05,

Since you claim to "love the challenge of doing it without an outfitter", and you have horses and basically unlimited time, and you have not yet identified what area you might be hunting, I am not sure why you are asking for drainages to scout in a specific area. Seems like you would want to figure that out on your own, once you decide on an area.

Most other people would be envious of you "going for horse rides in some spectacular country" even if you don't see any sheep. That would add a lot of enjoyment to the summer before your sheep hunt. Strangely you don't seem to see it that way.

For a hunter in your position, you could probably find a decent ram in any of the units that you could draw. A key advantage is you having that unlimited time to scout and hunt, along with horses to help get you there.

Most people hire outfitters because they do not have the horses, the time, nor the experience in knowing the country where they will be hunting. And for most people, hiring an outfitter is a good idea.

In your case, since you are wanting to do this on your own, you should at least find a hunting partner to go along with you, for a multitude of reasons. It is way easy to have things go wrong in the back country, especially when horses are involved. Or grizzly bears.

You also have to be realistic about your expectations for the size of a ram. If you are imagining getting a B&C ram, you are probably hunting in the wrong place. Some areas are a little better than others in terms of having more sheep and potentially larger rams.

You could check with WG&F to see about the health of the sheep herds in the areas that you are interested in. Recent die-offs due to disease or hard winters might influence your choice of areas.

Yes, there are good rams in unit 4. And more than one way to approach them too. Figuring that out on your own is part of the enjoyment of sheep hunting.



If you have preference points in the low 20s somewhere, you need to get busy and look at the draw odds for the different areas on the WG&F web site. If you have at least 20 points, then you could certainly draw a tag in a few different areas in 2025. So you had better be careful where you apply for a tag.


SnakeRiverEric is correct. Only one tag was issued in 2024 for the Grey's unit if that is area 24. And it took 27 points to get it. Unit 5 took a minimum of 22 points in 2024, and realistically it took 23 points.

I have hunted bighorn sheep without the benefit of an outfitter. It was a wonderful expererience that I wish I could repeat. And I have also experienced a fully outfitted bighorn sheep hunt, and that too was a fine experience.

Remember that this is a once in a lifetime license. An outfitter will considerably boost your odds of getting a good ram, but that service is not free. If you can't stand the thought of going home without a bighorn sheep, you should think hard about hiring an outfitter.

Doing it on your own provides a different kind of satisfaction, and a different experience. Nothing wrong with that either. But that requires you to figure out the country and find the rams and then actually get one. A lot more time and effort for you, but the reward in doing so feels very nice indeed!

Choose your area carefully, and then spend the summer getting to know that area.

Good Luck!

WyoWind

Johnny05,

If you have enough preference points to draw area 5, I do not think you would be disappointed with that area.

WyoWind

WyoWind, that's for your thoughts. As you stated, all areas have a lot of country, and was was just asking drainages to have a better idea of where to spend my time.
You have some great advice, on the herd health. I most definitely will check into what the G&F has to say. Probably be wise to check before applying. As far as the demand index, I do watch that every year.
Thank you for some valuable info.
John