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.
View draw results and leftover drawing odds from the current and previous years.
wgfd.wyo.gov
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
