Is there such thing as a Easy sheep Hunt

[SeboCreek]

Shot an ancient Dall in NWT and thought the backstrap was incredible. Probably was in comparison to the other food we had been eating.

 

[littlebighorn]

Desert big horn are easy if you know where they are. They do the same routine every day. We camped with our toy hauler at a place where we could turn around and every evening the extended family group would cruise through just out on the hill right next to our camp. Every morning early before the sun was out they were cruising back up the mountains. So it's not really hunting because they see you and stand motionless thinking that they are hiding. It's the same all over the west. I do lot's of off roading and you see them out riding the same area every day.

Dall sheep. Just driving down the road in Alaska you see them hanging out just below the snow line.

My experience and taste also differ from budlight.
No doubt some sheep units may lend themselves to easier sheep hunting than others, but I've never experienced that.
I'm currently helping a friend on his once in a lifetime desert sheep hunt and the few rams he is finding are anything from predictable.
I too think sheep meat, even from the ancient rams I've harvested, is some of the best game meat I've ever eaten.

 

[Wyo37]

Sheep hunting shouldn't be easy.

 

[Shubey]

I have read about hunters being helicoptered into high camps in the NWT. That would make it less difficult.

I can convey what is not easy! I drew WY area #9 tag in '84. ( Dinwoody) Steep,can only access from North or South. In 17days. Of Hunting, all I saw was 1/2 or 2/3 curls. Sure was gorgeous up on Goat flats though !

 

[Gaetano]

Aoudad in Texas is probably the easiest free range sheep hunt you'll find.

Aoudad is a goat, Capra family

 

[thomasbangs]

I harvested my Bighorn ram by packing into the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho back in "91", we packed everything on our backs and went from one drainage down up and over into another drainage. I did this 3 times before harvesting my ram, it was 2 days (one 16 hour day and one 13 hour day) packing our gear and my sheep out. Jack O'Connor who done probably more sheep hunting in his day than anyone wrote in one of his books that if there was any tougher country on earth than the Middle Fork of the Salmon, he didn't want to go there.

 

[Buffalobwana]

Aoudad is a goat, Capra family

You are right. It ain't a sheep. But, it isn't Capra.

It follows the same lineage as Ibex, Mt Goat, and wild sheep, but all four split before the genus. Aoudad splits off to the genus Ammotragus instead of going Capra. Mt Goat also splits off and isn't Ovis or Capra.

Sheep:
Subfamily Caprinae
Tribe Caprini
Genus Ovis

Ibex:
Subfamily Caprinae
Tribe Caprini
Genus Capra

Aoudad:
Subfamily Caprinae
Tribe Caprini
Genus Ammotragus

Mt Goat
Subfamily Caprinae
Tribe Caprini
Genus Oreamnos

I too found it interesting how an obvious looking sheep isn't a sheep.

 

[Bill Peet]

Desert big horn are easy if you know where they are. They do the same routine every day. We camped with our toy hauler at a place where we could turn around and every evening the extended family group would cruise through just out on the hill right next to our camp. Every morning early before the sun was out they were cruising back up the mountains. So it's not really hunting because they see you and stand motionless thinking that they are hiding. It's the same all over the west. I do lot's of off roading and you see them out riding the same area every day.

Dall sheep. Just driving down the road in Alaska you see them hanging out just below the snow line.

I don't like eating sheep especially ancient rams. So I just take their picture.

The areas you can see them from the road , most of those areas are closed to hunting.

 

[ofbandg]

I live in an area with wild sheep and almost every year some guy driving down a mountain road has a big ram cross the road in front of him so he jumps out and shoots it. Yea, he gets a trophy, but it isn't hunting. I had it happen once and somehow I managed to find an excuse not to shoot it, but it was the only chance I had to fill the tag that year. It comes down to what you are looking for out of hunting. Are you challenging your skills or looking for wall hangers?

 

[floyd kittrell]

NO!!!

 

[NotLongRange]

Yes, Bighorn sheep. If your definition of easy is sheep below 10K feet in elevation and doesn't require a pack string. You obviously need to draw the tag, which is the hardest part.

 

[HRM Johnny]

@BLASERMAN I hope you get many great sheep in the future.

 

[Tulsa Reiner]

You are right. It ain't a sheep. But, it isn't Capra.

It follows the same lineage as Ibex, Mt Goat, and wild sheep, but all four split before the genus. Aoudad splits off to the genus Ammotragus instead of going Capra. Mt Goat also splits off and isn't Ovis or Capra.

Sheep:
Subfamily Caprinae
Tribe Caprini
Genus Ovis

Ibex:
Subfamily Caprinae
Tribe Caprini
Genus Capra

Aoudad:
Subfamily Caprinae
Tribe Caprini
Genus Ammotragus

Mt Goat
Subfamily Caprinae
Tribe Caprini
Genus Oreamnos

I too found it interesting how an obvious looking sheep isn't a sheep.

And how an obvious buffalo (American bison) isn't a buffalo.

 

[Aoudad shooter1975]

Neither of my sheep were extremely difficult--ibex were much more challenging on my legs and lungs. Most sheep once you locate them --if you can get above them...there dead...the challenging part is getting a tag.