Friday, September 13, 2013

Sheep Hunt Day 1

I spent most of the day getting into sheep country. Finally arriving in my hunting area I dropped the 50 pound pack and felt like I could fly. With only a couple of hours glassing light left I cooked up some Mountain House grub for dinner while scanning the myriad avalanche chutes and nearly vertical strips of timber likely to be bedding areas. These bedding areas are in terrain so treacherous the hunter must wait for sheep to move into more 'gentle' feeding areas. Nearly out of water I conserved the little I had left. Tomorrow I would have to drop down a thousand feet or so to an obscure spring I'd found and top off my bladder and 2 Nalgenes. That would keep me in water for 2-3 days. For those who are not familiar with the Unlimited Sheep hunt there are several districts along the northern border of Yellowstone National Park which possess terrain so rugged and remote that sheep permits have not been restricted like they are over most of the state. FWP sells as many permits as people want to buy and maintain a district quota. Most units are a 2 ram quota. Not only are these areas rugged and remote, legal rams(3/4 curl or better) are difficult to find. This is my third season hunting the unlimited areas and I'm still trying to figure things out. Each year is an educational process if you are hunting the country correctly. On average they say it takes a hunter 5 years to figure it out and score if he sticks to it.

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