Looking to hunt in the 300 unlimited district. Any ideas in where to go and who to talk to regarding hunting the area. I know one outfitter who hunts the area but he wants $10,000 for the hunt. I talked to one of his past clients and he says that the trail in is easy and a backpacker could make it in. I would like to harvest the sheep without the aide of an outfitter.

This supject came up a while ago and and if you look it up I'm sure you'll find the information you are interested in.

By the way I've hunted that area a bit, it's not quite that easy.

HM... what do you mean its not easy?

The trail in might be do-able for a back packer who's on steroid treatment or is in prime physical shape and used to hiking at 9000-10,000 feet. Finding and killing a sheep is a whole diffrent story.

I'm not an expert at the UL sheep hunts, but have done it, and grew up hunting elk in the same mountians where they are offered. I will tell you this. You'll probably puke a few times from shear exhaustion, and your odds of finding a leagal ram in a spot that you can get to him and kill him is about nil. Hence the reason they are unlimited... You're success rate will hover just above the success rate for drawing a tag in a premium unit. But at least you'll be sheep hunting.

Good luck to you if you decide to go!

been there done that - not again. there's a reason that the tags are unlimited, and its not because there's that many sheep. If you really insist you'd better be in really good shape, have a bunch of experience, hire an airplane to fly over the area for a couple of days to find the sheep before you go. etc. etc. etc.

There are few "free rides" when it comes to the MT FWP Agency.

But at least You are hunting the high country in the Rocky Mountains for sheep.

FN in MT

I talked with a Warden that does sheep counts in that area. The actual number of sheep in some of those areas is pretty small. I know of one hunter who has taken a legal Ram out of the area. It was a full curl ram but did not have a lot of mass. The area he hunted had around 25 sheep total. He knows the area very well and has access to horses. They packed in a camp 9 miles and hunted on foot from there. I would think it would be very difficult to hunt it sucessfully if you dont know the area without a guide. If you want to give it a try expect a very difficult hunt.

In addition, there is a quota. So, if the quota gets filled before you shoot a sheep you are just plain out of luck. (although I don't know how they would tell you the quota had been filled if you were in the backcountry hunting)

Contact Jack Atcheson Jr. at office@atcheson.com.
Jack takes hunters into this unit every year and I suspect he knows it better than anyone else.

465H&H

A couple of quick things.

First off if you already know the trail to take aside from physical prep and other prep what else do you need?

Lastly it sounds like you don't want a guided hunt. So I am not sure why the fella told you to call Atcheson...not sure he's gonna be giving out tons of info on this being as this is his living.

Mark D

Twilli,
The odds are long, the quota makes it a foot race, the country is vast, the equinox storm is always a threat, but BY DAMN it's the only place on the planet that an average guy can hunt big horn sheep for $75!! Try that price anywhere else. Get your rifle and pack and get your self in very good shape and go hunting! Most of the sheep through the years in 300 have been take around BigHorn Peak on the YNP boundary. The trail in goes up Speciman Ridge from Tom Miner Basin. It is grizzly country and water is often hard to find up there. Those rams will most likely be on the wrong side of the 4" square white YNP posts but every once in a while they wander on the shooting side. Other areas in the past have been Ramshorn Peak/Twin Peaks and a few around Steamboat Mtn. This is the core of the Gallatin Range and everything falls away from those peaks. Access is up Buffalo Horn behind the 320 Ranch or out of Tom Miner or maybe Divide Creek further down the valley toward the Yellowstone. Lee Hart was the outfitter that used to work this area. I don't think Jack Atcheson hunted 300 but concentrated on the 500, 501, 502. Warren Johnson guided for 303. These guys make part of their living on this unlimited hunting and have always been a force to be reckoned with for week enders and one week wonders, like me. If you fill the application out correctly, you'll get the tag. I consider it a bonus and a priviledge that I can start hunting as soon as the snow is out of the high country. I just can't carry a rifle in July and August. Don't expect success on the first year, or the second, or------------. You must be committed to put in the time to pattern the game movements. Obviously, a big portion of those sheep in 300 are in YNP. Get the harvest data from FWP and talk to as many sheep hunters as you can, at least those that are willing to divulge the years of hard put shoe leather up in those mountains. It's cheap entertainment if nothing else. What else you gonna do, watch Desperate Housewives?

Hunting for muy grande borrego is always better than about anything especially anything that TV has to offer!!

Mark D

Yellowstone..........I think the tags are up to $750 these days!

Finley,
I think you're right, but I alson think Twilla is residing in Havre right now, but he can speak for himself. Even at $750 it's a bargain if a guy wants to set his jaw and thrown his hat in the ring for one of the "quotas" If Nevada or Alaska or some other place did the same type of hunt, I would study and study and study my little heart out and try my luck.

It is the only place you can hunt sheep for a small fee (I think it's proposed to be $250 next year) and be guaranteed a license. SOmetimes the hardest hunts are the most rewarding as well. If you are living in Montana right now that changes things considerably. If you can get down and scout out some good locations prior to the season you'll have much better odds.

I have hunted in the unlimited sheep area before in unit 500 where my guide and I hoofed it up the East Rosebud approxiamtely 14 miles back in and Granite Peak was a hop skip and a jump away. The hunter I talked to hunted with a guide named Monte and he usually opens and closes the season. He sat outside the park boundary for 10 days and some sheep came across and that was that. I figure living in Montana now I would be able to access the area and find some sheep on my own. I realize the sheep are few and far between and not record book but if I can pin one down myself that an accomplishment. Any help I can get I will take.

Howdy Twilli,
Well it looks like you've got the right idea. There's generally about 100 of us crazies in each unlimited district every year. They're all tough country to hunt, but it is a grand excursion. More power to you if you keep at and score. Maybe I'll see you up on Bighorn or over on Columbine Pass or upper Bear Creek. Good luck.

As you can see, I'm a newby here, and looking at the dates of the prevoius replys, maybe I'm too late with this one. I've hunted 4 of the Unlimited Sheep areas off and on for the past 26 years. Been lucky enough to take 3 rams, all 7/8 to full+ curl. I'll agree with alot of what was mentioned earlier especially by MarkD and Yellowstone. I've hunted many of the areas that was mentioned. The last year that I hunted an Unlimited area, I knew of 9 camps surrounding the basin where we had seen rams prior to the season. Monte Schnur had one of those camps. The area was also heavily patrolled by the local Game Warden and at least 4 Yellowstone Park Rangers. We saw sheep every day of the 5 day season, but with all of the human activity, the big rams stayed on the south side of the YNP-National Forest boundary. No rams were harvested in that district that year. My son went in with me on that trip, and we had a good trip in some beautiful country, and we were hunting sheep. A good ceramic water filter and some empty plastic water jugs will save alot of weight. Good luck if you go, and shoot straight.