Montana Bighorn Sheep Photos

[Elk Hunter]

I was hoping to see some sheep, but these were a lot closer than I expected. The rams looked really nice to me but unfortunately these were in Glacier National Park so no hunting opportunities here. I know these would be big enough to be legal, but being new to sheep hunting I was wondering, just how good are they as far as trophies go?

 

[mntnguide]

Any ram is a great ram when it comes to hunting in my opinion. . My personal ram was a small 4 year old not near any of those, yet still an awesome trophy from a tough hunt for me. Id say the largest of those rams goes somewhere around 165+- when it comes to score. Great photos.

 

[jjenness]

The trophy is in the eye of the hunter. You have to remember that rams that live in the mountains won't tend to be as big, as say rams that live in the missouri breaks. Nice pics.

 

[Kevin Root]

Glacier National Park makes them a bit hard to put on the ground like you mention but makes for some nice pictures Elk Hunter. Nice pictures.

 

[jjenness]

I don't agree at all.

Rock Creek is one of Montana's top areas and it's on Mt Powell.

Cadomin Mine in Alberta is one of their top areas and it's not in the foothills either.

Edelweiss, thanks for your input, and you are right that big rams do come from all different ranges throughout North America. I would disagree a little however that Rock Creek is a "Top" area in MT. Here is a quick break down of the top Counties/Areas in MT for B&C Bighorn Sheep entries over 175", according to the MT FWP website. Blaine 55, Lewis & Clark 53, Deer Lodge 50, Missoula 44, Fergus 42, Granite 40, Teton 38, Ravalli 36, Sun River 30, Beaverhead 20, Silverbow 17, Choteau 4, Powell 4 and I will throw in Rock Creek just because you mentioned it, Rock Creek 2. Then there are a few area that only had 1 or 2 entries. So in part, I do stand corrected myself, as a very large portion of these entries are from Western MT which could be classed as mountain hunts. I guess with living in Central MT I was a little biased as to the sheep that are from around here.

http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/planahunt/records/recordsBySpecies.html?clubName=booneAndCrockett&speciesName=Bighorn Sheep

 

[mntnguide]

Just to clarify the above...Granite county= Rock Creek rams. I have spent the past 6 summers living in granite and have done plenty of sheep hikes through Rock Creek. Its unfortunate that the pneumonia hit the area. My best day out was 3 years ago we counted 74 Rams in a single day of which 5 or so were unmistakably over 180. Awesome sheep country to walk around in.

 

[Bitterroot Bulls]

Agreed.

Rock Creek (Lower and Upper) has historically produced many awesome rams including some of those at the top of the books. However, the cough has it really down right now. In a couple of years there should be some more dandies coming out of there again, and it will be giving the breaks a run for the money ... again.

 

[Muleys 24/7]

Cool pics of some nice ones

 

[BKC]

You must have a high dollar camera or lense to get a picture of the ram on the run in the last photo. Great picture!

 

[6mm Remington]

Very nice pictures!

 

[trkytrack2]

They all look like young rams except for the last one.

 

[hvfd21walker]

Hey jjenness theres only small sheep in the breaks. All the bigger sheep are in other places. Get my drift. LOL!!

 

[Elk Hunter]

Thank you everyone for your comments on the photos and for the information. I have been getting familiar with unit 501, trying to determine if it is worth the cost of a nonresident tag. From what I read and my own backpacking experience in the area its not going to be easy. Seeing sheep in the unit without to much problem, just no rams so far. Identifying a legal ram shouldn't be a problem, but I don't have a good feel for what a good ram would look like. These looked very good to me, just didn't know how good, and would perhaps be above average for unit 501.

For those interested I was using a Nikon D7000 with the 18-105mm lens.