Josh Dahlke figured he’d by no means get a shot at a bighorn sheep. The Minnesota hunter was in his late 30s and had simply began making use of for factors. In lots of states, his odds felt like profitable the Powerball lottery.
However a number of years in the past he discovered himself in Colorado on a talus slope above 12,000 toes together with his rifle aimed on the grey, wooly vitals of a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.
He pulled the set off, the sheep dropped, and the work to pack out a number of the most scrumptious meat he’d ever eaten started.
Dahlke’s sheep hunt wasn’t a results of beating the chances. He hadn’t mysteriously earned 20 extra desire factors or gained the lottery. Dahlke had simply switched his sights from a bighorn sheep ram with a full curl to a ewe. He made a easy economics determination and utilized for a tag with respectable provide and exponentially much less demand.
And after a 24-hour pack out with two buddies that included an emergency in a single day cease with no water or meals (in addition to sheep meat), Dahlke can attest that the one distinction between a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep ewe hunt and a ram hunt is the mount on his wall.
As bighorn sheep ram tags change into more and more arduous to attract — a results of extra candidates, diminishing nonresident allocations, and struggling sheep populations — some hunters are altering their objectives. On the identical time, some wildlife managers hope extra hunters will shift their sheep looking aspirations from large previous rams to the previous ewes that reside in the identical spectacular locations and supply the identical once-in-a-lifetime hunts.
“I’ve by no means been a lot of a trophy hunter from the attitude of horns and antlers,” says Dahlke, who has stalked large sport throughout the globe. “I’m a trophy hunter from the attitude of the opposite half of it, the conservation facet. And so to me, it didn’t matter in any respect that it was a ewe.”
Chasing Ewes
Ewe looking isn’t new. It’s additionally not what most bighorn sheep hunters like to speak about.
“There are a number of guys who name themselves sheep hunters and may by no means sheep hunt as a result of they’ll’t get a tag. There are of us who name themselves sheep hunters and solely scout them or go on another person’s hunt,” Dahlke says. “Persons are very enthusiastic about it, however it looks as if sheep looking is synonymous with taking pictures a ram.”
But every thing in regards to the expertise – from scouting to tenting to trudging up steep mountain faces – feels the identical as a ram hunt would. And Dahlke can’t cease speaking in regards to the high quality of the ewe meat.
Plus there are these odds: Solely 70 nonresidents utilized for Wyoming’s three ewe tags in a single space final yr, and 65 for an additional space’s two licenses. Comparatively, greater than 1,700 nonresidents utilized for the state’s lone lottery ram license. Ewe tags additionally might not use desire factors relying on the state. They don’t in Wyoming, and profitable candidates can apply once more after 5 years.
And relying on the state, looking licenses for ewes might run you far lower than ram licenses. A ewe/lamb tag in Wyoming prices $240 in comparison with $3,002 for a ram tag.
Then there’s the truth that many wildlife managers would love hunters to use for ewe tags and, if profitable, shoot one. Herd numbers are increasing in some areas, which will increase the probabilities {that a} satellite tv for pc ram on the lookout for love will encounter a home sheep or sick bighorn from one other herd and produce sickness again house. Too many wild sheep on a panorama additionally places stress on meals assets, resulting in skinnier animals which might be much less hardy.
For years, Wyoming biologists have tracked a herd within the Jackson space and watched it develop then shrink, develop then shrink. They realized that if inhabitants numbers climbed a lot above 450, sheep had much less fats and in consequence, had been extra prone to illness, predation, and arduous winters. Herd numbers would crash, then slowly climb once more.
As an alternative of ready for the herd to lose half its members to a foul winter or pneumonia outbreak, biologists proposed looking ewes to maintain the inhabitants round 400, higher matching what the habitat may assist. Shoot some ewes, the biologists stated, to maintain much more from dying.
The identical idea is being utilized to different herds in Wyoming, Colorado, and different western states each to maintain herds steady and to stop these wandering wild sheep from bringing again illness.
“It’s not solely a possibility for hunters,” says Kevin Hurley, vp of conservation for the Wild Sheep Basis, “however a administration instrument.”
A (Almost) Unattainable Draw
Relying on the state, nonresidents might solely obtain a handful (or fewer) bighorn sheep ram tags annually. Take Wyoming for instance. The Cowboy State legislature not too long ago modified nonresident allocation from 25 % to 10 %, dropping the variety of nonresident tags by half. In 2023, nonresidents vied for 22 tags with solely a type of up for grabs in a random draw. (The others are allotted in some extent system). Wyoming Recreation and Fish biologist Daryl Lutz is aware of residents who might properly wait a lifetime to attract a bighorn sheep. Most nonresidents won’t ever draw.
Different states might supply barely extra tags in random attracts, however run the numbers and your probabilities nonetheless aren’t good. Don’t even take into consideration Canada except you’re keen to shell out six figures. The one means non-Canadian residents can hunt a wild sheep is with a registered clothes shop, which can properly price over $100,000.
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Montana affords a handful of over-the-counter common space wild sheep hunts to residents and nonresidents. However there’s a catch. Hunters can solely kill two rams with three-quarter curl or greater, and the hunt ends inside 48 hours after the quota is met.
It’s this actuality Will Downard confronted when he thought of looking bighorn sheep. The central Iowa hunter grew up chasing whitetail deer near house and elk and mule deer within the West. A bighorn sheep appeared like an impossibility. Till it wasn’t.
He sat down years in the past at a commerce present dinner with a man who had concepts. The person instructed Downard in regards to the Montana hunt and requested him if he’d take into account looking ewes.
“He instructed me there have been ewe hunts the place you would draw one simply when you knew the place to look,” Downard says. “He didn’t give me actual info, however he hinted round areas to begin trying.”
Downard utilized for a ewe hunt in Colorado in 2017 and drew the primary time.
“If something, it was an enormous excuse to go and discover the mountain tops,” he says. “I fell in love with it.”
Getting Over the Full Curl (or Not)
The primary hunt somebody applies for in a brand new state is just not normally a bighorn sheep. However Kylie Schumacher thought she’d play her odds after transferring to Montana, and he or she utilized for every thing.
To her shock, she drew a ewe tag. Then she researched the hunt with assist from locals and YouTube, borrowed a canoe and dry baggage, requested a pal to come back along with her and headed out. The 2 ladies would spend 5 days floating the Missouri River by way of the well-known Breaks, a area prized for its sheep looking.
They discovered a herd on their first morning after which one other on the second. After spending a day watching them, Schumacher shot and processed the sheep on a wedge of cliff rock simply sufficiently big to carry the 2 hunters and the ewe.
She doesn’t really feel like she missed out by looking a ewe and never a ram, however she’s nonetheless placing in for desire factors for a ram tag.
“Folks come to looking from completely different views,” she says. “For individuals who develop up looking and have met the goals on the market, one thing like a ram is the final word problem.”
Kevin Monteith, a College of Wyoming professor who’s spent properly over a decade learning bighorn sheep, understands the utility of looking ewes. He’s additionally an avid large sport hunter and taxidermist.
Monteith says he would harvest a bighorn ewe and fill his freezer with the meat, however that he would nonetheless actually prefer to hunt a ram. He admits it may be his taxidermist facet, and whereas he doesn’t need to be labeled what he calls “hornographic,” he says there’s one thing unimaginable a few full-curl ram.
“They’re an incredible, regal, majestic creature of the mountains with their very heavy, spiraling horns, large faces, and burly our bodies. These are quintessential [qualities] of males and never females.”
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Downard has a tricky time articulating how he feels in regards to the full curl. He was so pleased with the 11-year-old ewe he shot with a bow in Colorado that he had a full-body mount made. However ever since then, he’s been placing in for desire factors anyplace he can purchase them. He’s bought seven now in Colorado, and he’s tried his hand twice throughout Montana’s common season. Each had been 10-day hunts, and he by no means noticed a authorized ram.
At this level, Downard says, he simply needs to be among the many bighorn sheep within the rugged areas the place they reside. Even when he’s looking in that Montana common space, he figures it’s much less about his need to shoot a full curl and extra about what that type of hunt represents.
“At the least for me, the importance of a giant set of ram horns is identical as a giant elk or whitetail. It’s a lot tougher as a result of there are to date fewer of them,” Downard says. “It’s extra satisfying to have finished the work and been in a position to pull off one thing that’s practically not possible.”
