Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Montana sheep unit 300 input/help needed

I would appreciate any information regarding unit 300?
Slight screw up and would appreciate any information anyone would have on how to hunt this area, issues, etc.

Thanks in advance.

BTT

It's an unlimited tag area, which means basically that if you apply for the tag you'll get it. The kicker is that the area is on a quota and so you'll be competing with I'd guess 50 or so other fellas for the 2 rams (think that's the quota).
The area will close down as soon as the quota is filled, and it's your responsibility to know when it's opened or filled and closed.

My opinion, the best thing you can do is do all the phone research you can. Then drive out this summer and get to know the area. Then show up about a week b4 the hunt opens (Sept 1st), find a ram, shadow the ram and hope like heck you can take him on the opening day light.

Tis a long shot but it can and has been done.

Best of luck to ya!

Dober

The outcome of your hunt will depend on how you deal with the following things..

Finding a ram, which will undoubtedly be very close to the park boundary. Dealing with the other hunters who show up and camp right on top of the sheep. Devising a strategy to kill a sheep on the opener before the other guys who are watching it.

you made a mistake. Did you have any bomus points? Do you loose BP if you get a tag in the unlimited area??

Check with Mike Lovely. He should be able to give you a lot of good information.
http://www.rboutfitters.com/hunt/sheep.php

Like Dober said.

Unit 300 is an unlimited license area. Sep 1 to 10, but will close in 48 hrs notice when 2 rams are taken. If you take a ram, you also have to notify F&G within 48 hrs.

It was also mentioned that the sheep are found on the Yellowstone Park line. This is true, and the rams cross back and forth as the south side of the line (in Yellowstone) is usually hotter and drier than the north side. There are also numerous springs on the north side that the sheep frequent.

I last hunted that area about 12 yrs ago. A friend of mine had taken a nice ram there the year before, and had given me some good advice. The day before the season opened I was within 30 yds of a full curl, broomed ram. I was close enough that I could hear him chewing grass. He was still grazing when I last saw him.

Opening morning, I walked in the dark the 2 miles from my camp to where I had seen the ram. At daylight I was in position and in high hopes of killing a good ram. Before it was light enough to shoot, I first heard, then saw an outfitter and his hunters on horseback (5 horses), riding midslope through the center of of the basin that had held the rams the day before. I then saw 6 separate tent camps scattered across the grassy slope on the opposite side of the basin.

In addition to all those "hunters", the local game warden rode through the basin, checking hunters and their camps for compliance with food storage requirements, and at least three Park Rangers rode through the area, also checking hunters. I talked to one of the Park Rangers, who was in complete camo, and said he had watched us when we came into the area.

I later learned that several hunters had been issued citations from the Park Rangers for carrying a loaded weapon in the Park, and for shooting into the Park. The trail on the ridge crosses in and out of the Park. You could not have a loaded weapon on the Park portions of the trail.

I did not kill a ram that year, nor did I hear of anyone else killing one.

Sheep are found on other areas in unit 300, but access to some is difficult because of private land along the Tom Miner road.

The area also has it's share of grizzly and black bears, and now, wolves.

I am not trying to be gloom and doom, as there used to me some good rams in unit 300. I quit hunting it because the year after I hunted it the F&G changed the regulations that an unlimited tag had to be your first choice in the drawing, and there are other units that have better rams, and I no longer have horses, which were a great help in packing camp in and sheep out.

Good luck

best one I heard from that hunt was the woman park ranger grilling every hunter on specimen ridge trying to find out who was using the blue toilet paper.

I believe you lose your bonus points when you draw an unlimited area.

ddj

Knowing me, I doubt I could find much joy killing a ram under the conditions found in 300... I'm just not a NASCAR Hunter.

Guys:
Thanks for all the input. It was my first year of applying so no lost bonus points. I'll make a few phone calls next week and decide what I am going to do. From all the input it doesn't sound like the kind of hunting I like to do. I prefer to pack in and the fewer people I see the happier I am. Again, I appreciate all the information.