My buddy had found 6 mature rams in a rough drainage when he scouted the area around September 1st, so we concentrated there. (I didn't go with him due to having wisdom teeth removed.) It had rained hard a few days earlier, but the cleared off and got hot, with highs in the 90's.
The season opened September 15th, but we didn't go for various reasons. Started on the 19th, but didn't see a thing in the same area, though we hiked and glassed it carefully. Finally figured out it was because when he scouted, it was 3 days after a heavy rainstorm, which left pools of water in the usually dry creek. The rams he'd seen were around a couple of bigger pools, but it hadn't rained much since, and the pools had turned to mudholes. So the sheep went elsewhere.
So we started looking for more reliable water sources, but had just started when another huge rainstorm came through. It's impossible to hike the steep Breaks when they're soaked and the gumbo soil is greasy, so we left and will be back when it dries out. The season goes through the 1st of December, so there's lots of time left. One of the alternate plans is to float the Missouri in my canoe (which I used to do for mule deer years ago) and see what we find. Learned where the sheep hang out during those trips, and October weather is usually much drier.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
